Easy Sausage & Herb Stuffing Recipe
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This rich and savory stuffing recipe is perfect the holidays. Hearty sausage, fragrant herbs, and store-bought stuffing cubes make it easy—and you can even make it ahead!
I used to host elaborate Thanksgiving celebrations, where I’d cook for days on end, only to be completely exhausted by the time my guests arrived on Thanksgiving day. After one glass of wine, I’d be nodding off at the table and dreaming of my pillow. I finally wised up by simplifying my side dishes and desserts. This rich sausage and herb stuffing recipe relies on store-bought stuffing cubes, which eliminates the step of slicing and drying out the bread. Believe me, when you’re using a pound of sausage and an entire stick of butter, and pairing the dish with turkey gravy and cranberry sauce, the type of bread you use does not matter. This is the easiest and best stuffing recipe, hands down!
“I made this for Thanksgiving and made the mistake of not doubling the recipe. Corrected that for Christmas as it was GONE – first empty dish on the buffet table.”
What You’ll Need To Make Sausage Stuffing
- Store-bought unseasoned stuffing cubes – I’ve made this easy stuffing recipe using dried bread cubes from both Arnold and Pepperidge Farm. I’ve also had good results with the “fresh” dried bread cubes from Whole Foods, which add a bit more texture (these are sold in plastic bags labeled “stuffing cubes”).
- Unsalted butter – Adds rich flavor and helps create a moist texture.
- Aromatics (yellow onion, celery, and garlic) – Provide savory depth and a classic stuffing flavor.
- Bulk sweet Italian sausage – If you can, look for bulk sausage (sausage without casings). If only whole sausages are available, just remove the casings: cut through the sausages with kitchen shears, then peel the casings off—it’s much easier than squeezing out the meat.
- Low-sodium chicken broth – Keeps the stuffing moist without adding too much salt.
- Large egg – Helps bind the stuffing together for a cohesive texture.
- Fresh Herbs (rosemary, sage, and parsley) – Bring freshness and a touch of earthy, holiday flavor.
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper – For seasoning and balancing flavors.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-By-Step Instructions
Begin by melting a stick of butter in a large skillet.
Add the chopped onions and celery.
Cook until soft, about 8 minutes.
Add the garlic and cook a few minutes more.
Transfer the vegetables to a large bowl. In the same pan, cook the sausage until browned.
As it cooks, use a metal spatula to break it apart into small pieces.
Add the sausage to the stuffing cubes and veggies. Then add the broth, egg, herbs, salt and pepper.
Mix well.
Transfer the contents to a buttered 9 x 13-inch baking dish or similarly sized casserole dish.
Bake for 65 to 75 minutes, until the top is golden brown and crisp.
Enjoy!
Make-Ahead & Freezing Instructions
This homemade stuffing recipe can be assembled up to a day ahead and refrigerated until ready to bake. Allow a few extra minutes in the oven if baking from the fridge. It can also can be frozen after baking, tightly covered, for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to serve it, defrost in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Reheat it, covered with foil, in a 325°F oven until hot.
Video Tutorial
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Easy Sausage & Herb Stuffing
Ingredients
- 8 cups (500 g) store-bought unseasoned stuffing cubes
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1½ cups diced yellow onion, from 1 large onion
- 1 cup diced celery from 3 stalks celery
- 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 lb bulk sweet Italian sausage (i.e., sausage with the casings removed); see note below
- 2¾ cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped sage
- ¼ cup fresh chopped parsley
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease a 9 x 13-in (23 x 33-cm) baking dish with butter.
- Place the stuffing cubes in a large mixing bowl.
- In a large sauté pan, melt the butter. Add the onions and celery and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 8 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft. Add the garlic and cook 2 minutes more. Add the vegetables to the stuffing cubes. (Don't wash the pan but scrape out every last bit of vegetables, otherwise they will burn in the next step.)
- In the same pan, cook the sausage over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until browned and cooked through, breaking up the sausage with a metal spatula while cooking (the largest pieces should be no greater than ¼-in/6-mm). Add the browned sausage and fat to the bread cubes and vegetables.
- Add the chicken broth, egg, rosemary, sage, parsley, salt, and pepper to the bread cube mixture and mix until the bread is soft and moistened. Transfer the stuffing to the prepared baking dish and bake for 65 to 75 minutes, uncovered, until deeply golden and crisp on top.
Notes
- If you can't find bulk sausage, buy regular sausage and remove the casings.
- Make-Ahead/Freezing Instructions: The stuffing can be assembled up to a day ahead and refrigerated until ready to bake; follow the baking instructions in the recipe, allowing a few extra minutes in the oven. It can also be frozen after baking, tightly covered, for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to serve it, defrost in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Reheat it, covered with foil, in a 325°F (165°C) oven until hot.
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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I need to make 20-25 servings for a family Thanksgiving dinner and found this recipe and your Cornbread & Sausage Stuffing. Both seem to be great based on the ingredients.
What adjustments do I need to make to the ingredients to make a dressing with both cornbread and regular bread. I am inclined to simply use half the unseasoned stuffing cubes and half the cornbread. I would use the rest of the ingredients from the Easy Sausage & Herb Stuffing.
I can make the ingredient quantity adjustments to get the right serving count.
Or would you recommend not trying to use stuffing cubes and the cornbread together?
Hi Durham, Yes, I think you can get away with substituting cornbread cubes for half of the stuffing cubes here. I’d love to hear how it turns out!
I just made my very first Thanksgiving feast (Canadian), and this stuffing made me a super star. Not only did the adults love it, but all the kids did too. The fresh herbs made it so flavorful. I followed the recipe exactly except I only had dry rosemary. Thank you for the fantastic recipe. I’ve been told I have to make this every Thanksgiving for forever.
I really didn’t want to make a stuffing with sausage meat. I mean really, do we need more meat when we have turkey. My husband really wanted it, so I relented. Best stuffing I have made yet! Only change I made was not to put in as much broth as suggested. It was perfect!
I’ve been trying for decades to measure up to my mother who passed a while back with no success. I tried this recipe and it’s really good classic. I’ll try and tweek this, in efforts of coming close to my ma’s recipe…LOL
Thanks so much Richard
Great recipe, Added poultry seasoning instead of spices listed.
Excellent, I just used poultry seasoning instead of the spices listed.
I couldn’t find sweet Italian sausage so I bought mild Italian sausage……will that be ok?
Yep – hope you enjoy!
Can you make this in the morning and put in fridge till you are ready to cook it?
Yep – hope you enjoy!
Can you make it the day before?
Sure, Mel. I’d refrigerate it unbaked and then bake it before the meal. Hope you enjoy!
I like the sound of this for a roast dinner I am planning for my friend’s 92nd birthday, next Sunday. We are in the UK. Just so I understand the ingredients, are the stuffing cubes the same as ‘croutons’? I don’t think we can get stuffing cubes here. I was thinking I could cube and dry some little pieces of baguette and use that. Do you think that would work? I realise this recipe is for winter really, but I’m cooking a leg of lamb with lots of spring vegetables and new potatoes, and because my elderly friend loves stuffing, I thought I would give this a try. I’d be very grateful for your help. Thank you.
Hi Rebecca, Croutons will definitely work but if they are salted, I’d cut the salt in the recipe in half. If you want to use a baguette that you cube and dry, that would work too. Hope your friend enjoys! 🙂
Thank you very much for replying. I’m going to give this a try!
Pretty bomb recipe! I had a huge Costco bag of seasoned sour dough croutons sitting in the pantry for some odd duck reason. So glad I found your recipe. I didn’t use the herbs because of the seasoned croutons. I cooked everything down in my 10” cast iron skillet, mixed everything together, poured it back into my already hot buttered, flavored skillet and cooked it for an hour in my June oven. This was really, really good. I can totally see making this again as well as trying different meats, spice heats, bread crumbs and additions like others mentioned like raisins or other goodies. Thank you for the inspiration.