I’ve been making this Italian Sausage Thanksgiving Dressing for so long that now it wouldn’t feel like Thanksgiving without it. In the years that we’ve been doing this blog, we’ve learned a lot about others’ family tradition when it comes to Thanksgiving. One thing we’ve learned is everyone is scared of making the turkey (don’t be...our turkey recipe is a lot of work, but it’s hard to mess up!) Another thing we’ve learned is people don’t like you messing with their Thanksgiving dressing (or stuffing, depending on what you actually did with it and where you live).
Ingredients Needed
- Italian sausage – I recommend mild/sweet Italian sausage.
- Onion
- Celery
- Fresh garlic
- Mushrooms
- Granny smith apple
- Cubed stuffing or dressing bread mix – I like Pepperidge Farms Herb Seasoned Classic Stuffing. For this recipe, I try to stay away from Stove Top because the flavor is so overwhelming.
- Chicken broth
- Pecans – Chopped and toasted.
- Dried cranberries
How to Make Italian Sausage Dressing
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Lightly spray a 9×13″ baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
- Heat a very large skillet or Dutch oven to medium heat and add a light drizzle of olive oil. If necessary, remove sausage casings and crumble the sausage in the pan. As it starts to brown, stir in onions, celery, and garlic. As the sausage cooks, break up larger pieces.
- As the onions begin to turn translucent, stir in mushrooms and apple and cook until the mushrooms are tender.
- Sprinkle dressing mix over the sausage mix and then add chicken broth. Continue stirring as the dressing mix absorbs the liquid. Add in pecans and cranberries (if desired). When the liquid has been incorporated and the mixture is fully mixed, taste and add hot sauce (like Tabasco) to taste.
- Transfer to a 9×13 dish sprayed with cooking spray. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 10 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes.
Storing and Other Tips
- Store leftover dressing in an airtight container in the refrigerator and consume within 3-4 days for best results.
- If you’d like to make this 1-2 days ahead of time, cover it after you place it in the 9×13 pan, and then bake it straight from the fridge.
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe is designed for use with a dry, pre-seasoned bread mix. While you can certainly play around with using fresh bread and seasonings and adjusting the liquid, it would probably be best to find a recipe that calls for fresh bread.
You can, but I prefer to use sweet/mild sausage and adjust the heat by adding other spices to the whole batch as desired.
Yes! You can assemble the dressing 1-2 days before, simple cover it in the baking dish and refrigerate until ready to bake. Keep in mind it may need a few extra minutes in the oven when being baked straight from the fridge.
Italian Sausage Thanksgiving Dressing
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound Italian sausage I recommend mild/sweet and then adding additional heat if desired
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 stalks celery chopped
- 5-6 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup mushrooms chopped
- 1 Granny Smith apple, grated a food processor is handy but not necessary
- 1 16-oz. package cubed stuffing or dressing I like Pepperidge Farms; for this recipe, I try to stay away from Stove Top because the flavor is so overwhelming
- 2 ½ cups chicken broth
- 1 cup chopped pecans toasted (optional)
- ½ + cup cranberries, dried optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Lightly spray a 9×13" baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
- Heat a very large skillet or Dutch oven to medium heat and add a light drizzle of olive oil. If necessary, remove sausage casings and crumble the sausage in the pan. As it starts to brown, stir in onions, celery, and garlic. As the sausage cooks, break up larger pieces.
- As the onions begin to turn translucent, stir in mushrooms and apple and cook until the mushrooms are tender.
- Sprinkle dressing mix over the sausage mix and then add chicken broth. Continue stirring as the dressing mix absorbs the liquid. Add in pecans and cranberries (if desired). When the liquid has been incorporated and the mixture is fully mixed, taste and add hot sauce (like Tabasco) to taste.
- Transfer to a 9×13 dish sprayed with cooking spray. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 10 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes.
Notes
- Store leftover dressing in an airtight container in the refrigerator and consume within 3-4 days for best results.
- If you’d like to make this 1-2 days ahead of time, cover it after you place it in the 9×13 pan, and then bake it straight from the fridge.
Questions & Reviews
I have never been a stuffing fan. In fact I wasn't even going to make it this year- also being my first Thanksgiving cooking the meal on my own. My husband told me, however, that we HAD to have stuffing. I'm glad he insisted! It was delicious!!! Everyone raved. I used homemade bread cubes that I toasted made from Peasant Bread. It was very, very good. We love the pecans, cranberries and hot Italian sausage. Thank you to your Dad for meddling!!!
Made this for Thanksgiving this year, and it was a big hit. The sausage was a yummy surprise in there. I also really loved the apple (I cut mine into small chunks) – I had never had stuffing with apple in it and it was YUMMY!!
I've been making something similar to this every year for about the last 10 years. And it's one of those recipes that I never really write down. I like the Brownberry stuffing cubes, especially the sage and onion ones. Instead of grated apples, I use my homemade canned apple pie filling (store bought works, too). I've used slivered almonds with mixed success. Some people in the family really like them and others pick them out. Always through in some craisins and I have to make sure to add extra sage, usually when I'm cooking the sausage to mix it in well.
Can I just tell you that this stuffing was the best I have ever made. I made the sausage, onion, celery and mushroom and apple saute the night before – and I can tell you I could have eaten the whole thing for dinner even before I added the stuffing – DELISH!
Thanks for the recipe – it's a new tradition in my house now!
The blender sounds wonderful. I would like to do things like a pro.
I love your site. The recipes are great!
We were going to see family fcr the holiday but had to canx our trip since our dog (aka our furry child!) had a medical emergency….sooo since we're cooking our own meal I decided your stuff recipe sounded fabulous. I'm making it today….I'll let you know how it all turns out. It sounds divine!
He loved Norway. Someday when we're independently wealthy ;), we'd love to go back so he can show me the sites. I thik the only place to find fresh cloudberries in the US is way up north like Minnesota and even farther north like Alaska. So until I move from the bayou to someplace WAY more arctic, we're stuck with the jars from Ikea! 🙂
Hi Kate
Thanks so much for the advice! I think I will do what you said you do, stuff a little bit and do the dressing as a casserole 🙂 Thanks again! Really helped alot 🙂
I'm from Finland! Right next to Norway 🙂 Did your husband like living in Norway? I love the cloudberries too, named my etsy shop after my daughter, her middle name is Hilla which is cloudberry in Finnish 🙂 I haven't found the berries in the US yet, do you have any hints 🙂
Wild Cloudberry–First of all, where are you from originally? I just ask because my husband lived in Norway for a couple of years and he LOVES cloudberries!
Secondly, that's not a dumb question at all! 🙂 You're right, stuffing goes inside the turkey and dressing is served kind of like a casserole on the side. A lot of people have gotten away from stuffing the bird (or at least eating the stuffing that was stuffed in the bird; some do it for flavoring the turkey) because it's difficult to achieve a safe temperature inside the stuffing without overcooking the breast meat. Sometimes I like to stuff the turkey with a little bit of dressing and discard that after the turkey has cooked and then have a casserole of dressing on the side, you know?
Hope that helps and that you have a FABULOUS Thanksgiving! 🙂