Some of my very best memories of my childhood are wrapped up into this recipe. Knowing that my cousins would arrive the next day after my Mom made this stuffing was probably the best of all. Going to bed the night before Thanksgiving with the aroma of this cooking in the kitchen & having a little bit of it before I went to bed. Also knowing that we would be sitting around the table with the ones I loved the most, all while eating this Sausage Stuffing made it taste that much better. I would go to bed & dream about this stuffing, knowing I could have an entire plate full & my parents never telling me “No” because they knew I loved it that much.
As I have said before, nothing can bring me back in time like food, the memory of what I wore, and remembering if I had a good hair day or not. I know for certain I can remember each & every Thanksgiving day while I was in my teenage years. Knowing I would be with my cousins & beloved Grandma, and we would all fight over this Sausage Stuffing & my Mom’s pumpkin pie. I was quite strategic in what I wore, because I knew I would have to take on my 2 – 6 foot tall cousins for the last piece of pumpkin pie.
I wont say this recipe is easy, but it’s not hard. I guess I tend to think about people making this for the first time, and thinking it could be overwhelming, but really it’s not. It’s too good to be anything but wonderful, in my opinion.
Just know this, just about everything is in equal parts and that may help you understand & make it easier.
You’ll need to chop 1 big onion & 1 bunch of celery stalk.
Ingredients
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1 bunch of celery stalk (heart of celery) chopped
- 2 sticks of butter
- 1 can of chicken stock - you may need another can for leftovers
- 1 package of cooked ground SAGE sausage - such as Jimmy Dean
- 1 package of cooked ground regular sausage - such as Jimmy Dean
- 1 package of CORNBREAD stuffing mix - such as Mrs. Cubbisons
- 1 package of CLASSIC stuffing mix - such as Mrs. Cubbisons
- 1 tablespoon of Sage or chopped fresh sage
Instructions
- You'll need to use 2 large skillets.
- In one skillet cook both sausage packages & saute together.
- In the other skillet, allow 1 stick of butter to melt, then add your chopped onions & celery.
- Saute & cook your onions & celery until they are slightly brown & translucent
- Once your onion & celery mixture is cooked, add the other stick of butter and allow it to melt in the pan while stirring the mixture together.
- Once it's all melted combine your cooked ground sausage & celery & onion mixture together in one large skillet and add your sage. Reduce to simmer & stir together occasionally for about 10 minutes.
- Then in a very large bowl or large pot (what I use) combine both stuffing packages & your large skillet of sausage, onions & celery. Mix & blend together.
- As needed add your can of chicken broth on top of the stuffing mixture and stir & blend together.
- ***Please know, you may need to add some more chicken stock, depending upon how long you cook your stuffing, or if it just needs more because of dryness.***
- Your stuffing should be moist to the touch & blend together in clumps.
- Generously stuff your Turkey with this dressing, or place in a covered casserole dish to heat at 350* for 20-30 minutes. Depending on the size of casserole dish.
- This recipe will serve many people! You will have leftovers, unless you are serving a family of more than 15.
Trust me when I say, the longest process is the chopping. So once that is done, you’re off & running. 😉
Saute your onions & celery with 1 stick of butter until translucent & slightly brown in a skillet.
Then in the other skillet (at the same time) cook & saute both packages of sausage. (this probably should be the largest skillet you have, since you’ll eventually add the 2 skillets together.) Be prepared to start smelling the amazing Thanksgiving aroma. My Mom always made this the night before, because we would naturally put the turkey in the oven early in the morning. So do this the night before if you’re hosting Thanksgiving. Go ahead & stuff your bird as well to save more time in the morning.
So once you’ve combined the sausage, onion, celery & sage together. You’ll pour both packages of the stuffing mix into a LARGE bowl. If you’re like me and don’t really have a large enough bowl to host both packages & the sausage mixture, just use the next best thing! Your largest soup pot! I mix it all together in the soup pot & then I pour the chicken stock over it, to get it nice & moist. So amazingly good!
After it’s all mixed together & depending on when you’re making it, store it in an air tight container in the fridge or cook it right then, if it’s the day you’ll be serving it. Just remember it’s really best the next day because the flavors seep through & make it taste even better.
The beauty of this recipe to me of course, is the history, the memories behind it & naturally how good it tastes. The sweet dreams it would give me the night before Thanksgiving. Most people tend to make the same recipe of stuffing year after year. I totally get that & understand it, because I’m a living example. But for me during Thanksgiving, I also want to think of the new memories that will be made over new stories while eating this stuffing, new family members that are just kids or dear people that were married into family. To me that’s one of the many beauties of Thanksgiving, is remembering family members, our history, the abundance of food, what we’ve been given, making new memories, and most importantly God’s grace throughout the years.
If you would like to read more of why I love Thanksgiving so much & my sweet memories head over to this post I wrote 3 years ago. I still mean every singe word I wrote back then. Because in the end what matters most is the ones you love & the memories you make with them.
If you would like to make a Turkey breast the easiest way – ever, here’s my post on Slow Cooker Turkey. The prep time for this is under 10 minutes & you then you just let the Slow Cooker do the rest.
Here’s another great idea for your Thanksgiving Table: easy & under 10 minutes elegant Placecards for your Thanksgiving Table