I use fresh Italian basil sausage in this recipe, but if you don’t have that available to you, use ground sausage.
Basil sausage stuffing is earning rave reviews from family and friends! It is easy to make, doesn’t require stuffing a bird and it reheats well–especially to make a nice sandwich with cold cuts and cranberry mayo!
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
ingredients
- 2 1//2 cups seasoned stuffing mix
- 3 cups chicken, vegetable or turkey stock
- 1 lb basil sausage
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup each, diced carrots & celery
- 3/4 cup diced onions
- 1 tsp each, thyme, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper
- 2 tsp parsley
cooking instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Put onions, carrots and celery in a heavy bottomed (OVEN PROOF!) saute pan; add butter and turn heat to medium
- Saute until onions are translucent (about 5 minutes)
- Add sausage (remove casing); break up sausage and stir to ensure that the sausage cooks thoroughly
- Add spices, salt & pepper; cook for about 3 minutes — until the spices are aromatic
- Combine sausage mix with stock and stuffing mix in the saucepan; once all ingredients are incorporated, place in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour (until the stuffing mix is moist, but not wet)
Variations: Basil sausage stuffing is delicious as is, but for added crunch, use 3/4 cup finely chopped water chestnuts. Or, for a bit of sweetness, add 1/2 cup very finely diced Granny Smith apples. Prefer a tart note in your stuffing? Add 1/3 cup very finely diced dried cranberries. By the way: you can use this to stuff a bird, if you like: I do recommend pre-cooking the stuffing as described to ensure that it is at a safe temperature and there is enough moisture from the stock that it won’t be dry.