This light and fluffy apple sausage stuffing is the perfect side dish for Thanksgiving dinner. It’s so good, you’ll want to make it more than once a year. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Food, family, and giving thanks for the many blessings I’ve been given. Simple. Non-commercialized. Delicious. You can’t get better than that.

If you’ve been around my blog for long, you know my family takes food very seriously. My husband laughs that he’s never seen a family discuss food with quite the enthusiasm that mine does. I guess that’s what comes from growing up in the middle of one the most productive agricultural areas in the world.

So, when I tell you that you NEED this stuffing in your life, I don’t say it lightly. This is nothing like the soggy, overly seasoned stuffing from a box. It’s light, fluffy, and full of complex flavors. I will seriously eat an entire plate of this stuff leftover after Thanksgiving.It’s my mom’s creation, evolved from her attempts to find a stuffing she actually would want to make and eat. One Christmas, she had some leftover sausage from breakfast and decided to combine it with sautéed apples and some of the more traditional stuffing ingredients to make this version–It’s now our family’s traditional dish every Thanksgiving.

The nice thing about this recipe is that you can prep everything and even assemble it the day before, and then just refrigerate until you’re ready to bake it. When you’re making a feast with multiple dishes, it’s nice to spread out the cooking.

Apple Sausage Stuffing

Note: You can easily make your own bread cubes for stuffing by buying a large loaf of bread (I prefer sourdough) and cutting it up into cubes (about 1/2-1 inch). Spread the cubes out on a cookie sheet and allow it to dry out overnight, or toast in the oven at 200 degrees until it’s pretty dry.

Ingredients:

• 1 package Johnsonville Maple Pork Sausage links
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup celery, chopped
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1-2 apples, peeled, sliced, and diced
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons parsley
• 1 Tablespoon poultry seasoning (*learn to make your own), more to taste
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1-2 cups chicken broth (depending on how moist you like your stuffing)
• 1 large bag of bread cubes (about 10 cups…see note)

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, cook sausage thoroughly. Drain, cool slightly and cut into 1/2 inch rounds. Set aside.
2. Using the same pan, melt the butter. Add celery, onions, and apples. Saute 3-5 minutes until slightly soft.
3. Add parsley, poultry seasoning, salt & pepper. Stir to combine. Add sausage back in.
4. Add bread cubes to pan and toss gently to coat them with the mixture.
5. Drizzle chicken broth over mixture until moistened. You may need to add more broth depending on how much bread you use and how moist you like your stuffing ( I usually use about one 15 oz. can).
6. Place stuffing in an oven-safe casserole dish or 9×13 pan. Cover with foil an refrigerate until needed or bake at 350 degrees (or whatever temperature your oven is at for cooking a turkey…it’s not fussy) for about 30 minutes, until heated through.

Source: The Many Little Joys

Oh, and if you want to eat heaven in roll-form, add these perfect potato rolls to your menu this year, too. Trust me. Your life will never be the same.

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