Slow Cooker Sausage Stuffing
The stuffing is buttery soft with a bit of texture from onions and celery. It's packed with flavor from fresh rosemary, sage, thyme, and parsley. Juicy sausage adds wonderful richness. I used hot Italian sausage and it lends great depth of flavor without being spicy and you don't even need to brown it. The stuffing is so easy and made in the slow cooker, awesome for Thanksgiving or other holidays because it's one less thing that ties up your oven. Make sure you start with day-old or stale French bread.
Yield: serves 8 to 12
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: about 4 to 5 hours on low
Total Time: 15+ hours, allowing for bread to dry out overnight
Ingredients:
- one pound loaf French bread, diced into 1-inch cubes and allowed to dry out for about 12 hours
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, diced into 1/4-inch pieces
- 1 extra-large sweet Vidalia or yellow onion, diced small (about 2 cups)
- 1 cup celery, diced small
- 3 tablespoons fresh rosemary (sticks discarded), finely minced
- 3 tablespoons fresh sage (stems discarded), finely minced
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme (sticks discarded), finely minced
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- 1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 pound ground Italian sausage (I used hot but you can use mild; sausasge should be raw and the not precooked type)
- 1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley, or to taste
Directions:
- Place bread inside a 6-quart slow cooker that's been lined with a slow cooker liner or sprayed with cooking spray. Allow bread to dry out and become stale for about 12 hours (overnight).
- The next day, add the butter, onion, celery, rosemary, sage, thyme, salt, pepper, chicken broth and stir to combine.
- Evenly crumble the sausage in small, bite-sized pieces over the bread mixture.
- Cover and cook on low for about 4 to 5 hours, or until vegetables are tender and sausage is cooked through. All slow cookers vary in their intensity so cook until done.
- Stir the sausage into the bread mixture, taste, and check for seasoning balance. Add more salt, pepper, or additional herbs if desired, to taste.
- Add the parsley and stir to incorporate. Cover and cook for 5 minutes before serving (Adding the parsley at the end allows it to stay green, vibrant, and lends nice visual appeal). Stuffing will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Recipe from Averie Cooks. All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or simply link back to this post for the recipe. Thank you.
