Skillet Sausage Stuffing goes from simple ingredients to crowd pleasing holiday deliciousness in about 30 minutes all in your favorite cast iron skillet.
Looking for more Thanksgiving recipes? Try our Green Bean Casserole or Homemade Cranberry Sauce.
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Don't want to stuff your bird this year? No problem.
This is my family's traditional homemade sausage stuffing that we adapted for a 12" cast iron skillet. Technically, it's a dressing, not a stuffing, since we're not stuffing it in the bird...but semantics.
Can I make stuffing the day before Thanksgiving?
If you're looking to lighten the load on Thanksgiving, cooking some dishes ahead of time is an excellent idea. This skillet sausage stuffing is one you can make a day or even two, ahead of time.
This dressing recipe pre-cooks all the raw ingredients before it's assembled, making it perfectly safe to store properly in the refrigerator until cooking time.
However, do not store it in the cast iron skillet. Place it in a sealed container.
Our Dutch Oven Honey Glazed Carrots is another recipe that can be made ahead and rewarmed on the big day.
Easy Sausage Stuffing Recipe
Prep your ingredients and read through the entire recipe card before beginning.
Once the skillet is piping hot, crumble in the sage sausage. You can use regular pork sausage if you want, but increase the amount of herbs and seasoning when assembling the dressing. We highly recommend the sage sausage though.
Once the sausage has been transferred, toss in the three sticks of butter (yes 3). As they melt in what can only be described as culinary ecstasy, toss in the onions and celery.
Once the onions and celery have softened, about 5 minutes or so, add the sausage back to the skillet and mix well.
The mixture will be utterly tantalizing swimming in that luscious pool of butter, but only sample a bite or two. It's far to easy to over-taste-test and you could end up without enough mixture for the stuffing.
Rotate stirring in the bread and broth until all the bread has been incorporated and it's desired moisture. You want it to be moist (sorry if you hate that word) but not soggy.
Cover and toss it in the oven to bake.
Easy Holiday Side Dish Recipes
Here are several more recipes from my blogger colleagues to help complete your holiday table.
Make sure to check out all the awesome Holiday Side Dishes:- Porcini Pancetta Dressing from The Complete Savorist
- 5 Ingredient Corn Casserole from Cheese Curd in Paradise
- Apple Cranberry Pecan Salad from Blogghetti
- Bacon Wrapped String Beans from Family Around the Table
- Cranberry, Apple, & Pecan Wild Rice Pilaf from Sweet Beginnings
- Creamy Potato and Apple Gratin from Palatable Pastime
- Disney's Pumpkin Soup from Simply Inspired Meals
- Dudhi Kofta (Bottle Gourd Fritters) from Cook with Renu
- Orange Cranberry Sauce from Karen's Kitchen Stories
- Pancetta Brussels Sprouts from A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures
- Pumpkin Rolls with Herbs and Sea Salt from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
- Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Apples, and Onions from A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Roasted Carrots with Fresh Herbs from Our Good Life
- 12-inch cast iron skillet
- 1 lb sage sausage
- 1½ cups butter 3 sticks
- ⅓ cup celery (1 rib)
- ¾ cup onion (1 medium)
- ½ teaspoon salt to taste
- ½ teaspoon pepper to taste
- ½ teaspoon rubbed sage
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 12 oz dried bread (package; 1 fresh loaf dried)
- 29 oz chicken broth Two - 14.5 oz cans;
- Pre-heat oven to 350°F.
- Heat the skillet over medium high heat.
- Crumble and cook the sausage completely through, about 5 minutes.
- Drain off any renderings and transfer to a bowl; set aside.
- Return the skillet to the heat, and add the butter.
- Once the butter has melted, add the celery, onions, herbs, and seaonings.
- Cook for 4-6 minutes or until the vegetables begin to soften.
- Return the sausage to the skillet, stir well to combine and heat through.
- Begin to stir in the bread, adding the broth as needed. (see notes)
- Continue rotating between bread and broth until all the bread has been incorporated and the stuffing has reached its desired moisture.
- Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove the foil and resume baking for an additional 5 minutes if a crispy top is desired.
- Serve and enjoy.
Our favorite tools to make Skillet Sausage Stuffing!
Lodge Blacklock 12" Cast Iron Skillet
Buy Now →BuzzyWaxx Original Blend - Cast Iron and Carbon Steel Seasoning
Buy Now →Other Related Thanksgiving Recipes
If you tried this Skillet Sausage Stuffing or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
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Skillet Sausage Stuffing
Equipment
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Nutrition
Dutch Oven Daddy is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is only an estimate. We recommend running the ingredients through an online nutritional calculator if you need to verify any information.
Alison
Not a stuffing fan but this was great.
Dutch Oven Daddy
Glad you liked it.
Travis
Stuffing is usually not popular with my family. I was excited to see how quick this went at this recent thanksgiving. I made the dried bread homemade and it really added some flavor.
Micki Kell
I made this stuffing and doubled it. I left out one cube of butter 4oz and it was still very moist.
This dish has wonderful flavor and got raves but it would still be excellent with even less butter.
We’ll have this one again for sure!!!
Dutch Oven Daddy
So happy to hear you and your guests enjoyed it.
Mitch Duffy
This is a variation of the Morrison Woods recipe from I believe the 1960’s. My family has had it literally every year since! Added to this in the original are mushrooms (sautéed) slivered almonds, and a bit of cooking sherry. Lastly, use even amounts of white, wheat, and rye breads. Enjoy!
Michelle De La Cerda Nash
I love the idea of adding mushrooms. Your version sounds wonderful.
Renu
I would not mind serving this as a main course too. The filling with all the herbs sounds yummy.
Ned Adams
Thank you so much! I agree with you, this is a very very filling recipe that can stand alone.
Tamara Morrison
I'm going to try this camping. Do you think the same cook times apply nestling the dutch oven down in a campfire?
Ned Adams
You should be able to make this camping. Your cool times many vary depending on the outside conditions.
Simply Inspired Meals
Looks like a very tasty stuffing dish. My family would enjoy this.
Ned Adams
Thank you so much!
Lisa Kerhin
I need to make my stuffing on the stove top now! We use a spicy sausage in ours, but I like that you used the sage sausage.
Ned Adams
Spicy sausage sounds amazing, to give it an extra kick. Thanks for sharing, I'm going to have to try that.
Karen
I love that you can make this in in a skillet! What a gorgeous and delicious sounding stuffing recippe!
Ned Adams
Thank you! Thats one thing I love about cast iron, you can go stove top to oven within seconds.
Wendy Klik
Forget the side plate, hand me a dinner plate!!
Ned Adams
That's what I'm talking about! 🙂
Hezzi-D
Love that you made this on the stove top. Sausage in my stuffing is a favorite!
Ned Adams
Thank you!