Sausage, Cranberry, Chardonnay and Apple Stuffing
A delicious sweet and savory mix of sausage, herbs, sourdough bread, cranberries and apple make up this delicious stuffing recipe.
Thanksgiving isn’t complete without stuffing. Technically when you call something stuffing, that means is cooked inside the turkey, which I don’t do. So this should be called a dressing, but I’m sticking with the original recipe title this time. Anyhow, this Sausage, Cranberry and Apple Stuffing uses sourdough bread and white wine which are a nice twist to the traditional white bread stuffing.
My only change would be to use more liquid next time around. I used a premade stuffing mix from a nice local bakery, but the bread is rock hard that way and it could have used more chicken stock for sure.
I would keep that in mind if you use premade stuffing in your dish as well. If you are wondering what a premade stuffing mix is, when I use that term it simply means a bag of already cut and dried bread pieces. No spices or seasonings added. Enjoy!
Sausage, Cranberry, Chardonnay and Apple Stuffing
Equipment
- 2 baking sheets
- 9×13-inch casserole dish
- aluminum foil
Ingredients
- 10 cups sour dough bread cubed (1 loaf)
- 1 cup sweetened dried cranberries
- 1 medium apple peeled, cored and chopped
- 32 oz pork sausage (2 16 oz pkgs.)
- ½ cup shallots finely diced (or onions)
- ½ cup pecans chopped
- ½ cup fresh parsley chopped
- 3 tablespoons fresh sage finely chopped and divided (1 tbsp dried)
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary finely chopped (1 tsp dried)
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme chopped (1/3 tsp dried)
- 1 cup chardonnay wine
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 2 large eggs lightly beaten
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Place cubed sourdough on 2 baking sheets. Bake 10-15 minutes, stirring bread occasionally until toasted, but not browned. Place toasted bread cubes into extra large bowl, add cranberries and apples. Set aside.
- Butter 9×13-inch casserole dish. Set aside.
- In large skillet over medium heat, cook sausage using spatula to break it up as it cooks.
- Add 1 1/2 tablespoons sage. Cook through, but do not brown. Remove sausage from skillet using slotted spoon and add it to bowl with bread cubes. Leave 2 tablespoons of sausage drippings in the pan (drain any extra) and add shallots. Cook until translucent; add pecans, herbs and remaining sage to skillet. Cook 2 minutes stirring frequently. Pour shallot herb mixture into bowl with bread cubes.
- Add wine to skillet and scrape browned bits from bottom of pan as it cooks. Add butter and chicken stock. Bring to boil for 3 minutes, remove from heat and pour over bread cubes in bowl. Add eggs. Toss gently until combined and pour into prepared baking dishes.
- Cover with foil and bake 40 minutes at 350-f. Remove foil and bake 15 minutes more.
Stuffing is my favorite!