Fig Apple Sausage Stuffing

A delicious Bread Stuffing filled with savory sausage, fresh apple, herbs, and dried figs. Many flavor variations – see them all below!

Are you in Thanksgiving planning mode? I’m squeezing in one more turkey-day recipe just under the wire. Fig, Apple and Sausage Stuffing!

Homemade stuffing is without a doubt, my favorite Thanksgiving side dish. Yes, I love Sweet Potato Casserole, and of course Apple Cider Cranberry Sauce is delicious – but, for this carb-loving gal STUFFING IS WHERE IT’S AT!

Note: If you’re wondering what my Thanksgiving dinner plate will look like, it is roughly 90% stuffing.

How To Make Sausage Stuffing

• Saute sausage until brown and cooked through.
• Add onions, celery and apples to sausage. Cook until tender.
• Combine cubed stale white bread with the sausage mixture.
• Combine egg, chicken broth and herbs, and pour over the bread. Toss to combine.
• Place the stuffing and dried figs in a casserole dish.
• Place small cubes of butter all over the top.
• Bake until golden brown.

Variations of Sausage Stuffing

• I use ½ pound of sweet Italian Sausage. Feel free to use your favorite type/brand of sausage. I like a subtle sausage flavor, but you can absolutely add more if you’d like it stronger.
• Swap your favorite dried fruit for the figs. Dried cranberries or raisins would be delicious. You can also leave out the dried fruit completely.
• Swap some of the white bread for cornbread. You’ll still need 12 cups total bread.
• Add minced fresh sage in place of some of the thyme.
• Swap the celery for finely chopped fresh fennel. This goes great with the fennel flavor in the sausage.

Now, can we talk for a second about why we don’t eat stuffing more often? Every Thanksgiving I am reminded of how comforting a big scoop of savory bread cubes is. And every single Thanksgiving I tell myself – MAKE THIS MORE OFTEN! But, somehow I always forget about its delicious existence until November rolls around again.

This time it has to be different. Because on a random night in December or February, or that first chilly day in September – tell me that a cozy dinner of Sausage Stuffing and a rotisserie chicken wouldn’t make your heart sing? I mean, we should probably start eating stuffing like once a month for dinner. Who’s with me?

MORE THANKSGIVING RECIPES:

• SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE WITH MARSHMALLOWS AND STREUSEL
• PUMPKIN CARROT CAKE
• MAPLE PECAN PIE BARS
• CINNAMON VANILLA HONEY BUTTER
• CREAM CHEESE PUMPKIN PIE
• APPLE CIDER SANGRIA

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Recipe

Fig Apple Sausage Stuffing

A delicious bread stuffing filled with savory sausage, fresh apple, herbs, and dried figs. 

5 from 6 votes

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Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 8 - 12 (as a side dish)

Calories: 331kcal

Author: Allison - Celebrating Sweets

Ingredients

• ▢ ½ pound sausage, I used sweet Italian sausage
• ▢ ⅔ cup finely chopped onion
• ▢ ⅔ cup finely chopped celery
• ▢ ¾ cup finely chopped apple (I leave the skin on), I prefer honeycrisp, pink lady or fuji
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon ground fennel (optional)
• ▢ 10 cups cubed stale white bread, see note
• ▢ 2 large eggs
• ▢ 2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme, or 1 teaspoon each thyme and fresh sage
• ▢ 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
• ▢ 2 cups chicken broth, preferably low sodium
• ▢ ¾ teaspoon salt
• ▢ ⅓ to ½ cup chopped dried figs, or dried cranberries
• ▢ 2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a 2 or 2 ½ quart casserole dish and set aside.
• In a large saucepan, break up sausage and saute until browned and cooked through. If there is a lot of grease, drain all but a couple teaspoons. Add onion, celery and apple, a pinch of salt and pepper and ground fennel (if using). Saute, stirring occasionally, until tender.
• In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, thyme, parsley, chicken broth, and ¾ teaspoon salt. 
• In a large bowl, combine bread cubes, sausage mixture and chicken stock mixture. Toss gently until all the bread is moistened. 
• Place half the stuffing in the prepared casserole dish. Top with half the figs, then repeat with remaining stuffing and figs. Place the pieces of butter all around the top, pressing some down in between the pieces of bread. Spray a piece of foil with nonstick spray and tighty cover the stuffing.
• Bake, covered for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 20-35 minutes. The stuffing is done when the top is golden brown and the inside has reached your desired level of doneness. This will vary based on the size of your dish and whether you want your stuffing more crisp or more moist.

Notes

I used a rustic/artisan white bread that I cut it into bite-size cubes.

To dry out the bread: Place the bread cubes on a baking sheet and bake them at 300°F for 25-35 minutes, until dry and stale. Make sure your bread is plenty dry, so that your stuffing isn't mushy.

 

Nutrition

Calories: 331kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 51mg | Sodium: 1041mg | Potassium: 316mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 190IU | Vitamin C: 7.3mg | Calcium: 203mg | Iron: 3.2mg

Nutritional Information is an estimate based on third-party calculations and may vary based on products used and serving sizes.

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