This post may contain affiliate links. Read disclosure policy
Our Sausage Dressing Recipe, or sausage stuffing if that’s what your family calls it, is the side dish of Thanksgiving. Seasoned bread cubes and bites of sausage all baked up into a crispy but creamy mixture of carby-goodness.
It’s The Thanksgiving Side You Just Really Need
I grew up eating Stove Top Stuffing from the canister and I’ll be honest – I’m not mad about it. I am embarrassingly in love with Stove Top and crave that nostalgic flavor even now.
But, then I met my husband, had Thanksgiving with his family, and got to enjoy his grandpa’s infamous sausage dressing recipe.
I don’t want to say that this is the best best thing to come out of marriage (we do have 2 children, after all), but I will say that it certainly makes the list.
Is this a traditional recipe? No, probably not. In fact, some of you are going to scoff and click away in disdain because – wait for it – the recipe calls for cream of chicken soup.
I’m sorry, please just trust me. It makes the most dense, crispy-edged, creamy-middle stuffing/dressing situation and I honestly can not get enough of it.
Not only do I fill my plate during Thanksgiving dinner, I also eat it cold straight from the fridge for breakfast on Black Friday.
It’s just really dang good, and that’s what I want out of a Thanksgiving side dish, you know?
3 Reasons You’ll Love This Recipe
- Simple ingredients. Everything you need is probably already in your pantry or fridge. No specialty store runs required or fancy ingredients.
- Make-ahead friendly. You can prep the bread the night before and even assemble the whole dish a day ahead. One less thing to worry about on Thanksgiving Day.
- Major crowd-pleaser. This is the kind of side dish that has people coming back for seconds. Savory, comforting, and packed with flavor.
Ingredient Notes:
Bread – You’ll need one loaf of white bread for this recipe. Stuffing cubes could also be used here but just try to get the same amount in weight so that the proportions all work out. My family does prefer this made with white bread.
Sausage – We’re using a sage flavored ground sausage. You’ll find this with the other breakfast sausage rolls.
Veggies – We use a classic combo of diced onion and celery.
Cream of Chicken Soup – I normally use my homemade cream of chicken soup for these types of recipes, but Grandpa used the canned stuff and that’s what I usually grab too in this instance. Cream of mushroom (or my homemade cream of mushroom soup) also works well in this dish.
Seasoning – Ground sage, poultry seasoning, and a nice sprinkle of salt round everything out.
How to Make Sausage Dressing:
Tear the bread into bite sized pieces and place in a 9×13 baking dish to toast until it is stale. Alternately do this the night before and leave it on the counter overnight.
Brown the sausage, onions, and celery until the sausage has cooked through. Do not drain the grease. Add the bread to a large bowl and pour the sausage and veggies over the top.
Add in the canned soup and seasonings and stir well to combine. You may need to add extra water or broth to get the mixture moist enough. Pour it into the 9×13 baking dish and smooth with a spoon. Top with more sage.
Sprerad into a 9×13 dish, cover with foil, and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and finish baking uncovered for 15 minutes or until it has browned on the top. Serve hot.
Serving Suggestions:
This sausage dressing recipe is an excellent Thanksgiving side dish but it can really be served any time of the year! I usually sneak it in a few times a year beyond Thanksgiving and it’s always met with happy surprise.
- Green Bean Casserole with Bacon
- Sweet Potato Casserole
- Roasted Sweet Potatoes
- Pumpkin Crunch Cake
- Cream Cheese Corn
- Chocolate Pecan Pie
Freezing & Storage Instructions
Refrigerator: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Freezer: This freezes beautifully. Let it cool completely, then wrap tightly in foil and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
Reheating: Warm in a 350°F oven covered with foil until heated through, about 20-25 minutes. You can also microwave individual portions and this method will keep your stuffing from drying out.
Recipe FAQs:
The ingredients for dressing and stuffing tend to be the same, but the method is different. Dressing is baked in a casserole dish and stuffing is stuffed inside a turkey.
We use regular white bread here that has been toasted or left out overnight to go stale. You can use stuffing cubes or other types of bread here too.
We like to use sage sausage for this recipe! If you’re not a big fan of the sage flavor you can definitely use a ground sausage that has different seasonings.
Sausage Dressing Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 loaf white bread
- 1 pound sage flavored ground sausage
- 1 cup diced celery
- 1 cup diced onion
- 26 ounce can cream of chicken soup
- 1 teaspoon ground sage
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- water or broth as needed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Tear bread into bite sized pieces, place in 9×13 dish and put bread in oven to toast. Or, if you like to think ahead, just lay the bread out on a baking dish and leave it on the counter overnight. It'll be perfectly stale the next day and ready to use, no toasting required.
- Brown sausage, onions and celery until sausage has cooked through. Do not drain the grease.
- Add the torn bread to a very large bowl and pour the sausage and vegetables over the top. Add the canned soup, sage, salt, and poultry seasoning and stir well to combine.
- The mixture should be very moist. Add in a 1/4-1/2 cup of water or broth, depending on how wet/dry the mixture is. It should be wet, but not soupy.
- Pour mixture into the 9×13 baking dish and smooth with the back of a spoon and sprinkle with sage.
- Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes or until browned on top.
- Serve hot.
Fran. Mi State fan says
going to give my nephew a run for his money!!! will let you know if I can knock him out of the park with your recipe.
Karly Campbell says
Haha, good luck!! Hope it’s a big hit!
BARBARA L STEIBER says
This sounds delicious. I have plain “country” sausage available-any suggestions on how much sage seasoning to add? Thanks
Karly Campbell says
I’d add around a teaspoon of dried sage and then taste and add more if you think it needs it. 🙂
sheila doiron says
where can you buy a 26 0z can of soup
,or, is it an error
Karly says
The generic store brand is often 26 ounces. You can also buy 3 smaller cans and just use 2 1/2 of them. 🙂
Linda Phillips says
What size loaf of bread are you using? They seem to all be different .
Karly says
Around 20 ounces. 🙂
joy says
my Grandmas recipe is similar. we use apples ? as well and turkey stock in place of chicken soup. love it!
Teresa says
My family uses a similar recipe but we include seasoned pork sausage (sold in a roll), mashed potatoes and chicken broth plus an egg or two (depends on how much stuffing You are making) plus onions and seasoning -we stuff it in the cavity at both ends and roast for the appropriate time based on the weight of the bird which gives it more flavor and baste the bird while it cooks – covered with lid or foil & remove for the last hour so the skin browns.
Karly says
Sounds delicious!
Teresa says
It is very good – my grandfather developed the recipe when he worked as a cook in a mining camp, we don’t have a specific recipe and I forgot to include chicken broth to moisten the dressing as it shouldn’t be dry, you can use low sodium broth and additional spices – sage, etc.
Liz says
I made the sausage stuffing and slightly salty to taste…any suggestions?
Karly says
Hi Liz! Sorry you found this too salty. You could use reduced-sodium cream of chicken next time. That and the sausage are the only things with salt, so it’ll be coming from one of these. We use Campbell’s and Jimmy Dean and never find it too salty.
Julia Carter says
Oh darlin’ you’re close. Try adding some apple cubes to it. I don’t quite make this grandpas way but it has the celery, onions and bread. The cubed apples put a special twist to it, especially if you get bold and use Granny Smith apples. This year I’m using Honey Crisp. You’re right though, sausage dressing is da’ bomb!
Maggie Martin says
NOT a dressing/stuffing fan at all but my daughter-in-law’s mom made a sausage stuffing for her Pork Crown Roast that was amazing. Unfortunately we lost her 18 months ago, miss her always.
Will give this a try and see how far we can take it. Thanks Karly
Maggie
Karly says
Oh, I’m sorry to hear of your loss. I hope this sausage dressing brings a smile to your daughter in law. 🙂
Pam says
Karly,
My mother-in-law passed away this year, and with her, she took her recipe for a dressing almost exactly like this. It was my husband’s favorite, and I so desperately wanted to make it for him. My father-in-law sent me an email with the ingredients (and a guess at the amounts) that he knew were in it from 50+ years of seeing her make it, but his perceived proportions seemed a little off to me. So I googled “sausage cream of mushroom bread stuffing” and found your site. I prepared it for Christmas & my husband said it was perfect. I just wanted to let you know how much it meant to him & to me. I hope you had a very Merry Christmas!
Blessings,
Pam
Karly says
Hi Pam,
Thank you so much for sharing. <3 I'm so glad that you were able to make this for your husband. Hope you had a wonderful holiday.
Lee says
Skip the soup- use chicken broth instead.
Use stale cornbread, not white bread.
Use more sage.
Add a box of Stovetop Mix- Cornbread Style- made according to directions. Makes the dish more familiar to American palates.
DO NOT STUFF IN BIRD, cook in separate pan.