Simple Apple and Sausage Stuffing

Stuffing is tough. There are so many variations out there, and I don't feel like I have found my absolute go to recipe yet. I'm happy to keep trying tasty new recipes every year at Thanksgiving. In fact I'm already pinning some more recipes to make outside of the Thanksgiving season. Why not?

I was really happy with this recipe from Ina Garten. I think this is a good compromise to please lovers of bread stuffing and meat stuffing alike. The apples add a subtle tartness and sweetness that I was a surprisingly big fan of. I wrote the recipe below as halved from the original, but for Thanksgiving I will be increasing it back up to the full portion.



Simple Apple and Sausage Stuffing

1 lb baguette, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
4 tbsp butter
1 cups onion (about one small onion) medium dice
1 granny smith apple, peeled and cored, large dice
1 stalk of celery, medium dice
1 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
Sat and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 lb sweet Italian sausage
1 cups chicken stock

Preheat the oven to 300°. Spread the bread cubes out in a single layer on a sheet pan. Bake for 9 minutes until the bread cubes are slightly dried out. Pour the bread cubes into a large bowl.

Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until it begins to soften. Add the apple and celery and cook for 10 minutes. Add the parsley, salt and pepper to taste. Remove the aromatics to the same large bowl as the bread cubes.

In the same frying pan, brown the sausage. Add the browned sausage to the bowl with the bread cubes.

Raise the oven temperature to 350°. Pour the chicken stock over the bread cubes mixture and toss everything together to combine. Add the mixture to an 8x8 baking disk and bake for 30 minutes until the top begins to brown.