This sausage dressing recipe is the perfect addition to any Thanksgiving table! It is savory, delicious, and everything, from the bread to the broth is homemade!

Sausage dressing in a cornflower blue corning ware baking dish

Can I scale this recipe up or down?

Of course! This sausage dressing recipe makes A LOT of food and if you don’t want leftovers, or are having a small Thanksgiving gathering, then making a small batch makes complete sense. Here are the adjustments I would make to shrink the recipe:

Use about 4 cups each of bread instead of 8 cups.
Halve the amount of vegetables.
Leave the 1 lbs of sausage.
Halve the amount of herbs and seasonings.
Start with one cup of broth, and slowly add as much as you desire. I personally prefer a dry dressing and don’t add a lot of broth.

You can also super size this recipe by:

Increasing the amount of bread. Use the whole skillet of cornbread, use both loaves of Italian bread, and even the whole loaf of sourdough if you want!
Doubling the vegetables.
Doubling the sausage and herbs.
Adding the broth slowly, but starting with at least 4 cups.

What is the difference between dressing and stuffing?

So… the recipes will be basically the same. The main difference is dressing is a separate baked dish that accompanies a meal. Whereas stuffing is placed inside the chest cavity of the turkey, or other poultry. Stuffing absorbs the fat and juices of the bird as it cooks and dressing must have all of the liquid needed before baking. You can debate about which is better, but personally I prefer dressing. It is easier to get a consistent texture throughout the dish and you can top if with giblet gravy, made from the turkey drippings, for extra flavor! Another plus of dressing over stuffing is, I don’t have to ensure that all of the stuffing is out of the bird before I make bone broth. For me, dressing is the clear winner!

Can I use store bought bread if I don’t have time to make my own?

Of course! I personally don’t see cornbread as an option in many stores, but if you can find it, by all means use it. Honestly, this is one of the reasons I measured out the cubed breads. The recipe that inspired this recipe called for 2 loaves of bread and a batch of cornbread (It is from a cookbook or I would link it). I had no idea how much bread I actually needed! I also ended up needing a bath tub to mix all of the ingredients together! But this recipe does actually fit in a bowl, a large bowl but still a bowl, and is measured.

Tasty Rustic Sourdough Bread resting on a cooling rack

The Benefits of Homemade Bread:

It tastes so much better than store bought bread and you can completely control your ingredients! Store bought bread has preservatives to make it last longer on the shelf, but they aren’t doing anything good for your body. Homemade bread has the exact ingredients you want and can even be nutritious! Finally, homemade bread is easy, I promise! I have made some complicated things in my baking and cooking era, but bread is not one of them. Especially if you have a stand mixer, like a kitchen aid! I was a ceramics major in college so kneading bread was never intimidating for me. I know several people are scared to touch bread because they might mess it, AKA my mom. Let me reassure you: THE BREAD WILL BE FINE! Just like everything, there is a learning curve to kneading dough but it is not complicated!

What type of bread should I use for sausage dressing?

Delicious (homemade if possible) bread! I personally love the combination I came up with of sourdough, Italian bread, and cornbread. Cornbread stuffing is nothing new, especially in the South, but adding in sourdough is not something I have seen others do before. For me, it came down to what do I have on hand and what is easiest! I have been regularly making this sourdough loaf for almost three years now, and always have some on hand. Cornbread is easy to whip up in an afternoon and so is Italian bread. The first time I made Italian bread I was SHOCKED by how easily and quickly it came together! But you can use any sort of crusty bread for the sourdough portion and any sort of soft bread for the Italian bread portion. I still recommend making your own cornbread though! It adds delicious flavor and depth to the dressing!

How do I cut the bread into consistent small cubes?

This might be self-explanatory to some, but to me when I first started cooking I had no idea how to dice irregular shaped ingredients. We will start with the cornbread. I first start by cutting it in half across the entire piece.

A large slice of cornbread cut in half on a wooden cutting board.

Then I cut it into strips.

Large piece of buttermilk cornbread cut in half and then in strips on a wooden cutting board

Then cubes.

Large piece of cornbread cut into small cubes on a wooden cutting board

To cut the sourdough, I first cut it into slices. Then into strips. Then into cubes.

Sourdough bread cut into slices, strips, and cubes on a wooden cutting board

For the Italian bread, I tried this a few different ways. I found that cutting it into traditional slices first, then strips, then cubes, worked best.

Italian herb bread cut into strips and cubes on wooden cutting board

What tools do I need to make sausage dressing?

Cutting board
Bread knife
3 large sheet pans, for drying out the bread
LARGE bowl
Wooden spoon
Measuring cups and spoons
15”x 9” baking dish

Timeline for making sausage dressing:

THREE- FIVE DAYS BEFORE ASSEMBLY:

Bake the sourdough bread.

TWO DAYS BEFORE ASSEMBLY:

Bake Italian Bread and cornbread. Allow them to fully cool and store in a zipper style bag on counter.

ONE DAY BEFORE ASSEMBLY:

Cut all three types of bread into 3/4” cubes. Lay each out on a metal baking sheet to dry.

DAY OF ASSEMBLY:

Check that all bread is dry and ready to be mixed. If they are not dry enough, slightly crispy to the touch, place them in your oven at the lowest temperature it will go, mine is 170 F. Let them bake for 1-2 hours, checking regularly. The cornbread will take the longest to dry out. NOTE: While the bread is warm from the oven it will feel springy, but when cooled it will feel drier. You do not need to bake your bread till it is crouton hard!

Ingredients

¾ batch of cast iron skillet cornbread (Approximately 8 cups)
1 loaf of Italian herb bread (Approximately 8 cups)
½ loaf of rustic sourdough bread (Approximately 8 cups)
1 lb ground breakfast sausage
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 medium onion, diced
2 parsnips, peeled and diced
5 celery stalks with leaves, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
½ bunch fresh parsley, roughly chopped
1 sprig fresh rosemary, leaves stripped and roughly chopped
2 tsp salt
½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp dried thyme
½ tsp dried marjoram
½ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp ground sage
4-6 cups no sodium homemade turkey broth, or low sodium chicken broth

Instructions

1.THE DAY BEFORE: Dice all of the bread into ¾ inch cubes and lay on metal baking sheets to dry out. The goal is a small dice that is relatively uniform on all the different breads.

2. DAY OF: In a large preheated skillet, over medium heat, brown the sausage. Don’t stir the sausage often, you want the dark browning that occurs when you leave the sausage in the hot pan for 2-3 minutes. Stirring will brown all of the sausage faster, but will not give you the same depth of flavor as the fond.

Sausage being cooked in a cast iron skillet

3. Once the sausage is all browned, remove the meat with a slotted spoon to a small plate or bowl.

4. Preheat the oven to 375 F.

5. Leave the fat and drippings from the sausage in the pan and add the butter to start melting.

4 tablespoons of butter melting in a cast iron skillet

6. Once the butter is melted, add your onions, parsnips, and celery. Sauté for about 5 minutes, until vegetables start to soften.

Diced parsnips, onions, and celery in cast iron skillet

7. Add in the garlic, parsley, rosemary, salt, basil, thyme, marjoram, pepper, and sage. Sauté for about 3 minutes, just till the herbs are wilted and the garlic is fragrant.

Herbs added to sautéed vegetables in a cast iron skillet

8. Meanwhile, place half of the dried bread cubes into a very large bowl

9. Turn the heat off of the skillet and add the sausage back to the pan with the vegetable and herbs.

Sausage mixed with sautéed vegetable and herbs in a cast iron skillet

10. Next, add the sausage mixture into the bowl with the bread cubes and stir.

Sausage, vegetables, and cubed bread in a large bowl, sausage dressing

11. Slowly add the remaining bread cubes, and stir until fully combined.

12. Once combined, pour in your turkey broth. Add as much or as little as you desire. Personally, I prefer my stuffing on the dry side. So, I only add 4 cups of broth, this will produce a crumbly dressing that is great with giblet gravy. But, if you want your dressing to be more cohesive simply add in more broth!

A quart mason jar of turkey broth in front of a large bowl of cubed bread and sausage

13. Once you have finished adding the broth, it is time to pour the dressing into your 15”x 9” baking dish.

14. Place the dressing in the oven for 20-25 minutes until everything has warmed through and the top is golden brown.

Baked sausage dressing in a large baking dish

15. Serve sausage dressing warm as a standalone side or top with hot giblet gravy! Enjoy!

The Best Sausage Dressing