Name: Cranberry-Sage Stuffing
Prep time: 25 min
Total time: 140 min
Ingredients: 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more, softened, for dish; 1 loaf rye sandwich bread (1 pound), such as Levy’s; 6 ounces breakfast sausage, crumbled (about 1 cup); 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped (1 1/2 cups); 4 celery stalks, coarsely chopped (2 cups); Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper; 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage leaves; 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves; 6 ounces fresh or thawed frozen cranberries (1 1/2 cups); 1 1/4 cups turkey or chicken stock, preferably homemade, divided; 2 large eggs

Cranberry-Sage Stuffing

5.0

(1)

1 Review

It's the best partner for roast turkey or other roasted poultry.

Greg Lofts

Published on October 31, 2024

Cranberry Stuffing — Photo:
David Malosh

Prep Time:

25 mins

Total Time:

2 hrs 20 mins

Servings:

8 to 10

The stuffing is everyone's favorite Thanksgiving side dish—in fact, some people rate it over the big bird itself. One bite of this cranberry stuffing, and you'll see why the side gets so much love. The combination of pork sausage, rye bread, fresh or frozen cranberries, and sage creates an aromatic, flavor-packed dish whether you bake it in a dish or use it to stuff poultry. We created this recipe to pair with our roasted game hens, but it works just as deliciously with roast chicken or turkey.

How to Get Ahead With Making Stuffing

To get ahead when making this stuffing as part of a big dinner, you can toast and cut the bread up as far as three days ahead—store it in an airtight container at room temperature.
The stuffing can be prepared through the second step a day ahead and refrigerated until ready to bake.

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Ingredients

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more, softened, for dish
1 loaf rye sandwich bread (1 pound), such as Levy’s
6 ounces breakfast sausage, crumbled (about 1 cup)
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped (1 1/2 cups)
4 celery stalks, coarsely chopped (2 cups)
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage leaves
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
6 ounces fresh or thawed frozen cranberries (1 1/2 cups)
1 1/4 cups turkey or chicken stock, preferably homemade, divided
2 large eggs

Directions

Preheat oven, prepare baking dish and dry bread in oven:

Preheat oven to 375˚F. Brush a 1-to-1 1/2-quart baking dish with butter. Shingle bread on a rimmed baking sheet in a single overlapping layer. Bake, flipping once, until golden and very dry, about 25 minutes. When cool enough to handle, cut into approximately 1-inch pieces; transfer to a large bowl.

Use a 2 1/2-to-3- quart dish if not using some of the dressing to stuff a bird.
Cook sausage, onion, and celery; add herbs:

Heat butter in a large skillet over medium. When butter melts and foam subsides, add sausage, onion, and celery; season generously with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sausage is cooked through and vegetables are tender, but no color has developed, 10 to 12 minutes. Stir in herbs and cook just until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Combine with bread mixture; add cranberries and some stock:

Transfer to bowl with bread mixture along with cranberries and 1 cup stock. Season and toss to combine.
Mix remaining stock with eggs and stir into bread mixture:

Whisk remaining 1/4 cup stock with eggs. Pour over bread mixture and gently stir to combine.
Divide stuffing for game hens and baking dish:

Reserve 4-6 cups stuffing for game hens and transfer remaining to prepared dish. Cover with parchment-lined foil.
Bake:

Bake 30 minutes. Uncover and continue baking until top is crisp and golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes more. Let cool at least 10 minutes or loosely covered up to 30 minutes. Serve warm.