How To Make the Best Sausage and Herb Stuffing

A browned and burnished turkey may be the centerpiece of the Thanksgiving table, but the true star of the meal sits over to the side. Thanksgiving stuffing is the dish I look forward to all year long, and this year I’m making mine with toasty torn sourdough bread; browned sausage; crisp apples; and an abundance of fresh sage, thyme, and parsley. And since this stuffing doesn’t require being “stuffed” in the turkey, there’s no reason not to enjoy this custardy, crouton-crisped dressing throughout the fall and winter.

Thanksgiving stuffing is a savory bread pudding, made by soaking bits of bread in an eggy liquid and baking until the center is tender and moist under a crunchy, browned crust. Start with an unsliced loaf of sourdough or Italian bread from the bakery, or if your sourdough starter is still going strong, make a homemade loaf.

While cutting the bread into cubes is a faster way to prep, the better option (in my humble opinion) is to tear the bread. The irregular pieces have more surface area to absorb the seasoned eggs and broth, ensuring each serving is both tender and toasted. Pressed for time? Give this task to family members — especially kids — since there’s truly no wrong way to tear the bread.

This stuffing is at its best when the bread stales before baking. If you’re assembling the stuffing all at once, bake the torn bread in the oven until it’s dry but not yet browned. You can also leave the bread out at room temperature for a day or two until it is dry; it’s the perfect way to get a head start on holiday meal prep.

Sausage gives this stuffing rich and savory flavor. Reach for either pork or turkey sausage in bulk packages or links, and make sure to remove the casing from the links before you begin. Cook one pound of sausage, breaking it up into crumbles as it browns after sautéing the aromatics. Fat will render as the sausage cooks, so there’s no need to add extra oil to the pan.

After our gardens have gone dormant for the fall, it’s tempting to rely on dried herbs alone. Thankfully, the herbs that make Thanksgiving smell like Thanksgiving — parsley, sage, and thyme — are hearty enough to keep by the window even as the cold weather rolls in, and can be chopped and measured a day in advance without browning. Use any extra sprigs to garnish the top of the stuffing and the turkey platter after all of the cooking is done.