The best parts of Thanksgiving are all the classic side dishes! Serve this homemade healthier apple sausage stuffing and feel free to indulge in family-favorite comfort food.

A Quick Look

Recipe Name: Healthier Apple Sausage Stuffing
Ready In: 75 minutes
Serves: 10 -12 servings
Main Ingredients: heaping cups cubed sandwich bread, chicken sausage, olive oil, celery, yellow onion, garlic, apples, dried sage
Why You'll Love It: The best parts of Thanksgiving are all the classic side dishes! Serve this homemade healthier apple sausage stuffing and feel free to indulge in family-favorite comfort food.

Apple Sausage Stuffing for Thanksgiving

Thick chunks of cooked apples among the savory sausage crumbles, all baked in a chewy bread stuffing. This is the ultimate holiday side dish. And when you make this recipe, the herbs and spices waft through the air.

Your entire house will smell amazing when you make it.

Stuffing is stereotypically a Thanksgiving side dish. And since the apple harvest season is the end of October, this is the perfect way to cook up some ripe apples, making it a quintessential fall recipe.

Since some people like having multiple stuffing recipes at Thanksgiving, I wanted to share my Cornbread Sausage Stuffing too.

Ingredients

The entire recipe is in the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post. Here's what you need to have on hand before you start cooking.

Cubed sandwich bread - both white and wheat
Chicken sausage
Olive oil
Celery
Garlic
Onion
Gala apples
Sage
Thyme
Salt
Pepper
Chicken Broth
Eggs
Dried Cranberries

Kitchen Tools Used

This is what I used to make my stuffing.

Large mixing bowl
Skillet
9x13 Casserole Dish

What Type of Apples Are Best For Stuffing?

This is supposed to be a savory dish with a hint of sweetness. If you use granny smith, it will taste too tart. And if you use Fuji or Red Delicious apples, the sweetness will overpower the spices.

I used gala apples for my stuffing recipe. It has the perfect balance of sweet and tart.

What Type of Sausage Is Best?

To keep the fat content lower, I used chicken sausage. You can also use pork sausage too. I just prefer the taste of chicken sausage in general, but you can use either. This chicken sausage is the one that comes from the tube and is near the other meats. It should easily be able to crumble when you cook it (not the links!). You can ask your butcher if you aren't sure.

Best Bread for Homemade Stuffing

I used a combination of white and wheat sandwich bread. You don't have to use any special type of bread. The rest of the ingredients will overpower the bread, it plays more of a supporting role.

However, if you want a little extra texture in your stuffing, crumble up some french bread. Lots of people love putting French bread in their stuffing recipes.

Should you make stuffing inside the turkey?

I prefer to bake this as a stand-alone side in the oven, outside of the turkey. It is actually easier to bake it in a separate dish, believe it or not.

Stuffing the turkey with bread and spices will slow down the cooking time. I prefer to save time, not take longer.

If you want to put the stuffing in the turkey, let the turkey cook a bit before putting it inside.

How Long to Cook Apple Sausage Stuffing

There are four main ways you can cook this recipe. Here are the cooking times for each cooking method.

Outside the Turkey : Cook for 50-55 minutes
Inside the Turkey: Cook for about 1-2 hours
In the Slow Cooker: Cook on high for 30 minutes, then on low for 3-4 hours

More Stuffing Ideas

This is my favorite recipe, but there are still ways you can personalize it for your family. Here are some ways you can change it up.

Mix in chopped walnuts
Sprinkle in some raisin
Add some dried parsley

How to Make Apple Sausage Stuffing Ahead of Time

I love finding ways to save myself time in the kitchen. This recipe can be made ahead of time. Then, all you have to do is heat it up in the oven before dinner.

To make the stuffing ahead of time, just follow these steps:

Cook the sausage completely in a skillet, then transfer to a bowl.
Saute the rest of the veggies with the spices in the skillet.
Put the sauteed veggies, apples, bread crumbs, and sausage in a large bowl and mix them up together.
Put this mixture in your 9x13 baking dish.
Keep this in the refrigerator for up to two days before or in the freezer for up to two weeks.
When you're ready to cook, bring the dish to room temperature and then bake in the oven.

A Healthier Apple Sausage Stuffing Side Dish

There are lots of ways this stuffing recipe is actually quite good for you. Just look at these stats:

Lower in fat - It has less fat than traditional stuffing recipes
Nut-free
High in vitamin C
High in protein

More Health Thanksgiving Side Dishes

While you are making your menu, add these to the list. You will love how fresh and full of flavor they are.

Erin Antoniak