Healthy Apple Chicken Sausage Stuffing

This healthy apple chicken sausage stuffing is a lightened up, gluten free take on a classic Thanksgiving side dish! The sweetness from the apple and the savory from the sausage make this stuffing the taste like the holidays.

Stuffing oh stuffing, how I love you SO much.

I mean bread...in butter...with sauteed onions...and then baked to a perfect crisp, what's not to love about stuffing? And then if you're my mom, who is naturally a very skinny lady but is trying to fatten us all up, you will add hearty Italian sausage to your stuffing.

But my gosh, that was the most favorite part of my Thanksgiving every single year. My mom's apple sausage stuffing was what I would dream about until Thanksgiving morning would come and I would help prepare the stuffing and sneak little bites of it before it was ready to be baked. If you love stuffing as much as me, you have to try my Cornbread Sausage Stuffing next!

It was my favorite Thanksgiving dish, hands down. Although I do love roasted squash, pumpkin pie, mini apple pies...

Nothing could beat stuffing in my eyes.

I think that many people would agree with me on this, right? Isn't stuffing the best?

I was making this stuffing on a day where I had a potluck with a couple of my friends and so I brought it to them for part of our dinner and I'm pretty sure they enjoyed it - I left with none!

The best part about this healthy apple sausage stuffing recipe is that its perfect for EVERYONE!

1. It's made from gluten free bread, so you can use your favorite here. I used the one from Whole Food's freezer section since I love it.
2. There is no butter or dairy, so even people who can't tolerate dairy can have it. However, it still has that same Thanksgiving stuffing taste. Magic!
3. You can any type of sausage that you want - regular Italian, chicken, or veggie! Aka perfect for all diets.

It's so incredibly flexible, so even if you see the ingredients below and think you can't make it because of dietary restrictions, I bet you can swap something so it fits.

You can also prep the entire stuffing ahead of time and keep it in your refrigerator until Thanksgiving day when you want to cook it. Just take it out and let it get to room temperature before sticking it in the oven to bake. Or bake it the day before and then just reheat on Thanksgiving Day!

I hope you all love this healthy apple chicken sausage stuffing as much as I do - it is truly delicious!

Erin Antoniak

Healthy Apple Chicken Sausage Stuffing

5 from 2 votes

This healthy apple chicken sausage stuffing is a lightened up, gluten free take on a classic Thanksgiving side dish! The sweetness from the apple and the savory from the sausage make this stuffing the taste like the holidays.

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 50 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Servings: 12 servings

Course: dairy-free, gluten-free, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Calories: 186

Ingredients Method Nutrition

Ingredients

  

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• 12 oz one loaf gluten free bread - I used Whole Food's brand from the freezer, defrosted.
• ½ lb chicken sausage I got from the butcher counter
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ cup chopped celery
• ½ cup chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 teaspoon dried sage
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• 2 apples peeled and chopped (I used Gala + Granny Smith)
• 2 cups chicken broth or veggie!
• 2 eggs whisked.

Method

 

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Cut bread into small cubes and put in large mixing bowl.
3. In a pan, heat one tablespoon olive oil.
4. Take the casing off the sausage so it can be broken up and then place it into hot pan.
5. Once completely cooked, pour sausage and drippings over top of bread.
6. In same pan as sausage once was, heat other tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add in celery and onions and cook for 4-5 minutes.
7. Add in garlic, sage, thyme, salt, pepper, and apples and cook for about 5 minutes or until apples start to soften.
8. Add chicken broth to apple mixture and stir to combine. Then pour mixture over the sausage and bread.
9. Add in whisked eggs.
10. Mix the sausage apple bread mixture with the whisked eggs until completely coated and every piece is wet. If bread still seems too dry, add a little more chicken broth for extra moisture. However, you don't want it to be soaking wet just completely moist.
11. Pour into greased 9x13 pan and bake COVERED for 45 minutes then leave uncovered for the last 5-10 until crispy on top.
12. Enjoy!!

Nutrition

Calories: 186kcalCarbohydrates: 22gProtein: 6gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.4gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.003gCholesterol: 48mgSodium: 664mgPotassium: 74mgFiber: 2gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 223IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 52mgIron: 1mg

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