Slow Cooker Sausage Stuffing — This sausage stuffing is super easy to make since the slow cooker does all the hard work for you! There’s no sauteing or browning required at all and you can FREE UP YOUR OVEN!!
Table of Contents
- The BEST Sausage Stuffing Recipe
- Slow Cooker Sausage Stuffing Ingredients
- How to Make Slow Cooker Stuffing with Sausage
- Can I Prep This Stuffing in Advance?
- Can I Make This with Cornbread?
- Can I Replace the Bread with Store-Bought Stuffing Cubes?
- Tips for Making the Best Stuffing Recipe with Sausage
- Slow Cooker Sausage Stuffing Recipe
- More Easy Thanksgiving Sides:
The BEST Sausage Stuffing Recipe
My family loves stuffing. It’s definitely their favorite Thanksgiving side dish, hands down. I wanted to try a new stuffing recipe this year and they told me this one is a keeper.
This slow cooker stuffing is buttery soft with a bit of texture from onions and celery. It’s packed with flavor from fresh rosemary, sage, thyme, and parsley. Juicy sausage adds wonderful richness. I used hot Italian sausage and it lends great depth of flavor without being spicy, but use mild sausage if you prefer.
You don’t even need to brown the sausage first, meaning that’s another step avoided and another skillet you won’t dirty. It all counts and it all adds up, especially on holidays.
I love how easy the stuffing is. It’s made in the slow cooker which is awesome for Thanksgiving or other holidays because it’s one less thing that ties up your oven.
Slow Cooker Sausage Stuffing Ingredients
To make this Crock Pot stuffing recipe, you’ll need:
- French bread
- Unsalted butter
- Yellow onion
- Celery
- Fresh rosemary, sage, thyme, and parsley
- Salt and pepper
- Chicken broth
- Italian sausage
Bread Tip
Make sure you start with day-old or stale French bread. I bought a one pound loaf from the grocery store bakery, diced it into cubes, placed the cubes into my slow cooker, and let it sit out for about 12 hours (overnight) before beginning the rest of the recipe.
How to Make Slow Cooker Stuffing with Sausage
This truly is the BEST stuffing recipe with sausage. It’s super easy to prepare, and since it’s made in a slow cooker the recipe is basically foolproof.
Here’s an overview of how the Crockpot stuffing with sausage is made:
- Dice the French bread and place it inside the slow cooker insert. Let it sit overnight to dry out.
- The next day, add the butter, onion, celery, rosemary, sage, thyme, salt, pepper, chicken broth and stir to combine.
- Crumble the Italian sausage over the bread mixture (no need to brown it first).
- Cover and cook the slow cooker stuffing on low for roughly 4 to 5 hours, or until the vegetables are tender and the sausage is cooked through.
- Stir the sausage into the bread mixture, then give the sausage stuffing a taste and add more salt, pepper, or desired herbs as you deem necessary.
- Sprinkle the parsley onto the sausage dressing and stir to combine. Let the slow cooker stuffing cook for another 5 minutes before serving.
Can I Prep This Stuffing in Advance?
I’ve only ever made this sausage stuffing as written, so I can’t say for certain if you can cook it ahead of time and reheat it on Thanksgiving. My gut says that would be fine, but I’ve only made if day-of on past Thanksgivings.
Can I Make This with Cornbread?
I’ve only ever made this recipe with French bread, but cornbread should work.
You may want to toast the cornbread before adding it to the slow cooker or let it dry out for an extra day or two though. Cornbread is more prone to disintegrating, so it needs to be really dry before being made into sausage stuffing.
Can I Replace the Bread with Store-Bought Stuffing Cubes?
Possibly, yes, that could work although I haven’t tried it myself. If the store-bought stuffing or bread cubes are big chunks, go ahead and try them out.
However, if they’re fine like breadcrumbs, that definitely will not work.
Tips for Making the Best Stuffing Recipe with Sausage
If you want to add other veggies or a chopped apple to this slow cooker stuffing, be sure to scale back the amount of vegetables that’s called for in the recipe below. Adding additional vegetables to this sausage stuffing may make the mixture too moist and the texture won’t turn out right.
For that same reason you don’t want to add any eggs to this sausage stuffing recipe. Trust me, your stuffing will turn out perfectly if you follow the recipe exactly as written!
Finally, note that the sausage and veggies go into the slow cooker raw. There’s no need to sauté them ahead of time — the slow cooker does all the hard work for you.
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Slow Cooker Sausage Stuffing
Ingredients
- one pound loaf French bread, diced into 1-inch cubes and allowed to dry out for about 12 hours
- ½ cup unsalted butter, diced into 1/4-inch pieces
- 1 extra-large sweet Vidalia or yellow onion, diced small (about 2 cups)
- 1 cup celery, diced small
- 3 tablespoons fresh rosemary, sticks discarded, finely minced
- 3 tablespoons fresh sage, stems discarded, finely minced
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme, sticks discarded, finely minced
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- 1 ½ cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 pound ground Italian sausage, I used hot but you can use mild; sausasge should be raw and the not precooked type
- ¼ cup fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley, or to taste
Instructions
- Place bread inside a 6-quart slow cooker that’s been lined with a slow cooker liner or sprayed with cooking spray. Allow bread to dry out and become stale for about 12 hours (overnight).
- The next day, add the butter, onion, celery, rosemary, sage, thyme, salt, pepper, chicken broth and stir to combine.
- Evenly crumble the raw sausage in small, bite-sized pieces over the bread mixture.
- Cover and cook on low for about 4 to 5 hours, or until vegetables are tender and sausage is cooked through. All slow cookers vary in their intensity so cook until done.
- Stir the sausage into the bread mixture, taste, and check for seasoning balance. Add more salt, pepper, or additional herbs if desired, to taste.
- Add the parsley and stir to incorporate. Cover and cook for 5 minutes before serving (Adding the parsley at the end allows it to stay green, vibrant, and lends nice visual appeal).
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Easy Thanksgiving Sides:
You can find all of my Thanksgiving recipes HERE.
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Originally published November 2016 and republished November 2019 with updated text.
Would it matter if I use italian sausage with only 5g fat or should I use one with higher fat content?
I think it will be fine. I’ve never paid specific attention to the fat content for this recipe but more than likely you’ll be fine.
However, if you’re concerned and you are making this for Thanksgiving, I would make it exactly as written just so you have total piece of mind.
Hi, does the bread need to be dry like in your traditional dressing recipe or just stale?
Just stale is fine.
great
Wow, I’m not sure what to say about the negative commenters except, is this the first blog recipe site you’ve ever been on? In my experience, all are set up the same
Followed your advice and roughly chopped the roasted chestnuts, did not change anything else and this recipe was even more delicious! It is a fantastic recipe as is but for my family perfected by the addition. A genius way to make this traditional side dish. Thank you!
I made this last year and it was perfect, however I have a request to add Chestnuts to it this year. Do you think that would work without adjusting anything else?Â
I made this last year and it was perfect, however I have a request to add Chestnuts to it this year. Do you think that would work without adjusting anything else?Â
I think that would probably be fine, I would just add them and see how it goes. Normally nuts soften quite a bit if they’re cooked provided they are chopped a bit beforehand.
Followed your advice and roughly chopped the roasted chestnuts, did not change anything else and this recipe was even more delicious! It is a fantastic recipe as is but for my family perfected by the addition. A genius way to make this traditional side dish. Thank you!
Glad to hear this came out great and was perfect for your family!
great
Hi, I know this is a Slow CookerÂ
Stuffing… but as I don’t have one,  I would very much like to try recipe!
 is it possible to use a heavy let’s sayÂ
Le Creuset  cast iron casserole dish with lid to slow cook in a fan oven.. I live in EuropeÂ
 if you could get back to me I would be great full
Thanks .
I am sorry I really don’t know since this recipe was written specifically for a slow cooker.
I have an extremely popular stuffing recipe that I would suggest instead for you then https://www.averiecooks.com/classic-traditional-thanksgiving-stuffing/ It doesn’t use sausage but I am sure you could work some crumbled sausage into the recipe before baking if you are really wanting sausage although it’s classic and great without the sausage.
Best stuffing ever it was easy, simple and very very tasty. This is my second year making it. In addition to making it for a weekday dinner. Family loves it and I love it and even people who don’t like stuffing said it was great.
Best stuffing ever it was easy, simple and very very tasty. This is my second year making it. In addition to making it for a weekday dinner. Family loves it and I love it and even people who don’t like stuffing said it was great.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it was the best stuffing ever for you! Even for people who don’t like stuffing!
Do you think I could substitute the French bread for packed Pepperidge Farm bread crumbs?
Possibly yes that could work although I haven’t tried. If they are big chunks, yes probably. If they’re tiny bits that more resemble crumbs, no.
This sounds amazing and I’d love to make it for my work Thanksgiving carry in, however I’m wondering if I can increase it. Wondering if it’s possible to triple it? Or even more? I feel like that might affect the cooking time….anyone tried?
I have never made it other than written so I cannot say.
But yes, if you 2x, 3x, etc the recipe it will affect cooking time. I don’t know if that means exactly 2x more if you 2x the batch. If you are attempting this, you would need a very large (the biggest) slow cooker you can get your hands on.
Or maybe if you have someone who has a slow cooker you can borrow, make a 1.5x batch in two slow cookers, and then you end up with 3x the recipe which is a hefty amount.
Is the sausage removed from the casing before crumbling?
I have not made the recipe yet.
I remove the casing but if it’s a thin casing and you can crumble it without, I guess you could leave it on.