Italian-American Sausage and Fennel Stuffing
Oven-dried white bread cubes tossed with browned sweet Italian sausage, onion and fennel cooked in butter, fresh thyme, marjoram and sage, chicken broth and eggs, baked covered and then uncovered until golden.
Italian immigrants arrived in large numbers just as the big Thanksgiving turkey dinner was spreading out of New England, and many families met the holiday with their own food: lasagna beside the turkey, and sausage in the stuffing. The family stories that circulate (a grandmother who had never cooked a turkey, a grandfather who made sausage in his own market) are told by their families and are not dated history (search results only). The sausage itself has old Italian roots: Pellegrino Artusi's 1891 cookbook stuffs a roast chicken with two sausages, chestnuts and giblets, and says to double it for a turkey (our Artusi's Roast Chicken with Sausage and Chestnut Stuffing recipe). America's Test Kitchen pairs sausage with fennel, the seed that flavors much Italian sausage, in a bread stuffing made for an old-fashioned stuffed turkey.
🇺🇸 This one is American
Oven-dried white bread cubes tossed with browned sweet Italian sausage, onion and fennel cooked in butter, fresh thyme, marjoram and sage, chicken broth and eggs, baked covered and then uncovered until golden.
🇬🇧 The original
The English original is sage and onion bound with breadcrumbs and butter, cooked inside the bird or in a dish beside it. See the Sage and Onion Stuffing (Mrs Beeton, 1861) recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
Dry, not toasted
A low oven dries the outside of each cube while the center stays a little soft, so the bread drinks up broth without dissolving into mush.
Fennel and sausage together
Fennel's sweet anise flavor echoes the fennel seed in Italian sausage and lightens a rich stuffing.
Step by step
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 250°F. Spread the bread cubes on a rimmed baking sheet and bake about 45 minutes, stirring several times, until the edges are dry but the centers still give slightly. Tip into a large bowl and raise the oven to 375°F. Butter a 13 by 9-inch baking dish.
- Step 2
While the bread dries, heat the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook 5 to 7 minutes, breaking it into 1/2-inch pieces, until browned and cooked through. Lift it onto a paper towel-lined plate.
- Step 3
Add the butter to the skillet. When it stops foaming, add the onion, fennel, salt and pepper and cook 7 to 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft and lightly browned. Stir in the thyme, marjoram and sage and cook 1 minute, until fragrant.
- Step 4
Add the vegetables and sausage to the bread. Whisk the broth and eggs together, pour over the bread and toss until every cube is moistened.
- Step 5
Spread the stuffing in the dish without packing it and cover tightly with foil.
- Step 6
Bake covered 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 15 to 20 minutes more, until the top is golden brown and crisp and the center reads 165°F.
- Step 7
Rest 10 minutes before serving.
Italian-American Sausage and Fennel Stuffing
Serves 12 · about 12 cups, one 13 by 9-inch dish · 2 hr 5 min total
Bread
- 1 1/2 lb white sandwich bread, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 12 cups)
Sausage and vegetables
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
- 1/2 lb sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, plus more for the dish
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
- 1 fennel bulb, halved, cored and finely chopped (about 1 cup)
- 4 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp minced fresh thyme
- 1 tbsp minced fresh marjoram
- 2 tbsp minced fresh sage
To bind
- 1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 3 large eggs
Method
- Heat the oven to 250°F. Spread the bread cubes on a rimmed baking sheet and bake about 45 minutes, stirring several times, until the edges are dry but the centers still give slightly. Tip into a large bowl and raise the oven to 375°F. Butter a 13 by 9-inch baking dish.
- While the bread dries, heat the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook 5 to 7 minutes, breaking it into 1/2-inch pieces, until browned and cooked through. Lift it onto a paper towel-lined plate.
- Add the butter to the skillet. When it stops foaming, add the onion, fennel, salt and pepper and cook 7 to 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft and lightly browned. Stir in the thyme, marjoram and sage and cook 1 minute, until fragrant.
- Add the vegetables and sausage to the bread. Whisk the broth and eggs together, pour over the bread and toss until every cube is moistened.
- Spread the stuffing in the dish without packing it and cover tightly with foil.
- Bake covered 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 15 to 20 minutes more, until the top is golden brown and crisp and the center reads 165°F.
- Rest 10 minutes before serving.
Adapted from America's Test Kitchen, "Sausage and Fennel Stuffing" (October 23, 2012), ingredients as written (ATK says 10 to 12; we call it 12). ATK uses bulk pork sausage; we use sweet Italian sausage, the Italian-American choice. ATK's recipe finishes inside its Old-Fashioned Stuffed Turkey; to bake it on its own, we use the 13 by 9-inch dish and the covered-then-uncovered bake of ATK's "Oven-Baked Bread Stuffing with Sage and Thyme", at 375°F; that temperature and the 165°F check are ours. America's Test Kitchen. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (3)
Tips
- For more heat, use half hot Italian sausage.
- To stuff a turkey with part of it, follow every FSIS rule in the Food safety baseline and bake the rest in an 8-inch dish.
- Do not assemble it the night before; dry the bread and cook the sausage and vegetables a day ahead instead, refrigerate them separately, and mix just before baking.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Sausage stuffing is an Italian tradition. Disputed: Artusi's 1891 sausage stuffing for chicken and turkey is Italian, but the bread-based American version comes from immigrant family kitchens; one guide says that in Italy stuffing is usually cooked in a separate pan, not in the turkey (search summary only).
- Italian sausage must have fennel. Folklore: much Italian-American sausage is seasoned with fennel seed, but sweet Italian sausage recipes vary.
- Assemble it a day ahead. Disputed: some ATK stuffings allow refrigerating the assembled stuffing for up to 24 hours; FSIS says never to refrigerate uncooked stuffing. We follow FSIS.
Every other stuffing
Sage and Onion Stuffing (Mrs Beeton, 1861)
The Victorian English stuffing for goose, duck and pork: onions simmered until mild, chopped fine with fresh sage, worked together with bread crumbs, butter and an egg yolk, and baked in its own dish until crisp on top.
Chestnut and Pork Stuffing (Farce aux Marrons)
Whole chestnuts simmered in broth until just tender, folded into seasoned ground pork with shallots, thyme and a splash of Cognac, and baked in its own dish: the classic French stuffing for a Christmas turkey.
Artusi's Roast Chicken with Sausage and Chestnut Stuffing (1891)
Pellegrino Artusi's family stuffing of Italian sausage, chicken liver, roasted chestnuts, dried mushrooms and nutmeg, bound with egg and a little bread soaked in broth, packed into a whole chicken and roasted until the stuffing itself reads 165°F.
Lebanese Hashweh (Spiced Rice and Beef Stuffing)
Ground beef and onion browned in olive oil, seasoned with Lebanese seven-spice, cooked with basmati rice in chicken broth and finished with toasted pine nuts and parsley: served on its own or as a stuffing for turkey.
Chinese-American Sticky Rice Stuffing
Soaked and steamed glutinous rice tossed with lap cheong (sweet Chinese sausage), onion and caramelized shiitake, seasoned with light and dark soy sauce and chicken stock, then roasted in a cast-iron skillet until the top and bottom turn crisp.
New England Sage Bread Stuffing
Dried French bread cubes tossed with onion and celery cooked in butter, sage, thyme, marjoram and parsley, chicken broth and eggs, baked covered until fragrant and then uncovered until a golden crust forms.
Southern Cornbread Dressing
A pan of cornbread baked, crumbled while hot and mixed with sausage, onion, bell pepper and celery, poultry seasoning, broth, milk and eggs, then baked in ridges with butter brushed on top until crisp outside and almost creamy inside.
New Orleans Oyster Dressing (Leah Chase)
Leah Chase's holiday dressing: day-old bread soaked in oyster liquor, browned ground beef and the Creole trinity cooked in butter, chopped Gulf oysters, thyme and cayenne, bound with egg and baked under seasoned bread crumbs.
Wild Rice Dressing (Minnesota)
Nutty wild rice cooked in broth, mixed with toasted bread crumbs, onion, celery, garlic, sage and thyme and a light custard of cream, eggs and the rice's own cooking liquid, baked covered until set.
Pennsylvania Dutch Potato Filling
Half mashed potatoes, half stuffing: boiled potatoes beaten with milk, eggs and parsley, mixed with onion and celery cooked in butter and buttery toasted bread cubes, and baked until crusty on top.
Weeknight Crispy Skillet Stuffing
A half-size, one-skillet stuffing for any night: baguette cubes toasted in a hot oven, soaked in broth and egg with browned onion, celery, sage and thyme, crisped on the stove and finished in the oven with a golden crust on top and bottom.
Stovetop-Style Stuffing, Inspired by Stove Top
The boxed classic made from scratch: white and whole wheat bread cut into eraser-size crumbs and dried in the oven, then stirred into a simmering pot of broth, butter, dried onion, celery and poultry seasoning, covered and left to stand 5 minutes. Inspired by, not official.
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