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.
Made this for Thanksgiving. Everyone loved it! (I don’t like stuffing. Sorry) Thanks for helping us free up the oven!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! (I’m not the biggest stuffing fan either but my family are all fiends! lol)
Made this yesterday for Thanksgiving and it was a hit! After it was done cooking in the crockpot, I put it in a baking dish and threw it in the oven for 10-15 minutes to crisp it up since my family always fights over the crispy bits. Next time I will have to make a double batch as it was almost gone before everyone got some! Thanks for the great recipe!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Great idea for 10-15 mins in oven to crisp up top and that you’ll be making a double batch next time!
To crisp up in oven do you transfer it to a 9 x 13 pan or what? and at what temperature?
Yes and about 350F if I go this route.
Hi there,
Can’t wait! I am trying it for this Thanksgiving! Quick question- no eggs in this? Or would an egg or two just add moisture? What are your thoughts? Thank you!!
No eggs are necessary and adding them would create too much moisture. Make as written.
Thanks for answering..Have a great Thanksgiving
just checking you put the sausage meat in raw and you dont pre cook it first?
Correct, raw. Drop it in. Cover and wait :)
Looks delicious! Thinking about making this for Thanksgiving. Stuffing is always such a long process. It would be so nice to throw it all in the crockpot. Couple questions….do you think if I added chopped apples it would work in this? Also, no need to sauté the onions and celery?
This is my first time commenting but I love your blog and recipes! :)
I made the recipe exactly as written, no sauteeing first was necessary for me. Everything cooks through perfectly. If you add apples I would perhaps reduce the celery and/or carrots because apples have quite a bit of juice and I worry they could sog down the stuffing possibly.
If you try this, let me know how it goes!
I made it and it was fantastic!! I ended up doubling the recipe (big crowd!!) and added one diced apple and a little extra bread, perfecto! Has become the new favorite, thank you!
Sounds like a winner and so glad you all loved it – good call on the double batch for a big crowd!
Just made this as a trial run for Thanksgiving (which I should’ve done earlier because it makes a lot) and it’s delicious! Love that it’s a crock-pot recipe, which makes it so much easier for Thanksgiving and traveling to family dinners.
The only downside is the sausage is pretty hard to “crumble” when it’s not cooked so I had to break it up a lot when it was done and even then it was still not quite broken up enough.
Glad you enjoyed this!
With regard to crumbling the sausage, there is no way to get around it other than to get in there with your hands (I wear rubber gloves) when it’s raw and really pull it apart in smallish pieces so that when it finishes cooking they’re the size you want it.
Our family stuffing recipe begins with homemade cornbread. We bake it the night before as well. It seems we are always waiting on the dressing to finish cooking-never even thought of using a slow cooker. Can we use the cornbread instead of the bread?
I would let the cornbread get stale for 1-2 days, or toast it after you cube it because cornbread is already more prone to ‘disintegrating’ than a French bread and I worry a bit that you could end up with mush otherwise. LMK if you try it!
Stuffing is my absolute FAV and this look looks fantastic!! Enjoy your week :)
Thanks Brandon!
Stuffing and macaroni cheese are in a constant battle for the top spot on my favorite Thanksgiving side dish list. Your stuffing looks incredible, Averie. Plus, huge WIN for it being made in a slow cooker!
I just saw you on msn.com’s roundup of the Most Delicious Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. So fun to see your name pop up all over because I feel like I “know” you! I’ve been stalking for years. :) Your stuffing looks amazing!
Thanks!
hey girl this looks really tasty! Yummy!
I am all about stuffing at Thanksgiving. Let’s skip the turkey and move on to stuffing and cranberry sauce (hmm, I don’t think I’ve noticed your cran-blueberry sauce before …). I think I’d be tempted to make this recipe as a weeknight supper–don’t judge!
I am so ready for thanksgiving and stuffing is definitely one of my favorite things. In the slow cooker? With sausage? YES PLEASE.
me too
this recipe looks delicious! it’s been really interesting seeing you expand/re-expand your palate over the years of this blog, and I’m just curious, but I’m assuming you’re back to eating meat now?
I think stuffing is the best part of Thanksgiving for a lot of people! This looks like a great recipe with a lot of added flavor from sausage. It’s also a nice surprise to see that it doesn’t have to be browned first..just mix it all up and let the slow cooker do the work. I have to give a shout out to your cranberry blueberry sauce in the related recipes…I love that stuff and have made it several times!
I love that you love the cranberry blueberry sauce. I do too :) It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without it! And yay to not have to brown the sausage first!