Stuffing is by far my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner. Who doesn’t love a savory baked bread casserole? There’s a catch though, I really dislike sausage, and many stuffing recipes include sausage in them. I can pick through a sausage filled stuffing, but my favorite kind is made without it.
This stuffing without sausage recipe is a compromise that resulted in some seriously delicious stuffing that I’d like to share with you today.
With diced apples, fresh sage, and crispy bacon, this stuffing is moist, delicious, and flavorful! The bacon adds depth to the flavor and the apples are a natural fit.
For extra flavor, I like to sprinkle just a hint of cinnamon and some fresh sage (minced)!
You will love this bacon apple stuffing, it was a crowd pleaser at our recent Friendsgiving and I plan on making it again for our family Thanksgiving.
Get all of your stuffing questions answered here!
The Recipe
Bacon Stuffing Recipe with Apples and Sage
Ingredients
- 2 loaves brioche bread try trader joes
- 1 package bacon about 10 slices
- 1 small yellow onion
- 3 large celery stalks
- 1 apple – peeled and diced
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ½ cup raisins
- 2 cups chicken broth add 1 additional cup if you prefer a more dense/wet stuffing
- salt & pepper
- sage
- cinnamon
Instructions
- The day before: remove the loaves of bread from their packaging, slice in cruton size cubes and gently separate to allow the bread to dry out a bit.
- Preparation
- Slice the bacon into bite size pieces; this is easiest when the bacon is cold! In a very large frying pan sauté the bacon until crispy.
- While the bacon is cooking, dice the onion, celery, and apple.
- Right before the bacon looks fully cooked, add the celery and onion to the pan. Use a wooden spoon to sauté the ingredients and allow the bacon to finish cooking. You want the bacon to be very crisp and well cooked. There are few things worse than biting into soggy bacon!
- As the bacon crisps up, you will begin to see brown bits sticking to the bottom of the pan. This is okay.
- Once the bacon is finished, add in the butter, apples, raisins, salt & pepper, sage, and a very small dash of cinnamon. Sauté until the butter is fully melted and incorporated.
- Add 2 cups chicken broth to the pan to deglaze. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up the brown bits. The color will deepen and it will smell delicious!
- Let the mixture simmer for 2-3 minutes as it thickens.
- Place ½ of the bread in a large 13×9 baking dish. Pour ½ of the bacon mixture over the bread in the dish. Use a wooden spoon to stir until thoroughly combined.
- Add the remaining bread to the baking dish, pour the remaining bacon mixture over the bread. Stir until thoroughly combined.
- Taste the stuffing to see if anything needs to be tweaked. I often add a touch more salt, and sometimes a little more chicken broth depending on how “wet” the bread is. You want the bread to be slightly soggy because it will cook in the oven. If the bread appears to still be dry, add another 1/2 cup or so chicken broth.
- Place in the oven at 350 F for 30 minutes or until the top of the stuffing is a deep golden brown.
Notes
You Might Also Like: DELICIOUS PUMPKIN RECIPES TO TRY THIS FALL 17 DELICIOUS FALL APPLE RECIPES
