This stuffing is not only gluten free but packed with flavor. You can stuff your bird with it and bake the rest in the oven.
When it comes to anything with gluten free bread, many people can hesitate. But, this stuffing is seriously good and all of my non-gluten free friends devour it!
You can use any gluten free bread you enjoy. My go to gluten free bread is Canyon Road and it’s fairly easy to find in many grocery stores. I’ve also used the gluten free bread from Trader Joe’s with success as well.
What You’ll Need:
- gluten free bread
- ground sausage
- onion
- celery
- apple
- dried cranberries
- chopped pecans
- fresh Italian parsley
- seasonings – rubbed sage, dried thyme, sea salt, ground black pepper
- broth
- butter or ghee
Making the Recipe:
The most time consuming part of this recipe is toasting all of the bread. You’ll want to start with this job first. If you have helpers in your house, this is a great job for them to do. I have always put my kids to work on this task. It is something my mother always gave me to do when I was young and is a one of my fondest memories of cooking with her on Thanksgiving.
You can do this step the day before to save on time the day you plan to cook the stuffing. You can also prep the diced onion and celery ahead of time if you want to.
When you are ready to assemble the stuffing, dice the apples and mince the parsley. Set them aside.
Next, you’ll want to brown the sausage in a skillet.
Add the celery and onion to the pan with the sausage and continue to cook it until the sausage is no longer pink and the vegetables are tender.
Put the bread cubes in a large mixing bowl and add the sausage mixture to it. Stir in the chopped pecans, apples and cranberries. Add the seasoning, parsley, broth and the melted butter and stir it all together.
Taste the stuffing and feel free to add some additional seasoning, broth or butter if needed.
Grease the bottom of a baking dish with butter, ghee or oil. Place the stuffing in the baking dish and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes. I’ll usually make enough stuffing to put in the bird and bake the rest in the oven.
Gluten Free Stuffing with Sausage, Apple, Pecan and Cranberry
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 8–10 servings 1x
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: oven
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
This stuffing is not only gluten free but packed with flavor. You can stuff your bird with it and bake the rest in the oven.
Ingredients
- 6 cups cubed gluten free bread
- 1 lb. mild ground pork sausage
- 1 ½ cups onion, diced
- 3/4 cups celery, diced
- 1 apple, cored and diced
- 1/3 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
- 1/3 cup fresh parsley, minced
- 1 Tbsp. rubbed sage, to taste
- 1/2 tsp. dried thyme (optional)
- Sea salt, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 4 Tbsp. butter or ghee, melted
- 1 tsp. butter/ghee, to grease the baking dish
Instructions
- Toast the bread, let it cool and dry. Then, cut it into cubes and place them in a large mixing bowl. This can be done the night prior, if you choose. You can purchase bread already cubed if you want to save on time.
- Dice or mince the onion, celery, apples and parsley. Set aside.
- While you are toasting the bread, brown the sausage, onion and celery in a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook the sausage until it is cooked through and no longer pink and the onion and celery until they are tender. Add it to the bread cubes.
- Stir in the chopped pecans, apples and cranberries. Add the seasoning, parsley, broth and melted butter to the mixture. Stir well.
- Taste the stuffing and add additional seasoning, broth or butter to it, if needed. The bread should be moist but not gummy.
- Grease the bottom and sides of a baking dish with butter/ghee/oil. Place the stuffing in the baking dish, cover with a lid or foil and bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Pull the dish out of the oven, stir the stuffing and bake another 15 minutes.
Notes
- Toasting the bread: I find it faster to do this in a toaster. You could toast your bread on a baking sheet in a 300-degree oven for 25 minutes, flipping it at least once to get it toasted on both sides.
- You can use fresh herbs in this recipe instead of dried. Triple the quantity of dried herbs needed.
- If you like your stuffing drier, reduce the amount of broth added. If you like it moister, add some additional broth.
- If you are not a fan of sage, cut back on the amount of this herb in the recipe. It’s always good to add a smaller amount of seasoning to the mixture, taste it and then adjust as needed to meet your family’s tastes.
- You could make this dish vegan/vegetarian by using a vegan butter, vegetable broth and omitting or replacing the ground sausage with a vegan sausage.