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    Home » Recipes » Sides and salad recipes

    Sage and onion stuffing with sausage meat

    Published: Dec 4, 2020 · Modified: Jun 16, 2024 by VJ · This post may contain affiliate links · 4 Comments

    Jump to recipe

    It's so easy to make homemade sage and onion stuffing for your chicken or turkey. And you can even pimp it up by mixing in some good quality pork sausage meat. It takes only minutes to make and tastes WAY better than the boxes of stuffing you buy in the supermarket.

    Sage and onion sausage stuffing balls in a dish with one cut in half to show the texture.
    Jump to:
    • The best-ever stuffing recipe
    • What you will need
    • What to do
    • How to stuff a chicken
    • How to make stuffing balls
    • FAQ
    • Save for later
    • Related recipes
    • 📋The recipe

    The best-ever stuffing recipe

    Just imagine a plump juicy chicken stuffed with homemade sage and onion stuffing. And this isn't just any old stuffing made by mixing a box of dried, seasoned breadcrumbs with boiling water. Oh no, this is my special homemade sage and onion stuffing with sausage meat. Be prepared for a flavour sensation. I promise you, once you've tasted this stuffing you will never go back to the boxed stuff again.

    Now, I know you are going to say 'But the boxed stuff is so easy to mix together'. And yes, of course it is. But if I were to tell you that this is just as easy, but delivers 100% more flavour, would you try it? Of course you would!

    The beauty of this stuffing is that you can mix up a large batch, use some for stuffing a chicken, roll the rest into balls and freeze the rest for later meals. So to be honest, this is actually a real time-saver.

    Just imagine a chicken stuffed with this magnificent stuffing. As the chicken roasts, the fat from the seasoned sausage meat runs out into the chicken, and at the same time, the cooking juices from the chicken baste the stuffing, giving you additional flavour, both in the chicken and in the stuffing. It's a win-win situation.

    And of course, you don't have to cook this sausage meat stuffing inside a chicken. You can roll it into balls and pop them in with your roast potatoes and serve stuffing with every roast meal.

    Close up of sage and onion stuffing balls.

    What you will need

    Equipment

    You don't need much by way of equipment. You will need a mixing bowl for mixing the stuffing balls. A food processor makes short work of chopping onions and breadcrumbs, but you can get away with using a box grater if that's all you have.

    If you intend to stuff a chicken or turkey with this sausage stuffing, you won't need an extra pan, but I like to cook the stuffing balls in my air-fryer oven because it's so quick. And it also means I can serve the stuffing balls as a side with any roast meat. I think hubby would eat these stuffing balls with any meal if I let him!

    Ingredients

    **You can find the complete list of ingredients and full instructions for making this sage and onion stuffing with sausage meat on the printable recipe card at the end of this post**

    This recipe will make 12 large or 24 smaller stuffing balls.

    Ingredients for sage and onion pork sausage stuffing.
    • Pork sausages - my tip here is to buy good quality pork sausages that you would actually fry and eat as a meal. A cheaper sausage will do the trick, but they normally contain a higher percentage of grain, and don't have the same taste. If you don't eat pork, you can use beef sausages instead.
    • Fresh breadcrumbs - I whizz a few slices of bread (with the crusts removed) in my food processor. It only takes a few seconds.
    • Onion - this also gets blitzed in the food processor. You don't want huge pieces of onion in the stuffing. I like to chop it to the size of rice grains. If you don't have a food processor you can either chop it as finely as possible with a sharp knife or grate it on a cheese or box grater.
    • Dried sage and parsley - I use dried because it's more convenient than using fresh herbs. If you use fresh herbs you should use three times the quantity stated in the recipe as dried herbs are much more concentrated than fresh.
    • Salt is optional, but it does enhance the flavour.

    What to do

    Ingredients for the stuffing in a bowl.

    Remove the sausages from their casings and place them in a mixing bowl along with the breadcrumbs, sage, parsley and salt.

    Sage and onion stuffing mixed in a glass bowl.

    Get your hands in, and mix everything together until everything has been well combined.

    (You can use a spatula or wooden spoon if you prefer).

    So, now that you've mixed your stuffing, what are you going to do with it?

    You can either:

    1. Use it to stuff a chicken or turkey; or
    2. Use the stuffing to make stuffing balls.

    How to stuff a chicken

    A roll of sage and onion stuffing ready to go inside a chicken.

    Roll half of the stuffing into a large sausage shape.

    Pork sausage sage and onion stuffing inside the neck cavity of a chicken.

    Insert the stuffing into the neck cavity of the chicken.

    Roast the chicken as you would normally do. The remaining half of the stuffing can be frozen and used to stuff another chicken or can be rolled into balls and frozen (see below).

    Leave the stuffing in the chicken while the chicken rests. Then remove the stuffing from the chicken and cut it into slices before serving.

    How to make stuffing balls

    This is my preferred method.

    12 rolled balls of sage and onion pork stuffing.

    Roll the stuffing into golf-ball-sized balls. This recipe should yield 12 balls.

    6 uncooked stuffing balls on an air-fryer oven shelf.

    Place the stuffing balls onto the rack of an air-fryer oven (lined with tin foil to catch any drips) and fry for 10 minutes.

    You could also bake them in a normal oven at 200C / 400F for 20 minutes.

    6 cooked stuffing balls on an air-fryer oven shelf.

    Turn the stuffing balls over and fry for another 5 minutes.

    sage and onion pork stuffing balls in  dish.

    What you end up with are perfectly cooked stuffing balls that you can serve with any roast.

    And of course, you can also roast these stuffing balls in the oven in the same dish as your roast potatoes!

    If you'd like to be notified of new recipes, why not subscribe to my newsletter? To say thank you, you will receive a free recipe e-book containing some of my most popular cakes and desserts.

    A bowl of sage and onion sausage stuffing balls on a table with roast meat and vegetables.

    FAQ

    Do I have to cook these in an air-fryer oven?

    No, you can cook these in lots of different ways:
    - use a regular air-fryer (consult your manual for timings);
    - place the stuffing balls in the baking tray with your roast potatoes (about 20 minutes before the potatoes are done).
    - fill a small casserole dish with the stuffing and bake it in the oven for 20 minutes while the chicken is resting. That way you get to serve up a large spoonful of stuffing, rather than a small stuffing ball!

    How do you freeze stuffing?

    This sage and onion sausage meat stuffing can easily be frozen. I normally make a big batch and cook half with my roast. The remainder gets rolled into balls and placed on a baking tray in the freezer to open-freeze.
    Once the stuffing balls are frozen solid, transfer them to a large Ziploc freezer bag and store them for up to 3 months.
    To use, remove as many stuffing balls as you think you will need (plus one or two extra - believe me, they WILL get eaten) and place the frozen balls in with your roast potatoes. Do this about 20 minutes before the potatoes are ready.
    If you prefer you could just place the frozen stuffing balls on a baking tray and bake in a hot oven (200C / 400F) for 20 minutes, turning once.
    You could also pack the mixed stuffing into a disposable aluminium baking dish and freeze it. You can cook this from frozen too, but allow 25 to 30 minutes in a hot oven to give the stuffing time to cook through.

    Save for later

    If you would like to make your own sage and onion with sausage stuffing, why not save the recipe to one of your Pinterest boards so you can find it easily when you need it? Just click the image below.

    Alternatively, you can save the recipe by clicking the floating heart on the right-hand side of the screen.

    Related recipes

    Why not try serving sage and onion sausage meat stuffing with one of these dishes:

    • Leftover roast dinner pie on a plate, cut open to show the filling.
      Leftover roast dinner pie
    • A whole crispy roast duck on a serving plate with roast potatoes, alongside a dish of vegetables and a bowl of cherry sauce.
      Crispy roast duck with cherry sauce
    • A roasted leg of lamb being carved into slices.
      Minted Roast leg of lamb
    • Slow-cooker roast chicken dinner

    And of course, if you are making this stuffing to go with a Christmas or Thanksgiving feast, don't forget the pigs in blankets!

    📋The recipe

    Sage and onion sausage stuffing balls in a dish with one cut in half to show the texture.

    Homemade sage and onion stuffing with sausage meat

    It's so easy to make your own homemade sage and onion stuffing for your chicken or turkey. And you can even pimp it up by mixing in some good quality pork sausage meat. It takes only minutes to make and tastes WAY better than the boxes of stuffing that you buy in the supermarket.
    Recipe by: Veronica
    Side Dish
    American, British
    Calories 101
    Prep 15 minutes minutes
    Cook 20 minutes minutes
    Total Time 35 minutes minutes
    Servings: 12 large stuffing balls
    Print Pin Comment Bookmark Saved!
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    4.73 from 11 votes

    (Click the stars to rate this recipe)

    Equipment

    • Mixing bowl
    • Food processor or sharp knife
    • Air-fryer oven optional

    Ingredients

    • 1 pound / 450 grams pork sausages
    • 3 slices / 75 grams white or wholewheat bread crusts removed
    • 1 medium onion very finely chopped
    • 2 teaspoons dried sage
    • 1 teaspoon dried parsley
    • ½ teaspoon salt optional but recommended

    Instructions

    • Tear the bread into pieces and whizz around in a food processor until it forms breadcrumbs. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
      3 slices / 75 grams white or wholewheat bread
    • Chop the onion in a food processor until it is very finely chopped (approximately the size of rice grains). Add to the breadcrumbs in the mixing bowl.
      1 medium onion
    • Slit the skins of the sausages and remove the meat. Add to the mixing bowl.
      1 pound / 450 grams pork sausages
    • Add the salt, dried sage and parsley to the mixing bowl.
      2 teaspoons dried sage, 1 teaspoon dried parsley, ½ teaspoon salt
    • Mix thoughly to combine all the ingredients together.
    • Use half of the mixture to stuff one chicken before roasting. Form the remainder into balls and freeze for later use.
      Alternatively, roll all of the mixture into balls, cook sufficient for your meal and freeze the remainder.

    Notes

    If you don't have a food processor you can grate the bread on a cheese grater and use a sharp knife to cut the onion as finely as possible.
    You can use fresh sage and parsley if you prefer, but you will need to use 3 times the amount of fresh herbs as dried.  Replace each teaspoon of dried herbs with one tablespoon of chopped fresh herbs.
    This recipe makes sufficient stuffing for 2 large chickens.  You can freeze any leftover stuffing in a plastic bag and use to stuff another chicken later.  Allow to defrost before using. 
    You can also roll the stuffing into balls and open-freeze on a baking tray.  Once the stuffing balls are frozen, transfer the to a ziploc bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Cook stuffing balls from frozen, either in a baking dish on their own, or nestled amongst your roast potatoes.  Stuffing balls will take approximately 20 minutes to cook.
     
     

    Nutrition

    Calories - 101kcal | Carbohydrates - 3.1g | Protein - 4.7g | Fat - 7.6g | Saturated Fat - 2.5g | Cholesterol - 20mg | Sodium - 211mg | Potassium - 86mg | Fiber - 0.3g | Sugar - 0.5g | Calcium - 13mg | Iron - 1mg

    I am not a nutritionist. The nutrition information has been calculated using an on-line calculator, and is intended for information and guidance purposes only. If the nutrition information is important to you, you should consider calculating it yourself, using your preferred tool.

    Unless otherwise stated, a cup is the standard US cup containing 240 ml. In all my recipes this cup is assumed to hold 140g of flour. For help converting other ingredients between cups, grams, ounces and other measures, see my recipe conversion calculator.
    All my recipes are developed and tested at sea-level. For tips on adjusting recipes for high altitudes see my post on baking at high altitudes.
    Tried this recipe?If you made this recipe I'd love it if you could leave me a comment and let me know how it went!
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    About VJ

    Before I started my food blog I was an IT Consultant. Now that I've swapped an office for a kitchen I have a lot more time to spend on things that interest me such as trying out new recipes. Most of my cooking is based around quick and easy meals, mostly made from scratch, using everyday pantry ingredients.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

      4.73 from 11 votes (7 ratings without comment)

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    1. Magz Ross

      December 28, 2023 at 1:26 am

      5 stars
      This recipe was very easy to make. I did add an egg to aid with the binding, but they were all gobbled up and my husband was extremely disappointed that there were no left overs. Will definitely make again. Thank you.

      Reply
      • VJ

        December 28, 2023 at 2:10 pm

        5 stars
        Glad you enjoyed them. They appeared on our Christmas table too this year!

        Reply
    2. Ann

      April 10, 2023 at 8:18 pm

      5 stars
      I always used sausagr meat with sage and onion but the dried shop bought. I am looking forward to trying this. It's delicious with the dried stuff so anticipating a whole other of awesomeness with the fresh made sage and onion.

      Reply
      • VJ

        April 11, 2023 at 12:15 pm

        5 stars
        I hope you enjoy it. I always make a huge batch, roll it into balls and freeze it - then I just pop a few frozen balls in with my roast potatoes!

        Reply

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