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.
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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, and 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.
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.
- 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 just don’t have the same taste. If you don’t eat pork, you can use beef sausages instead.
- Fresh breadcrumbs – I just 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. If you use fresh you should use three times the quantity as 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
Remove the sausages from their casings and place them in a mixing bowl along with the breadcrumbs, sage, parsley and salt.
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:
- Use it to stuff a chicken or turkey; or
- Use the stuffing to make stuffing balls.
How to stuff a chicken
Roll half of the stuffing into a large sausage shape.
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.
Roll the stuffing into golf-ball sized balls. This recipe should yield 12 balls.
Place the stuffing balls onto the rack of an air-fryer oven (lined with tinfoil to catch any drips) and fry for 10 minutes.
Turn the stuffing balls over and fry for another 5 minutes.
What you end up with are perfectly cooked stuffing balls that you can serve with any roast.
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FAQ
No, you can cook these in lots of different ways:
– use a in a regular air-fryer (just 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!
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, just transfer them to a large Ziploc freezer bag and store them for up to 3 months.
To use, just 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 just pack the mixed stuffing into a disposable aluminium baking dish and freeze. 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.
Other recipes
Why not try serving sage and onion sausage meat stuffing with one of these dishes:
- Minted roast leg of lamb – succulent roast leg of lamb with minted gravy
- Slow-cooker beef topside with horseradish – juicy, succulent topside of beef cooked in the slow-cooker with a delicious horseradish flavoured mushroom and onion gravy.
- Crispy roast duck with cherry sauce – a whole duck roasted in the oven until it is crispy and golden, served with a delicious cherry sauce
The recipe
Homemade sage and onion stuffing with sausage meat
(Click the stars to rate this recipe)
Equipment
- 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
Nutrition
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.
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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.
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!