How to Make Chef John's Sausage Gravy Stuffing

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In this video, Chef John of Food Wishes shows you how to make his incredible Sausage Gravy Stuffing. This recipe skips the broth and uses a rich, homemade turkey sausage gravy for the most satisfying stuffing you've ever had. See why this stuffing is the perfect side dish for Thanksgiving or any holiday.

Transcript

00:00Hello, this is Chef John from Foodwishes.com with Sausage Gravy Stuffing.

00:08That's right, instead of the usual broth or stock, we are making this stuffing with a turkey sausage gravy.

00:15And I'm actually upset I did not think of this a long time ago,

00:18because it produced the most gorgeous, most delicious, most satisfying stuffing I've ever made.

00:24So I'm beyond excited to be sharing this with you.

00:27And to get started, we're going to cut up some bread to, like, half-inch pieces.

00:32And yes, I'm using two different kinds, a regular French bread loaf, and also one small baguette,

00:38since that's what's going to give me the exact amount I need.

00:41And while, of course, you can buy prepared croutons for stuffing,

00:44I think it's always so much better if we make our own.

00:47And by the way, when I say half-inch cube, that's like the average size.

00:51Okay, we're going to have pieces that are smaller, and some that are bigger,

00:55but that will make no difference at all.

00:57So I went ahead and cubed up those two loaves,

01:00and then transferred that onto two parchment-lined baking sheets.

01:04And once we have that evenly distributed,

01:06we'll go ahead and pop that into a 300-degree oven for about 30 to 45 minutes,

01:11or until our bread cubes are completely dry and crispy.

01:15And of course, your times will vary depending on how dry your bread was.

01:19And that's it.

01:19We'll simply let that sit and cool on the pans before we transfer it into a big mixing bowl.

01:24And once that's set, we can go ahead and start our sausage gravy,

01:28which we'll begin by melting an entire stick of butter over medium-high heat.

01:32And once that melts, we'll go ahead and transfer in a whole bunch of diced onion along with our salt.

01:38And then we'll cook that stirring for a few minutes until our onions turn translucent

01:43and start to take on a little bit of color.

01:46And by the way, if a stuffing recipe doesn't include at least one stick of butter,

01:50it should be disregarded and probably discarded,

01:53since that is definitely one of the keys.

01:55But anyway, once our onions are looking a little something like this,

01:59we'll go ahead and transfer in one pound of ground turkey.

02:02And then we'll cook all this stirring for about five minutes or so,

02:06while we break that turkey up into nice small crumbles.

02:09And of course, as usual, the exact size is up to you.

02:13But personally, I do think it should be crumbled fairly small.

02:16So as to get a better distribution through the stuffing.

02:19So I think we should go at least this small.

02:22But you could even go a little smaller if you want.

02:24And then once our crumbling is complete, we can begin the browning,

02:29where we will cook this mixture stirring occasionally,

02:32until it takes on some beautiful color,

02:35which is not only going to be great for appearances,

02:37but as always, it improves the taste as well.

02:41And once our mixture is looking a little something like this,

02:43we'll go ahead and turn our plain ground meat into sausage,

02:46by of course adding some spices and herbs,

02:49including some freshly ground black pepper,

02:52some ground nutmeg,

02:53some garlic powder,

02:56a generous spoon of poultry seasoning,

02:58which includes dried rosemary, sage, thyme, among other things.

03:02And then we'll finish this phase up with a few shakes of cayenne.

03:07And we'll go ahead and stir that in,

03:09and cook it for one more minute,

03:11before we stop to do a roux,

03:14which involves transferring in some all-purpose flour.

03:18And we will stir that in,

03:19and cook this for about two minutes.

03:21And if we were making a regular sausage gravy to put over some biscuits,

03:25we'd probably want to cook and toast that roux a little more thoroughly.

03:28But for this application,

03:30because this is going to bake in the oven as a stuffing,

03:33it really doesn't need to cook that long.

03:35So we'll just cook that for a couple minutes,

03:37at which point we can transfer in

03:40the best turkey or chicken broth we can find,

03:43right, preferably homemade.

03:44But the nicer brands of the prepared stuff will be fine.

03:48And we'll go ahead and stir that in,

03:50and raise our heat to high.

03:52And we'll wait for that to start to simmer and thicken.

03:55And after letting that boil for a couple minutes,

03:58we'll go ahead and dump in our diced celery,

04:00and we'll stir that in,

04:01and let that cook for another couple minutes,

04:04or until that celery softens up a little bit.

04:07Right, nothing harshens up a nice stuffing buzz,

04:10like crunchy celery.

04:11So even though our stuffing gets baked,

04:14we want to give our celery a head start.

04:17And then of course you should also give this a taste,

04:19checking mostly for salt,

04:21since the amount in the prepared broths can vary.

04:24But please keep in mind,

04:26this is getting mixed into bland bread cubes,

04:28so we really do want it extremely flavorful,

04:31and fairly aggressively seasoned at this point.

04:34And if it is, we can turn off our heat,

04:37since it's ready to use.

04:38And by use, I mean we'll very, very carefully pick it up,

04:42and we will pour that over our cooled, crispy bread cubes.

04:46And then before we mix this together,

04:48I'm going to toss in some freshly minced rosemary,

04:51as well as some finely chopped Italian parsley.

04:54Since I do enjoy the combination of fresh and dried herbs in the stuffing,

04:58as they each add flavors the other one can't.

05:00But those are technically optional,

05:03so you decide.

05:05I mean you guys are after all the peaches and herbs,

05:07of your herbs.

05:09But either way, we're going to want to give this a very thorough mixing,

05:13and not just so everything is uniformly combined,

05:15but we are also releasing a lot of heat,

05:18which is kind of important,

05:19since we're just about to add the last ingredient,

05:22which is a couple beaten eggs.

05:24And if we did that when this mixture was still piping hot,

05:27some of that egg might scramble,

05:29which would not be ideal.

05:31But after about a minute of mixing,

05:33there should be no problem.

05:35And that's it.

05:36Once those eggs are mixed in,

05:37we are ready to transfer this into our turkey,

05:41or in my case,

05:42into a nice big deep casserole dish.

05:44And by the way,

05:45it's only really a stuffing,

05:46if you stuff it into something.

05:49Okay, if you bake it in a dish,

05:50it's actually considered a dressing.

05:53And I was just about to say,

05:54fun fact,

05:55but that's really just more of a fact.

05:58Oh, and do not,

05:59under any circumstances,

06:01pack this down,

06:02and smooth out the top.

06:04Oh no,

06:05all we want to do is take the tip of our spoon,

06:07and go around giving this the old

06:09polka polka,

06:11until everything is evenly distributed,

06:12and the surface features lots of cracks and crevices,

06:16not to mention nooks and crannies.

06:19And that's it.

06:20Our sausage gravy stuffing

06:21is ready to transfer into the upper center

06:23of a 375 degree oven

06:26for about 40 minutes,

06:28or until the top is beautifully browned,

06:31and it looks like this.

06:33Oh yeah,

06:34now that is one gorgeous looking stuffing.

06:37In fact, it's so beautiful,

06:39I'm not even going to sprinkle any chives

06:41or parsley over the top,

06:42which you know I love to do.

06:45And yes,

06:45we should probably let that rest a little bit

06:47before we dig in.

06:49Right,

06:4910 minutes or so is plenty,

06:51but you can definitely go longer than that,

06:53since this kind of stuff stays hot quite a while.

06:56So I did wait a little bit

06:58before I grabbed a spoon to serve some up,

07:00and I'm very happy to report

07:02the texture was perfect.

07:04Right,

07:04very crispy on top,

07:06and then sticky and moist inside

07:08without being wet.

07:10And then as far as the flavor goes,

07:12if you've had and enjoyed sausage stuffings

07:14in the past,

07:15I am sure you're going to love this,

07:17but I think way,

07:19way more.

07:20Since by using a gravy instead of a broth,

07:23everything's a little richer

07:24and a little more satisfying.

07:26And while it's basically the same ingredients,

07:28it just seems a little more decadent

07:30and special.

07:31And of course,

07:32in real life,

07:33we'd be enjoying this

07:34with all the other holiday specialties,

07:36including whatever gravy

07:37we're going to be using for our turkey,

07:39which yes,

07:40could totally be the gravy

07:41we use to make the stuffing.

07:43And I'm assuming some of you

07:44have already thought of that.

07:46Okay,

07:46you can make a double batch

07:48and then use half for the stuffing

07:49and half for the meal.

07:51But whether you kill two turkey sides

07:53with one stone

07:54or just make this stuffing as shown,

07:57it really truly was

07:58the best bread stuffing I've ever made,

08:00which is why I really do hope

08:02you give it a try soon.

08:05So please follow the links below

08:06for the ingredient amounts,

08:08a printable written recipe,

08:10and much more info as usual.

08:12And as always,

08:15enjoy.

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