Italian Turkey Stuffing Recipe

italian-turkey-stuffing-recipeThanksgiving is right around the corner and do you find yourself going through magazines and television food shows searching for new and different recipes to make for Thanksgiving dinner? Each year I find myself doing just that but in the end I still find myself cooking our traditional favorites.

One recipe which my Mom made every year, and my sister followed the tradition, is her Italian sausage and bread stuffing. Mom always cooked from scratch and I knew my sister made this stuffing every Thanksgiving so when I asked her for the recipe she was happy to pass it on, but her first statement was “I can give you the ingredients and the procedure but the amounts I leave up to you”.

So typical of my family of great cooks, as they ALL cooked from scratch, I figured out the amounts which I will pass on to you, but you do not need to be precise in the amounts as it will be determined by how much bread you start with. I planned this recipe using 8 cups of bread cubed.

Ingredients:

stuffing-with-sausage

Stuffing for a 12/16 lb. turkey

  • 8 cups day old bread cubed (white, whole wheat, Italian)
  • 3 or 4 links sweet Italian sausage removed from casing
  • 3 stalks celery chopped
  • 1 large yellow onion chopped
  • 1/4 cup parsley chopped
  • 2 eggs beaten
  • 1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
  • 1 1/2 cup chicken broth

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

  1. In a large bowl crumble bread into large cubes and set aside.
    italian-stuffing-ingredients
  2. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in large frying pan. Remove casing from sausage and add to frying pan and cook sausage while crumbling with spatula until brown and well cooked. Remove from pan and set aside.
    italian-sausage-stuffing
  3. Add more olive oil to frying pan and sauté chopped celery and onion and cooked until soft.
  4. Add sausage and celery and onions to bread cubes and mix well.
    italian-celery-stuffing
  5. Add salt, pepper and poultry seasoning and mix well.
  6. Add mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, parsley, and two beaten eggs to mixture and mix well.
  7. Add enough chicken broth to moisten the bread mixture till soft and moist.
  8. Spray a large casserole dish with cooking spray and place bread stuffing in casserole.
  9. Cover casserole with aluminum foil to seal and then cover with casserole lid.
  10. Bake in oven along with turkey for 1 ½ to 2 hours.
  11. Remove from oven and keep warm until ready to serve.

Note: You can use turkey or chicken Italian sausage as an alternative to reduce the fat.

7 Responses to “Italian Turkey Stuffing Recipe”

  1. […] The women would prepare every conceivable dish that would depict the tradition of Thanksgiving. Many of them had never fixed a turkey or made gravy for the turkey. Some of the dishes, like mashed potatoes and stuffing, would have Italian seasonings added such as Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese and homemade Italian sausage. You can see my Mom’s Italian Style Turkey Stuffing Recipe. […]

  2. Lia Garofalo says:

    thank you for this amazing recipe. it’s easy and just wonderful! delicious!!!

  3. Lia Garofalo says:

    Hi Mary! Hope all is well:-) Year after year this recipe is the winning dish everyone loves:-) Will be making it again this year however, I’m not the one making the Turkey. If I cook it alone in the oven, does it still need to cook for 1 1/2 -2hrs??

    Thanks again!
    Lia

    • Mary says:

      Hi Lia,

      This is Mary’s nephew. Mary is doing fine and her and George are not too worse for wear after Hurricane Irma hit Naples, FL a few weeks ago. I’ll check with Mary when things settle down, but will try to answer your question.

      Since the stuffing is cooked in a separate casserole dish, and not stuffed into the turkey, it should be fine. I would suggest checking the stuffing after about an hour just to make sure it’s not drying out and cook towards the lower time of 1 1/2 hours. If it starts to get too dry, then add a bit more chicken broth and shorten the cooking time. I’ll try to provide an update, but either way, please let us know how it turns out!

      -Rich

      • Lia Garofalo says:

        Hi Rich! I hope all is well. Sorry, I never checked back in but the stuffing did come out amazing as usual:-) Its canadian Thanksgiving soon and I will be making this lovely recipe yet again! I’ve passed it along to my family members and it’s a hit every year! I hope Hurricane Irma didn’t cause too much damage for Mary and George! Thank you so much & give Mary my best?

        • Richard Rojas says:

          Hi Lia!

          So glad to hear the Italian stuffing recipe came out great. It’s always been a favorite in our family. Both my mom and grandmother would make it. Irma did hit Naples pretty hard last year. Mary and George (and Freddie) spent one night in a shelter and didn’t experience much damage to their home. Just a few tree branches and other debris in the yard. Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to you and your family and enjoy the stuffing! I’ll let Mary know you stopped by the blog.

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