This vegan apple and sausage stuffing is literally stuffed full of the best ingredients to make even carnivores want seconds on this vegan side dish.
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Whether you call it stuffing or dressing, this vegan apple and sausage stuffing needs to be on your holiday menu.
If you grew up near the Southern US, you may call it dressing. There’s much debate over what is considered stuffing and what is considered dressing. So much so that sometimes we don’t even know anymore.
It’s a common belief that dressing uses cornbread as the bread based (yes, even that is debated) so for this, we’re going with stuffing.
Either way we are going to get stuffed off this fulled stuffed stuffing (too much? I did too much there huh?)
Let’s just get into the recipe.
What ingredients do I need to make vegan apple and sausage stuffing?
We are going to be using 14 delicious ingredients that come together to make this scrumptious completely vegan stuffing recipe.
Those ingredients are:
- Vegan sausage
- Sweet onions
- Celery
- Garlic
- Carrots
- Apple
- Vegan butter
- Fresh herbs: sage, thyme and rosemary
- Black pepper
- Salt
- Bread cubes
- Vegetable broth
How do I make vegan apple and sausage stuffing?
Stuffing itself isn’t that hard to make; however, it does take a little bit of an time effort.
First you have to start out with dried bread. In order to do this, we buy a loaf of Italian bread, cut it up into small cubes and then place on a tray in a single layer to dry out (get stale). This takes about a day or two.
Once your bread is ready, then you can proceed with the rest of the recipe.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Chop up all your vegetables.
Add 2 tablespoons of the butter to a large stock pot (you will be adding your bread into this pan so you need a large pot).
Add your vegan sausage, 1 tablespoon of the sage and 1 sprig of thyme leaves. Cook the sausage according to the package you are using, chopping it up while cooking until crumbly.
Remove the sausage to a plate.
In the same pot, add the remaining butter.
Once melted, add in your onions, celery, apples, and carrots. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add in your garlic and herbs, salt and pepper, and cook for 5 more minutes.
Add in the cooked vegan sausage and stir together, cook for another minute or two.
Then, add your bread cubes and 1 cup of broth. Gently toss together.
Add In more broth, ½ cup at a time, stirring after each, until your mixture is soft. You do NOT want soggy bread or it won’t cook properly.
Place mixture in a lightly buttered 9×13 casserole dish and place a few pats of butter on top.
Cover with foil (or a baking sheet if you avoid foil).
Bake for 35 minutes. The uncover and cook for 15 more or until the bread pieces on top are golden brown.
Remove from oven and let set 5 minutes before serving. Best served warm.
Can I start with bagged stuffing mix?
You definitely can, but you are going to want to adjust the seasonings since boxed and bagged stuffing mix usually contains a seasoning already.
Can I make this Top 8 Allergen Free Sausage and Apple Stuffing?
We suspect that you could make this Top 8 Allergy Friendly Vegan stuffing. but we’ve never tried.
To start, you want to make sure that you use a soy free vegan butter. We like Earth Balance soy free which comes in a red tub.
Then, the remaining ingredients would be the sausage and bread.
For the sausage, you have to option to omit entirely or you can use a vegan sausage that is safe for your allergies.
For the bread, while we have not tried this gluten free, you should have no problems using gluten free bread as long as it is stale.
Can I prep this Vegan Apple and Sausage Stuffing ahead?
You could prep this a day in advance, but we don’t recommend much more than that.
Another option would be to cut all your vegetables and herbs a day or two or three before and then It will be easier to make when you are ready.
What are other vegan side dishes that I should try?
There are endless possibilities, but here are some of our favorite vegan side dishes that we think everyone will like:
- The Best Vegan Mac and Cheese
- Vegan Cornbread
- Easy Vegan Mashed Potatoes (4 Ways)
- Vegan Green Bean Casserole
- Italian Vegan Pasta Salad
- Vegan Potato Salad
- Vegan Green Bean Salad
- The Best Vegan Baked Beans
- Vegan Glazed Carrots
- Vegan Scalloped Potatoes
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Vegan Apple and Sausage Stuffing
Ingredients
- 16 oz dried bread cubes (see instructions)
- 1 large sweet onion, diced
- 4 stalks celery, diced
- 2 large carrots, small diced
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 large sweet, crisp apple (like Fuji), small diced
- ½ cup sage leaves, chopped fine (½ cup before chopping)
- 4 sprigs thyme, leave removed
- 2 tablespoon fresh rosemary chopped
- ¾ teaspoon black pepper, more to taste
- ½ teaspoon salt, more to taste
- ⅔ cup vegan butter + more for greasing pan and topping
- 14 oz vegan sausage (we used Lightlife)
- 2-3 cups vegetable broth
Instructions
- *You need stale bread in order to properly make this recipe. In order to do this, buy a loaf of Italian bread, cut it up into small ½" cubes and place on a tray in a single layer to dry out (get stale). This takes about a day or two. Once your bread is ready, then you can proceed with the rest of the recipe.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Chop up all vegetables and herbs.
- Add 2 tablespoons of the butter to a large stock pot over medium heat.
- Add vegan sausage, 1 tablespoon of the sage and 1 sprig of thyme leaves. Cook the sausage according to the package, chopping it up while cooking until crumbly.
- Remove the sausage to a plate.
- In the same pot, add the remaining butter.
- Once melted, add in onions, celery, apples, and carrots. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add in garlic and herbs, salt and pepper, and cook for 5 more minutes.
- Add in the cooked vegan sausage and stir together, cook for another minute or two.
- Add bread cubes and 1 cup of broth. Gently toss together. Turn off heat.
- Add In more broth, ½ cup at a time, stirring after each, until your mixture is soft. You may not use all the broth. *You do NOT want soggy bread or it won't cook properly.
- Place mixture in a lightly buttered 9×13 casserole dish and place a few pats of butter on top.
- Cover with foil (or a baking sheet if you avoid foil).
- Bake for 35 minutes. The uncover and cook for 15 more or until the bread pieces on top are golden brown.
- Remove from oven and let set 5 minutes before serving. Best served warm.
Notes
Nutrition
I promise this stuffing was better than conventional stuffing (we made both) most people ate this stuffing. The vegan sausage, apple and fresh sage were so good. Only one stuffing for Thanksgiving from now on and this one is it!
Thank you so much for sharing this! We absolutely love hearing that the Vegan Apple and Sausage Stuffing outshined the conventional version and became the clear favorite at your table. Knowing this will be the one and only stuffing for your Thanksgiving moving forward is such an incredible compliment. We are so happy it earned that spot!
Going to my first vegan Thanksgiving at my son and daughter in laws and made your stuffing recipe!!! It’s delicious!!! Thank you for your site and all the great recipes!!! Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Happy Thanksgiving, so glad it was good!
The best stuffing recipe I have found. I did leave out the apple and used dried herbs. My non vegan family also loved it! I will be making this again.
Oh yay! So happy to hear
Do you think this recipe could be made with homemade Seitan Sausages as opposed to store bough vegan sausage?
Yes
Easiest ad to my forever holiday staples list – EVER! This was AMAZING – As I was cooking it, I said if I made nothing else this holiday, I would be content with just this! It tasted just how it smelled. I also added a little water to left overs in the morning and put it in the waffle maker! Added some syrup and it was a sweet/savory combo – YUM!
So happy that you loved it!
this looks great! if I wanted to use dry herbs instead of fresh, how many teaspoons should I use?