My granny used to make sausage stuffing. It was dense and full of flavour and a whole pile better than the overcooked, dried out bird (sorry nan, but it's true). It took a leading role on the table, next to the star of the show: the dark brown, pan drippings gravy.
I've never made it before myself; I think I can't get over the idea of not having bread stuffing on the table. The gravy might not know what to pour itself over. Seeing a picture of some stuffed onions on Smitten Kitchen changed my mind. While she stuffs hers with a traditional bread stuffing, it was my granny's sausage stuffing that immediately came to my mind. Everyone knows sausage and roasted onions belong together, and I figured it was finally time they bunked up.
Drawing inspiration from the apple and sage sausages from Save-on-Meat (a fab Vancouver butcher), the stuffing became a sage and apple sausage stuffing. They're sweet from the apple and onion and savoury from the sausage.
Hollowing out eight onions sounds only slightly more preferable than shovelling three feet of snow from a mile long driveway, or so I thought. Turns out I cried less carving out these eight onions than I have mincing two.
Sausage Stuffing Baked in Onions
Yield: 8
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Pin RecipeDescription
Sausage stuffing baked in onions makes for the prettiest presentation of this traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas side dish. You will LOVE it!
Ingredients
- 8 small onion (I chose 4 red and 4 white)
- 4 good quality sausage
- 1/2 onion, minced
- 2 celery stalks, minced
- 1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped
- 2 teaspoons dried sage, crumbled
- 1 cup bread crumbs
- 1/4-1/2 cup chicken stock
- Oil
- Salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Carefully hollow out onions using a teaspoon and set aside
- Fry sausage in a pan for 5 minutes, or until cooked through. Remove from pan. When cool to the touch, use your hands to crumble the sausage into small pieces.
- Heat oil in the sausage pan. Add onions, celery and apple and cook till onions are transparent. Add sage and season to taste with salt
- Add onion mixture and breadcrumbs to crumbled sausage. Mix to combine. Add just enough chicken stock to moisten stuffing
- Stuff onions with stuffing and place on a greased baking sheet
- Bake in the oven for 40 minutes, or until onion is soft and top of stuffing is brown
- Enjoy!
Kristen Stevens
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Hi, I’m Kristen! 
This looks amazing, can’t wait to have them! What temp are you baking them on?
Hi Chelsea,
Oops … can’t believe I forgot to add the oven temp!
I baked them at 375.
Happy Thanksgiving 🙂
Kristen these look so creative and savory! Going to give these guys a little try.
Thank you so much, Preeti!
Hope you love them as much as I did ?
These look so pretty and festive with the alternating white and red onions. And delicious, too!
Thank you so much!
Did you use fine bread crumbs? Or were they bigger chunks?
Hi Valentina,
I used bigger chunks 🙂
Sausages and apples that really made me think how this may taste as that combination sounds so strange for me. However I decide to try your recipe.
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Hi Adie,
I’m so happy you’ve decided to give it a try! Let me know how you like it 🙂
Every time we did a roast, we would always add a few whole onions and garlic bulbs in because they turn sticky and so sweet to eat. Bet this is amazing and takes it to another level, thanks for sharing!
Hi Katie,
You’re making me hungry thinking about onions and garlic cooked till their sticky and sweet. I’m going to have to try this next time I make a roast!
hmm~ I bet this is a real sweet dish… with tangy apples, sweet onions and well, sage and sausage! It would be hard to swallow for the kids, but the adults will love this!
Hey Jessica,
I wonder if your kids might like it too if they got to help out and stuff their onion of choice. It’s definitely sweet enough for kids. If I get a chance to try this one out on my little nephew, I’ll let you know how it goes!