Crock Pot Stuffing with Sausage and Apples
Stuffing in the slow cooker! Super easy, classic flavors, YUMMY, buttery sausage that works every single time.
Ingredients
- 1 large loaf crusty bread cut into cubes (8-10 cups when cut)
- ½ medium onion finely diced
- 2 stalks celery finely diced
- ½ teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 1 pound sausage any kind
- 1 apple diced
- ½ stick melted butter
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ cups chicken stock
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt and several grinds of black pepper
Instructions
- A day or two in advance, let the bread cubes dry in a bowl or the slow cooker uncovered before making the stuffing.
- Preheat a large skillet to medium-high. Add the sausage and cook for 15 - 20 minutes, breaking up with a spoon, until the sausage is crumbly, browned, and cooked through.
- Add the onion and celery to the sausage with the salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning and cook for 2-3 minutes more to soften the veggies just a bit.
- Add the bread cubes, apple, and sausage mixture to the slow cooker. In a bowl, whisk together the melted butter, eggs, and stock. Pour the butter mixture over all the ingredients, and stir to combine.
- Press the stuffing into the slow cooker with the back of a spoon, then cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours until the edges are slightly crusty and the center of the stuffing is set.
- Taste the stuffing and add another sprinkle of salt right before serving if you'd like. Serve hot straight from the slow cooker.
Notes
For the bread, I like to keep leftover ends of any bread in the freezer (sandwich bread, homemade bread), then use the different bits all together for stuffing.
I prefer Italian sausage for this recipe, but breakfast sausage is yummy as well!
This a recipe that needs to be cooked on low, not on high, in order to cook the eggs all the way through without burning the edges of the bread.
A note on crispy edges: Certain slow cookers don't ever get super hot at the edges, some get really hot. If you find that, after 3-4 hours, the edges of your stuffing aren't crispy, you can turn the heat to HIGH for 30-60 minutes and let the stuffing cook UNCOVERED to let some moisture escape and get some crispy edge action!
The apple in this dish cooks down in the stuffing as it cooks. If you would prefer more crunchy bits of apple, add the apple chunks with one hour left in the cooking time, then stir really well. Both methods are absolutely delicious, it just depends on if you'd like to have everything dumped in at once or a second addition of ingredients.
Tried this recipe?Let me know how it was!