Make Ahead Thanksgiving Mushroom Sausage Stuffing Recipes

TRADITIONAL SAUSAGE-MUSHROOM TURKEY STUFFING

Steps:

• Pan fry sausage over medium-high heat until crumbled and cooked well. Set aside.
• In large fry pan, melt butter. Add celery, onion, and mushrooms. Saute until soft. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Cook down until about 1/3 of the liquid remains.
• In large bowl, toss bread cubes with poultry seasoning, thyme, salt, and pepper. Add sausage and drippings to bowl and stir. Add vegetables and broth mixture to bowl and stir. Add egg and mix until fully combined. Mixture should be moist and bind together easily. (If not, add more chicken broth.).
• Stuff neck and body cavities of turkey, or spoon into a greased 2-quart casserole and cover with foil. Truss turkey and roast as usual or, if baking, add casserole to oven about 30 minutes end of turkey roasting time and let bake for 45 minutes. I have also successfully made stuffing balls with this recipe, rolling the stuffing mixture into balls (I got about 15 of them), placing them on a greased, foil-lined baking sheet and baking in a 350-degree oven for about 25 minutes. They were moist and delicious!

MAKE-AHEAD SAUSAGE STUFFING

Steps:

• Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook, breaking it up into bite-sized pieces, until it is browned and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Transfer the sausage with a slotted spoon to a large bowl.
• Melt 5 tablespoons of the remaining butter in the skillet. Add the onions, celery, sage, thyme, 1 teaspoon salt and several grinds of pepper, and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions and celery are soft and lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Add the mixture to the bowl with the sausage; add the bread cubes, and toss to coat.
• Let the bread-sausage mixture cool to room temperature. Transfer it to a resealable plastic bag, label and date, and freeze for up to 2 weeks.
• To serve, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Heat the stock and 4 tablespoons of the remaining butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat until the butter melts. Whisk the eggs and parsley together in a large bowl. Break the frozen stuffing with your hands into smaller chunks, add to the bowl and toss. Add the stock-butter mixture, and toss to combine. Transfer to the prepared baking dish, and dot with the 2 remaining tablespoons butter. Cover tightly with foil, and bake until the stuffing is hot, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Uncover and continue to bake until golden brown on top, about 20 minutes more. Serve warm.

MAKE AHEAD THANKSGIVING MUSHROOM SAUSAGE STUFFING

Steps:

• Brush a 9x13-inch glass baking dish with 1 Tbsp. olive oil. Set aside.
• Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add celery and onions; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sauté until vegetables are soft, about 5-7 minutes. Scrape into very large bowl.
• Add 1 Tbsp. oil to same skillet. Add mushrooms; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sauté until mushrooms brown and liquid evaporates, about 4-5 minutes. Scrape mushrooms into bowl with celery.
• Add remaining 1 Tbsp. oil and sausage to same skillet. Sauté until brown and cooked through, about 8 minutes; add to bowl with vegetables.
• Add the broth and brandy to the same skillet. Bring to simmer, scraping up browned bits. Pour broth mixture into same bowl. Add in the herbs, salt, and pepper and combine.
• Mix in bread. Spoon stuffing into prepared dish. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for at leas 6 hours.
• Preheat oven to 375°F. Remove plastic wrap; cover stuffing with foil. Bake 30 minutes. Uncover; bake until top begins to brown, about 25 minutes longer. Or if you don't have time to wait 25 minutes, broil and watch carefully so tops don't brown.

DO-AHEAD STUFFING

Steps:

• Melt the butter in a large deep skillet over medium heat. Add celery and onion; cook and stir until tender, about 10 minutes. Blend in the bread crumbs, salt, poultry seasoning, pepper, thyme and sage. Stir in enough chicken broth to moisten. Spoon into large resealable bags and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
• To bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place the stuffing into greased casserole dishes.
• Bake for 45 minutes in the preheated oven. If stuffing a bird, cook according to the recipe for your bird and place any extra stuffing into a casserole dish to bake.