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Smoked Sausage Stuffing is the ultimate holiday side dish! This Thanksgiving stuffing combines savory smoked sausage, caramelized onions, and sweet cornbread, and is cooked directly on the smoker or grill freeing up your oven for other things!
Did you know you can cook your Thanksgiving stuffing (or dressing, however you prefer to call it) directly on your smoker or grill, saving room in your oven for all the other holiday dishes? Or better yet, take Thanksgiving outside this year and give your oven a break! Bonus points if you use our smoked turkey recipe.
Table of Contents
Background for Smoked Sausage Stuffing
Before we moved to our new house we had the world’s tiniest oven. It was ridiculous. So tiny that you couldn’t fit a regular size turkey in it. So whenever we hosted Thanksgiving we adapted all of our favorite recipes to be cooked outside on the smoker or grill.
This Smoked Sausage Stuffing recipe works both on your grill or smoker, just depending on if you want some of that smoked love. It is super easy to make and the results are so good this has been our go-to stuffing every year for at least the last 10 years.
Ingredients + Substitutions
- Italian Sausage – We prefer the bulk Italian sausage, but you can use sausage links as well. Just remove it from the casing before smoking. If you prefer a sweeter flavor you can use sweet sausage too. But we like the seasoning already included.
- Butter – We prefer unsalted butter and adding the salt as we taste throughout the cooking process. In this case the butter is intended to make caramelized onions.
- Onion – Red onion is our preferred onion to caramelize for the flavor. You can use white or yellow onions if you want a softer flavor.
- Fresh Herbs – Sage and thyme are our two go-to fresh ingredients for Thanksgiving flavor. Plus they’re always bountiful in the fall.
- Cornbread – Ideally use day-old cornbread. You can purchase pre-made cornbread at the store or make our Homemade Cornbread recipe.
- Dried Cranberries – Adding a sweet component adds balance to the smoked sausage stuffing and really gives it a holiday feel.
- Heavy Cream – This will add a rich flavor and help bind together the stuffing.
- Chicken Stock – Chicken stock adds additional flavor, adds the necessary moisture, and helps bring together the dish.
- Egg – Acts as a binder to bring together.
- Kosher Salt and Pepper – For taste.
Chef’s Tip
For the best texture make the cornbread the day before making the sausage stuffing. If buying store-bought cornbread, buy the day or two prior and leave uncovered. The dried cornbread crisps up better when cooked.
How to Make Smoked Sausage Stuffing
The recipe card has additional details.
- Preheat smoker to 225 degrees Fahrenheit using a fruit wood like cherry or apple for a sweeter flavor. Or oak for a more pronounced smoke flavor.
- Add bulk sausage and break it up into about quarter-size pieces and place on a baking sheet. Place on your smoker and smoke for 60 minutes, until the pieces are cooked through.
- While sausage is smoking add butter to a 10-inch cast iron pan over medium heat and caramelize your onions. This should take up to 30 minutes.
- In a large bowl add the smoked sausage and caramelized onions. Mix the remaining ingredients together, and then place into a large cast iron pan. Turn up your smoker to 375 degrees (F) and place your sausage stuffing into the smoker for about 30 minutes or until it looks crispy and cooked through. You can also finish cooking in your oven at the same temperature and time (375 degrees for 30 minutes).
Making Ahead
If you want to make this ahead of time, follow all the steps up until the final baking, cover the cast iron pan with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until ready to cook.
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When ready to bake it, remove it from the fridge one hour prior so the cast iron can warm up. Remove the plastic wrap. Then bake at 375 in the oven (or smoker).
Boom. That’s it. And if looking for more stuffing ideas try our grilled wild mushroom stuffing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Historically a stuffing is a dressing that was inserted into a turkey or chicken cavity and cooked at the same time as the bird. Dressing is cooked in a separate cooking dish. You have more control over the texture of a dressing versus stuffing. So this is technically a “dressing”, but most folks refer to this kind of dish as a “stuffing” so we’re sticking with that term.
This smoked sausage stuffing is good for 6-8 people as a side dish. We typically plan 1/4 cup of stuffing per person for a holiday meal.
More Holiday Side Dish Recipes
Explore all of our Thanksgiving recipes or check out some of our favorites below.
- Grilled Brussels Sprouts
- Maple Glazed Carrots on the Grill
- Grilled Green Beans
- Collard Greens with Smoked Turkey Leg
- Grilled Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Smoked Holiday Recipe Roasts
- How To Smoke a Turkey
- Smoked Beef Tenderloin
- Smoked Ham with Brown Sugar
- Double Smoked Ham with Cherry Glaze
- Brown Sugar Glazed Smoked Ham
About Vindulge
Mary (a certified sommelier and recipe developer) and Sean (backyard pitmaster) are co-authors of the critically acclaimed cookbook, Fire + Wine, and have been creating content for the IACP nominated website Vindulge since 2009. They live in Oregon on a farm just outside Portland.
Get a signed copy of our cookbook! Order Now
About Vindulge
Mary (a certified sommelier and recipe developer) and Sean (backyard pitmaster) are co-authors of the critically acclaimed cookbook, Fire + Wine, and have been creating content for the IACP nominated website Vindulge since 2009. They live in Oregon on a farm just outside Portland.
Get a signed copy of our cookbook! Order Now
Smoked Sausage Stuffing with Caramelized Onions
Ingredients
- 1 pound bulk spicy Italian pork sausage
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 medium onion, chopped (roughly 2 cups worth)
- 10 sage leaves, chopped (about ¼ cup loosely packed)
- 10 sprigs thyme, chopped (about 1 teaspoon)
- 6 cups day old/dried cornbread, chopped into 1-inch cubes, (this works with regular or gluten-free cornbread)
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup chicken stock, (may need more or less, see notes)
- 1 egg
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper, (or a few twists of fresh ground pepper)
Instructions
Smoke Sausage
- Pre-heat smoker to 225 degrees using fruit wood.
- Break up the sausage into quarter-size pieces and place on a foil-lined cookie sheet. Place on the smoker for up to 60 minutes, or until browned. Remove and transfer the sausage to a large bowl. Meanwhile, increase the grill temperature to 375 degrees, using a two-zone or direct/indirect method, to prepare it for cooking the stuffing.
Make Dressing
- Caramelize Onions: In a large skillet set to medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of butter and the chopped onions. Let them slowly soften and nearly caramelize (about 20 – 30 minutes), stirring often. Remove from heat and add the sage and thyme. Mix together. Transfer to the large bowl with the sausage.
- Add the cornbread pieces and cranberries to the bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the heavy cream, chicken stock, and one egg. Pour that mixture over the cornbread and stuffing mix. Add salt and pepper and stir together. Add more chicken stock (just a couple tablespoons at a time) if the mix looks dry.
- Transfer to a buttered 10-inch round cast iron skillet for this size portion (alternatively a large buttered baking dish will work too)
- Place the skillet uncovered on the grill and bake until the top is golden brown (or about 30 minutes). Alternatively you can finish in the oven at the same temperature and time.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Looks great…can this be made ahead of time and refrigerated, then heated up in the oven on thanksgiving day?
John, you can certainly do that if you are traveling elsewhere (assuming maybe it’s your location). I would actually slice it all up when done, then fridge it. Then when you are warming, use a little apple cider vinegar in your pan, put the turkey parts in there at a lower heat (250 ish), and wrap in foil. When you reheat that way, you are steaming and warming at the same time.
This is the best stuffing we have ever had and crave it every year!!
I lost my print out and almost freaked out!! Thank goodness for History on my computer and found it from 2 years ago!! So excited to be making it again for the 3 year!
I love how you figured out how to adjust things to make it work for you. I can relate, since my first stove in my NYC apartment years ago wasn’t wide enough to fit sheet pans; a large turkey would never have worked. The combination of ingredients and flavors in this stuffing sounds awesome together. If I was making TDay dinner, I’d totally include it, but we are eating out, but I will save it for another time. Thank you!
Ooh I love the idea of using the grill as a food warmer too, during the holidays. What a great tip! And I love the flavor combo you have with this stuffing recipe.
The combination of sausage and cornbread in a stuffing sounds incredible! We’re going to be staying at a cabin for Thanksgiving so this recipe would be perfect!
What a great idea to do the stuffing on the smoker! I love that it frees up room in the kitchen too! I may need to try this for Thanksgiving this year!