Of all the dishes that must be included in a holiday meal, stuffing is the one I always try to avoid making if possible. If I’m hosting the meal, when people ask what they can bring, I almost always ask them to bring the stuffing so I don’t have to make it. (Nice, huh?)
Why had stuffing always been such a hard one for me? I just hadn’t found a stuffing recipe I love. I look at stuffing recipes and get completely overwhelmed. After all, there are usually no fewer than 28 steps to take to go from bread to stuffing.
Until now.
Oh look. We made toasted bread.
It wasn’t even hard.
Homemade Stuffing Made Easy
Once I finally wrapped my brain around all the instructions in all the recipes I looked at, I realized that I didn’t need to perform 28 steps. I could simplify everything and cut it down to four:
1. Cube and toast bread.
2. Brown sausage with onion and sage.
3. Stir everything together with a few other ingredients.
4. Bake.
What? That’s it? Yes.
Some may prefer their stuffing with additional spices. Many like celery. But this turned out plenty flavorful for us with very few ingredients. Plus, not one of the six of us likes celery. So I skipped it.
This recipe can be made ahead of time. You can make this stuffing spread into a dish or as scooped into muffin tins. I may actually make this more than twice a year for holiday meals. After all, when I was was testing driving this recipe to make it as easy as possible, my family dug in and kept going back for more. Even if I did burn the first batch.
Indeed, my pictures feature over-baked Stuffing Muffins. It’s because I was baking them while having unfortunate cat drama. It was day 2 of baby kitties and Wiggams wasn’t sure she was cut out for the mama business. (WHAT?!) I told her she didn’t have a choice, that sometimes we all have hard days, and that she needed to get over it at go try to keep her last baby alive (yes, we’re down to only one). She ignored me. So I was trying to keep the last kitten alive by holding it to warm it up and by giving it milk from a dropper. This is when my muffins burned. I am not cut out to be the mother of a kitten.
Other bloggers would have started over in an effort to take better pictures. Me? I just took pictures of my burned muffins. There just are not enough hours in the day, okay? I get overwhelmed easily. It was either burned pictures or no pictures. At least we saved the kitten.
Easy Stuffing Muffins
- 6-8 slices of whole wheat bread
- 1 pound ground sausage
- 2 Tablespoons butter or oil
- ½ cup yellow onion, chopped or 3 Tablespoons dried minced onion
- 1 teaspoon ground sage
- ¾ cup chicken broth
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese (optional)
- 2 eggs
- Cut bread into ½ inch cubes.
- Lay cubes on a cookie sheet and bake in a 300° oven for 10 minutes to toast.
- In the meantime, brown sausage with onion and sage.
- In a large bowl, stir toasted bread cubes, cooked sausage mixture, and the remaining ingredients together.
- Scoop mixture into 18 muffin tins or spread it into a 9x13 inch baking dish.
- Bake in a 400° oven for 25-40 minutes or until golden brown.
Recipe links you might find helpful:
To Freeze Stuffing Muffins
Allow muffins to cool completely. Place them in a freezer bag and seal, air tight. Freeze for up to one month.
To reheat: Thaw and warm muffins in a 250° oven in a covered dish for 10-15 minutes.
You should know that saying Stuffing Muffins most often comes out of my mouth as Muffing Stuffers or Stuffern Muffings. It can’t be helped.
And now for some adorable cat pictures. I mean, if I’m going to show you burned muffins, I should at least show you the reasons they burned:
With assistance from our neighbor, some much needed help from a friend, and now some persistent work with Wiggams, I think we’ll be able to keep one little kitten alive. Wiggams seems to be getting the mama thing figured out, finally. If this isn’t the sweetest…
Look at this little one’s face. See why we named it Lionel? (I mean, besides the fact that we named it after Lionel Messi. He just looks like a Lionel.) Look at his little lion cub face. We are in love.
And that is why my muffins burned.
Holiday Make-Ahead Tip:
If you are in charge of stuffing for this year’s holiday festivities, I suggest you make these Stuffing Muffins at least two weeks in advance. Freeze them until the night before your meal. Thaw in the fridge. Rewarm just before serving. These are great drenched in turkey gravy (recipe coming up during this series).
Here are the quick links to all the recipes we covered in this series:
- Make-Ahead Turkey
- Stuffing Muffins
- Cheesy Mashed Potatoes
- Oh Good Gravy
- Green Bean Casserole
- How to Make Frozen Pies
- Simple Whipped Sweet Potatoes
- How to make Whipped Cream
- Whole Wheat Stir-and-Pour Dinner Rolls
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Simple Meals is here! It’s saving my brain (and many of yours too!). If you haven’t joined yet, now’s the time. Get all the details here!
