Looking to elevate your Thanksgiving feast?
Look no further than these delectable sage, thyme and sausage stuffing balls. Bursting with flavor and packed with a delightful combination of ingredients, these stuffing balls are sure to be a hit at your holiday table.
When it comes to creating the best ever stuffing balls, sage and thyme take center stage. Its earthy and aromatic qualities add depth and complexity to the dish, making every bite a savory delight. Combined with the sweetness of apples and cranberries, as well as the richness of sausage, these stuffing balls offer a perfect balance of flavors.
To make things even more enticing, consider using an air fryer to cook your sage stuffing balls. This innovative cooking method ensures a crispy exterior while locking in moisture for tender and flavorful results. The air fryer’s quick cooking time also means you can enjoy these delectable treats in no time at all. PLUS it frees up your precious oven space for other delectable Thanksgiving delights.
Whether you’re serving them as an appetizer or as part of your main course, these sage stuffing balls will impress even the most discerning palates. So gather your ingredients, fire up that air fryer, and get ready to indulge in a Thanksgiving side dish that will have everyone coming back for seconds (and maybe even thirds!)
Make Ahead and Freeze
You may make these stuffing balls weeks ahead of time and then freeze them to free up your prepping time on Thanksgiving.
You don’t have to wait for Thanksgiving to enjoy these! We also love to freeze these (as empty nesters) to pair with a poultry dish. We simply just take a couple of stuffing balls out of the freezer and pop them in the air fryer to enjoy any time of the year.
Ingredient Variations
You may use many different variations of these or omit/add your own favorite ingredients to this stuffing.
Vegetarian or Vegan Variation
Make it vegetarian by omitting the sausage and using vegetable broth. Make it vegan by using 6 tablespoons of olive oil instead of butter to sautee aromatics, omitting the sausage and eggs and using vegetable broth.
Bread Cubes
You may buy stuffing bread cubes or make your own! To make your own bread cubes, simply shred bread ready to go stale and place on a cookie sheet overnight. Put in a gallon sized zipper bag in the morning and freeze. Continue to do this until it your gallon sized bag is full. Once it is full, you have enough bread cubes to make this stuffing recipe!
Broth
You may use homemade or store bought vegetable or chicken broth. We even have a recipe to make a zero waste vegetable broth out of your vegetable scraps. We prefer our “garbage broth” in this recipe for maximum flavor!
Sausage
We prefer cajun sausage, linguica or sage sausage. You may substitute your favorite type of sausage for this recipe! A spicy sausage makes these stuffing balls a lovely contrast with your turkey and mashed!
Instant Pot Variation
- Divide stuffing into 4 large balls.
- Wrap each ball tightly in foil. Freeze any unused stuffing in gallon sized zipper baggie for future use.
- Fill instant pot with 1 inch of water.
- Place one foil ball on a rack in instant pot above water (to steam.)
- Set on meat setting high for 20 minutes. Quick release steam. Serve immediately or bake in oven for crunchy exterior.
- To make “crunchy” exterior: take out of foil and place in roasting pan (no lid) in oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.
Oven Variation
- Preheat oven to 350 using convection bake setting.
- Spray or baste with olive oil.
- Bake for 15 minutes if fresh, 25 minutes if frozen.
Ingredients
Aromatics
- 1 Large Sweet Onion, Diced
- 6-7 Stalks Celery, Diced
- 5-6 Mini Portobella Mushrooms, Diced
- 2 Apples, Peeled & Diced
- 1 teaspoon Poultry Seasoning
- 1 teaspoon Minced Garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon Course Kosher Salt
- 2-3 Sprigs Fresh Sage (sub 1/2 tsp ground)
- 2-4 Sprigs Fresh Thyme (sub 1/2 tsp dried)
Dry Ingredients
- 20-30 Ounces Cubed Bread
- 6 Ounces Blanched Almonds
- 6 Ounces Dried Cranberries
- 8 Ounces Diced Water Chestnut (Drained)
Other Ingredients
- 1 pound Sausage (Ground or Links)
- 3 Eggs, Beaten
- 1 Cup Broth
- Olive Oil (Spray or Baste)
- 1 Stick Butter (8 Tablespoons)
Instructions
- Melt butter and saute aromatics in large frying pan until tender. Allow to cool, remove and discard fresh herb sprigs.
- If you are using sausage links, remove from casing or dice raw sausage fine.
- Beat eggs.
- In a large bowl combine bread cubes, cranberry, almonds and water chestnuts. Slowly mix in eggs and raw sausage. Stir in broth. Stir in sauteed aromatics mixture. Mix well and allow to sit for 10 minutes for bread to absorb liquids.
- After mixture sits stir well again.
- Form and tightly pack into hand sized balls. Use a large ice cream scoop to make uniform balls.
- To enjoy immediately place in greased air fryer. Use olive oil spray or baste olive oil on top of balls. Set air fryer at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
- set air fryer at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
Notes
Yields 20-30 stuffing balls
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