Sausage-n-Apple Crockpot Stuffing
SAUSAGE STUFFING IS THE BEST PART OF THANKSGIVING. Normally I would leave it at that & "RECIPE HERE." But I have a little more explaining to do. Last year, due to lack of oven space, I needed to cook the stuffing in a crockpot. There's two distinct things to remember when cooking stuffing in a crockpot: 1) you need to reduce the liquid by about a third, and, 2) you need eggs to bind the stuffing together. Therefore, it's important to follow a "crockpot" stuffing recipe, so here's one below.
and here's me sternly reminding my sous chef (my little brother) not to forget the eggs in the stuffing!
Sausage-n-Apple Crockpot Stuffing
Ingredients:
4 cups cornbread, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 cups french bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 cups Ciabatta bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 pound Italian sausage
1/2 cup butter
2 cups diced onion
5 whole Granny Smith Apples, large dice
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
4 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon ground thyme
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, minced
black pepper, to taste
Fresh Parsley, Minced
5 eggs, whisked together
Directions:
Allow diced bread to sit out on cookie sheets for several hours or overnight, until dried out.
In a large skillet, crumble and brown sausage over medium high heat. Remove sausage from skillet and set aside. Without cleaning the skillet, add in butter, diced onions and brown for five minutes. Increase heat to high and add diced apples, brown sugar, and salt. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, or until deep golden brown. Add thyme, turmeric, rosemary, and pepper.
Add bread to a large bowl, then add browned sausage, mushrooms, and apple/onion mixture. Next, add broth mixture gradually as you toss the ingredients, being prepared not to use all of the liquid according to your taste. Check seasonings at the end and add in minced parsley.
Finally add eggs into mixture. Pour into crockpot and bake on low for 4-6 hours.