Sausage Cranberry Dressing

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Sausage Cranberry Dressing is the best sausage cranberry stuffing, with crispy, buttery bread edges, a fluffy center, and raisins. It’s the perfect side dish for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Cranberry Raisin Sausage Dressing

This holiday stuffing takes traditional toasted bread-cube stuffing up a notch with dried fruits and crunchy walnuts – the perfect savory-sweet combination. It’s an ideal stuffing with sausage and cranberry for Christmas or Thanksgiving.

This moist dressing with buttery, crispy edges all around has a tender center with an occasional dried furit and crunch walnut to make it really outstanding.

You can even assemble this dressing ahead of time and bake it later when it’s time to cook dinner. Whether hosting a festive gathering or simply craving a hearty and comforting meal, this stuffing recipe is a must-try.

Ingredients

• Bread: I like to start with a loaf of Italian or French bread since they are easy to slice into cubes and are dense in texture. You can also use cornbread to make this dressing, if you prefer.
• Ground pork sausage: We have used Italian sausage instead of country sausage (or breakfast sausage even), and it adds its own special flavor to the dressing. You could even substitute chopped ham with sausage, and the dressing would be delicious! 
• Butter: I use unsalted butter so that I can add salt to taste as preferred.
• Thyme: I prefer fresh thyme, but you can substitute it with dried.
• Italian parsley: This adds a bit of a peppery flavor to the dressing. If you don’t have fresh Italian (also called flat leaf parsley) parsley, you can just opt out of this one—no worries!
• Dried crumbled sage
• Red onion – I like red onions for this recipe as they tend to be milder and sweet, but you can also use either a white or a yellow onion.
• Celery
• Golden raisins – Much more mild in flavor and tender in texture than regular raisins, golden raisins are dried in a dehydrator with a bit Sulphur Dioxide so they don’t darken.
• Dried sweetened cranberries
• Walnuts – Roughly chopped walnuts add some good crunch to this dressing. You can substitute chopped pecans if desired.  Or another option would be to sprinkle sliced almonds over the top of the dressing when you are ready to bake.
• Chicken or vegetable broth – Here’s where the dressing gets added moisture to steam as it bakes. I usually use chicken broth, but vegetable broth will also work fine.
• Salt and pepper, to taste – Always! 

How to Make Sausage Cranberry Dressing 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Using a serrated knife, slice the loaf of bread into cubes about 1-inch in size.

Place the bread cubes onto a rimmed baking sheet in a single layer.  Bake the bread cubes on the center oven rack, uncovered, until golden brown and crisped, about 15 minutes.

Place the bread cubes into a greased 9×13 baking dish. 

While the skillet is heating over medium-high heat, cook and crumble the sausage until there is no pink color left and the sausage is fully cooked.

Then, add the butter, thyme, sage, onions, and celery to the skillet.

Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the vegetables have softened a bit- about 10 minutes. Then add the golden raisins, cranberries, and walnuts to the pan. 

Combine all the ingredients and cook for an additional 5 minutes over medium heat. 

Spread the contents of the skillet over the toasted bread cubes. Slowly add 3 cups of broth, gently incorporating it until everything is combined.

Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover the pan with foil. 

Bake the dressing in a preheated 350 degree F. oven on the center rack for 30 minutes.

Remove the foil and continue to bake for an additional 10 minutes.

If you prefer a much drier texture dressing with very crispy edges, you can bake the dressing uncovered for the entire 40 minutes. 

Serve warm.

If the dressing seems to have dried out during baking, warm some broth and pour a bit of it over the dressing, tossing to combine. 

Dressing vs Stuffing  

Technically, stuffing and dressing are the same dish, made from the same ingredients. However, they are cooked differently. 

Stuffing is stuffed (yep, literally) into the inside of a turkey (the cavity) and cooked right within.

On the other hand, dressing is baked in a casserole dish, completely separate from the turkey. 

I think stuffing baked inside the turkey IS more flavorful, but because making dressing in a casserole dish is easier and faster, that’s what I choose to do most of the time.  

Made ahead and baked later

You sure can, and it works great. You can prep dressing up to two days before your dinner. About an hour before you want to bake the dressing, remove it from the fridge and uncover it.

Let the dressing rest on the counter to remove some chill from refrigeration.

Bake the dressing as the recipe directs. You may need to increase the baking time by 10-15 minutes.

Or, let the dressing rest, uncovered, on the counter to remove the chill and bake as the recipe directs. 

Thanksgiving dressing is too dry

If you bake the dressing and realize it’s not as moist as you’d prefer, warm some chicken or vegetable broth and stir it into the dressing, a little at a time, until it is the desired texture.  

Can you freeze sausage cranberry dressing

Yes. Dressing freezes well. Just thaw and reheat in the microwave or oven.  

Double the recipe

You can easily double this recipe to make two pans of dressing at once. 

What to serve with this recipe:

This recipe post answers all your questions about cooking a picture-perfect golden brown turkey in your electric roaster every single time.

This centerpiece ham in a roaster is an easy dinner that will make you look like a kitchen superstar when cooking for a large group of people during the holidays or for Sunday dinner.

MORE FAVORITE SIDE DISH RECIPES TO ENJOY

• Creamy Au Gratin Sweet Potatoes 
• Baked Pull-Apart Stuffing Ring 
• Sweet Potato Crumble 
• Creamy Green Bean Casserole

 Published November 28, 2023. Updated November 9, 2024.