Sweet and Savory Sausage Stuffing

There is a lot of room for personalizing here, so feel free to make it your own! I like bagged stuffing mix and lots of almond milk to get that moist, even texture and uniform flavor, but you can also make this with made-from-scratch croutons and less moisture for a lighter dish.

Ingredients

1 bag crouton stuffing mix (check ingredients, I’d say half of the mixes I see are vegan)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 pounds sweet Italian sausage, casings removed, chopped into 1/2 inch cubes (Field Roast apple sage sausage is available nationally and works great, but my personal favorite is Herbivorous Butcher maple sage breakfast sausage)

1/4 lb vegan butter (standard 8 tbsp stick)

3 medium onions, chopped

4 large celery ribs, chopped

5 garlic cloves, minced

4 tablespoons ground flax

3/4 cup soy creamer (sweetened with sugar and/or vanilla is fine/awesome)

1 teaspoon vegetarian bouillon

1/2 cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

1+ cup unsweetened almond milk (or similar non-dairy milk)

Directions

Preheat oven to 425°F (if making same-day). Oil the inside of two 8×8 inch glass pans, or whatever you like of similar total volume.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a medium to large dutch oven over medium-high heat until it shimmers, then cook sausage until just barely starting to brown (overcooking the sausage here is no bueno). Transfer to a large bowl.

Heat butter over medium heat, then cook onions, celery, garlic, about 1/2 teaspoon pepper and a pinch or two of salt, stirring occasionally, until golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat and pour sausage back into the dutch oven. Add stuffing mix.

Whisk together flax, creamer, bouillon, and parsley, then thoroughly stir into stuffing and cool completely, about 30 minutes, with cover on. Transfer to baking dishes and chill in the refrigerator until dinner time. At this point, you can keep the stuffing in the refrigerator overnight if making ahead.

A couple hours before dinner time, bring dish of stuffing to room temperature on the counter or in the car for about an hour. Check the consistency and add almond milk as needed (I would say stop at 1/2 cup per pan, that should be plenty). Cover tightly with foil and cook until hot throughout, about 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake until top is golden and crisp, about 15 minutes more. To accommodate oven space at families’ houses, I have also cooked at home for the first 20 minutes, then traveled with the dish(es) in a towel, then browned the top for just 15 minutes at the destination after the host is done with the oven.