Elegant Turkey Stuffing

Annacia's Note:

The orange-flavored liqueur, spicy Italian sausage, apples, and pecans make this dressing distinctive from all others. It is very easy to prepare and goes with any dish. This recipe makes enough to stuff one 18 to 20 pound bird. If you prefer, this dressing can be made with thyme instead of sage. Time is for making the stuffing only, it doesn't include the the time in the bird or oven baking as that varies so much.

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 0 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 16

• 1 cup raisins
• 1 ½ cups orange liqueur
• ½ cup unsalted butter
• 2 cups chopped celery
• 1 large onion , chopped
• 1 lb hot Italian sausage , casing removed
• 1 (16 ounce) package herb seasoned stuffing mix
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 4 granny smith apples , peeled, cored and chopped
• ½ cup unsalted butter , melted
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 4 teaspoons chopped fresh sage
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Place the raisins in a small saucepan, and cover with 1 cup of liqueur.
2. Bring to boil, remove from heat, and set aside.
3. In a large skillet, melt 1/2 cup butter over medium heat.
4. Sauté the celery and onion in the butter for 10 minutes.
5. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
6. In the same skillet, cook the sausage over medium-high heat until crumbled and evenly brown, drain.
7. Combine the sausage and stuffing mix with the celery and onion mixture.
8. Stir in the raisins and liqueur, pecans, and apples.
9. Mix in melted butter, chicken broth, 1/2 cup orange liqueur; the stuffing should be totally moistened.
10. Season with sage, salt, and pepper.
11. Stuffing is ready to stuff in the bird or to bake as you wish.

Reviews

[CA.TN]

I have substituted walnuts for the pecans as well as using orange juice in place of the liquor. Also, we don't use fresh herbs much so I checked the internet to find out how much dry sage to use compared to fresh. Word of warning - as the recipe indicates, this makes a LOT! Note: This recipe comes from allrecipes. I have had it saved in my recipe box there since 2003.

[NorthwestGal]

Wow-weeee. This was the most delicious stuffing I have ever tasted. Everyone in my family thought it was really good. The raisins, apples, pecans, and orange liqueur, I think, added added a very unique taste combination in this recipe and really dressed up the bread stuffing quite nicely. We will not wait for the holidays to have this again. Thanks for posting this gem of a recipe, Annacia!

[lazyme]

Delish! I made this with Jimmy Dean hot sausage and baked it on the side, covered, at 350F for about 40 minutes. It came out very moist and was a real hit at our Thanksgiving dinner. It went really well with the apples in a waldorf salad and a grand marnier cranberry sauce. Thanks Annacia for a great stuffing that will be on our holiday table again and again.