Cranberry & Bacon Sausage Meat Stuffing

Elevate your humble packet stuffing with a few simple ingredients to make a side dish people won’t forget! This Cranberry & Bacon Sausage Meat Stuffing is a fantastic accompaniment to any roast dinner but especially Christmas and Thanksgiving.

Elevating sage & onion stuffing mix

I have been making my family’s easy sausage meat stuffing for years now. It is a very simple way to take a packet of sage and onion stuffing mix and making it that little bit more special.

And I have taken it a step further with this cranberry and bacon version! It is the perfect way to pimp your stuffing mix with minimal effort but with maximum flavour.

The flavours scream Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’ll be honest with you though, I love the flavours so much I make this stuffing year round.

which bacon to use

I use smoked bacon lardons for this stuffing. I always have some bacon lardons in the fridge or freezer to make my brussels sprouts with bacon.

If you don’t have lardons you could use any type of bacon; medallions, streaky, bacon bacon; and just cut it up into smaller pieces.

Alternatively pancetta would work really well instead of bacon lardons. You can usually find pancetta lardons in the same place as bacon lardons in the supermarket.

Bacon should always be smoked in my opinion, but if you want to use unsmoked you can.

What type of cranberries to use

To keep this cranberry & bacon sausage meat stuffing as simple as possible, I have used cranberry sauce. What could be easier than opening a jar?!

I like to use cranberry sauce with whole cranberries because it adds texture to the stuffing. If you usually buy smooth cranberry sauce this will work just as well.

You could also add in some fresh cranberries if you’re feeling fancy. Talking about fancy, I have thrown in a few dried cranberries that I had leftover from making cookies. It really is versatile, add whatever cranberries you like!

If you’re feeling next level fancy, you can make your own cranberry sauce. Not necessarily specifically for this recipe, but if you were making it already for Christmas/Thanksgiving it would be rude not to steal a bit for your stuffing.

These cranberry sauces would all work really well:

• Homemade whole cranberry sauce
• Easy cranberry & red wine sauce

How much water should be added?

I have noticed that different packets of stuffing mix require you to add different amounts of water.

The well known brand Paxo, needs less water than some supermarket own brands. So always check what the specific stuffing mix you are using requires and then use 50ml less.

This is because the cranberry sauce adds moisture and when I used the full amount of water it was looser than I wanted.

If you forget and add the recommended amount of water on the packet you might just need to cook the stuffing for around 15 minutes more so it firms up a bit more.

make your stuffing ahead of time

Roast dinners can get a little bit hectic as there are so many elements to prepare and cook.

To save yourself time and to get ahead, you can prepare this stuffing in advance.

Mix all of the ingredients together and keep it in the fridge until you are ready to cook. It will be fine in the fridge for two to three days.

You can also cook this delicious stuffing using your air fryer. It’s quicker to cook and frees up valuable space in your oven.

Can this stuffing be made gluten free?

Yes, very easily!

Make sure your sausage meat is gluten free. If you can’t find gluten free sausage meat, you can remove the skins from gluten free sausages and add this instead.

Gluten free sage and onion stuffing mix should be easily available in your supermarket’s free from section.

What to do with leftover stuffing

If you’re lucky enough that everyone hasn’t eaten all of the stuffing, it makes great leftovers. It is particularly tasty in thick white bread along with some leftover meat from your roast.

You don’t have to worry about reheating it as it is delicious cold. Store it in the fridge for up to two days.

But if you would like to reheat it, I usually give it a quick blast in the microwave for a couple of minutes until it is piping hot throughout. If you want it to keep it’s crispness you could pop it in the oven or air fryer for 5 minutes until crisp.

It would also be delicious the next day served with Bubble & Squeak.

How to freeze this stuffing

You can freeze the stuffing for up to three months. It can be frozen either raw or cooked. This would be one of the rare occasions I would recommend a foil disposable container.

If you want to freeze it raw, mix all of the ingredients apart from the butter on the top. When you want to use the stuffing, leave it to defrost in the fridge overnight. Add the butter to the top and cook as per below.

If you want to cook the stuffing before freezing it, cook exactly as per below. Put it in the freezer within two hours of it finishing cooking.

Defrost in the fridge overnight and cook in the oven until piping hot throughout. You might want to cover it with foil so it doesn’t get too brown on top.

how to serve cranberry & Bacon sausage meat stuffing

I’d serve this with any roast dinner, but definitely for Christmas lunch! My Air Fryer Roast Chicken and Roast Beef scream out for this stuffing! Make sure you make enough stuffing for everyone to have plenty, plus leftovers for a cold meat and stuffing sandwich!

If you’re going down the roast dinner route, don’t forget the following deliciousness:

• Air Fryer Roast Potatoes
• Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Garlic
• Roasted Air Fryer Carrots
• Air Fryer Pigs in Blankets
• Roasted Air Fryer Parsnips
• Pressure Cooker Red Cabbage with Apple

This stuffing doesn’t just have to be part of a roast dinner though. It is so quick and easy to make you could have it with any grilled meat or sausages any day of the week.

If you’re having pork or just fancy a change, try my Pork, Apple & Sage Stuffing instead.

Other recipes you might like

• Pork & Stuffing Sausage Rolls
• Sticky Cranberry Cocktail Sausages
• Turkey & Cranberry Sausage Rolls
• Honey Glazed Ham

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