Sausage Stuffing Bites with Cranberry Dipping Sauce
Thanksgiving is coming up, and that means we’re all about to come face to face with the Leftover Problem.
You know the one I mean. You make a huge amount of food for Thanksgiving dinner, and you eat a huge amount, and yet somehow you still have a huge amount left over. You can always slice the turkey for sandwiches, but what do you do with the leftover stuffing and cranberries?
Here’s one creative answer to that question: You blend that stuffing with some sausage, cheese, and dried cranberries, with a couple of beaten eggs to hold it together, and form it into tasty little meatballs that you can serve as a party snack. And use the leftover cranberry sauce for dipping.
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If stuffing is your favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal, you will just love these little Sausage Stuffing Bites. They’ve got all the yummy flavor and chewy texture of your favorite side dish, plus the extra zip of the sausage and cranberries. They’re meaty, spicy, satisfying…totally irresistible.
In fact, they’re so good, you might want to make extra stuffing on purpose, so you can serve these as an appetizer before your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. Because when you have such a great use for leftovers, who wants to wait?
Quick Tips
Will this work with any kind of stuffing?
It’s best with a basic bread stuffing like my Easy Crockpot Stuffing. You can use a sausage-loaded version like my Savory Crockpot Stuffing by just reducing the amount of sausage you add to the balls, or even leaving it out completely. It should also work with a cornbread stuffing. Rice stuffing would be a little trickier, because it might not hold together very well. If you try it, test the consistency of the mixture before forming it into balls, and add another egg if it seems too crumbly.
Is there a way to make this appetizer vegetarian?
As long as your stuffing doesn’t have meat in it, all you have to do is replace the sausage in the recipe with a good veggie sausage like Lightlife Gimme Lean. Or just leave out the sausage and increase the amount of stuffing to make up the volume.
What if I don’t have any leftover cranberry sauce? We always eat it all!
Not to worry…canned cranberry sauce will also work. Just make sure it’s whole berry cranberry sauce and not the jellied kind.
Do these freeze well?
Yes! I like to make a big batch before Thanksgiving and freeze them, so I can serve some as part of my Thanksgiving Appetizer Snack Board and save some for Christmas.
Sausage Stuffing Bites with Cranberry Dipping Sauce
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine all stuffing ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix with your hands.
- Using a cookie scoop, (or hands) scoop into golf ball sized balls, and place onto a greased baking pan OR a baking pan lined with parchment paper. I prefer the parchment paper method for easy clean up. You should get about 40 sausage bites.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, till they are browned on top.
- While they are baking, prepare the cranberry sauce in a small saucepan. Combine the ingredients, stirring frequently to help break the cranberry sauce down. Simmer until sauce has thicken a little.
- Place dipping sauce in a serving bowl and surround with Sausage Stuffing Bites.
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TOOLS USED FOR THIS SAUSAGE STUFFING BITES WITH CRANBERRY DIPPING SAUCE:
Measuring Cups and Spoons: Each cup’s “ml” and cup sizes have passed clearly engraved marking, and you can quickly identify the cup scale according to the color of the handle.
Mixing Bowls: Glass is pre-heated oven, microwave, fridge and freezer safe, and dishwasher safe.
Cookie Scoop: This gadget makes it easy to make equal sized balls for this recipe.
Sausage Stuffing Bites with Cranberry Dipping Sauce
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Ingredients
Sausage Stuffing Bites
- 2.5 cups Homemade Stuffing
- ½ pound of hot Italian sausage
- ½ pound of mild Italian sausage
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
- ½ cup of shredded cheese cheddar
- 1/3 cup dried cranberries minced
- 2 beaten eggs
- ¼- ½ cup chicken broth
Cranberry Dipping Sauce
- 1 cup cranberry sauce either homemade or canned WHOLE BERRY
- ¼ cup of orange juice
- Pinch of sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine all stuffing ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix with your hands.
- Using a cookie scoop, (or hands) scoop the sausage balls onto a greased baking pan OR a baking pan lined
- with parchment paper. I prefer the parchment paper method for easy clean up. You should get about 40 sausage bites.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, till they are browned on top.
- While they are baking, prepare the cranberry sauce in a small saucepan. Combine the
- ingredients, stirring frequently to help break the cranberry sauce down. Simmer until sauce has thicken a little.
- Place dipping sauce in a serving bowl and surround with Sausage Stuffing Bites.
Video
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer: Family Fresh Meals is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is only an estimate. We recommend running the ingredients through an online nutritional calculator if you need to verify any information.
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This recipe sounds great. If they are going to be frozen do you cook them first? What is the best way to warm them up from frozen?
Also wonder The best method for freezing and then reheating! These sound amazing.
I can’t wait to make this recipe!! And I am wondering how chorizo (or a blend of regular & chorizo) sausage would work?? Has anyone tried it?
I think a blend of regular and chorizo would be super yummy! Please let us know how it turns out.
Question, please. The stuffing used to make these, should it be cooked first? Then mix it with the sausage?
Yes, the stuffing should be cooked first.
These were so good. Did a practice round for Thanksgiving and the family loved them. Now I will take them to share at our Holiday Happy Hour.
could I use boxed Stove Top stuffing?
Yep! Any stuffing works great for these 🙂