Food and lifestyle with a dusting of magic
Learn how to make this simple and tasty sage and onion stuffing. Add the wow factor to your roast dinner by making this today.
For me one of the best parts of Christmas dinner is all the trimmings, stuffings, little sausages, bread sauce, and cranberry sauce. These really make the dinner special. Sage and onion stuffing is a must have for your Christmas table. It is really simple to make and tastes so much nicer than shop bought.
This stuffing will go with any roast dinner you are having, not just Christmas dinner. With a few simple ingredients and a little effort you will have a stuffing that everyone will want to eat. Make sure you make extra as it will be popular.
Sage and onion stuffing is really easy to make. All you need is breadcrumbs, sage and onions. Make the breadcrumbs in a food processor.
Top tip: Breadcrumbs freeze really well so if you have any odds and ends of bread that need used up make breadcrumbs. Stick them in a freezer bag and freeze and you will always have some ready. They are useful for all sorts of different toppings or thickening soups.
To soften the onions boil them in water for around ten minutes. If you chop the onions first they will cook faster. Finally, melt some butter in a pan and add the onions, breadcrumbs and sage. Mix well and place the stuffing into an ovenproof dish. You can cook this with the roast for thirty minutes before you serve it.
I am lucky because I have two giant sage bushes in my garden. I planted two little plants a couple of years ago and they really started to thrive, growing into enormous shrubs with pretty purple flowers in the spring.
Fresh sage really makes the stuffing taste gorgeous, but dried sage works just as well. Make sure you get it in advance because every year I find that there is a dried sage shortage in the shops. It gets really hard to find just before Christmas as everyone seems to choose the same day to buy it. It is worth getting because sage and onion stuffing really adds another dimension to the Christmas meal.
You can substitute fresh sage for dried sage. Normally 1 tsp dried sage is equivalent to 1 tbsp fresh chopped sage.
The recipe takes around 55 minutes to make. 30 minutes of this is cooking time. You can prepare it whilst you are making all the other dishes for your roast dinner or you can make it a little bit in advance. Make it the morning before and just pop it in the oven when you are ready.
It can be cooked inside the turkey, rolled into stuffing balls and placed in a baking tray or cooked in a separate dish in the oven. I usually cook it in a separate dish as I tend to do several stuffing’s with the Christmas dinner and it makes serving it easier.
Stuffing will taste better if it is made on the day. You can prepare it in advance and cook it with the dinner when you are ready. I like to prepare my stuffing in the morning. It is then ready to pop into the oven thirty minutes before you are ready to serve. It will be fine if you make it the day before and cook it the next day.
The stuffing will keep up to two days in the fridge if you store it in an airtight container. Cold stuffing is delicious on sandwiches. Why not make turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce sandwiches for an easy lunch?
Whilst stuffing does taste nice cold you may want to reheat it. Before reheating check the stuffing, it may have dried out a little bit. To stop it becoming too dry drizzle a little chicken stock onto the stuffing before reheating. A small amount of butter will help to moisten it as well.
The quickest way to reheat stuffing is to use the microwave. Place it in an ovenproof dish with a little baking parchment on top and heat for a couple of minutes until warm. It is best to stir the stuffing each minute so it heats evenly. Alternatively place the dish into the oven at 180C for twenty to thirty minutes. You can also reheat the stuffing in a pan, just ensure you stir it so it does not stick.
After the stuffing has been cooked you can freeze it for up to a month. Make sure you freeze it in an airtight container to keep it as fresh as possible. If you are going to freeze the stuffing freeze it within two hours of preparation. Make sure you cool it before freezing.
Why not pin for later?
What is your favourite stuffing recipe? Let me know below.
This post was first published on 16th December 2013 but has been rewritten and updated with new photos.
Fab recipe, nice & easy and looks scrummy #recipeoftheweek
I have a small and much neglected sage bush, which I must put to good use. Thanks for the idea! Dropping in belatedly from #recipeoftheweek.
Brilliant – I’m ashamed to say I generally use packet mix so I’d love to give this a go. Thanks for linking up to #recipeoftheweek. Have Pinned and tweeted this post and there’s a fresh linky live now with this recipe in pride of place 🙂
This is timely – this year we’re in London for Christmas and while my husband is in theory tasked with the british xmas day lunch (and me, with the italian xmas eve dinner).. it will of course fall onto me to deal with the lunch too 🙂
I hope everything went well and you had a lovely Christmas