This classic olive oil stuffing recipe is aromatic and flavorful with lots of fresh herbs and citrus. You can swap out pork sausage for turkey sausage if you like or leave the meat out all together. Just replace the fat from the sausage with more olive oil. We’ve included instructions for cooking it in the turkey or baking it separately. We recommend using Olio Nuovo in this recipe as it is the freshest olive oil you can find and a perfect symbol of the harvest.
Ingredients
1 lb pork sausage (not in casings)
8 – 10 cups dried white bread cubes (store-bought or homemade)
2 cups diced celery
1 onion, finely chopped
2 t grated orange zest
½ t grated lemon zest
Freshly ground black pepper
1 T chopped fresh thyme
½ T chopped fresh marjoram
½ T chopped fresh sage
¼ cup chopped parsley
¼ cup orange juice
Up to 2 cups turkey, chicken, or vegetable stock
½ cup We Olive Extra Virgin Olive Oil
In a skillet, cook the sausage, breaking up the lumps as it cooks, until lightly browned. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the meat to a large bowl and mix with the bread cubes and celery. Drain off and reserve all but two tablespoons of the sausage fat from the skillet. Add the onion to the skillet and sauté until tender.
Add the onion, orange and lemon zest, thyme, marjoram, sage, parsley and orange juice to the bread mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in ¼ cup of the reserved sausage fat. Use the mixture to stuff neck and body cavity of your turkey, if desired. Close with skewers and string. Moisten the remainder of the stuffing mixture with broth, but don’t soak. You want just enough to dampen but not drown the bread cubes. Place the extra stuffing in a well-oiled baking dish, drizzle with olive oil, and cover with foil.
Bake in a 375°F oven for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking for 15 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned. When the turkey comes out of the oven, the stuffing inside should reach a minimum internal temperature of 165º. Remove the stuffing while the turkey rests and combine it with the baked stuffing. Alternatively, you can bake the entire stuffing mixture separately from the turkey.
