Easy Make Ahead Sous Vide Stuffing

This make-ahead sous vide stuffing is awesome! No stress, and it’s ready when you are. This recipe is very flavorful, but you can adjust it with whatever ingredients you have on hand. This is a crowd pleaser for our Thanksgiving Dinner. I especially love that I can make it the day(s) before in the sous vide, and chill until it’s ready to serve. When it’s close to dinner time, I put it into a cast iron pan over the stove to crisp the bottom, then for a quick scorch under the broiler to crisp the top.

Ingredients

2 Loaves of day old french bread
4 Stalks of celery
3 Links of hot Italian sausage (this can be substituted with anything you like i.e. bacon, breakfast sausage, sweet sausages, ground beef or skipped all together)
1 Sweet onion, diced
3 Cloves of garlic
1 Tablespoon of sage leaves, chopped
3 – 4 cups of chicken stock depending on desired consistency
4 eggs whisked
Generous amount of salt
Pepper
Oil
Melted butter

Instructions

1. Set Sous Vide to 167F.
2. Brown the sausages in a lightly oiled pan over medium high heat.
3. Once a nice crust has formed for the sausages, remove from pan but keep as much of the residual oil as needed in the pan. Set sausage aside to cool.
4. Add in onions, celery, and garlic to pan, cook until a little translucent. Make sure to scrape up all the fond at the bottom of the pan. Set aside to cool.
5. Cut up bread into 1 inch cubes.
6. (optional) Toast the bread for a few mins until slightly dried out.
7. In a large mixing bowl add in the bread, celery mixture, sausage, sage leaves, a generous amount of salt, and pepper Give it a good mix.
8. Add in the eggs and chicken stock, use more or less depending on your desired consistency and mix until just combined.
9. Split the contents into bags and sous vide for 1 hour.
10. When finished, cool off in an ice bath and refrigerate.
11. When ready to serve, heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat.
12. Add contents into the skillet and push around to form the shape. Try not to press too hard.
13. Once a nice crust has formed on the bottom, brush the top with melted butter and scrape with a fork for crispier bits.
14. Place into the oven under the broiler for a few mins – until the top is golden brown.