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Traditional sausage stuffing
Serves: 8-10
Prep time: 0Total time: 
Recipe photograph by Tara Fisher
Traditional sausage stuffing
Inspired by the medieval recipe for forcemeat, this Christmas sausage stuffing is flavoured with prunes, walnuts and a dash of brandy
Serves: 8-10
Prep time: 0Total time:
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Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
302Kcal
Fat
20gr
Saturates
5gr
Carbs
12gr
Sugars
5gr
Fibre
2gr
Protein
14gr
Salt
0.7gr
Tamsin Burnett-Hall
Tamsin learned the tricks of the trade from cookery legend Delia Smith. A trusted recipe writer for the magazine for over 25 years, she is now our Cookery Workflow Editor, overseeing testing and editing to ensure that every recipe tastes great, is straightforward to follow and works without fail. In her home kitchen, Tamsin creates fuss-free flavour-packed food for friends and family, with baking being her ultimate form of comfort cooking
See more of Tamsin Burnett-Hall’s recipes
Tamsin Burnett-Hall
Tamsin learned the tricks of the trade from cookery legend Delia Smith. A trusted recipe writer for the magazine for over 25 years, she is now our Cookery Workflow Editor, overseeing testing and editing to ensure that every recipe tastes great, is straightforward to follow and works without fail. In her home kitchen, Tamsin creates fuss-free flavour-packed food for friends and family, with baking being her ultimate form of comfort cooking
See more of Tamsin Burnett-Hall’s recipes
Ingredients
- 60g prunes, chopped
- 4 tbsp brandy
- a pinch of ground mace or nutmeg
- ½ tsp ground allspice or a pinch of ground cloves
- 1 tbsp chopped thyme, plus 3 sprigs
- 4 tbsp chopped parsley
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 100g chicken livers or the turkey liver, finely chopped, optional
- 50g chopped walnuts plus 8 halves
- 75g stale bread, crumbed
- 400g pork sausages
- bay leaves to garnish
Step by step
Get ahead
Prep to the end of step 5 and chill for up to 1 day, or freeze. Defrost before cooking.
- Put the prunes, brandy, spices and chopped herbs in a large mixing bowl; leave to soak for at least 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onion and cook for about 10 minutes until the onion has started to soften. Add the finely chopped liver, if using, and fry for 5 minutes until lightly golden. Spread out on a plate to cool.
- Add the chopped walnuts and crumbs to the bowl, plus a generous pinch of salt and some freshly ground pepper.
-
Squeeze the sausage meat from their skins, into the bowl and add the cooled onion mixture. Mix everything together well. If you want to check the seasoning, fry off a small piece of the stuffing until cooked through to taste it, then adjust the seasoning of the mixture as needed.TipUse dairy-free sausages if required.
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Pack the stuffing into a greased baking dish, then press in the walnut halves, thyme sprigs and bay leaves in a decorative pattern.TipBake at 190°C, fan 170°C, gas 5 for 30 minutes or until the juices run clear. If you’re cooking it at a higher temperature alongside other accompaniments, cover the dish with foil so that it doesn’t brown too fast, but remove the foil for the final 5-10 minutes so that the top can brown.