The Best Vegetarian Stuffing

Oh my fucking god. I effectively vegetarian-ized one of my all-time favorite Thanksgiving foods--my mom's pork sausage stuffing!!! I struggle to stop eating it. Technically this recipe is called "dressing" since it's not stuffed in anything. I used apple sage vegetarian sausages to add protein and sausage flavor. This recipe is super fast, but watch your salt amounts!

This recipe would work very well with the mashed potatoes and this amazing vegetarian gravy, vegetables, and a buttered dinner roll.

The recipe is here, and pictures of the process are below:

Ingredients:

• 2 boxes dry sage or turkey flavored Stovetop stuffing mix (about 10 cups stuffing mix)

• 1 stick unsalted butter (1/2 cup; 8 Tbsp.)

• 1 1/2 cup diced celery

• 1 1/2 cup diced carrots

• 1 1/2 cups diced white or yellow onion

• 4 vegetarian Field Roast apple sage sausages, crumbled

• 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning (optional)

• 1/4 - 1/2 tsp. tsp. black pepper

• 2 cups low sodium vegetable broth or 1 bouillon cube dissolved in 2 cups water

• 2 cups water

Note: some turkey-flavored stuffings are not vegetarian. Sage stuffing is likely to be vegetarian. You can season plain stuffing with poultry seasoning and other spices to get the desired flavor.

Note: pay attention to the salt level in your broth. You can lessen it by adding more water, for example. When I made this I used salted butter and boullion broth and it was almost too salty.

Directions:

1. Melt butter on medium heat. Add vegetables and cook 10 minutes.

2. Add sausage and fry until well browned and crispy, about 10 minutes.

3. Mix in the pepper and poultry seasoning, if using.

4. Add the stuffing, water, and broth and mix in. I make mine quite moist (2 cups per box of stuffing, but you can decrease the liquid and change the proportion of water to broth).

5. Take the pan off the heat, cover, and let sit 5 minutes.

6. Taste and adjust seasonings.

7. Transfer to a greased 9x13" pyrex, metal, or ceramic casserole dish.

8. Bake 10-20 minutes in 375°F oven, or until crispy on top. Serve fresh.

9. 8-12 servings.

Here is how I made batch of the recipe (so just 1 box of stuffing):

Vegetables before cooking in butter for 10 minutes. You should melt the butter first before adding the vegetables but I was having a weird day.

After cooking the vegetables for 10 minutes.

Then add in your crumbled fake sausage. You'll cook this for about 10 minutes.

After cooking the sausage (look how brown and crispy it is!) and mixing in the black pepper and poultry seasoning. Then we'll add the stuffing mix and broth next.

After mixing in the stuffing, broth, and taking the mixture off the heat, covering and let rest 5 minutes. Absorbed the broth and water and it's fluffy and very moist.

Transfer to a dish.

After baking. I baked mine for about 10 minutes. You can go longer. And it's ready!

Serve and enjoy!