Andouille and Butternut Squash Stuffing

I am a stuffing fanatic.

A stuffing fiend.

I have made or tried almost every stuffing under the sun. Southern cornbread. Oyster stuffing. Squash and sausage stuffing. Cranberry and wild rice stuffing. I have stuffed all sorts of meats, veggies, and fruits. I’ve even dreamt up a restaurant idea that revolves around stuffing.

This stuffing recipe was one I was going to make for Squash September, but I didn’t quite get around to it. What a shame….it was incredibly delicious. The texture turned out perfect—if you’re a stuffing connoisseur like I am, you know how difficult it is for stuffing to come out well. It’s really easy to make it either too dry or too wet. Blech.

I loved all of the flavors in this stuffing! You get bites of rich, smooth french bread drenched in chicken broth and then bites of sweet, sweet butternut squash. The salty andouille adds that one-two punch to the stuffing! In case you’ve never heard of andouille, it’s a Cajun smoked pork sausage. Most grocery stores in Southern states carry the sausage near their keilbasa/smoked sausage/bratwurst seleltion, but I’m not sure if you can find it easily outside of that region. In case you can’t, I’m sure a regular smoked sausage will work fine in this recipe. But if you can find andouille, USE IT! It’s a bit more firm than normal smoked sausage, and it packs a great Cajun punch. I love using the stuff when I make red beans and rice. It has such great flavor!

Andouille and Butternut Squash Stuffing

• Servings: 6-8
• Time: 1 hr
• Difficulty: Medium
• Print

A stuffing composed of french baguette cubes, andouille sausage, and butternut squash. Perfect for a Thanksgiving potluck!

Ingredients

• 1 small butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cubed
• 3 TBS. olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 8 oz. andouille, sliced
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 1 large baguette, torn into pieces and dried overnight (should be about 10 cups)
• 2 tsp. dried sage
• 1 TBS. dried parsley
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 4 TBS. unsalted butter, cut into 1/2″ pieces

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss butternut squash cubes with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper. Place on a rimmed baking sheet and roast for 25-30 minutes or until squash is tender. Reduce oven heat to 350 degrees.
2. Heat remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add andouille slices and cook, stirring occasionally, until sausage is cooked through and slightly crisp, about 4-6 minutes. Transfer sausage to a plate. Add celery and onion to skillet and cook, stirring, until onion is translucent, about 6-8 minutes. Add some salt and pepper to onion mix.
3. Transfer veggies to a large bowl and add in baguette pieces, sage, parsley, roasted squash and andouille and toss to combine.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs and 2 cups of the broth. Pour over bread mixture and toss evenly to combine, adding more broth if mixture isn’t moist enough.
5. Transfer stuffing mix to a greased, large baking dish and dot with butter. Cover with foil and bake until a knife comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes. Remove foil and increase heat to 450 degrees, continue cooking for 10 minutes or until top is golden brown.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Roast the squash: toss butternut cubes with 2 TBS. olive oil, salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Add butternut squash to a rimmed baking sheet and roast for 25-30 minutes or until squash is tender. Reduce oven heat to 350 degrees.

Heat remaining tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat in a large skillet. Add andouille to hot oil and fry until slightly crisp, about 4-6 minutes. Transfer sausage to a plate.

Add onion and celery to sausage drippings a cook, stirring, until onion is translucent, about 6-8 minutes. Transfer veggie mix to a large bowl.

To the veggie bowl, add the baguette pieces, sage, parsley, andouille and butternut squash. Toss to combine.

In another bowl, whisk together eggs and 2 cups of chicken broth. Pour over stuffing mixture and toss to coat. If pieces still don’t seem moist, add more chicken broth 1/4 cup at a time.

Transfer stuffing to a greased, large baking dish and dot with butter pieces. Cover with foil and bake in 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes. Remove foil and up the oven heat to 450 degrees. Continue baking for 10 minutes or until stuffing is golden brown.

Top each serving with more parsley, if desired. You really need to keep this recipe in mind for Thanksgiving this year! It is sure to be a hit at your Thanksgiving dinner. Everybody loves stuffing, and everybody is sure to love this stuffing!