Aunt Bunny's Stuffing

This is not your grandmother’s stuffing. Unless your grandmother was Aunt Bunny.

The ingredient list tells the whole story: apple, orange, crushed pineapple, water chestnuts, and preserved ginger in one bowl. Onions, celery, garlic, dry mustard, caraway seeds, poppy seeds, coriander, oregano, mace, cloves, marjoram, savory, and celery seed in another. Raw bulk sausage, herb stuffing cubes, and butter in the third.

That’s three bowls and 13 separate herbs and spices before the fruit even enters the picture.

The raw sausage is the part that raises eyebrows. It goes into the stuffing uncooked, then cooks entirely inside the turkey during roasting. The directions note this explicitly with a “yes raw” clarification that suggests it’s been a point of debate before.

The result is a deeply complex, fruit-forward stuffing with crunch from the water chestnuts, sweetness from the pineapple, savoriness from the sausage, and a layered herb profile that builds throughout every bite.

Aunt Bunny recommends serving this alongside Bacon-Studded Turkey with Green Pepper Gravy.

Chef Tips

• Use fresh, high-quality bulk sausage. It provides most of the fat and seasoning that holds this stuffing together as it cooks.
• The three-bowl method matters. Keeping the fruit, spice, and bread-sausage components separate until the final combine prevents the bread from getting soggy before it goes into the bird.
• Stuff the turkey just before it goes in the oven. Do not pre-stuff and refrigerate.

Variations

• Can be baked separately in a casserole dish at 325°F for about 45 minutes if you prefer dressing to stuffing.