This Texas toast stuffing is full of garlic bread Texas toast, spicy and sweet Italian sausage, fennel, green onions, and dried cranberries. It’s a fun, flavor-packed twist to traditional stuffing.
Who doesn’t love thick, delicious, crispy slices of garlicky Texas toast?
This Texas toast stuffing takes Texas toast and transforms it into a Thanksgiving favorite!
Full of big, bold, garlicky flavor, combined with spicy Italian sausage, sweet fennel, and tangy dried cranberries, you’ll wonder why you haven’t used garlic bread in your stuffing more often!
Trust me, with this delicious stuffing, everyone will want to know your secret.
I also threw in a bunch of green onions for added flavor because there is nothing better than onions and garlic.
Are your gatherings still a bit on the smaller size? Try my Sheet Pan Thanksgiving Dinner with Cornish hens, sweet potato casserole, Brussels sprouts, and stuffing, or my other Sheet Pan Thanksgiving Dinner with turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and green beans.
Ingredients for Texas toast stuffing
- Texas toast with garlic butter – Boxes of this can be found in the freezer aisle of most major grocery stores. These slices are buttery and garlicky on both sides of the bread!
- Italian sausage – The balance of sweet and spicy Italian sausage gives just the right amount of heat to our stuffing.
- Fennel – This Mediterranean veggie is crunchy like celery and has a subtly sweet anise flavor. It can be found in the produce aisle of most major grocery stores.
- Dried cranberries – Dried cranberries are sweet, bright, and slightly tangy.
- Chicken stock – This will provide moisture in our stuffing. Feel free to use your favorite homemade or store-bought varieties.
How to make garlic bread stuffing
Stuffing is and will always be my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner. It’s effortless to make and an excellent vehicle for all the flavors.
- Toast your Texas toast garlic bread according to box directions. Then cut into 1-inch chunks.
- In a skillet, brown your sausage, fennel, and white parts of your onion.
- Add in your dried cranberries and chicken stock and bring to a slight bubble.
- Remove from the heat and fold in your cubed bread. Toss to combine and make sure the bread is thoroughly moistened. If it’s not moist enough, add more chicken stock.
- Add to your prepared baking dish and bake for 40 minutes or until the top is toasted and the stuffing is hot.
FAQ’s
Swap out flavors
Texas toast stuffing is so versatile you can add or change what you want depending on your taste! Feel free to add in some freshly chopped rosemary and thyme to add an herbaceous kick.
Are you not a fan of Fennel? No worries! Celery or leek is a perfect substitute!
If you can’t find pork sausage, you can swap it out for chicken or turkey sausage.
More stuffing recipes
Texas Toast Stuffing
Ingredients
- 1 (8 count) box Texas Toast with garlic butter
- 3 links hot Italian sausage, cut out of casing
- 2 links sweet Italian sausage, cut out of casing
- 1 small head fennel, trimmed and thinly sliced
- 6 green onions, ends trimmed, white and green parts thinly sliced but separated
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- 1-1/2 cup chicken stock
Instructions
- Toast bread according to to box directions and cut it into large 1-inch chunks and set it on a baking sheet. You should get about 3 cups of toasted cubed garlic bread.
- If you have time let them sit out overnight to dry if not you may not need to add as much liquid as the bread will not be as dry.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and spray a 9×9 pan with non-stick spray.
- Place a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and break up with a spatula so it's crumbly and not in large chunks.
- Cook for about 10 minutes or until the meat is browned and fully cooked.
- Add in the fennel and the white part of the green onion.
- Saute for another 5 minutes to help soften the vegetables.
- Add in the cranberries and chicken stock.
- Bring to a slight bubble and remove from heat.
- Add the bread cubes to the pan along with the green part of the green onions.
- Toss to combine and help coat the bread with chicken stock. The majority of the bread should be moist.
- Add the mixture to the prepared pan and smooth out the top.
- Bake for 40 minutes or until the top of the stuffing is browned and the mixture is warm throughout.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.