Brioche Stuffing with Rosemary and Sausage

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Take your stuffing to the next level with this Brioche Stuffing with Rosemary and Sausage. The pillowy soft and sweet brioche is tossed in garlic herb butter then combined with ground sausage, mushrooms, and rosemary, this stuffing recipe is disappear quickly! It’s so crispy and golden on the outside and soft on the inside.

I’m kinda obsessed with this stuffing recipe. The brioche bread is so rich and sweet that it pairs wonderfully with the savoury Italian ground sausage. I cannot believe I didn’t make stuffing with brioche bread earlier! It’s relatively straightforward and the recipe is always a hit. All you need are some simple ingredients and you’ll have this stuffing ready ASAP!

Close up of a pan with brioche stuffing.

I will say, stuffing can be labour intensive as I don’t use pre-made stuffing cubes and I shred cheese myself but a lot of this can be done ahead of time or you can enlist some helpful hands to help tear the bread and shred the cheese!

Why You’ll Love This Brioche Rosemary Stuffing

It’s full of flavour! The fresh herbs, butter, sausage, and mushrooms make for such a great flavour combination. Plus, brioche bread is naturally rich and sweet, kicking it up a notch compared to regular white bread. It’s the best sausage stuffing!
You can make it ahead of time (or prep components ahead of time) so you don’t have to do a bunch of times in one day. Holiday dinners can be stressful so making what you can ahead of time really helps.
Leftovers can be frozen! Serving a smaller than usual crowd? Simply freeze the leftovers for later. I love this brioche sausage stuffing year round so it’s nice to be able to enjoy this once the holidays are over.

Ingredients You’ll Need to Make Brioche Sausage Stuffing

Ingredients needed to make brioche stuffing with sausage.

brioche bread — I love the rich sweet flavour from brioche bread! I prefer tearing my own bread as the uneven edges lead to extra texture and surface area for browning. I usually grab the largest loaf of brioche I can find.
butter — use unsalted butter for this recipe. You need some melted for the garlic herb bread and some unmelted for sauteing the rest of the ingredients.
garlic — the more garlic the better!
rosemary — I am a huge fan of rosemary here. It adds so much flavour!
onion — you need a small onion. You can use sweet, yellow, or white onion.
salt and pepper — to taste.
celery — usually I’m not a fan of celery but in stuffing, I love it!
mushrooms — I slice my own baby bella mushrooms but to save time, you can get pre-sliced mushrooms.
ground sausage — I use ground mild Italian sausage. You can use spicy if you prefer. If you cannot find ground sausage, you can similar cut and remove the casing off regular sausage.
chicken stock — I use Better than Bouillon but you can use chicken stock from a box.
cheese — I love the addition of white cheddar to the sausage stuffing. It also helps binds the stuffing together.
egg — it’s not pictured, my bad! But you need just one to help bind the ingredients together. It also helps creates a custard-like texture to the filling.

How to Make Brioche Stuffing

A sheet pan with brioche bread with melted butter, garlic, and herbs.

Dutch oven with onions, garlic, salt, and pepper.

Heat the oven to 350°F.
Combine the melted butter, rosemary, and minced garlic.
Tear apart the brioche bread and on a lined sheet pan, toss together the bread and herb garlic. Make sure the bread is in a single layer and packed tightly. I use two sheet pans.
Bake the bread for 20 minutes.
While the bread is baking, on the stove top, melt the butter over melt heat and saute the diced onions for 2 to 3 minutes. Next, add the minced garlic, salt, and pepper and saute for another minute.

Add the sliced mushrooms and celery and continue to saute until the mushrooms have softened, around 3 minutes.
Add the ground sausage and cook for another 4 to 5 minutes, breaking up the sausage with a wooden spoon.
Once the sausage is browned, set the pot aside.

A bowl of toasted brioche bread, sausage, fresh rosemary, and cheese.

A pan with brioche stuffing with sausage and rosemary.

In a large bowl, combine the toasted bread, sausage mixture, fresh rosemary, cheese.
Whisk together the egg and chicken broth and pour onto the mixture. Toss to combine.
Grease a 13×9-inch baking dish and transfer the stuffing to it.
Bake uncovered for 40 minutes.
Let the sausage and mushroom stuffing sit for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Close up of a pan with brioche stuffing with a spoon inserted.

Recipe Tips and Notes

Letting the brioche bread stuffing sit for a few minutes allow the creamy center and the cheese to firm up.
Don’t have onions? Use shallots.
I tear my bread around 1 to 1.5 inches but feel free to tear them smaller.
I highly recommend sticking to fresh rosemary for the best flavour and fragrance.
You can use a different cheese if you prefer but I love white cheddar!
I highly recommend shredding your own cheese as it melts much better than pre-shredded cheese. I run a block of cheese through the food processor.
If you do not have brioche bread, you can use challah bread in place. Both are similar but brioche uses butter whereas challah uses oil.

A plate with stuffing with a fork beside it.

Make Ahead Tips

Make ahead: the brioche bread can be baked a few days ahead of time. Once they’ve cooled, store them in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the fridge. The cheese can be shredded ahead of time as well for up to 3 days. Keep covered in the fridge. If you make the brioche stuffing a day ahead of time, keep it covered and store it in the fridge once its cooled.
Reheating: Simply reheat the stuffing in the oven at 350°F until it’s warmed through. If you’re worried about the stuffing getting too golden on top, cover it with tin foil.
Freezer: allow the rosemary brioche stuffing to cool before transferring them into an airtight container before storing them in the freezer. They can last for up to 3 months. I also like to store mine in Souper Cubes so I can pull out individual servings for when I’m craving it.

My Recommendation

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What is the difference between dressing and stuffing?

While the two have somewhat become interchangeable recently, this recipe is technically dressing. Stuffing is a mixture used to stuff another food such as turkey or chicken whereas dressing is cooked in a pan outside of the turkey or chicken.

Serving Suggestions

Here are some recipes that go really well with this easy sourdough bread stuffing: