It’s finally here! The traditional monkey bread recipe, dripping with warm cinnamon and caramel. It’s hard to resist monkey bread!
| Prep Time: | 45 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 12 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds bulk Italian sausage
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 ounces pancetta bacon, diced
- 2 onions, chopped
- 7 large stalks celery, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 6 cups day-old French bread, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 3 cups crumbled cornbread
- 1 ½ tablespoons rubbed dried sage
- 1 ½ tablespoons poultry seasoning
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup toasted pine nuts
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- ½ cup butter
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
- 1 ounce shaved Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a deep 9×13 inch baking dish or roasting pan.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and stir in the sausage. Cook and stir until the sausage is crumbly, evenly browned, and no longer pink. Drain and discard any excess grease. Place the browned sausage into a large mixing bowl.
- Meanwhile, heat the olive oil and pancetta in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the pancetta begins to brown, stir in the onions and celery, and cook until the onion softens and turns translucent, about 8 minutes. Stir in the garlic, and cook another 3 minutes until the aroma of the garlic mellows.
- Scrape the onion mixture into the bowl with the crumbled sausage. Add the French bread, cornbread, dried sage, poultry seasoning, salt, and pine nuts; stir well. Pour in the chicken broth and mozzarella cheese; stir until the chicken stock has been absorbed by the bread and the stuffing is evenly mixed. Pack the stuffing into the prepared baking dish, and dot the butter overtop. Cover with aluminum foil.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, then remove the foil, and continue baking until the top has turned golden brown, about 15 minutes more. Sprinkle with the fresh sage and shaved Parmesan cheese to serve.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 594 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 45 g |
| Cholesterol | 71 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 26 g |
| Saturated Fat | 14 g |
| Sodium | 1795 mg |
| Sugars | 5 g |
| Fat | 35 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I make this every thanksgiving and always get compliments! The only change I have made from this amazing recipe is I cook the pancetta separately and drain out all the fat before adding it to the onions and celery. I make this a few days ahead since I never have left overs.
My new to-go-to recipe! Wonderful flavor. I used hot Italian sausage and it was not too spicy. For the crumbled cornmeal, I made Jiffy cornmeal muffins the day before and crumbled those. I roasted the pine nuts over med-low heat, stirring constantly until golden. You must watch the pine nuts so they do not burn. The pine nuts and the Pancetta bacon add $$ to the cost of the recipe. For a budget friendly change, I would omit the pine nuts and use regular bacon.
This is it! Best stuffing recipe I’ve made so far. I made a few alterations:only one onion, less butter than the recipe, and no celery (the store was out) and it’s fantastic. I’ll be making this one from now on-recommend it 1000%!
Great stuffing! Used Italian bread instead of French.
Did not care for this recipe at all. The cornbread gave the stuffing a very rough, unpleasant texture. The flavor just didn’t appeal to me either. No amount of modifications would salvage this recipe and will not make again.
Made according to recipe. Spices too much for my southern palate. Family didn’t like it either, rather hated it. Dogs loved it.
Love this recipe! Never made stuffing in my life! I replaced with crushed walnuts and I only had sage seasoning so I cut down the amount accordingly (think it was half). And I only used 5 cups of broth. I also prepared/cooked the onions garlic, celery, sausage and pancetta night before. Then put in sealed glass bowl in fridge over night. Next day when I was ready I just threw all the stuff together and in the oven it went. The only thing was all the chopping. Especially the pancetta. I got it sliced thick and it was a little hard to cut. The other stuff use your chopper!! Lol. Otherwise easy peasy. Thank gang!
This recipe was a hit! I made just half of this recipe, and it still took me a long time to prepare and cook. It was worth it though, it was a delicious addition to our Thanksgiving meal.
LOVE IT!
FANTASTIC! A long process, but worth the time and effort!
This is the stuffing my Mom taught me. Heritage from southern Italy, I recognize the flavor profile. All areas have regional differences. My family does not like sage so we use oregano. Also we are from northeast US so we love roast chestnuts instead of pine nuts. Lastly, the cheese thing is an American thing. No cheese in stuffing. It is safer to bake the stuffing outside the bird. I actually bake stuffing in muffin tin. Each guest has their own stuffin muffin. Great recipe. Thank you!
Followed the recipe and everyone took a copy of it home.
Spectacular!! It immediately became a family favorite. I substituted bacon for the pancetta . The only thing I wish I had remembered was to make 1/4 of the recipe without onions so everyone could have enjoyed it. Other than that BIG HIT!!!
The taste was fantastic but I think I cooked it wrong! It turned out very soggy and I think I went wrong somewhere with the chicken broth, maybe not letting it settle long enough or. . . letting it settle too long? I don’t know, any advice is appreciated, the dish tasted fantastic!
Phenomenal! I listened to the reviews and didn’t use as much liquid as it called for and the grocery store didn’t have any pancetta, so I used bacon instead. I also boiled the giblets from my turkey, chopped them up, and tossed them in there too. Yummy yummy! This is the first time in 17 years my husband has liked stuffing!
I literally made an account solely to review this stuffing, as I’ve made it now for 5 years (Christmas and thanksgiving). Everyone in my family loves it and insists I bring it every year. The only thing I change (after a few years of trial and error) is using half spicy sausage and half sweet Italian sausage, I don’t use pine nuts or any nuts at all, and I also don’t use as much celery as they call for (probably about half as much). I’m not sure where the “too spicy” comments are coming from or the “too greasy” comments either, there’s literally nothing spicy in it unless you make it the way I described with half spicy sausage. It’s also great to do the sausage/pancetta/onion/celery/garlic mixture the night before to save some time.
It’s a hit every Thanksgiving!!
This was incredible. Supreme. Deluxe. I made a few changes but I think you just can’t miss. I used only 1 lb of sausage, and biscuits instead of French bread. Ended up with 10 cups of bread cubes and used a little more broth to compensate. Actual comments from guests…”this might be the best thing I have ever put in my mouth” “next level stuffing” and mom said “congratulations now you make stuffing every Christmas” .
Hands down best stuffing. Everyone at the table agreed, even though my mom brought our family’s favorite stuffing too! I followed almost to a T. Only difference was instead of pancetta, just used some bacon fat I had to sauté the onions.
This was a Thanksgiving hit! I used mild bulk Italian sausage from Earth Fare. I was concerned from other reviews it would be too spicy. It wasn’t. I made the sausage, pancetta and the vegetables the night before , combined and refrigerated over night. I left the french bread & cornbread, diced and crumbled, out on the counter for 24 hours. I will say, this recipe made A LOT. I did not have a bowl big enough to combine everything, so i used an extra large zip lock bag and was able to mix everything up very well. I also did not have a deep sided 9×13. I had enough to fill a normal sided 9×13 as well as an 8×8. Everyone loved It! Even my mother who doesn’t like sausage (I didn’t tell her it was in there and she loved it ??). Was very easy day of. I will definitely make again.
Followed the recipe except omitted the bacon and the pine nuts. Absolutely great! It was the hit of my Christmas dinner for my Italian family. This will now be the only dressing I serve.