Sweet Bread, Sausage & Medjool Date Stuffing

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This recipe for Sweet Bread, Sausage & Medjool Date Stuffing is the perfect side to a fall dinner of roast chicken or your Thanksgiving turkey.

At the dinner table the other night, my husband loudly proclaimed “You must make this again for Thanksgiving”!  He sure wasn’t kidding.  I love a classic stuffing just as much as the next person, but there was something magical about the pairing of Kings Hawaiian Dinner Rolls, Italian sausage and medjool dates in this recipe that really hit the mark of deliciousness. 

Kings Hawaiian challenged me to create a recipe using their dinner rolls and I was ready to go beyond the usual suspects of bread pudding or pulled pork sliders (although I did make them before this recipe and they were the bomb).  

Ingredients in Sweet Bread, Sausage & Date Stuffing

• Sweet Bread Dinner Rolls – King’s Hawaiian Dinner Rolls are used in this recipe, but you can use any type of sweet roll.
• Italian Sausage – you can use sausages removed from the casing or purchase Italian sausage ground. Either will work great.
• Onion – diced sweet or yellow onion.
• Butter – unsalted butter at room temperature.
• Chicken Stock – or broth, either will work. Use prepared or make your own.
• Egg – lightly beaten.
• Dates – medjool dates that are pitted and diced.
• Herbs & Spices – fresh Italian flat leaf parsley, crushed red pepper flakes, salt & pepper to taste.

How to Make Sweet Bread Stuffing

I diced up the dinner rolls and toasted them in the oven for 20 minutes until they were nice and golden brown.  This helps them hold up to the chicken stock and egg that come later.  Oh and side perk – they made my house smell incredible.  Bread.  I heart you.

While they were toasting away, I browned some Italian sausage and caramelized onions in butter.  Hawaiians and Portuguese have one major thing in common – sweet bread.  My grandmother still whips up the family recipe now and then at the young age of (almost) 94.  The smell of sweet bread baking brings back memories as far back as I can remember.  My son came home while the bread was toasting and shouted “are YOU making sweet bread Mom?”  Ha – I haven’t quite perfected the family recipe – but it’s obvious that Kings Hawaiian is a dead ringer to the nose.  

Generously butter that dish, it sure helps keep everything moist and delish!  I tossed the crusty cubes with the sausage, onions and dates, a little parsley and a splash of chicken stock and beaten egg.  Toss it lightly and cover with parchment and foil to bake.  This recipe can be made days in advance keeping dry and wet ingredients separated and assembled on Thanksgiving day for a new twist on the classic side dish.

You’re probably asking yourself “self, why did she put dates in her stuffing”?  There are a lot of classic Thanksgiving recipes using prunes in the stuffing, so why not a date?  Medjools hold up nicely to the bread and sausage and give it an interesting delicious bite.  Enough to make my meat and potatoes guy ask for it again.  That’s a winner in my eyes.

Sweet Bread, Sausage & Medjool Date Stuffing

Heather Scholten

A sweet dinner roll stuffing mixed with sausage, caramelized onions, medjool dates and parsley.

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Yield: 6 Servings

Prep Time:15 minutes mins

Cook Time:1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Total Time:1 hour hr 35 minutes mins

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 package Kings Hawaiian Dinner Rolls, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 4 Italian sausages, casings removed
• 1 cup onion, diced
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for coating baking pan
• 1 ½ cups chicken stock
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• ¼ cup minced parsley
• 4 Medjool dates, pitted and diced
• Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
• salt & pepper to taste

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Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 300º F.
• Place the bread cubes on a large rimmed baking sheet. Bake until lightly browned and crisp, about 15-20 minutes. Remove and cool on baking sheet.
• Meanwhile, add the sausage to a hot saute pan coated with cooking spray. Brown until no longer pink, breaking into bite sized pieces. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. In the same pan, add the butter and onions and cook on medium-low for 25-30 minutes until the onions are very soft and caramelized.
• Increase oven temperature to 375ºF.
• Add the bread cubes, sausage, onions, parsley, dates and crushed red pepper flakes to a large bowl. Toss gently to combine. Add chicken stock, beaten egg, salt and pepper and toss to combine.
• Generously butter a 9×3 baking dish and pour the bread mixture into the dish. Top with a sheet of parchment paper and then tightly wrap in foil. Bake for 50-60 minutes. Remove foil for the last 10 minutes of baking to crisp the top. Serve immediately.

Notes

Makes a great addition to your open-faced turkey sandwich the next day!

Keyword Holiday Recipes, pork, thanksgiving recipes

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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of King’s Hawaiian®. The opinions and text are all mine.

Recipe By:

Heather Scholten

Co-Founder at Spiceology | More About Heather…

Heather is a recipe developer and content creator living in Vancouver, Washington. She started Farmgirl Gourmet in 2006, almost 20 years ago, as a way to share recipes with friends and family. Heather is also the co-founder of Spiceology , a unique spice company, which she started in 2013. She shares family friendly recipes for easy everyday meals with a gourmet twist.

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