Cauliflower and Sausage Stovetop Stuffing (Low Carb)
This simple side dish is a perfect low carb replacement for holiday stuffing. Made with sautéed cauliflower and crumbled sausage, this classically seasoned stove top stuffing deserves a spot on alongside your next turkey or roast!
Just 7g net carbs!
Looking for more holiday sides? Try my 10 layer cheesy vegetable casserole or my roasted cauliflower mash recipe!
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Finally a low carb replacement for holiday stuffing or dressing
- A stovetop recipe that frees up oven space
- A quick and simple one pan recipe that easy to make
We are big on turkey dinners at our house. It is not unusual for us to sit down for a turkey dinner 5 or more times per year, and getting that perfect bite with some turkey, stuffing and mash all swimming in gravy is what dreams are made of.
While the mashed potatoes were easy to replace thanks to my low carb cauliflower mash recipe, a proper stuffing has been dearly missed.
This low carb stuffing recipe now has a place on our table anytime we are having turkey. It really hits the spot!
What is in Low Carb Stuffing
This low carb stuffing recipe uses:
- Ground sausage
- Cauliflower
- Onion
- Garlic
- Celery
- Rosemary
- Sage
- Parsley
- Stock or bouillon
- Lemon zest
- Salt and pepper
What You Need to Know
Below is a deeper dive into some of the steps of this recipe, if you want to jump to the recipe card and make this now, use the jump to recipe button below!
Preparing the Cauliflower
In place of bread, this recipe uses chopped cauliflower as the base. To get the texture right you’ll want to either dice the cauliflower with a knife, or break it down by hand into very tiny florets. It will break down further in the pan as it cooks so aim for something around 1 cm (~ 1”).
Too small and it will turn to mush, too large and it won’t soften enough.
Tip: Use a blunt wooden spoon to break apart the cauliflower and the sausage in the pan while cooking, this will help achieve a stuffing like consistency.
What Type of Sausage?
You can use any type of sausage you like, even breakfast sausages can be used, just remove the sausage meat from the casings first by using a sharp knife to make a slit in the casing and pulling the ground meat out.
You can also buy ground sausage meat ready to go. Try to choose a sausage with complementary spices to the stuffing.
Some good types of sausage for this recipe:
- Mild Italian sausage
- Honey garlic sausage
- English bangers
- Breakfast sausages
Chicken Stock or Bouillon
Any type of stock or bone broth will work the best for this recipe and add great meaty flavours like that of a true stuffing. If you don’t have any stock then you can use some chicken bouillon or stock cubes mixed into some warm water.
Fresh Herbs
There are certain herbs that seem to compliment a stuffing for a turkey dinner more than others. I choose whatever is growing in my garden.
Some excellent herbs for stuffing:
- Rosemary
- Sage
- Parsley
- Thyme
- Chives
In place of fresh herbs you may use dried herbs, but start by cutting the amount in the recipe in half and adjust from there. Dried herbs are much more potent than fresh herbs.
Depending on what you are serving this with you can change the herbs to compliment the main dish.
Getting the Right ‘Stuffing’ Texture
In order to achieve a texture that is closer to stuffing it’s important to cook and simmer the cauliflower until soft and tender. You don’t want the cauliflower to be complete mush, but if it’s too firm it wont resemble stuffing which lets face it, is mushy bread.
Normally you would avoid too much moisture when cooking cauliflower, but in this case moisture or stock can help you achieve the proper consistency.
Can I stuff this into a Turkey?
I have yet to try making this into an actual stuffing. I believe it would work, but keep in mind that cauliflower has a lot of water that needs to go somewhere when roasting a turkey.
If you would like to stuff this into a turkey or chicken before cooking I would cook the stuffing on the stove top most of the way through until the water content has dropped.
Sausage and Cauliflower Stovetop Stuffing (Low Carb)
IMPORTANT – There are often Frequently Asked Questions within the blog post that you may find helpful. Simply scroll back up to read them!
Equipment
- Knife and Cutting Board
- large frying pan
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground sausage crumbled
- 1 large cauliflower diced small
- 1 small onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 stalks celery chopped
- ½ cup chicken/turkey stock see notes
- 1 tablespoon sage chopped
- 1 tablespoon rosemary chopped
- 3 tablespoons parsley chopped
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest optional
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Chop the cauliflower into small pieces. Dice the cauliflower into small pieces about 1 cm (½"). Or break them into tiny florets using your hands.1 large cauliflower
- Brown the sausage. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and add the ground sausage. Fry until the sausage is browned and cooked through.1 pound ground sausage
- Add diced vegetables and sauté. Add the diced cauliflower, onion, garlic, and celery to the cooked sausage and sauté until the vegetables become tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper.1 small onion, 2 stalks celery, 2 cloves garlic
- Add the stock or bouillon and simmer. Add the stock (or bouillon mixed 1/2 cup of water) to the pan and stir to combine. Bring the pan to a simmer and cook until the liquid reduces and the stuffing thickens to the proper texture, use a blunt wooden spoon to break down the cauliflower futher as needed. At this time the cauliflower should be quite tender and have a similar consistency to stuffing.½ cup chicken/turkey stock
- Add the fresh herbs. Add the freshly chopped herbs (see notes for dried herbs) and stir to combine. Cook for 1 minute and turn off the heat. Add fresh lemon zest and season to taste.1 tablespoon sage, 1 tablespoon rosemary, 3 tablespoons parsley, 1 teaspoon lemon zest, salt and pepper
- Serve with your choice of roast and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is calculated using the recipe calculator and verified database available from Cronometer. Although every reasonable effort is made to provide accurate information this estimate is provided as courteously and convenience only. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe.
Try the free recipe calculator at CronometerWhat to Serve With Low Carb Stuffing
This recipe naturally lends itself to a turkey dinner alongside my roasted cauliflower mash, and my 10 layer cheesy casserole. However this low carb stuffing recipe is a great compliment to any type of roast you might enjoy.
Try this along side:
- Herb Crusted Pork Roast
- Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
- Dry Brined Turkey
- Easy roast chicken
- Simple Dry brined Roast beef
Enjoy!