These stuffed sausages are filled with a blend of ricotta, Parmesan, and mozzarella cheese, in a bed of rich tomato sauce. You can make this indulgent and comforting dinner recipe with only 6 basic ingredients!
Sausage is already such a perfect food, but...what if I told you it could be even better?! Well, just wait until you try this stuffed sausage recipe!
Italian sausages are stuffed full with three Italian cheeses and baked with tomato sauce. When you cut into one of these sausages, the soft blend of cheeses oozes out onto your fork, mixing together with the rich tomato sauce and juices from the sausage...I mean...what could be better than that?!
Best of all, you need only 6 ingredients to make this recipe, and with only 10 minutes prep time. So go ahead, level up your sausage game with this sensational quick and easy dinner recipe!
Recipe ingredients
Ingredient notes
- Italian sausage: I used Johnsonville Italian sausage, which work well because they are larger (3.8 ounces each). You can use any type of sausage, but, larger sausage will work better so you have space to add more filling. And, make sure to use fresh sausage in a casing. If it's pre-cooked, you won't be able to create the boat shape in the meat to stuff with cheese.
- Ricotta: I went with a whole milk ricotta because I like the extra creamy texture it adds, but feel free to substitute low fat. (And, if you have leftover ricotta, you can make this raspberry ricotta parfait for dessert!)
- Mozzarella: low moisture, part-skim mozzarella works best here. It shreds and melts well, and because there are other rich ingredients in the recipe, I didn't find I needed the extra heaviness from a whole milk mozzarella.
Step by step photos
1. After pre-heating your oven to 425 degrees F/220 degrees C, start by making the cheese filling. All you need to do is mix together the Parmesan, ricotta, mozzarella (saving ½ cup for the top!), and Italian seasoning.
2. Then, turn your attentions to the sausage. Start by cutting a slit down the length of the sausage, being sure to leave about ½ inch on either end that is not cut. Leaving this space will help the sausage hold its shape in the oven.
3. Now, use your (clean) fingers to open up that gap, pressing the sausages into somewhat of a boat shape.
This is what the sausages should look like when finished with this step:
4. Next, distribute the cheese filling among the sausages, pressing it into the opening you just created.
5. Place each stuffed sausage into a 9 x 13 inch metal baking pan.
6. Spoon the tomato sauce all around the sausages. I like doing it this way, rather than placing the sausages on top of the sauce, because the sausage making contact with the metal pan helps the sausage casing crisp up a little bit more.
7. Now sprinkle the remaining mozzarella cheese on top of the sausages.
8. Add a dash more Italian seasoning over everything!
9. Bake in the pre-heated oven until the internal temperature of the sausages reaches 160 degrees F/71.1 degrees C. The cheese should be all oozy and bubbling, and the sauce will have reduced into this thick and rich tomato-y goodness you see here:
Tips and tricks
- As I mentioned in the Recipe ingredients section, it's better to use larger sausages (mine were around 3.8 ounces each), because there will be more room to add the cheese filling.
- However, if you want to use smaller sausages, that's ok too. Just make sure the total weight of the sausage you are using is around 19 - 20 ounces to ensure the proportions of cheese/sausage/tomato sauce are correct.
- This recipe doesn't include any additional salt, because the cheese and sausage are already salty. However, if you want to add even more flavor to the cheese filling, some good options would be ground black pepper, garlic powder, crushed red pepper flakes, or, whatever your favorite seasoning is!
Recipe FAQs
For the best taste and texture, you will need to bake the sausages right before you plan on serving them. However, you could easily mix up the cheese filling a day beforehand, and keep it tightly covered in the fridge.
You could also cut the slits in the sausages and shape the space for the filling a day in advance. Then just tightly cover the sausages so they don't dry out and store them in the fridge until you are ready to finish the recipe.
I like to eat these stuffed sausages with a side of sautéed peppers and onions (or how about stuffing the sausage, peppers and onions into a hoagie roll? Divine!).
You can also serve the stuffed sausage alongside spaghetti with marinara sauce for an even more comforting dinner experience!
Since this sausage recipe uses ricotta, it wouldn't hold up well to freezing. However, you can store any leftovers in the fridge for 3 - 4 days and reheat them in the microwave. I like to reheat these sausages on 50% power, which I find helps to retain the texture of the cheese a little bit better.
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Stuffed Sausage
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Rest time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 23 minutes
- Total Time: 38 minutes
- Yield: 5 servings 1x
- Category: main course, entree
- Method: bake
- Cuisine: American, Italian inspired
Description
Italian sausages are stuffed with a blend of three Italian cheeses and baked in the oven with tomato sauce. This simple yet indulgent sausage dinner is made with only 6 ingredients!
Ingredients
- 5 Italian sausage links (19 ounces/538 g total), see notes 1 - 2
- 1 ½ cups (153 g) shredded low-moisture part skim mozzarella cheese, divided
- ½ cup (117 g) ricotta cheese
- ¼ cup (19 g) finely shredded Parmesan cheese
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning, plus more for sprinkling
- 1 ½ cups (355 ml) tomato sauce
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees F/220 degrees C.
- In a medium bowl, add 1 cup of the mozzarella, reserving ½ cup for later. Add in the ricotta, Parmesan, and Italian seasoning. Stir together until evenly combined.
- Using a small paring knife, cut a slit down the vertical length of each sausage about half-way deep, leaving about ½ inch uncut at the top and bottom of the sausage. Use your fingers to press open this gap to create a "boat" shape from each sausage.
- Stuff the sausages with the cheese mixture, pressing it into the cavity created in the sausage.
- Arrange the stuffed sausages into the center of a 9 x 13 inch metal baking pan. Spoon the tomato sauce all around the sausages.
- Top the sausages with the remaining mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle some additional Italian seasoning overtop.
- Bake the sausages, uncovered, in the pre-heated oven, until the internal temperature of the sausages reaches at least 160 degrees F/71.1 degrees C, about 21 - 23 minutes.
- Remove the sausages from the oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Notes
Be sure to use fresh, not pre-cooked sausage for this recipe.
This recipe works best with larger sausages that are around 3.8 ounces (108 g) each, because there is more room to add the cheese filling. However, if you can only find smaller sausages, that's ok too, just use enough to equal about 19 - 20 ounces (538 g) total.
The nutrition information below is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator, and should not be considered a substitute for professional medical, health, or nutritional advice. See our full nutrition disclosure policy.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 sausage
- Calories: 461
- Sugar: 5.4 g
- Sodium: 1315 mg
- Fat: 34.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 15.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 9.5 g
- Fiber: 1.1 g
- Protein: 25.4 g
- Cholesterol: 98 mg
Keywords: stuffed sausage, stuffed sausage recipe, easy stuffed sausage
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