Hairy Bikers sage and onion stuffing is a simple, traditional mix of soft fried onion, fresh breadcrumbs, sage and lemon zest, bound with an egg. And you’ll find it in their Chicken & Egg cookbook, serving 4 at 130 calories each by my sums, in about an hour.
This is one of “two of our favourite stuffings” in their classic roast chicken, where the other is sausage meat and apple. Yet there’s no garlic or celery in this one, whatever Google’s AI summary claims, so the sage and lemon come through, as I see it.
Slowly softening the onion, then cooling it, matters most to me, because hot onion would start to set the raw egg. And properly soft onion blends into the crumbs instead of staying sharp and crunchy.
Hairy Bikers Sage and Onion Stuffing Recipe
Description
Softened onion is stirred through fresh white breadcrumbs with chopped sage, grated lemon zest and plenty of seasoning. Then a beaten egg binds it, ready to bake in a small dish as a vegetarian side, or to go inside the bird.
Ingredients
For the stuffing
Instructions
- Heat the oven: If you’re baking the stuffing in a dish, heat the oven to 180°C/Fan 160°C/Gas 4 first. Then grab a small ovenproof dish.
- Soften the onion: Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the onion and cook it over a low heat until it’s very soft and translucent. That takes about 15 minutes by my guide, so don’t rush it.
- Cool and mix: Tip the onion into a bowl and let it cool, then add the lemon zest, sage and breadcrumbs. Season well with salt and pepper, then add the egg and mix thoroughly.
- Bake in a dish: Spoon the stuffing into the dish and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until it’s cooked through and piping hot in the middle. But the book only cooks it inside the chicken, so that baking time comes from their Everyday Gourmets stuffing on BBC Food.
- Or stuff a chicken: Weigh the stuffing and add it to the chicken’s weight, then fill the cavity, leaving a little space at the top. Roast at 220°C/Fan 200°C/Gas 7 for 15 minutes, then at 180°C/Fan 160°C/Gas 4 for 20 minutes per 500g. And the stuffing should reach 75°C in the middle.
FAQs
How do I cook it in a turkey?
Their British Classics turkey takes stuffing at both ends, in the cavity and under the skin at the neck. Then it roasts at 190°C/Fan 170°C/Gas 5 for 20 minutes per kilo of bird and stuffing, plus 90 minutes more.
To check it, push a metal skewer into the cavity for 5 seconds, and if it’s too hot to touch after a second, it’s ready. But this mix is sized for a 1.5 to 1.8kg chicken, so I’d triple it for a turkey, which is my own estimate.
What’s the old-fashioned way to make it?
For an old fashioned style, their Food Tour of Britain recipe boils 4 onions for 4 minutes, then adds 8 sage leaves for 1 more. Then it all goes into a food processor with 125g of fresh breadcrumbs, 40g of butter, an egg yolk and nutmeg.
They warn not to blend it to a paste, just until it looks like large breadcrumbs. That batch stuffs two 1kg chickens, and with boiled rather than fried onion I’d expect it to taste milder.
Can I add sausage meat?
Yes, though their version replaces the breadcrumbs, sage, lemon and egg rather than adding to them. So the second stuffing in their roast chicken with sage and onion stuffing is fried onion, 200g of sausage meat, grated apple and thyme.
For a turkey, their British Classics stuffing goes further, with 600g of sausage meat, chestnuts, grated apple or quince, allspice, thyme, parsley and lemon zest. And they say it’s best mixed by hand rather than with a spoon.
Can I make sage and onion stuffing balls?
Yes, their Veggie Feasts balls mix 150g of breadcrumbs with a softened large onion, 1 tsp of dried sage and a whole lemon’s zest. And a beaten egg binds them into 8 balls, with the onion softened in 1 tbsp of oil and 15g of butter.
They roast on a root vegetable tray bake at 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6 for 15 to 20 minutes, until browned and cooked through. And like this recipe baked in a dish, they’re vegetarian. Or for the same flavour in batter, their sage and onion Yorkshire puddings add dried sage to the mix and sliced onion to each hole.
Can I make it ahead or freeze it?
The recipe doesn’t cover either, so this is my approach: cook the onion the day before and chill it once it’s cool. Then add the crumbs, sage, lemon and egg just before baking, and never stuff a bird ahead of time.
Baked stuffing keeps for up to 2 days in the fridge if it’s cooled within 2 hours, and I’d reheat it once until piping hot. And I’d freeze it baked rather than raw, then defrost it in the fridge, though I’d expect it to be a little drier.
