Name: Pork, Sage and Onion Stuffing Balls
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Ingredients: 2 slices white bread (a few days old so a bit dry); 500 g pork (minced); 1 onion (diced); 1 egg (beaten); 2 tsp dried sage; Pinch salt; Pinch black pepper

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These pork sage and onion stuffing balls are just the best stuffing recipe to go with a roast chicken or turkey dinner. They're perfect with a Sunday roast or Christmas dinner!

It may be a little early to start thinking about Christmas lunch for some people, but not for me. This year will be the first year that I will be the one actually cooking the dinner. It'll also be the first year that I will have spent Christmas in my own home with guests visiting, rather than being the guest at someone else's home.

Of course I've been getting excited about the new Christmas recipes I want to try but it's only in the last couple of weeks that I've started doing a lot of cooking again. Generally I don't like to keep remaking the same recipes.

Once I've made something I feel I've done it and I want to try something different. Or at least make a few tweaks and variations to what I've already made.

However, as I hadn't ever done any Christmas cooking when I first made these stuffing balls, I made an exception to that. I also used a Delia Smith recipe for inspiration. I didn't want to be too busy over Christmas and I wanted to be sure that our guests would enjoy what I was making for them.

It's a few years now since I first posted this pork sage and onion stuffing recipe. I've now made these stuffing balls for lots of guests and they are always popular.

What ingredients do you need to make these stuffing balls?

You don't need many ingredients for these. You just need minced pork, bread, an egg, and onion, sage, salt and pepper.

Ingredients for stuffing balls: minced pork, bread, an egg, and onion, sage, salt and pepper.

Can you adapt these stuffing balls?

I think these stuffing balls are perfect as they are. Some recipes don't need to be adapted. After all, these are a side dish, not the main meal.

If you are not making your own breadcrumbs then ready made panko breadcrumbs work well.

I love stuffing balls as you get lots of lovely caramelised bits on the edges. However, you can just put this mixture into an ovenproof dish and bake it as a loaf. If you do this it may need a little bit longer to cook to make sure it is cooked through in the middle.

What to serve with these pork stuffing balls?

Stuffing is of course perfect served with a roast dinner such as chicken or turkey. I always make this recipe on Christmas day and if we have guests over for a roast dinner throughout the year too.

You don't even need to be having a full roast dinner to enjoy this stuffing either. We recently had this stuffing, Yorkshire puddings and some vegetables with gravy for an easy midweek meal!

How to cook stuffing balls

There are two ways to cook these stuffing balls. You can just pop them all onto a greased baking tray and bake in the oven for half an hour.

Alternatively, if you are cooking a roast dinner, you can put them in the roasting tin next to the chicken or turkey for the last 30 minutes of cooking time.

How to store the leftovers

If you have any leftover stuffing balls, you can store them in the fridge for up to three days. They will reheat in about 8-10 minutes in the oven. Alternatively you can microwave them.

You can also freeze them. If you are planning to make a lot more than you need then you can freeze the stuffing balls before baking them. I freeze them on a baking tray and when they are frozen I transfer them to an airtight freezer bag. They should keep well for at least 3 months.

If you have too many cooked stuffing balls you can also freeze them for up to 3 months. Just make sure you defrost them and reheat thoroughly before eating them.

What can you do with the leftovers?

Well, you can just reheat them and eat them with a roast dinner again. However, these particular stuffing balls are quite similar to meatballs so you can even put them in a tomato sauce and serve them with pasta.

They are also great sliced up and put in a sandwich. If you have kids you can even put a couple in their lunch boxes for school.

Sage onion stuffing balls in a bowl with one on a fork

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