How many calories in stuffing? Sage and onion, sausagemeat and US dressing

Stuffing changes more across the Atlantic than any other part of a festive dinner.

A British sage and onion stuffing ball from a packet is about 56 kcal. That is the same as one roast potato. On a Sunday roast it is one of the smallest numbers on the plate.

An American Thanksgiving scoop of buttery bread dressing is about 300. The name is the same, the bread is the same, and the portion and the butter are not.

The quick answer

Calories by the portion

The British portion is the first two rows. The American portion is the bottom three. That gap, 56 against 300, is most of the difference between the two dishes. Per gram they are much closer.

The scoop is the story

This is the correction. Stuffing is not heavy in Britain because it arrives as one or two small balls next to the meat. It is heavy in America because it arrives as a side dish in its own right, by the spoonful, with butter worked into every crumb.

A normal scoop of homemade dressing is heavier than the turkey it is served with. The turkey breakdown puts 150g of skinless breast at 225 kcal. Most American plates take a scoop of dressing and then come back for another.

Where the calories in homemade dressing come from

A typical homemade bread dressing for ten people, made with one US stick of butter:

The bread is half and the butter is over a third. The onion, celery, herbs and stock, which are most of the flavour, are 5%.

So the butter is the lever. Many recipes call for two sticks, which takes the dish to about 3,070 kcal and the scoop from 300 to about 365. Half a stick takes it down to about 255 a scoop. Using more stock and less butter keeps it moist without the fat.

The bread figure comes from the bread calorie breakdown and the butter from the butter breakdown.

Sausagemeat nearly doubles it

In Britain the big choice is sage and onion against sausagemeat.

A sausagemeat ball is about two thirds of a British pork sausage, because that is roughly what it is. It is 44 kcal more than a packet ball. On a Christmas plate that already has three pigs in blankets, that is the same meat twice.

The dry mix trap

A box of stuffing mix says about 360 kcal per 100g. That number is for the dry crumbs.

Water roughly triples the weight of a packet mix without adding calories. If a search returns the dry entry and you log what is on your plate, the total comes out about 2.6 times too high. Check that the entry says "made up" or "as prepared".

Typical nutrition

Typical figures per 100g, made up.

Sage and onion stuffing is mostly bread with herbs, so it behaves like bread. Sausagemeat stuffing is mostly pork, so it behaves like a sausage, with more fat and more protein.

Salt is worth watching on a festive plate. The NHS adult limit is 6g a day. Two sausagemeat balls are about 1.2g, a fifth of it, before the gravy, the gammon or the pigs in blankets.

Inside the bird or in a dish

Stuffing cooked inside the bird soaks up the fat and juices running off the meat, so it comes out richer than the same mix baked in a dish. There is no fixed figure, because it depends on the bird and how long it roasts. Treat it as the higher end of the table above.

Stuffing in the bird also has to be steaming hot all the way through, which means the meat around it often cooks longer than it needs to. That is why many cooks now bake it separately, which happens to be the lighter option too.

On the plates people actually eat

On a British roast the stuffing is between 6% and 10% of the plate, figures from the roast dinner breakdown. The roast potatoes and the Yorkshire pudding are bigger targets. On a Thanksgiving plate the dressing can be the single biggest item there.

UK and US words that trip up logging

• Stuffing. In the UK, the word for all of it, usually served as balls or a tray. In the US, strictly the mix cooked inside the bird.
• Dressing. In the US, especially the South, stuffing baked in a dish. In the UK, dressing only means salad dressing.
• Cornbread dressing. A Southern US version made from crumbled cornbread instead of white bread, at about 200 kcal per 100g.
• Sage and onion. The default British flavour, sold as a dry mix to add water to.
• Sausagemeat. Sausage filling sold loose, without casings. Log it as sausage.
• Forcemeat. An older British word for a minced meat stuffing, close to sausagemeat.
• Oyster dressing. A US coastal version. Log the bread and butter, the oysters add little.
• Bread sauce. A British milk and breadcrumb sauce served with turkey. A different dish from stuffing, at about 100 kcal per 100g.

Stuffing mistakes to avoid

Logging a scoop as a ball

A 40g ball against a 150g scoop is nearly four times the stuffing. If it came off a serving spoon, weigh it or call it a cup.

Logging the dry mix

About 360 kcal per 100g dry against 140 made up. Make sure the entry is for prepared stuffing.

Forgetting the butter in homemade dressing

A stick of butter is 810 kcal. Across a dish of about eight 150g scoops it is about 105 a scoop, and it is easy to leave out of a log that only says "stuffing".

Taking sausagemeat stuffing next to pigs in blankets

It is the same pork twice. Pick one.

Three ways to do it

The Sunday ball (56 kcal)

• One 40g sage and onion ball, from a packet (56 kcal)

Adds up to: 56 kcal, about the same as one roast potato. Add a second and it is still only 112.

The lighter Thanksgiving scoop (255 kcal)

• 150g homemade bread dressing made with half a stick of butter and extra stock (about 255 kcal)

Adds up to: about 255 kcal, 45 less than the standard recipe and 110 less than the two-stick version, with the same bread and herbs.

The Christmas compromise (156 kcal)

• One 40g sage and onion ball (56 kcal)
• One 40g sausagemeat ball (100 kcal)

Adds up to: 156 kcal for both flavours, 44 less than two sausagemeat balls.

The verdict

A packet sage and onion stuffing ball is about 56 kcal, and a sausagemeat ball about 100. In Britain stuffing is one of the lighter things on a roast.

In America a normal 150g scoop of homemade dressing is about 300 kcal, more than the turkey, and the stick of butter is over a third of it.

If you change one thing, serve it as a ball or a measured scoop, and halve the butter in the dish.

Pairs well with: the roast dinner calorie breakdown, the turkey calorie breakdown, and the gravy calorie breakdown.