This Crostone with sausage and cheese might be the laziest dinner in my collection, and somehow it's the one that everyone in the family asks me to make again.
All you need are two ingredients—fresh sausage and soft, milky stracchino—which you mash together and spread thickly onto rustic bread before baking it until the top is golden and bubbling and the bread becomes crisp underneath.
That's the whole recipe.
Table Of Contents
Sausage and Stracchino: A Northern Italian Classic
Sausage and stracchino — a traditional combination from northern Italy — can be found inside piadine and spread on crostoni all over Emilia-Romagna and Lombardy.
What makes it special is the contrast between the rich, savoury sausage and the cool, creamy, slightly tangy cheese which melts into it. When served in thick slices on plain bread it forms a complete and satisfying dinner; if you spread the same mixture onto a sliced baguette then you have crostini — ideal as a two-bite appetizer.
Sausage Crostone: What's So Special?
- Two ingredients. Fresh sausage and soft cheese. That's the filling, start to finish.
- One bowl, one fork. No cooking the sausage first, no sauce, no fuss. You mix it raw and the oven cooks it through.
- Ready in 15 minutes. Spread, bake, done.
- A whole dinner. Two crostoni and a green salad, and dinner is done — faster than a delivery order and infinitely better.
- Dinner or appetizer. Spread thick on rustic bread for a full dinner, or make the same filling on a sliced baguette for bite-sized crostini — the appetizer that vanishes first at any gathering.
- A genuine Italian classic. Salsiccia e stracchino is a beloved northern Italian combination — this is comfort food with real roots.
Ingredients & Notes
Full quantities and printable version in the recipe card below.
- Fresh sausage - Italian pork sausage (salsiccia), casings removed. Use a good-quality plain or lightly fennel-seasoned fresh sausage; its flavor carries the whole dish, so it's worth buying well. Avoid pre-cooked or heavily smoked sausages here - you want soft, raw, fresh sausage that will cook and stay juicy.
- Soft cream cheese — Stracchino (also sold as crescenza) is the classic and the best: milky, spreadable, gently tangy. If you can't find it, Philadelphia-style cream cheese works well and is easy to get anywhere. Robiola is another lovely option.
- Rustic bread — For crostone (dinner), use slices of a sturdy country loaf like Pugliese Bread (that's what I'm using in the video recipe below), or ciabatta rolls split lengthwise or any other bread with a firm crumb that can hold a thick, heavy layer of filling without going soggy.
For crostini (appetizer), use a sliced baguette instead.
Top Tips - Don't Miss!
- Choose bread that holds up. A thick, heavy topping needs a sturdy base. A firm country loaf or split ciabatta rolls are ideal; thin, airy, or very holey slices let the filling sink through and go soggy.
- Spread it right to the edges. The bits of filling at the edge crisp up and catch color in the oven — the best part. A layer that stops short leaves dry, bare crust.
- Bring the cheese to room temperature. Cold cream cheese straight from the fridge is stiff and hard to mash. Let it sit out for a few minutes and it'll blend into the sausage much more easily.
- Make sure it's cooked through. Because the sausage goes on raw, check that the topping is cooked all the way — no pink — before serving.
- Broil for the finish. A quick minute under the grill at the end gives you that irresistible golden, blistered top.
What to Serve With Crostone
Served as dinner, a crostone or two just needs a little something fresh alongside:
- A green salad — something crisp and lightly dressed to cut the richness. This is all a crostone dinner really needs.
- A bowl of soup — alongside a vegetable soup like Minestrone or Escarole and Bean Soup, makes a cozy, complete dinner.
- A glass of red — a young, easy-drinking Italian red like Lambrusco (fittingly, from the same Emilia-Romagna region) or a Barbera is perfect alongside.
- As crostini in an aperitivo spread — in their bite-sized form, serve them with olives, cured meats, and other little bites before dinner and of course an Italian Spritz.
FAQs
Stracchino (also called crescenza) is a soft, fresh, spreadable Italian cow's-milk cheese with a mild, milky, slightly tangy flavor. It melts beautifully, which makes it perfect here. If you can't find it, cream cheese or robiola are the easiest substitutes.
Yes. Stracchino is the traditional and most authentic choice, but Philadelphia-style cream cheese works well and is available everywhere. The result is a touch firmer and less milky, but still delicious.
No — that's the beauty of it. The raw sausage is mixed with the cheese and cooks through in the oven as the crostone bakes. Just spread it in an even layer and make sure it's fully cooked (no pink) before serving.
Size, and how you serve them. A crostone is a large single slice of rustic bread with a thick layer of topping — substantial enough to be dinner. Crostini are small, bite-sized toasts, usually on baguette, served as finger food or an appetizer. Same filling, same method — just spread thick on country bread for dinner, or on sliced baguette for a tray of appetizers (bake those a little less, 10–12 minutes).
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Full Recipe
Crostone with Sausage and Cheese
Video
Ingredients
- 200 g fresh Italian sausage casings removed, about 7 ounces
- 230 g stracchino or crescenza cheese or cream cheese, about 8 ounces
- country bread , such as Pugliese or ciabatta rolls split lengthwise for crostone; or a sliced baguette for crostini.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F) and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Remove the casings from the sausage. Make a slit cut with a sharp knife and peel the casing off.
- In a bowl mash sausage meat together with cream cheese until combined.
- Spread the mixture in a thick, even layer over the bread, right to the edges. Don't smoother the surface, keep it uneven.
- Bake for about 12-15 minutes, until the topping is cooked through and golden and the bread is crisp. Finish under the broiler for a minute for extra color if you like.
- Cut into pieces if desired, and enjoy while it's still hot!
Notes
- Cheese: stracchino (crescenza) is traditional and best, but cream cheese or robiola work well too.
- Bread matters: use a sturdy loaf or split ciabatta rolls that can hold the thick topping without going soggy.
- Cook it through: the sausage goes on raw, so make sure the topping is fully cooked (no pink) before serving.
- Make ahead: mix the filling up to a day in advance and keep refrigerated; spread and bake when ready.
- For crostini (appetizer): spread a thick layer on ½-inch baguette slices and bake 10–12 minutes. One batch of filling makes about 12–15.
- Scale up or down: the only rule is the sausage and cheese ratio, which is roughly 1:1 but I like to add a little extra cheese for creaminess.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Gina says
Makes perfect sense…..told you it was a silly question. I will definitely make as an appetizer. Thank you!
Gina says
Sorry, I meant to type if you could precook the sausage a bit before mixing it with the cheese to reduce some of the oil from the sausage.
Gina says
Hi. This looks good! Can you cook the sausage a bit? I’m just concerned if it will totally be cooked and perhaps greasy. May be a silly question, sorry
Svitlana says
Hi Gina, since the sausage is mashed with cheese and spread on a bread it's does have enough time to cook through (12-15) at high temperature 190C (375F). Choose the high quality sausage and if you prefer a leaner one. P.S. No silly questions here! Ask away if there's anything else comes to your mind 🙂