Homemade Stuffing is an easy and delicious Thanksgiving staple. With its perfect blend of flavors and wonderful texture this stuffing is one you will make again and again.
Stuffing is a classic Thanksgiving dish that is as much part of the foundation of the meal as turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, and green bean casserole. This is my favorite way to make stuffing and I hope you will love it too!
What is homemade stuffing made of?
Stuffing is a combination of stale bread, herbs, vegetables, and broth.
Stuffing vs Dressing?
Today these names are pretty much interchangeable. However, technically, stuffing is made by placing all the ingredients in the turkey and baking it that way. Dressing is cooked on the stove top or in the oven.
Should you cook stuffing in the turkey?
I don’t recommend cooking the stuffing in the turkey. When stuffing the turkey with the bread mixture you have a high chance of not cooking the stuffing to the correct temperature to kill all the turkey bacteria, plus it restricts the airflow in the turkey not allowing it to cook uniformly.
What you need for Homemade Stuffing:
Bread: Any bread works but I love to use a combo of sourdough, Italian, French, or my no knead bread
Herbs: Sage, Parsley, Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano (fresh or dried)
Unsalted Butter
Vegetables: Sweet Onion, Celery, Garlic (fresh or powdered)
Salt & Pepper
Broth: Chicken or Vegetable
Eggs
Why do you put eggs in stuffing?
Eggs help hold the stuffing together. They act as a binder and provide added moisture.
If you like this recipe, make sure to check out my other tasty side dishes like Thanksgiving Corn, Smoked Cream Cheese, Pumpkin Fluff Dip, Bacon Wrapped Dates, and this fun Turkey Cheese Ball.
How to dry out bread?
Make your bread stale by drying it out in the oven.
Preheat oven to 275°F. Cube your bread and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Place bread in the oven until dried out- 15-20 minutes. Make sure to check the bread to make sure it doesn’t start to brown.
I use this method often when make stuffing or bread pudding since I typically forget to let bread sit out and go stale.
How to make homemade stuffing?
- Preheat oven and grease baking dish.
- Cube bread. Add bread, sage, parsley, rosemary, and thyme to a large bowl.
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- In fry pan melt butter. Then add onions, celery, garlic, salt, and pepper. Sautee until just starting to brown.
- Add contents of fry pan to the large bowl of bread and herbs along with part of the broth. Toss to combine.
- Whisk eggs with remain broth then fold mixture into stuffing mixture. Place stuffing into prepared baking sheet and cover with foil.
Bake for 40 minutes then uncover and bake until top is golden.
What makes stuffing better?
- Fresh Herbs make everything taste better
- Brown the butter- this is an extra step that adds depth to the flavor
- Add Ins- cheese, cooked bacon pieces, dried cranberries, or chopped nuts
How to store homemade stuffing?
Store leftover stuffing in an air tight container in the refrigerator.
How long does leftover stuffing last?
Refrigerate stuffing for up to 4 days. Freeze stuffing for several months.
Use leftover stuffing in this tasty turkey cranberry sandwich!
Can you make stuffing ahead of time?
Yes, make this the day before! Bake stuffing all the way through the first 40 minutes- or until the internal temperature comes to 160°F. Then remove from oven and allow to cool, then refrigerate.
The next day place dish in the oven at 350°F and bake uncovered for 20-30 minutes to brown the top and heat through.
For more tasty holiday recipes check out my cranberry relish, sweet potato rolls, biscuits, pudding, and soufflé, Fall Cookies, and this amazing caramel pecan pie!
Watch how to make this recipe!
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Homemade Stuffing
Ingredients
- 24 oz bread cubes* stale is ideal*
- 3 tbs sage chopped fresh, or 1 tbs dried
- 2 tbs parsley chopped fresh, or 2 teaspoon dried
- 1 tbs rosemary chopped fresh, or 1 teaspoon dried
- 1 tbs thyme chopped fresh, or 1 teaspoon dried
- 1 tbs oregano chopped fresh, or 1 teaspoon dried
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 2 ½ cups sweet onion ~2 large onions, diced
- 2 cups celery diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced, or 1 teaspoon powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 2 ½ cups chicken or vegetable broth low sodium (if not using low sodium omit the salt), divided
- 2 large eggs
Instructions
- Dry out bread*24 oz bread cubes*
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x 13 baking dish with more butter or nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl add cubed bread, sage, parsley, rosemary, thyme, oregano.3 tbs sage, 2 tbs parsley, 1 tbs rosemary, 1 tbs thyme, 1 tbs oregano
- Melt butter in a large skillet or fry pan over medium high heat. Add diced onions, celery, minced garlic, salt, and pepper. Sautee for 10-15 minutes or until they just start to brown.1 cup unsalted butter, 2 ½ cups sweet onion, 2 cups celery, 4 cloves garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon pepper
- Add onions and celery to bread, along with 1 ½ cups broth. Gently toss then set aside to cool.2 ½ cups chicken or vegetable broth
- Whisk remaining broth (1 cup) with eggs. Gently fold egg mixture into bread, until combined.2 ½ cups chicken or vegetable broth, 2 large eggs
- Place stuffing mixture in prepared dish and cover with foil.
- Bake for 40 minutes or until an instant read thermometer reads 160°F when inserted in the center of the stuffing.
- If making this the day before, simply uncover the stuffing, let cool, cover again and then refrigerate. Next day continue with final baking as follows, adding 10 minutes to the bake time since it will be cold.
- Uncover the stuffing and bake for an additional 20 minutes or until the top is golden.
Notes
- Make your bread stale by drying it out in the oven.
- Preheat oven to 275°F. Cube your bread and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Place bread in the oven until dried out- 15-20 minutes. Make sure to check the bread to make sure it doesn’t start to brown.
- Use a couple types of bread for a good mixture of textures. I like to use sourdough and a white, French, or Italian bread.
Nutrition
This recipe is adapted from bon appetit.
Lisa says
I love that this uses different types of bread. So easy and tasty!