Crock Pot Stuffing takes my favorite classic stuffing recipe and turns it into an easy make ahead side dish. This stuffing is perfect to serve along side turkey dinner!
Once I started cooking my stuffing in my slow cooker, it’s the only way I make it now! Not only is it easy and delicious, it can be prepared up to 24 hours in advance making it the perfect side during a busy meal! Turkey dinner is a big undertaking so I try to plan ahead as much as I can both before the meal and on turkey day (I use this turkey dinner planner to keep everything in order).
When you walk into my kitchen a few hours before that golden turkey is out of the oven, you’ll see slow cookers and vegetable steamers all lined up on one side of the kitchen. I try to have all of the sides and accompaniments prepared ahead of time. I no longer boil my mashed potatoes, I make slow cooker mashed potatoes and I often have veggies like carrots and broccoli washed and sitting in the veggie steamer ready to go (and of course this Crock Pot stuffing)! When the turkey is ready, it comes out of the oven and literally the only thing I have to do is cook up the gravy while it rests.
I do have to make a confession… while I always make a ton of dishes for any turkey dinner including rolls, veggies, salads and all that other jazz that goes along with turkey the only thing I care about is the stuffing (and gravy). Truly, if I just had a big ol’ plate of stuffing, I’d be a happy camper (and I always ALWAYS take seconds of the stuffing).
The Best Bread for Stuffing
You can make delicious stuffing with ANY kind of bread from hot dog buns to leftover bagels or crusts of bread. To make perfect stuffing, you’ll need to ensure your bread cubes or crumbs are dry before beginning.
My personal favorite bread for stuffing is using half white sandwich bread and half brown sandwich bread and drying it myself. It gives the best texture and flavor allowing for the seasonings and celery/onion mixture flavor to really shine through.
My second choice is dried unseasoned bread cubes from the store. I prefer to add my own seasonings and control the sodium. (I use a homemade poultry seasoning).
How to Dry Bread for Stuffing
There are two ways I dry bread for stuffing:
1. Make day old bread: Cut your bread into cubes and leave it on the counter uncovered at least 24 hours (stirring occasionally).
2. Dry Bread Crumbs in the oven: Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Lay fresh bread cubes in a single layer and cook 25 minutes stirring half way or until dried. Ensure your bread doesn’t toast or brown.
An important note about adding the broth! You are going to add just enough broth to the cubes to moisten them. Depending on the type of bread you use your broth amount could vary by up to a cup or more! You want enough broth so that the cubes are moist but not mushy as the onions/celery and other add ins will also add a bit of moisture to the stuffing.
Cooks Tip: If you accidentally add too much liquid and your stuffing is too wet, don’t despair! Add in a couple of handfuls of dry bread cubes or store bought croutons. They’ll soak up any extra moisture creating the perfect consistency.
While I like a simple classic stuffing, if you’re more adventurous, you can most certainly add in whatever you’d like such as fresh or dried cranberries, fried mushrooms or even cooked sausage. Once you make this easy Crock Pot stuffing, it’ll definitely become your go to!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
- 2 teaspoons poultry seasoning store bought or homemade
- 2 medium yellow onions diced
- 2 cups sliced celery
- 6 cups dry white bread cubes *see note
- 6 cups dry brown bread cubes *see note
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon fresh herbs or to taste, thyme, sage, rosemary ,optional
- 3 cups chicken broth plus an additional 1 cup if needed
- 2 eggs
Instructions
- Heat butter over medium heat until melted. Stir in poultry seasoning, black pepper and salt. Add celery & onions and cook until softened (do not brown). Cool completely.
- Place bread cubes in a large bowl. Add cooled celery and onion mixture, parsley and fresh herbs if using.
- Add chicken broth a little bit at a time just to moisten and gently stir. You may not need all of the broth (see note below). Stir in eggs.
- Cover and refrigerate overnight if making ahead of time.
- Grease a 5-6 qt slow cooker well. Place stuffing in the slow cooker and turn onto high for 30 minutes. Reduce temperature to low and cook an additional 3-4 hours or until hot and cooked through. If stuffing is done before your meal is ready it can remain on warm.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Side Dish
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How many loves are of bread do you typically buy if drying bread yourself? I bought 3 loves.
Depending on size, usually 1 to 1 ½ loaves. Be sure to dry the bread before measuring as it shrinks a bit as it dries.
Can we omit the eggs? Or are the eggs needed ?
In the non crockpot recipe there were no eggs.
Just wondering
You can omit them if you’d like.
If I wanted to bake this in the oven instead of using the crockpot, what time and temp would I use?
I use this stuffing recipe in the oven.
Thank you!
How can I sub dry herbs?
You’ll need about 1 teaspoon total of dried herbs.
Do you need to stir it periodically during the cooking time?
I do not because if you don’t stir, you get the nice crispy bits on the edges.
If we double the recipe do we need a bigger crock pot or will it fit in the original size still
While it could be doubled, it likely wouldn’t fit into one 6qt slow cooker—it’s best that a slow cooker isn’t more than ¾ full.
I made this last week for a potluck and I cooked it then refrigerated and then reheated in the crock pot the next day and everybody loved it! for Thanksgiving I decided to prepare the ingredients and refrigerate and will pop in the crock pot tomorrow however somebody mentioned to me that you’re not supposed to refrigerate uncooked stuffing and after doing a Google search on paranoid now lol. has anyone had experience with this? Am I going to get everyone sick? wondering if I should pop it in the crock pot now even though it’s late and then reheat again tomorrow
You can absolutely refrigerate uncooked stuffing. The ingredients are bread, broth, veggies, and eggs—all of which are safe to prepare and refrigerate for a couple of days.
I Have 12oz unseasoned bread cubes how many bags should I used for this recipe?
You would need approximately 24 oz of bread cubes, maybe a little bit more. Once you get the bags, measure the cubes in cups.
I don’t think I missed this but do you cover the crock pot while this is cooking ?
Yes, the slow cooker should be covered.
I’m planning to try the Crock Pot Stuffing recipe but have a few questions.
1. Do you add one tablespoon each of the fresh herbs (sage, thyme and rosemary)?
2. Can you mix the herbs with onion mixture and add it all to the bread at once?
3. Do you lightly whip/beat the eggs before adding them to the mixture?
Thanks!
1. 1 tablespoon total of whatever herbs you have.
2. Sure you can mix it all at once.
3. You can beat the egg if you’d like.
Can you use slow cooker liners? If so do I need to grease the liner?
As far as the herbs, do I add equal parts of all three to equal 1 tablespoon? Unclear on that.
Thank you.
You can use a liner. I have never greased a liner before but you can. You will need 1 tablespoon total, you can use any ratio of herbs that you have on hand.
recipe seems simple enough for me will give it a try
If I prefer to ise dried store bought bread cubes, what amount package would I buy?
You would need approximately 24 oz of bread cubes, maybe a little bit more. Once you get the bags, measure the cubes in cups.
I want to make this but i only have a smaller 2qt crockpot will it work? would i just use a third of the ingredients? What about the cook time? Thanks!
You can use less ingredients, ⅓ should work fine—you’ll want to ensure that your slow cooker isn’t more than ⅔ full. As I haven’t made ⅓ of this recipe in a slow cooker, I can’t say for sure how long to cook it. I would suggest checking it early, around 90 minutes although it may need longer. If it’s done early, you can turn the slow cooker to warm.
how many people does this recipe feed? Would I need to double it if I’m feeding 20-22 people?
This recipe makes 12 servings so I would suggest doubling it.
Hi Holly
I need to make this vegetarian. Can I just replace the chicken broth with vegetable broth? Any additional seasonings you’d recommend? Thank you!
Sure you can, it should work just fine with no other changes.
This sounds perfect! Just wondering if I can use dried herbs?
Absolutely! Use 4 teaspoons dried parsley, and about ¾ teaspoon of other herbs if using.
2 questions. I have been asked to bring stuffing to Thanksgiving. Would you make the day before and then just reheat??
Have you ever made with pre-seasoned bread cubes?
You can prepare the day ahead and cook on the day of serving or you can reheat, either will work just fine. If it’s chilled from the fridge, it may need a little bit of extra cooking time. I have’t made with seasoned cubes but they should work—you may need to adjust the seasoning slightly if they’re already seasoned.
Can cornbread be substituted for some of the cubed bread?
While we have never tried this recipe with cornbread but it sounds like it would be delicious. You could try a ratio similar to our cornbread dressing here!
Super excited to make this for this years Thanksgiving! If I make it ahead of time – do I wait to cook in crockpot until Thanksgiving Day? How long will it take if I take it out of fridge on Thanksgiving morning? Thanks!
If made ahead, it can be prepared and then cooked on Thanksgiving day (step 4 of the recipe). You can remove it from the fridge up to 60 minutes before cooking, it should cook through in the time in the recipe. If it is done early, you can turn the slow cooker to warm.
Absolutely delicious! It tastes just like my mom used to make. She was a great cook but unfortunately never wrote down quantities. This was perfect and a recipe I can hand down to my daughter.
I’m going to a dinner with a lot of people so I doubled the recipe, do I double the cooking time as well? I don’t want to over cook it
The cooking time won’t need to be doubled but it will take longer to cook, you will likely need to add about an hour or so to the cooking time. If it is ready early, you can turn the slow cooker to warm.
I would suggest allowing extra time as it can be kept on warm if it’s ready early. You will want to ensure your crockpot is at a maximum ¾ full for proper cooking, if you have extra you could bake it as a casserole as well.
I am not sure if this has been asked. Can you use bagged stuffing mix? I really want to try this for Thanksgiving. Looks so good!
Hi Daniella, if you can find bagged bread cubes you can use those but I wouldn’t use premade bagged stuffing for this recipe.