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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If I double the recipe, how much longer do you suggest to cook?
I wouldn’t change the cook time, as long as your crock pot can accommodate, it should be the same cook time Lorie. I hope this helps.
How many loaves do you need for 12 cups of bread? Thank you! Excited to make this
It will be approximately 1 loaf of bread.
Has anyone used store bought bread cubes? Is this a dry stuffing? I’m not wanting a wet stuffing? Thx.
It’s moist but not ‘wet’. I have made it with both store bought and homemade bread cubes. If you would like the stuffing to be on the drier side, you can add less broth. Start with a little and let it soak in a few minutes and then add more as needed allowing it to soak in after each addition. Once you reach desired consistency, add in the eggs.
This stuffing recipe was a hit! One of our guests commented something along the lines of, “It tastes just like you want stuffing to taste.” Thanks for the great recipe!
This stuffing was a hit at my work carry in.
I made this stuffing yesterday for Thanksgiving. It was a huge success! All the guests loved it, it was my favorite part of the dinner. I still have some left in refrigerator and I must really watch myself to not to go there and eat everything for breakfast.
I added mild Italian sausage, it was a great complement to the flavor.
Thank you very much for thigh recipe.
Love the addition of sausage! I’m so glad you loved it!!
How much sausage did you add?
When did you add the sausage? I am trying to make this a day ahead of time , would you suggest that I make the sausage and let it sit overnight or the cooked sausage the same day. Tia
To add sausage, you can precook it (the day before is fine) and stir it in when you mix in the ingredients.
Did you cook the sausage first?
I fond myself using this web page for about ten recipes in the last three weeks. I felt i needed to be in touch more often.
Thank you! So happy to have you join us!
I have a Thanksgiving dinner at 1 to go to. I plan to put this on low at 5:30 in the morning. What are your thoughts.
If you start this at 530am it should be ready around 10am. All of the ingredients (except the eggs) are cooked through in this recipe, it really just needs to heat. Are you able to prepare it and perhaps turn it on a bit later in the day?
If it won’t all fit in my crockpot, can the rest be baked in the oven? If so, what temp and how long?
It sure can! I cover and bake it about 30-35 minutes at 350°F or until heated through.
I just got it all in the crockpot – should I stir at any point during these 3 – 4 hours?
I do not stir the stuffing. Enjoy!
Thanks for all your help and Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
Enjoy Julie! Happy Thanksgiving to you too!
This sounds good. How much of each of the fresh herbs do you put in?
Hi Sally, I would add about a tablespoon or slightly less of each spice. You will want to start with less and add more as you think it needs it, remember the flavors will be less pungent when fully cooked.
Hi there! This sounds excellent, I’ll come back with a review after Thanksgiving! Question: could you replace some of the bread slices with cornbread, and if so approx. how much? Thx!
Hi Bri, 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!
Would I use both the poultry seasoning and the fresh herbs, or do I leave out the poultry seasoning if I use the fresh herbs?
Hi Aryn, we use both fresh herbs and poultry seasoning in this recipe, but the fresh herbs are totally optional!
THank you for sharing your talents!!!
If I wanted to half the recipe to serve 6 instead of 12 do I still put it in the crock pot for the same amount of time? Any other things I would need to adjust or would I simply cut the recipe in 1/2?
This recipe can be halved however I would suggest using a smaller slow cooker (4qt). It may need a little bit less time, so once it’s hot I would turn the slow cooker to warm.
Another option would be to make the whole recipe as leftovers freeze and reheat well.
I want to try your yummy stuffing recipe for thanksgiving and have a question – if you make day before you do.or.do.not add the broth in? And you do add the eggs in it also.day before? Thank you so much for recipe!!
You can try baking fully the day before and reheating on Thanksgiving or we have a delicious make ahead stuffing recipe that is perfect to make the day before! Let us know how it turns out.
What if I want to omit the onions and celery? How different does it make the recipe?
The onions add a lot of the flavor to this recipe. If you don’t/cant use onions you can of course leave them out (I always make a small dish this way for my brother in law who can’t have them).
Other options are onion powder (if it’s not an allergy), leeks (use the whites only), a bit of fennel (which has kind of anise flavor). If none of those work, give the stuffing a taste before you add the raw eggs and you can up the seasonings, herbs etc if you’d like. Let us know how it goes!
I made this for an early Thanksgiving with family who likes “stuffing” rather than dressing and making this in the crockpot did just that! This was my 2nd attempt at stuffing, trying to replicate their mom’s stuffing and I succeeded. The eggs are very important to bind it all together. I shared your recipe with 3 people and have put this one in my recipe book to keep! It makes a lot! An entire crockpot but stuffing lovers want leftovers so they all got some. I will admit I added far more broth to achieve the bread pudding like consistency the family desires. With each broth addition I re seasoned with salt and poultry seasoning. It was such a success. Thank you!
So happy to hear it was a hit Mary!
Hi! If I omit the eggs, how long does it need in the crockpot?
You can leave them out in this recipe and cook it the same amount of time. Enjoy Lindsay!
Your stuffing recipe sounds just like what my Grandmother used to make…Yummmm! I have a little problem though. My Granddaughter is highly allergic to all dairy and eggs. I can substitute the butter easily, but how important are the eggs? Or do you have a suggestion for a replacement for the job the eggs do?
Hi Patty, I think it would work just fine without egg! The egg binds it. It’s very similar to baking it in the oven. Let us know how it turns out.
I love your crockpot stuffing recipe!!
Thanks so much Janet!
I’ve never had egg in my stuffing. I use left over bread and my turkey gravy. Perfect stuffing!
That does sound delicious Patrice, thanks for sharing.
Will the top of the stuffing be crispy made in the slow cooker?
Hi Barbara, the stuffing will be moist on top, but you can always pop in the oven on broil before serving.