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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I’m making this for tomorrow and was wondering if it’s salted or unsalted butter. Also, is there a preference on which kind of onions are best?
Thank you!
Hi Karina, we use unsalted butter for this recipe. Unless otherwise specified we usually use yellow onions.
I’ve been using your recipe for these meatballs for years. We make them exactly as written and they are an all-time favorite in this house. We love love love them.
Hi Holly,
I did make a slow-cooker stuffing a few years ago. Mine came out burnt around the edges, do you think it was because I had it on high for too long? I am looking forward to making your version on Thursday.
Thanks, Francine! We hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!
I plan to use this recipe for Thanksgiving. You mentioned that it can be prepared up to 24 hours in advance, but I am wondering if I could put this together 2 days ahead of time instead? If so, is there anything different I need to do? I plan to use Pepperidge Farm bagged stuffing mix, along with adding cooked/drained sausage. Thank you!
Sausage would be a great addition. This would be fine for 48 hours in the refrigerator.
How do you suggest adding sausage? Already cooked? What kind of sausage? Thanks!
Hi Jess, we have this delicious sausage stuffing recipe that might be exactly what you are looking for. To add sausage to this recipe I would add about 1 pound of cooked and cooled sausage in step 2.
Hi Holly – Can’t wait to try this! This isn’t a review so much as just letting you know I’ve made a dozen or so of your recipes and I’m a big fan! Thank you for a slow cooker recipe for stuffing – it’s going to make my life so much easier on Thursday.
Thank you so much Jackie, I hope you love this as much as we do!
Can I still use the same size crockpot if I cut the recipe in half?
The slow cooker should be about ½ full so if cutting this in half it would be best in a 4qt slow cooker. If you’re making half of the recipe and don’t have a smaller slow cooker, keep an eye on it as it will likely cook quicker. If the stuffing is done early, you can turn it to warm (and splash a little bit of extra broth if needed).
Thanks so much. I’m looking forward to this. :)
Can you tell me what bread u use?
I most often use store-brand sandwich bread. I haven’t found that brand makes much of a difference. I hope your family loves it as much as mine does!
Thank you so much for a crock pot recipe!!! I was wondering if the eggs are needed? I’m NOT a cook, I’ve never heard of eggs in stuffing. Does it taste eggy? Thank you!
Hi Jenny, We don’t find it tastes eggy but you can leave them out of this recipe if you prefer.
Thanks so much for your reply! And thank you for the genius idea of making the dressing in the crock pot! Will make life so much easier by having the oven freed up. Thank you!
This looks delicious. Please advise – if I use pepperidge farm stuffing bread cubes/crumbs, do I also use 6 cups of each? Thank you!
I haven’t tried this recipe with those, but in the end, this recipe uses 12 cups of bread cubes. Hope that helps!
I’m a bit confused: would you clarify please?
Your ingredient list has 1 Tbsp each of the fresh herbs. Your note at the bottom says you add 1 heaping tablespoon of fresh herbs to your stuffing. Is that in addition to the first Tbsp?
Hi Ruth, we add 1 tablespoon in total! In the instructions, the tablespoon of fresh herbs is an optional ingredient. But we added in the notes that we do prefer it with the optional ingredient and in fact, add a heaping tablespoon of fresh herbs since it’s so delicious!
Excited to try this! How many loafs of bread does this take? I know you said cups but I’m curious how many loads that takes!!??
Hi Ally, it is approximately 8 slices of bread for 6 cups of bread crumbs.
We will be serving about 20 people at out Thanksgiving dinner this year. I want to try this recipe; however, I will need more than the recipe calls for. My crockpot is about the same size as that in the picture. If I double it, will it still fit in the crockpot?
Hi Donna, if using a 6 qt crockpot it might not be enough room to double this recipe. You could try this make-ahead corn stuffing recipe as well to ensure you have enough servings!
An absolutely excellent method for making stuffing. I’ve never written down my method so I have now saved yours to my special files. Thank you very much. This year I used ALL fresh herbs. What a difference! Guests noticed it as well. (I’m Canadian.) I’ll never use dry again. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family! Stay safe.
So happy everyone enjoyed it, Karen. Fresh herbs definitely give it that little extra yum!
OMG! I was looking up stuffing recipies because this is my first year making turkey dinner without mom and grandma.. this saved my life
I hope you love it Meri! ❤️
it was a hit! everyone loved it
This is an almost exact duplicate of my mom’s stuffing recipe, although over the years I’ve added cranberries and crumbled breakfast sausage. Can’t wait to try it in your crockpot version. Sounds great and it creates more oven room on T-Day!
Hi Molly, this sounds like a great recipe, I’m planning to make it on Sunday for Thanksgiving dinner. Would the dressing dry out if left on warm for 5 hours? Or should I plan to cook it later so that it is finished cooking closer to the time we are going to eat? (We are not having the dinner at our house.)
It would be best that it was cooked a bit closer to eating time if possible.
Could you please let me know your measurements for the fresh spices? Thanks so much.
I add about 1 heaping tablespoon of fresh herbs to my stuffing, approximately 1 teaspoon each of rosemary, sage, and thyme as well as a teaspoon or two of parsley.
Hi Holly,
I’m a terrible cook and can’t be left to my own devices. :) can you suggest specifically how much of each fresh herb to use. Thanks!
I add about 1 heaping tablespoon of fresh herbs to my stuffing, approximately 1 teaspoon each of rosemary, sage, and thyme as well as a teaspoon or two of parsley. Let us know how it goes!
Taste in fantastic!!! So far moist and delicious. Would like to prepare a batch for a camping trip. Is it possible this could be frozen? Or left in cooler for 3 days?
This stuffing can be frozen before or after cooking. Thaw completely before cooking. If it is really cold from the fridge, it will likely need extra cook time and a gently stir halfway.
If you’d like to keep it in the cooler, I would suggest adding the eggs at the time of cooking.