This Easy Stuffing Recipe will complete just about any meal!
Celery and onions are cooked with butter, herbs and seasonings. It’s all tossed with dried bread cubes and broth, then topped with a bit more butter and baked until hot and golden.
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I love mashed potatoes, but homemade stuffing is easily my favorite thanksgiving side dish.
Ingredients for Stuffing
Bread – You can use almost any kind of dry bread for stuffing or purchase dry bread cubes. I prefer to use half white bread and half wheat bread and set them out to dry for a few days before making this stuffing recipe.
Celery/Onions – These add lots of flavor to this recipe and should be cooked in butter until tender.
Seasoning – Poultry Seasoning is my first choice for this turkey stuffing recipe. It is a blend of savory spices like sage, thyme, and rosemary and it adds delicious flavor to soups, stews, and casseroles. You can replace poultry seasoning with ground sage if needed.
Broth – Chicken or turkey broth adds moisture and the amount needed will vary based on the type of bread used and how dry it is. See the recipe notes for more details.
Additions – I think a simple classic stuffing recipe is the best stuffing recipe, so the add-ins are kept to a minimum however you can add shredded carrots, raisins, dried cranberries, or even cooked sausage.
Bread for Stuffing
The key to making this homemade stuffing recipe the right consistency is to ensure that the bread is really dry before adding broth. This allows it to soak up the broth (and flavor) without becoming soggy.
If possible, purchase the bread a few days (or even weeks) early, tear it or cut it into cubes, and let it dry for a few days on the counter. Any kind of bread will do (like sourdough bread or half cornbread), I most often use a combination of brown and white.
You can use dried bread cubes from the store, they’ll work just fine in this recipe although they may require a little bit of extra broth.
How To Make Stuffing
I prefer to cook my stuffing in a casserole dish (which would technically make it dressing) or to make Crock Pot Stuffing. Cooking the turkey and stuffing separately ensures that they both reach the right temperatures without overcooking.
Make ahead – Stuffing can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge in a casserole dish. Prepare the stuffing without baking and refrigerate up to 2 days in advance. You may need to add 5 to 10 minutes to the baking time.
Stuffing a Turkey – You can use this stuffing to stuff a turkey. Ensure that the stuffing has cooled in the fridge for at least 45 minutes.
Do not stuff the turkey until just before roasting or it can sit at an unsafe cooking temperature for too long. If stuffing a turkey, the center of the stuffing should reach 165°F as the drippings from the bird enter the stuffing.
To Make Ahead
Stuffing is a great side as it can easily be made ahead of time! Simply prepare as directed, cover tightly, and refrigerate for up to 48 hours.
To bake, remove it from the fridge at least 30 minutes before baking. Prepare as directed (you may need to add a few minutes extra if it’s still cold from the fridge).
How To Freeze Stuffing
Everyone loves turkey dinner leftovers. Turkey dinner stacks or hot turkey sandwiches are my personal favorite ways to enjoy them, but sometimes you can’t get to them by the time they will go bad. Fear not, as turkey stuffing freezes well! Just pop it in the freezer and it should last several months.
To reheat stuffing, pop it in the oven at 350°F for about 20 minutes with a little broth on it to keep it from drying out.
Ingredients
- 2 small yellow onions diced
- 4 ribs celery diced
- ⅔ cup butter
- 1 ½ teaspoons poultry seasoning or ½ teaspoon ground sage
- black pepper to taste
- salt to taste
- 12 cups dry bread cubes
- 2 to 4 cups chicken broth see notes
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or 2 teaspoons dried parsley
- 1 tablespoon fresh herbs any combination of sage, thyme, or rosemary, or 1 teaspoon dry herbs
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion, celery and poultry seasoning (and rosemary if using). Reduce the temperature to medium low and cook until tender, about 10-12 minutes. Cool slightly.
- In a large bowl, combine the bread cubes, onion mixture, parsley and fresh herbs.
- Pour 1 cup of broth overtop and toss the cubes. Add the remaining broth, a little bit at a time until cubes are moist (but not soggy) and gently toss. You may not need all of the broth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Place the bread mixture in a baking dish, dot with additional butter if desired, and cover.
- Bake 35 minutes, uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dinner
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REPIN this Super Stuffing Recipe
hi Holly what size Casserole Dish should I use? and can I use 2 Casserole dishes if needed. I have 2 13×9 Casserole dishes enamel and ceramic. Thank You first time making stuffing since my wife passed away in June 2025. Thank You
You can use one 13×9 casserole dish if you’re making a single batch or two if you’re doubling the recipe. Either enamel or ceramic will work. Let us know how it goes!
Hi Holly! Old school here…can I use one package of Pepperidge Farm seasoned or unseasoned bread crumbs for this recipe? Which one would you suggest. Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving!
Either would work in this recipe! If using seasoned, you might need a little bit less salt as the cubes will already have salt on them.
I’m sure this has been asked a zillion times, but I did not see it in the most recent 100 comments. I am going to pot luck on Thanksgiving and taking this with me – can you make it ahead and re-heat it the morning of? Thanks for this recipe and your patience in answering so many quesions :)
Yes, this can be made ahead and reheated or prepared ahead and baked the day of serving. Either will work just fine!
Great recipe!
Don’t need to double but would like to make 1 1/2x (18 servings) what would the quantities be?
To find the quantities for 18 servings you will click the print button at the recipe and then on that screen you can increase the servings to 18 and everything will increase accordingly. I hope this helps Linda!
Can you add sausage to this recipe without changing anything else?
Yes! Sausage is delicious in this recipe. I would cook the sausage and then remove the sausage and add in the onion, celery, and seasoning to the drippings and cook. I would then add the cooled sausage to the bread mixture.
what type of bread do you recommend?
I like to use half white bread and half wheat bread and set them out to dry for a few days before making this stuffing recipe. Any brand will work just fine!
Amazing! The best stuffing I have ever made, and everyone loved… and requests it throughout the year.
I am so happy to hear this recipe has been a hit!
If I wanted to add pork sausage to this recipe, would I cook that first, then add the onion, celery & poultry seasoning?
Yes, I would cook the sausage and then remove the sausage and add in the onion, celery, and seasoning to the drippings. I would then add the cooled sausage to the bread mixture.
*** update, use this one ***
Hi Holly,
We always go to my Brother-in-law’s house for Thanksgiving. Because we never get to take home leftovers, tonight (6 nights before 2026 TG), my wife and I bought a couple of slices of Turkey, but couldn’t find any pre-made stuffing (all the stores said come back Tuesday afternoon. Wha?… yeah, Whole Foods and others). So, as i am thinking about the stuffing i am missing, at the last minute, I found and tried your recipe. It looked great!
Unfortunately, i had none of the ingredients :-(. So, this essentially is a tale about what not to do. For the stuffing, …
* i used 2 slices of rye bead and one whole wheat, cut into pieces
* i had an onion sautéd (yay!)
* we had no chicken broth but I attempted to cobble together some Whole Foods boxed turkey gravy with some white wine to dilute it (truly pseudo-broth)
* only had thyme but (and the mistake as my SO points out), added Basil
* crammed the whole stuffing prep time into 30 minutes (SO was getting hungry)
* microwaved the gravy, turkey slices, veggie dish, and Done!
Well, my poor attempt at stuffing was just that. My SO gave me a A for effort. But it was clear more prep is needed to do this right.
Holly, your recipe looks great! We will try it again with more prep.
I agree, turkey without stuffing would be very sad for me and much like you, I’d have to give it a try with what I had on hand!
I’d also give you an A for effort :) I love your creativity, that’s how we sometimes come up with the best new dishes! Can’t wait to hear how round two turns out.
How long Easy Stuffing x2 in crock pot? Thank you!
for a crockpot stuffing I would follow this recipe, and as long as your crockpot is big enough you can double it nicely.
Has anyone tried freezing this after making and then thawing and heating again?
Hi Norma, as mentioned in the post, you can freeze this stuffing. When ready to enjoy, pop it in the oven at 350°F for about 20 minutes with a little broth on it to keep it from drying out.
I use a recipe very close to this but more butter and I get a couple loaves of sour bread from a local bakery. Both make all the difference in the world!
how much butter do you use?