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.
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.
Easy Stuffing Recipe
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
- salt to taste
- 12 cups dry bread cubes
- 2 to 4 cups chicken broth see notes
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley or 2 teaspoons dry parsley
- 1 tablespoon fresh herbs sage, thyme, and/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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Do you use low sodium broth
Either regular or low sodium will work, I most often use low sodium because that’s what I usually have on hand. Enjoy Marlo!
First time ever attempting stuffing and the taste was spot on but mine came out mushy any tips on what I could have done wrong or how to make it not mushy?! Thanks!
The trick to having it not become mushy is to be sure you are not adding too much chicken broth, you want your bread cubes just moist, and to make sure your bread is properly dried. If you buy your bread a few days early, tear it or cut it into cubes and dry them in a bowl for a few days on your counter. You can also dry out your bread in the oven if needed. I hope this helps!
Outstanding!
Outstanding! I’ve eaten this type of stuffing all my life. Never sure of how much of each ingredient. The proportions are perfect. I didn’t even cook the onions and celery. Still perfect.
Will add cranberries and apples to some of this dish next time. Also I appreciate the calculator on the recipe sheet so you can easily tailor recipe based on the servings.
I have a tip for drying out bread. Use your air fryer, if you have one! I set it at 250 degrees (F) and placed the bread cubes in an oven-safe dish. They were PERFECT in very short time! The convection of the hot air moving really gets them dry much better and faster than a conventional oven.
Flavors are spot on and this is a pretty simple recipe. I do think the amount of chicken broth depends on the type of bread (not sure if this was stated anywhere) and I wish I buttered by baking dish as all the bread stuck to the bottom. Otherwise, I’ll make it again!
Help! 2 questions. Can I half the ingredients to make a serving for 6? And: To make 48 hours ahead, do I actually bake in the oven before storing in the fridge for 48 hrs? and then bake again for 30 min after sitting out? Sounds delicious and easy! Thank you.
Yes, this recipe can be halved. If making ahead, prepare the stuffing but don’t bake it. Bake just before serving. It’s so good Diana, I think you’ll love it!
Thank you for your reply, really helps! I’ll let you know the outcome!
When you prepare in advance do you cook it first and then refrigerate or just put it in the fridge raw?
If making ahead, prepare the stuffing but don’t bake it. Bake just before serving.
If I am using packaged bread cubes/stuffing how many packages would I need or ounces?
Hi LA, it will depend on the size of the package. We use a measuring cup (240ml) and lightly fill it with cubes of bread and you will need 12 cups.
This is my moms recipe!! Delicious!!
This simple recipe was a hit with family. Thank you for sharing
I will make this one,and put chicken breast’s on top .Hope my family likes it. Thank you Judy
I would love to hear how it turns out Judy! Enjoy!
thanks for putting the notes about cooking inside a turkey way down below so we see it after we’re done making and stuffing it already
Thank you for your feedback, this information is included in the written post just above the last photo as well as in the notes of the recipe. I hope that helps!
Tomas, most people would take the time to read all the tips before getting started and realize lesson learned instead of passively aggressively blaming the one who’s giving the information.
Holly, The recipe is delicious! Prepared it last night for our early Thanksgiving dinner tonight.
Petty, read the instructions all the way next time. LOL! Ever heard the term Narcissist? Look it up. To blame the author for you lack of reading all the way through the posting is legit the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.
You’re so rude – didn’t your mother teach you to read the whole recipe before you start? (She obviously didn’t teach you manners so I’m guessing no)
Thomas, that’s why you read the complete recipe until the end before you make it for the first time!!!!
I love it, but: 12 cups of bread it’s kinda subjective. How much is that in grams? I’m using a whole loaf which is usually almost 700 grams
We use a measuring cup (240ml) and lightly fill it with cubes of bread. It will vary a bit based on what type of bread you choose but on average 13-16 slices.
This is a good recipe. It is pretty much how I make dressing. I add dried cranberries. I like it a little more dense and wet, so it depends on the bread. Also I mix Bell’s poultry seasoning with a pinch of Old Bay.
This is a good basic recipe for beginners. I like to add diced sautéed apple and browned bulk pork sausage. Sometimes I add some raisins, or dried cranberries or sunflower seeds, depending on what I have on hand. The last time I made it for a large gathering I used 8 loaves of bread, half white and half brown in my electric roaster.
Your version sounds delicious Kathy!
That sounds good. I’m going to try this for this thanksgiving. Did adding the apples change the cooking time in any way? I’m tripling the batch as I need enough for 20 people one night and 10 for another night.
This stuffing is delicious! Very similar to the way my mom use to make it. Only differences are that we add garlic and grated carrots, and usually stuff part of it in the Turkey ❤️. Soooo good!!
Hi. Do I spray the baking dish with PAM prior to filling it with the stuffing and baking it?
You can if you’d like to, it’ll make it a bit easier to clean.
This is the exact way my mom and now me always make our dressing/stuffing. The only difference is we sauté some cut up bacon till almost crispy and then sauté the onions and celery in the bacon grease. If you get a lot of grease remove some . It is so good. I make it with diced up deli ham added when I stuff chicken breast and bake them. Love the smell of dressing cooking in the oven mmm !
Great recipe, Holly. My stuffing has evolved over the years to my standard of today. It is much like yours, except I add some wild rice and diced water chestnuts. Sometimes the stuffing may get a little soggy, but the wild rice and water chestnut maintain the crunchiness.
do you add the bacon to the dressing with the onions and celery.
Thanks, Norah