This Easy Stuffing Recipe will complete just about any meal!
Celery and onions are cooked with butter, and seasonings. It’s all tossed with dried bread cubes and broth, then topped with butter and baked until hot and golden.
Don’t get me wrong I love mashed potatoes, but I will always save room for homemade stuffing over potatoes. I could eat stuffing for every meal!
How to Make Turkey Stuffing
Stuffing is one of the most important dishes in a holiday or Thanksgiving dinner. Serve it alongside green bean casserole, mashed sweet potatoes, turkey, turkey gravy (of course), and pumpkin pie for dessert!
Seasoning – Poultry Seasoning is the best spice blend for this turkey stuffing recipe (and it can sometimes be sold out during Thanksgiving)! If you’ve never used poultry seasoning, it’s a savory blend of spices like sage, thyme, and rosemary and it adds delicious flavor to soups, stews, and casseroles. You can also use your own spices (or make Homemade Poultry Seasoning), sage is the most common spice and flavor in stuffing.
Additions – Some stuffing recipes include ingredients like carrots, raisins, or dried cranberries. While these can all be great additions, nothing compares to this classic stuffing recipe!
How To Make Stuffing
Bread – The trick to a good classic stuffing from scratch is making sure your bread is really dry before you add broth.
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. Any kind of bread will do, I most often use a combo of brown and white.
In a pinch, I like to put fresh bread cubes in an oven at 300°F to dry them out for about 10 minutes (be sure not to brown/toast it)! If you dry fresh bread in the oven, you will not need as much broth.
Stuffing Casserole
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.
Stuffing can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge in a casserole dish. If stuffing a turkey, stuffing should be room temperature or cool and not stuffed in the turkey until just before roasting.
If you do stuff your turkey, remember to completely cool the stuffing first. If you don’t, the bird will sit at an unsafe cooking temperature for too long. If stuffing a turkey, the center of the stuffing needs to be cooked to 165°F because 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 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 bread cubes
- 3-4 cups chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon fresh herbs sage, thyme, rosemary
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, celery and poultry seasoning (and rosemary if using). Cook over medium-low until tender (do not brown), about 10-12 minutes.
- Place bread cubes in a large bowl. Add onion mixture, parsley and fresh herbs.
- Pour broth overtop 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 mixture in a serving dish, dot with additional butter 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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This recipe is amazing!! Thanks a bunch!
I have been making dressing (aka stuffing) for Thanksgiving for at least 35 years, never the same way twice, because I was searching for just the right end result. Finally, in 2022, I’ve found it! I will never use another recipe again. This was absolutely PERFECT! I didn’t have fresh herbs so I used 1 generous teaspoon of dried thyme and 1 tablespoon of dried parsley. Other than that, I followed the recipe as written. Used a loaf of Aldi whole wheat bread and it made 12 cups exactly. Thank you SO much!
Forgot to mention that I used vegetable broth (for the vegetarian in the family who eats the sides), and only two cups of it.
Absolutely fantastic!
I am NOT a good cook unfortunately…lol…and just wanted something fast and easy …I used quality pre-cut croutons from Nugget Market, substituted a cup of broth for applesauce, added a 1/4 cup of diced apples, a handful of cranberries and diced apricots…..and it’s absolutely delicious!
Thank You!
I’m so happy with this recipe! As a diabetic one of the things I’ve missed most is being able to eat stuffing with my turkey. I followed this recipe to the letter, except I substituted regular bread with croutons I made from Carbonaut one-carb gluten-free seeded bread (which you can buy at Sprouts). I used 1 loaf plus 4 extra slices. I also used fresh rosemary for the fresh herbs. The result was so delicious even the non-dieters in my family loved it!
2 CUPS OF BROTH MAX OR YOUR SHIT GON BE SOGGY. 1 HOUR OF WORK FOR LITERALL SLUDGE
Oh no, I am so sorry to hear that! We add broth overtop the bread cubes only until just moist, then dot with butter and bake. Is it possible your bread was not dried out enough?
great recipe! I thought it was great and others enjoyed it too. I made it 24 hours ahead and skipped the celery because I don’t like it. I ended up regular loaves of cheap whole wheat bread but it worked out well. once cut up, one slice is about ½ cup so I must have used 24 slices to make 12 cups.
This was really good. Used dark rye, everything bagel thins, hawaiian rolls…..it was really good. Do the left overs freeze well?
So glad you loved it! Yes, they freeze well.
Can you bake this at 400? We have a ham we need to bake at 400, and I’m hoping to do the stuffing at the same time. Would the bake time be adjusted? I see that it’s baked covered for the first 35min?
It can be baked at 400°F, you might like to reduce the cooking time so the edges don’t get too crunchy.
Hi, I couldn’t get the fresh herbs other than the parsley. Can I just add a bit more of the poultry seasoning? Thanks!
1 tablespoon of parsley will be perfect, no extra poultry seasoning is needed.
Hello.
If I boil 2 turkey thighs. Will that broth work for this instead of store bought chicken broth?
I have only tried the recipe as written Doris so I can’t say for sure. If you are boiling 2 turkey thighs instead of broth I would add carrots, celery, and seasonings to add flavor as the chicken broth does add flavor to this stuffing dish. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
is it one tablespoon of each herb or a tablespoon all together
I add one tablespoon total of a mixture of fresh herbs Cass. I hope this helps!
So just to clarify the sage rosemary and thyme is a total of one tablespoon not one tablespoon of each herb.
That’s correct, I add one tablespoon total of a mixture of fresh herbs.
Do you have any tips on cooking this in a slow cooker vs in the oven? Thanks!!
We use this recipe for cooking in the slow cooker.
Hello,
Thank you for this recipe. I would like to bake the dressing and then put it in a slow cooker to keep it warm. Will that work, or would it become too soggy. I’ll be doubling the recipe, if that makes a difference. Love all your wonderful recipes.
Hi TG, this should work but I suggest keeping it on warm. It may lose some of the crisp on the top but it’ll still be delicious. Enjoy!
Question!
I make dressing every year usually a few times. Its my fave! Similar recipes but vary a little. We are having an early Thanksgiving Mon plus Thurs. (Family visiting :) Right now I have half cornbread/artisan bread drying out. Should I adjust broth, butter anything? Never tried poulty season/ fresh rosemary combo.
And 1tablespoon each fresh herb??Looking forward to it. Oh also plan on making it ahead the night before. thanks! Happy Thanksgiving!
For fresh herbs, I use 1 tablespoon total. If adding the rosemary, I cook it along with the onions. Parsley, thyme, sage, can just be stirred in with the bread cubes if you have them.
The broth amount can vary slightly depending on how dry/dense the bread is. I would suggest adding the broth a bit at a time, allowing it to soak between each addition so it doesn’t get too moist. You may not need all of the broth. I hope you love it as much as we do. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family as well!
Hi! I was wondering if it’d be possible to use dried herbs instead of fresh herbs, and maybe just lessen the amount, or cook them with the celery and onions? Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Hi Holly, you can substitute for dry herbs if you prefer. The ratio is 1 tsp of dry herbs for every tablespoon of fresh herbs. Hope that helps!
This is a great recipe. I like to dress mine up by adding chopped walnuts and pre cooked and crumbled sage sausage. Any leftovers are a meal! Yum!
Have you added eggs as a binder?
You can add eggs to this if you’d like.
If you add eggs, how many eggs would you suggest? Also, could you use a little broth and an egg or would that just be too wild?
I haven’t tried adding eggs to this recipe but I do put egg in my Crock Pot Stuffing recipe, and it helps it bind together, so I think it would work great. I would add 1 or 2 eggs in addition to the chicken broth for this recipe.
Hi Holly! Can’t wait to make this recipe! Can I add sausage to it?
Hi Vicky, you can add sausage to this stuffing or we have this delicious sausage stuffing recipe where we add one pound of sausage!
What size dish would you suggest for this recipe?
This can go into any kind of casserole dish, I use a 9×13 casserole dish. Enjoy Julie!
Hello first time stuffing maker here! What size serving dish should I use? I’ve never made stuffing before and want to make sure I have the right materials before giving it a try.
This can go into any kind of casserole dish, I use a 9×13 pan dish. I can’t wait for you to try it Abby!
can this be made in a slow cooker?
We use this recipe for cooking in the slow cooker.