This Easy Stuffing Recipe is a favorite for every holiday dinner. With simple ingredients and thousands of 5-star reviews-it’s perfect every time!
Celery and onions are tossed with bread, broth, and herbs and baked until golden. It’s the best stuffing recipe with a buttery-sage flavor and crisp edges!
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Ingredient Notes for Stuffing
I love mashed potatoes, but homemade stuffing is the thanksgiving side dish I look forward every year.
- Bread – Any dry bread works for stuffing, I usually mix white and wheat bread. Tear them into cubes and let it dry on the counter so it can absorb the broth. Store bought dried bread cubes can also be used. If they’re seasoned, I add less salt but I do still add the herbs.
- Celery/Onions – These are the base of the flavor in this stuffing. Cook them in butter until tender.
- Seasoning – Poultry Seasoning adds that classic turkey stuffing flavor with a blend of sage, thyme, and rosemary. You can replace poultry seasoning with ground sage if needed.
- Broth – Chicken or turkey broth adds moisture. 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 – Dubbed the best stuffing recipe, this recipe lends itself well to add ins like shredded carrots, raisins, dried cranberries, or cooked sausage.
Bread for Stuffing
Bread is the base of the stuffing and the key is making sure it’s very dry before adding broth. This allows it to soak up the broth (and flavor) without becoming soggy.
If possible, buy the bread at least a few days early, cut it into cubes, and let it dry on the counter. Any kind of bread will do – including sourdough or half cornbread.
If using purchased dried bread cubes, they may need a little extra broth.
The Best Golden Crunchy Edges
I bake stuffing in a casserole dish for the crunchy edges and buttery soft center (which would technically make it dressing). You can also cook it in a Crock Pot. Cooking it separately ensures both the turkey and the stuffing cook evenly and reach safe temperatures without overcooking.
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.
Stuff the turkey just before roasting so it doesn’t sit at an unsafe 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.
Stuffing can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge in a casserole dish. Prepare the stuffing without baking and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Before baking, remove it from the fridge for at least 30 minutes. You may need to add 5 to 10 minutes to the baking time.
Everyone loves turkey dinner leftovers so I always make extra! Turkey stuffing can be frozen for up to 4 months. To reheat, thaw in the fridge overnight or in the microwave. Bake in a casserole dish for 15 to 20 minutes or until heated through.
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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Any alternatives for using sage my husband is allergic to it.
Hi Teresa, if your husband is allergic to sage you could make your own poultry seasoning but omit the sage. It will still taste delicious!
Any reccomedation on the type of bread to use? Sandwich loaf white bread, brioche, italian bread, sourdough? There are so many types. Does it work better with a specific one?
You can use almost any kind of dry bread 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.
This is very, very similar to the stuffing (what my family in Texas calls dressing) that originated with my grandmother. I am 65 years old now, so you can only imagine how old her version is. These may sound like very weird additions, but she always put sliced water chestnuts (which adds a lovely crunch), and toasted pecan halves (or pieces). The cook hosting the holiday meal always makes an extra pan because our family loves it so much. It is an absolute must to send everyone home with leftovers and a container of homemade gravy. For us, it just doesn’t get any better than this!
Absolutely perfect and delicious. Made earlier in the day and baked at dinner time.
Great recipe!!! Easy and my family loved it!! Will be making it next Thanksgiving!!
Thank you
Made your stuffing, absolutely delicious. Thank you from Canada
I just finished making this recipe. I doubled it (there are 21 people for supper). I also added some dried cranberries. Otherwise, I followed the recipe step by step.
Reading the comments about too much broth, I just wanted to say that even when I doubled the recipe, the bread was moist with just two cups of broth. Yes, my bread was dry. I even pre-toasted it in the oven to make sure.
I will let you know how it turns out when we eat it in a couple of hours. Fingers crossed.
excellent so easy & great tasting.. thank you for sharing this recipe with us.
Happy Thanksgiving to you..& family
Jackie
Can I use celery salt if I don’t have celery?
You can use a little bit of celery salt in place of regular salt.
I followed the recipe exactly, using 2 C of broth since I dried the bread at home. I baked almost 90 minutes, and although it was crisp around the edges, the rest of the casserole was soggy. Ugh.
Oh no Marilyn, how disappointing that the stuffing didn’t work out for you. It could have been the type of bread that may have not been as dense or wasn’t as dried out as ours was. If you do try it again, I would suggest adding the broth a little bit at a time just until moistened. I hope that helps!
Never thought of making my own stuffing but so easy.
My husband always makes croutons for our Cearar salads so I used that to start the recipe.
I had to cut the quantities in half since it was for the two of us and still had left overs.
Will make again and again. Thank you!
made this for christmas dinner & it was amazing. everyone enjoyed it. I pre-made the onion mixture with bacon the night before, dried the bread in the oven and put it all together.
My go-to recipe for dressing. Plus, I add apple for additional flavour and crunch.
Sounds delicious Beverly!
Just delicious. We couldn’t find a turkey and decided to stuff 2 chickens ….it was simply delicious filled with buttery goodness
Cook time is 55 minutes but the instructions are 35 mins covered and 10 mins uncovered. Please confirm the times.
55 minutes also includes the cooking of the onions and celery. The stuffing bakes for 35 minutes covered and 10 minutes uncovered.
My kids LOVED this recipe this Thanksgiving!!! My little Timmy couldn’t believe how well I cooked! My Husband, Richard, seemed to especially love the extra onions I added. Thank you for this recipe!
my grandmother used to toast the bread in a toaster, and dressing always came out awesome. seems like the simplest and quickest method to me.
That’s a great idea Carrie!
Hi there- which type of onions do you recommend for this recipe?
I use a regular white onion (with the yellow/brown skin) but any white onion will work just fine Maddie. Enjoy!
Looking to make this for a community dinner. What size is a serving, approximately?
The serving size would be approximately ½ cup but can vary slightly.
This was a hit (I followed except no onions bc of food restrictions). I used store biught bread cubes and the full 4 cups, because I’m not quiet sure when bread cubes become soggy vs moist and if it cooks different.