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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REPIN this Super Stuffing Recipe
I’m hosting a crowd of stuffing lovers so am doubling this recipe. What baking time adjustments should I make?
Hi Terri, I would keep the baking time the same but make the recipe in two pans to allow the recipe to evenly cook. I would love to hear how it turns out for you!
Exactly like Pepperidge farm in the best possible way – herbs are spot on and I really appreciate the conversions of fresh herbs vs dried. Made with Lewis zero carb bread. Thanks so much for the recipe!
This stuffing recipe is delicious and so easy to make. It’s ALWAYS a hit at holiday gatherings! My family always asks for the recipe.
Very easy to make. I used my food processor to chop the onions and celery. I feel that the onion was too fine and so over enhanced the onion. I want to add some dried cranberries but not too sure when to do this. Also wondered about some orange zest. What would this be like. Has anyone fine this?
I would add the dried cranberries (or any other add-ins) in step 3 while tossing the bread with the onion mixture. I haven’t tried orange zest but maybe another reader can chime in!
super excited to make this!! do you think sourdough would be a good bread for this?
Do you use any eggs in this recipebecause I noticed you used 2 eggs in the ctock pot stuffing recipe which is quite similar. If eggs are added how many should be used. Also the 2x or 3 x recipe ingredients don’t come up when I click on 2x or 3x definitely going to try your stuffing recipes
.
Eggs help to bind the recipe together. We don’t find it necessary in this recipe but you can always optionally add two eggs into this recipe.
I’m not sure why the recipe is not multiplying when you click the buttons. You can also try hitting the print button and increase the servings from there. I hope that helps!
Hello
I look forward to trying this recipe. Is the butter salted or unsalted?thank you.
For this recipe we use unsalted butter. Enjoy!
Absolutely the best stuffing recipe I’ve ever tried!! Turns out perfect every time. Definitely 5 stars
Good recipe. Thank you for sharing. Added chopped apple to the onion and celery and served with pork chops; lost my recipe for apple stuffing pork chops. This did the trick – thank you!
Used challah. Family loved on Thanksgiving. Made today for one. Just delicious. Added broth and pats of butter before baking. One of the best stuffing recipes!
Delicious, my go to recipe.
Thanks for sharing a consistently dependable recipe.
much respect to Holly & spend with pennies.
This looks perfect for Christmas. How long would it cook in a slow cooker if I needed to go that route?
I use this method for crock pot stuffing.
hi! I’m going to make this for Christmas i think. What size baking dish should I use? 9 by 13? or smaller?
Yes, a 9×13-inch baking dish is perfect.
Thank you so much for this recipe!! I’ve made this for family many times and it’s always delicious. However, if you hit the 2X button to double the recipe, I wouldn’t add 1 and 1/3 cup of butter. It’s way to much. I used approximately 1 and 1/2 sticks of butter which comes out to about 3/4 cup of butter. Otherwise, it’s VERY greasy if you use the 1 and 1/3 cup. Love this recipe!!
I first tried this recipe a few years ago and brought it to my family’s Thanksgiving. It has since become an absolute favorite and is requested every year. I made some for my SO’s family last year and they all loved it too! I’m somewhat of a beginner at cooking, so when I first made this recipe I neglected to read the notes and I put in 1 tablespoon of each of the herbs (still just 2 for the parsley) but myself and everyone that’s tried it with all of those herbs absolutely love it! It has so much fresh flavor, and we make it that way every time now. I’ve loved every dish I’ve made of Holly’s and with or without the extra herbs this recipe is a keeper!!
Super delicious and easy….thank you for sharing. It was the dish I kept coming back to throughout Thanksgiving.
Thank you, trying my hand at homemade Stuffing today for the first time. your guide was a huge help
This is very similar to the recipe I’ve used for decades. I add country sausage, halve the butter, and add chopped, sautéed crimini mushrooms.
I stuff the bird and also bake the leftovers.
We’re having 24 people this year. Happy Thanksgiving?
Mushrooms in stuffing is yuck ! Just stick to the recipe as posted, – as it is really good and doesn’t need to be changed at all.
kkseattle, i also use mushrooms in my stuffing, along with black olives! My recipe is very like this one. I’m pretty old, so I pretty much eyeball everything and there’s not a lot of measuring.
Ironically this is very similar to my mothers (family)recipe I (we) grew up on . Except we used the broth from cooking down the neck heart and liver of the Turkey. Gives similar flavor as if it was stuffed Turkey.
I made this with challah bread, and although I made this to bake the next day for Thanksgiving, I couldn’t resist tasting a small sample. Let me tell you, it was delicious! I can’t wait to dig into it tomorrow!! Thank you!