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Stuffing
Stuffing is a holiday staple that is traditionally stuffed inside a turkey. This homemade stuffing is well seasoned with herbs, chicken broth, and leftover bread.
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While stuffing gets its name from being served literally stuffed inside a bird, the savory filling has taken on a life of its own as a delicious side dish. Traditionally served with holiday meals, stuffing appears alongside turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, and green bean casserole. This classic may not be the star of the show, but it’s certainly a staple that most everyone will want a generous portion of.
Stuffing baked in a casserole dish may also be called dressing - the term used in the South, though many may argue that dressing must use cornbread as opposed to cubed white or French bread. Additionally, the term dressing apparently hails back to the Victorians who deemed “stuffing” too crude of a name.
Dressing or stuffing, whatever your preference, though popular for a holiday turkey meal, complements chicken and pork as well. In some regions, stuffing can even include seafood such as mussels, oysters, clams, shrimp, or scallops.
Stuffing Ingredients
- Fresh french bread
- Yellow onion
- Celery
- Unsalted butter
- Fresh sage
- Fresh rosemary
- Fresh thyme
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
- Chicken broth
- Eggs
Warm, bready, and well-herbed, stuffing is a hearty side dish, as well as soft and flavorful from the chicken broth, with crispy tops and edges. Stuffing is a great way to use up leftover bread, but you could also try it with sourdough, challah, baguette, or even rye or stale white bread.
Buttery sauteed onion and celery is the foundation of this dish. Additionally, the bread takes on the buttery flavors and herbs to create a truly comforting and nostalgic side. This stuffing recipe also includes eggs which bind all the ingredients together.
How to Make Stuffing
FIRST STEP: Preheat the oven to 375*. Lightly spray a 9x13 baking dish, set it aside.
SECOND STEP: Evenly spread the cubed french bread over a standard cookie sheet. Bake the bread cubes for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. (You can also use stale bread instead of fresh, just uncovered overnight, and you would not have to bake the bread cubes. You could also leave the fresh bread out, uncovered overnight, and not bake the bread cubes)
THIRD STEP: In a 10-12 inch skillet, melt ¼ cup butter and saute the onion and celery, uncovered, for 3 minutes, stir often.
FOURTH STEP: Add the fresh sage, rosemary, and thyme. Saute, uncovered, for an additional 2 minutes. Remove the skillet from heat and stir in the kosher salt and black pepper, and set it aside.
FIFTH STEP: Using a large mixing bowl and a wooden spoon, combine the cooled toasted bread crumbs, chicken broth, and the beaten eggs. Stir until the mixture is well incorporated.
SIXTH STEP: Stir in the cooked onion mixture until all ingredients are combined.
SEVENTH STEP: Evenly spread the stuffing mixture into the prepared baking dish.
EIGHTH STEP: Bake for 45 minutes, or until the top of the stuffing is golden brown. Serve hot.
Cooking Tips
Beat or whisk the eggs well and be sure the bread crumbs and chicken broth are completely cooled so you don’t end up with scrambled eggs in your stuffing.
Cooking the stuffing separately guarantees that it will cook properly outside of a bird without the danger of accidentally overcooking.
If using the stuffing casserole as stuffing, it must be completely cool, otherwise the bird will sit at an unsafe cooking temperature for too long. Be sure to cook the center of the stuffing to 165 degrees to ensure it is safe to eat since the drippings from the bird will go into the stuffing.
Storing this Recipe
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Stuffing
Stuffing is a holiday staple that is traditionally stuffed inside a turkey. This homemade stuffing is well seasoned with herbs, chicken broth, and leftover bread.
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings 8
Ingredients
- 10 cups diced fresh french bread or 10 cups stale bread
- 1 1 medium yellow onion (1 ¾ cup) finely diced
- 2 stalks celery (1 ¼ cup), finely diced
- ½ cup cup unsalted butter divided
- 3 tsp fresh minced sage
- 2 tsp fresh minced rosemary
- 2 tsp fresh thyme
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 2 large eggs beaten
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly spray a 9x13 baking dish, set it aside.
- Evenly spread the cubed french bread over a standard cookie sheet. Bake the bread cubes for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.(You can also use stale bread instead of fresh, just uncovered overnight, and you would not have to bake the bread cubes. You could also leave the fresh bread out, uncovered overnight, and not bake the bread cubes)
- In a 10-12 inch skillet, melt ¼ cup butter and saute the onion and celery, uncovered, for 3 minutes, stir often.
- Add the fresh sage, rosemary and thyme. Saute, uncovered, for an additional 2 minutes. Remove the skillet from heat and stir in the kosher salt and black pepper, and set it aside.
- Using a large mixing bowl and a wooden spoon, combine the cooled toasted bread crumbs,chicken broth and the beaten eggs. Stir until the mixture is well incorporated.
- Stir in the cooked onion mixture until all ingredients are combined.
- Evenly spread the stuffing mixture into the prepared baking dish.
- Bake for 45 minutes, or until the top of the stuffing is golden brown. Serve hot. Store any leftovers in an airtight container, in the refrigerator, for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
Calories: 982kcal | Carbohydrates: 169g | Protein: 37g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 71mg | Sodium: 1896mg | Potassium: 461mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 423IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 151mg | Iron: 11mg
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