Stuffing Recipe Thanksgiving

thanksgiving stuffing in a white dish with a spoon, over head

4.95 from 19 votes

I love this traditional Thanksgiving Stuffing Recipe! It is easy, has the BEST buttery flavor, and the most irresistible crispy edges. Celery and onions are put together with all the herbs you love, sing it with me now: parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Sometimes you just want it to taste exactly like grandma's. This recipe is it!

Prep Time20

Cook Time1 5

Toasting bread1

Total Time2 25

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 322kcal

Author: The Food Charlatan

Ingredients

1 pound bread white bread, ciabatta, Italian, baguette, etc.
1 cup butter 2 sticks
1 large onion about 3 and 1/2 cups chopped
2 cups celery 1/4 inch dice
1/3 cup fresh parsley chopped (I like Italian flat-leaf)
1/4 cup fresh sage chopped
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary chopped very fine
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups high quality chicken/turkey broth plus 1/2 cup more if necessary
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon butter softened, for greasing pan

Instructions

Begin by tearing or cutting your loaf of bread into bite size pieces, about 1-2 inches. Spread pieces onto a dry pan and bake at 250 F for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally. You don't want to brown the bread; just get it nice and toasty (the better to absorb broth!)
I don't recommend letting your bread sit out overnight. It turns stale and tough; we want crispy and toasty bread, to get that perfect texture stuffing.
While your bread is toasting, prep the veggies. Chop the onion, using 2 small onions if you don't have a large one. You need about 3 and 1/2 cups chopped onion. Onion brings the flavor, so don't skimp.
Chop the celery into about a 1/4 inch dice. Usually I like tiny celery pieces, but not for stuffing. You need it to be a little more substantial. I love the flavor or celery leaves, so I always chop starting from the end of the whole head of celery (see photos), but you do you.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
Add 2 sticks of butter (1 cup) to a large skillet and set over medium heat. When the butter is melted, add all the celery and onions. Saute over medium heat for about 7-10 minutes, until they are soft but not browned. Normally when you're sauteing, you only need a little bit of fat, but here we've got a full cup, so it's practically swimming in it. That's okay. We need all that butter to soak into our toasty bread!
Meanwhile, chop up all your herbs. Chop 1/3 cup parsley, 1/4 cup sage, and 1 tablespoon each rosemary and thyme. **
Add all the toasted bread pieces to a large bowl. Add the chopped herbs: parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.
Add all the onion and celery mixture to the bowl with the bread.
Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons kosher salt (use about 1 and 1/2 teaspoons if you have table salt) and 1 teaspoon black pepper. Stir it all together and make sure all that butter is distributed. Give it a taste and adjust seasonings if you like.
In another bowl or large glass measuring cup, add 2 cups high quality chicken broth. Whisk in 2 eggs. Slowly pour this mixture over the bread in increments.
Use your hands to squeeze and moisten the bread, making sure it all gets absorbed and mixed together.
The bread should be moist but not soaked. There should not be liquid pooling at the bottom of the bowl. You may not need to use all of the liquid; it depends on how much bread there is and how toasty it is. Stuffing is an art my friends, so use your best judgment. Add 1/2 cup more broth if necessary.
Meanwhile, grease the sides and bottom of a 9x13 inch pan* with about 1 tablespoon softened butter. Pour the stuffing into the pan and spread to the edges.
(At this point you can cover tightly and refrigerate overnight. See notes!)
Cover the stuffing with foil and bake at 350 for about 40 minutes.
Remove the foil and continue baking for another 25-35 minutes until it is as brown and crispy as you like.
Store leftovers in the fridge. Baked leftovers can also be successfully frozen, see notes!

Notes

*I don't have one, but someday I'm going to buy one of these Brownie Edge Pans and try making stuffing in it, so there are even more crispy edges. How awesome would that be?? The edges of the stuffing are the best!!

**You can use dried herbs instead of fresh! Use about 2 tablespoons parsley, 2 teaspoons sage, 1 teaspoon thyme, and 1 teaspoon rosemary. Add dried herbs to the onions and celery in the pan on the stove so that the heat has a chance to toast and wake them up a bit.

Overnight Stuffing Instructions: Follow the instructions through adding the unbaked stuffing to the buttered pan. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap to lock in moisture, then store in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. To bake the overnight stuffing, preheat the oven, remove the plastic wrap, and follow the baking instructions as usual. (Be sure to cover with foil for the first half of the bake. If you plan on baking more than 24 hours after preparing the stuffing, I recommend freezing the stuffing instead, as it will start to dry out in the refrigerator air over time.

Freeze before baking: Uncooked stuffing is really easy to freeze and definitely the best method in my opinion because there is less chance of drying out the stuffing. Just toss the raw stuffing into the buttered dish you plan to bake it in (needs to be freezer and oven safe, of course), wrap it well with foil AND plastic wrap. If you have 2 gallon ziplock bags ( I love these!!) then put the wrapped stuffing in that too! The stuffing will be good in the freezer for about 3 months. If you don't want one of your dishes stuck in the freezer, use a disposable foil pan.

When you're ready, preheat the oven, take the tray out of the freezer, remove any plastice wrap, cover tightly with foil, and bake according to normal instructions. Don't thaw it out first, that will make it super soggy! You may need to add 10-15 minutes to the total bake time, just keep an eye on it.

Freeze after baking: You can make your stuffing from start to finish and freeze it for the big day! Make the stuffing in the dish you plan to freeze and reheat it in. Take the stuffing out of the oven about 10 minutes earlier than usual (so that when you reheat it's less likely to dry out). Wait until the stuffing is completely cool. (If you put it in the freezer warm, it will form large ice crystals that ruin the texture, so be sure to wait! Patience!)

Then wrap your dish well in both foil and plastic wrap. If you have 2 gallon ziplock bags ( I love these!!) then put the wrapped stuffing in that too! The stuffing will be good in the freezer for about 3 months.

To reheat, pull the stuffing out of the freezer and let sit on the counter for about 15 minutes, or 30 minutes if you used a glass pan. Preheat the oven to 350. Remove any plastic wrap. Cover the stuffing with foil. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes, then remove the foil and bake another 10-15 minutes, until crisp and warmed throughout. Because it's already been cooked, be careful to not bake too long or it will dry out for sure!

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