Traditional Thanksgiving Stuffing (No Celery!)
Sides are truly the star of the show when it comes to making your Thanksgiving plate. Stuffing is one of those dishes that is always on the table, but it's typically lacking flavor and could use some improvement in the texture department. My stuffing recipe is perfectly moist and has an incredible symphony of flavors from the fresh herbs and sweet brioche bread, making it the perfect addition to your holiday table!
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat the oven to 225℉
- Slice the bread into bite-sized pieces and lay them flat on a baking sheet
- Bake the bread pieces at 225℉ for 1 hour until they’re just a little crispy (don’t bake them until they’re golden brown or dark! That will dry out the stuffing.)
- While the bread is baking, dice the onion, mince the garlic, and chop all of the herbs. Add the chopped herbs (not the onion and garlic) to a small bowl along with the salt and pepper. Give that a mix and set aside. If you're going to be using salted butter for the next step, make sure to only add 1 tsp of salt to the herb mix as opposed to 1 ½ tsp.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium/low heat on the stove and then add the onion and garlic to the butter. Sauté until the onion is translucent (about 8-10 minutes). Make sure the heat isn't too high as you don’t brown or burn the butter, you just want a low simmer.
- When the bread is finished after 1 hour, pull the tray out of the oven and set it aside. Increase the oven temp to 350℉
- Now that everything is chopped and ready to combine, pour the bread pieces in a very large mixing bowl and toss them with the fresh herbs, salt, and pepper
- Pour the butter, onion, and garlic mixture over the bread and toss it until it's evenly distributed
- In a separate small mixing bowl, whisk together the chicken broth and eggs
- Begin pouring the broth mixture over the bread pieces in small increments. After adding a little bit of the broth mixture, mix it into the bread very well by squishing it with your hands so that the bread properly absorbs the liquid (I like to wear gloves during this step). Continue adding the broth mixture to the bread in small increments until all of the bread pieces have just enough liquid to hold but not too much liquid to where it’s dripping from the bread pieces. You should be able to form the bread into a mushy ball in your hands without liquid dripping. For reference, mine only needed 1 cup of the broth/egg mixture. This will depend on the bread that you used.
- Line an oven-safe dish with butter or non-stick spray and add the stuffing to the dish (I used a 9"x9" square dish)
- Cover the dish with tinfoil, place it on the center rack of the oven, and bake at 350℉ for 40-45 minutes. After 40-45 minutes, remove the foil and continue baking for 20-30 minutes until the top layer is golden brown (baking time will vary depending on your oven so keep an eye on it around the 15-minute mark)
- Serve warm & enjoy or follow the freezing instructions below to save it for later!
Freezing for Later
- If you would like to prep your Thanksgiving stuffing in advance, follow all of the steps listed above. Once your stuffing is baked and out of the oven, allow it to FULLY cool before moving on to the next steps
- Once the stuffing has fully cooled, place it in a vacuum sealer bag and use the "pulse" setting on your vacuum sealer to properly seal the stuffing without taking out moisture. Place this in your freezer until you're ready to bake and serve the stuffing. If you don't have a vacuum sealer, place the stuffing in a freezer/Ziploc bag and seal it as tightly as you can, getting out as much air as you can. You can then place this freezer bag in an air-tight container to give the stuffing an extra layer of protection from potential freezer burn.
- When you're ready to serve the stuffing, preheat the oven to 350℉ and take the stuffing out of the bag. Place it directly in your oven-safe dish (no need to thaw it out). Cover the top with foil and bake at 350℉ for anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour (depending on how much you frozen) until it's soft & almost warmed through. Then, take the foil off and bake for an additional 10-20 minutes until the top layer is crispy.
- Tip: If you're reheating frozen stuffing and you notice that it looks a little dry when you take the foil off in the oven before the final 10-20 minute bake, pour 1-2 tbsp of chicken broth overtop of the stuffing and then continue to bake until it's crispy on top. The extra splash of broth with help bring some moisture back (you shouldn't need to do this, especially if you vacuum sealed the stuffing, but you always can if needed!)
Leave a Reply