This turkey stuffing is a classic recipe with bread, sauteed vegetables, butter and fresh herbs, all baked together to golden brown perfection. The perfect side dish for Thanksgiving that can be assembled the day before the big meal.
There are so many ways to make Thanksgiving stuffing, and I typically alternate between my delicious cornbread dressing, sausage stuffing, crock pot stuffing and this turkey stuffing. It’s a simple recipe, yet totally satisfying and can easily be dressed up with a variety of add-ins to suit your family’s tastes.
It’s almost time for Thanksgiving dinner, and as much as I love the turkey, I love the side dish recipes even more. This turkey stuffing is a classic recipe that’s so much better than what you’d get in a box or a bag at the grocery store, and it happens to be super easy to make. Need help with your turkey? Be sure to check out my complete guide on how to cook a turkey!
Table of Contents
Turkey Stuffing Ingredients
To prepare this homemade stuffing recipe, you will need bread, butter, onion, celery, garlic, sage, parsley, eggs, chicken broth or turkey broth, kosher salt and black pepper.
How Do You Make Turkey Stuffing?
Leave your bread cubes out on a baking sheet overnight to become stale, or toast the bread in the oven for the same effect. Preheat the oven and grease a baking dish. Melt some of the butter in a pan or large skillet, then add the onion and celery. Cook until the veggies are tender, then stir in the garlic. Place the bread cubes in a very large bowl. Add the cooked vegetables, sage, parsley, eggs, broth, salt and pepper, then stir everything together. Transfer the stuffing to the casserole dish, then drizzle melted butter over the top. Bake until the stuffing is golden brown. Sprinkle with fresh parsley, then serve and enjoy.
Tips For Turkey Stuffing
- You can really use any bread you like in this recipe. While I use baguette, some other great choices are focaccia, ciabatta, a multigrain loaf or even sourdough bread. You want to use a sturdy bread that will not become mushy when baked.
- If the top of your stuffing starts to look overly browned before the baking time is up, you can cover it with foil.
- Fresh sage is imperative here – do not try to substitute dried sage, as it will not taste the same.
- Leftovers will stay fresh in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Serve your stuffing with other holiday sides such as corn souffle, mashed red potatoes, carrot souffle, Christmas salad and honey glazed carrots.
Quick Tip
Looking to save on prep time? Use a bag of stuffing cubes from the store and grab a container of pre-chopped celery and onions!
Recipe FAQs
Turkey stuffing is made with bread cubes, butter, celery, onion, eggs, broth and fresh herbs.
You can assemble this whole recipe, cover it with foil, and place it in the fridge for up to 8 hours before you plan to bake it. You may need to add more bake time to compensate for starting with a cold dish.
You can spoon this stuffing into the cavity of your turkey and bake it that way if you prefer. Just be aware that it may take longer for your turkey to cook with a full cavity; the temperature of the stuffing will need to reach 165 degrees F before it’s safe to eat. I prefer to bake my stuffing in a separate dish. You don’t get that same crispy topping when the stuffing is inside of the turkey.
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Flavor Variations
This classic stuffing recipe is great as-is, but you can add other ingredients to customize the flavors to your tastes.
- Cranberry Apple Stuffing: Add 1/2 cup dried cranberries and 2 diced, sauteed apples to the recipe.
- Sausage and Fennel Stuffing: Add 1 pound cooked crumbled sausage and 1 cup diced cooked fennel bulb to the recipe.
- Mushroom Lovers Stuffing: Add 1 pound mixed sauteed mushrooms to the recipe along with 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary.
- Bacon Apple: Everything is better with bacon! Add 1/2 pound of cooked, crumbled bacon along with 1 cup of diced, sauteed apples and 1 teaspoon fresh thyme.
This turkey stuffing is a classic recipe that everyone is sure to love. You’ll never want to eat stuffing from a box again after you try the homemade version!
More Great Side Dish Recipes
Corn Pudding
50 mins
Mashed Sweet Potatoes
1 hr 20 mins
Stovetop Mac and Cheese
25 mins
Glazed Carrots
20 mins
Zucchini Gratin
40 mins
Turkey Stuffing Video
Love This Recipe?
Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
Turkey Stuffing
Ingredients
- 2 rustic baguettes cut into 1/2 inch pieces (you want 8-10 cups total)
- 10 tablespoons butter divided use
- 1 cup onion finely diced
- 1 cup celery sliced
- 2 teaspoons garlic minced
- 1/4 cup sage leaves finely chopped
- 1/4 cup parsley leaves chopped, divided use
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups chicken or turkey broth
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- cooking spray
Instructions
- Leave the bread out overnight spread out on baking sheets to get stale. Alternatively, you can bake your bread cubes at 225 degrees F, stirring occasionally, until they get crisp – approximately 1 hour of bake time.
- Coat a 3 quart baking dish with cooking spray. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a large pan over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook for 6-8 minutes or until tender.
- Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute.
- Place the bread cubes in a very large bowl and add the onion and celery mixture.
- Add the sage and 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley to the bowl.
- Add the eggs, chicken broth, salt and pepper to the bowl. Stir until bread is thoroughly coated and everything is combined.
- Pour the stuffing into the prepared dish. Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter and drizzle it over the top.
- Cover the dish with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Uncover the dish, then bake for an additional 15 minutes or until top is golden brown.
- Cool for 5-10 minutes then sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons of parsley and serve.
Notes
- You can really use any bread you like in this recipe, some other great choices are focaccia, ciabatta, a multigrain loaf or even sourdough bread. You want to use a sturdy bread that will not become mushy when baked.
- If the top of your stuffing starts to look overly browned before the baking time is up, you can cover it with foil.
The texture was great with the vegetables which also gave it a nice flavor. I’ve already been asked if I’m making it again!
These ingredients are so easy to find and the dish is so tasty! Love it!
This turkey stuffing is needs to happen at my house very soon!!
This baked up perfectly! And the flavor screams Thanksgiving! It was super easy to put it together!
Gave this a try tonight with dinner before serving it for Thanksgiving and…YUM! This was easy, flavorful and turned out beautiful too! Highly recommend for your Thanksgiving dinner!
This looks amazing! I always love a good stuffing 🙂 Your recipe really looks so easy to make …will definitely give it a try!
This recipe looks really perfect for Thanksgiving. I will absolutely try this recipe for my family. They will love and like this for sure.
I absolutely love making my own stuffing. I’ve never made it like this though. Sounds much easier than what I’m used to. Love it!
This looks like a delicious version of stuffing. I’ve tried a few but I think I will be trying this recipe!
Oh how yummy does your corn bread stuffing looks! I’m definitely bookmarking it to make it for thanksgiving. My family will love it!
Thanksgiving just isn’t Thanksgiving without stuffing. I actually only have it that time of year so I can savor every bite.
This sounds almost exactly like my grams stuffing recipe. I have only recently in the past few years started eating it willingly lol. Never liked it growing up, but now i love it.. When gram makes it.
This WILL be the year that I make my own stuffing – I like that yours is much chunkier than traditionally used here out of a packet in the UK.
I LOVE stuffing. It’s probably my number two favorite meal for Thanksgiving, right behind candied yams (I’m ALL about those marshmallows). This looks like an amazing recipe. Thanks for sharing!