This homemade stuffing recipe is the perfect Thanksgiving side dish. Herb-infused dried bread cubes pair perfectly with turkey and vegetables. The best part? You can prepare many components of this recipe in advance.
Need another stuffing? Try my cornbread dressing or sausage stuffing for variety.
Recipe Science
- Fresh bread holds too much moisture, making stuffing mushy. Drying the bread creates tiny air pockets that soak up all the flavorful liquid from the seasonings.
- Use 1 large egg and 1 cup of liquid for every 4 cups of dried bread cubes. This creates a tender, airy custard structure that stays moist, without turning curdled or rubbery after baking.
- Bake the stuffing covered to trap steam, allowing the eggs to cook evenly. Then, bake uncovered to dry the surface for contrast.
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Featured Comment 15
“I made this and loved it. I thought about stuffing it into our turkey but opted to bake it separately. I’ve tried several stuffing/dressing recipes over the years and this one was really simple with a lot of flavor. This is a keeper.”—Cindy
Why It Works
With all the stress of preparing for a big holiday meal, having a few easy side dishes for Thanksgiving dinner is necessary! This Thanksgiving stuffing recipe combines fresh herbs, bread cubes, and colorful chopped vegetables for a flavorful side dish. Your guests will love having it alongside a roast turkey.
The components are simple: dried bread cubes, aromatics, and a liquid custard. Once baked, the eggs set and create a souffle-like texture. If you’re tight on stove and oven space, you can bake the bread in advance, assemble everything the day before, and chill until ready to bake and serve.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Bread: Day-old bread is ideal, but you can quickly stale fresh bread by drying it in the oven. Use a one-pound loaf of French bread or sourdough bread—the kind you’d make garlic bread with. These light, airy crumbs keep the stuffing from being too dense. Cutting the loaf yourself lets you control cube size, and since the cubes shrink when dried, having extra is helpful.
- Butter: Used to saute the vegetables and aromatics for the stuffing.
- Vegetables: To build a flavorful stuffing base, use fragrant vegetables like onions, garlic, and celery.
- Herbs: Combine strong-flavored fresh herbs like sage, rosemary, thyme, and parsley.
- Seasoning: Savory garlic powder, salt, and pepper season the bread.
- Custard: An equal mixture of eggs and chicken stock adds moisture, richness, and a creamier souffle-like texture to the traditional stuffing recipe.
See the recipe card below for all ingredients and measurements (US and metric).
Ingredient Substitutions
This classic stuffing recipe is easy to customize! Try these delicious options:
- Bread Options: Use sandwich bread like wheat or white bread. Crusty baguettes or artisan loaves provide a heartier texture. Try brioche or challah for a more dense and sweet flavor. Alternatively, switch things up with cornbread dressing. For those with dietary restrictions, try my gluten free stuffing recipe.
- Using Dried Herbs: You can easily substitute dried herbs for sage, rosemary, and thyme. However, use half the amount called for since the dried products are more concentrated. Pre-blended poultry seasoning is a good swap. They contain various herbs like thyme, sage, marjoram, black pepper, and nutmeg. Use 1 tablespoon.
- Replacing Butter: Sauté the vegetables in olive oil, vegetable oil, coconut oil, margarine, or avocado oil.
- Stock Swap: Use chicken broth or turkey stock, or make it vegetarian with vegetable stock.
- Add Meat: Make a sausage stuffing using pork, chicken, or turkey sausage. For a heartier stuffing, add chopped bacon, prosciutto, ground turkey, or ground chicken.
- Add Fruit: Dice an apple or make pear stuffing to add a hint of sweetness. You can also add dried fruit, cranberries, cherries, or raisins.
- Add Nuts: Add some crunch with chopped pecans, walnuts, almonds, or cashews.
How to Make Stuffing
Step 1: Toast the Bread
Spread the bread cubes on a baking sheet and bake at 350ºF (177ºC) to quickly dry them out, like making homemade croutons. Aim for the bread to turn dry and crisp but not overly golden. Let them cool on the baking sheet to dry further.
Fresh bread has a high moisture content and must be dried to prevent your stuffing from becoming too soft and soggy. Cutting the bread into ¾-inch cubes helps maintain structure while soaking up the flavorful seasoned custard. The texture may become mushy if the cubes are too small, like store-bought boxed stuffing.
Quick Substitution: If you’re tight on time, you can purchase dried cubed breadcrumbs. You will need about 16 cups.
Step 2: Saute the Aromatics
To build a flavorful breading stuffing base, saute the vegetables, garlic, and herbs in a large skillet. The chopped onions and celery cook in hot butter to bring out their natural sweetness and add a light browning on the surface for more flavor.
This process extracts the fat-soluble compounds in the minced garlic, sage, rosemary, and thyme to enhance the butter’s taste. This technique is called blooming as the herbs unlock many more aromatic oils.
Step 3: Combine Bread and Aromatics
Add about 12 cups of your toasted bread cubes to a large bowl. You’ll have a little extra, perfect for snacking or adding to another dish. Next, stir in the sautéed aromatics—the onions and celery should be soft and fragrant by now.
Sprinkle in fresh parsley and garlic powder, then gently toss everything together. This step ensures each bread cube is evenly coated with all those savory flavors.
Step 4: Soak the Bread
Mix the whole eggs and chicken broth or stock in a large bowl to bind the bread cubes together. Let the bread soak for at least 5 minutes before baking to absorb the egg mixture.
Ingredient Chemistry: For every 4 cups of dried bread cubes, you need 1 large egg and 1 cup of liquid. This ratio creates a tender, airy custard structure that does not become curdled and rubbery in texture after baking.
Step 5: Bake the Stuffing
Transfer the stuffing mixture to a greased 9×13-inch baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes to allow the eggs to cook in a steamy environment trapped under the foil.
Once you remove the cover, the surface will dry and create a nice contrast in texture. Bake this classic stuffing recipe until the center reaches at least 144ºF (62ºC). This is the temperature at which eggs cook and are no longer raw.
Make-Ahead Tip: You can cover the unbaked stuffing with foil and refrigerate it for up to 1 day before baking. As the mixture will be cold, you may need to extend the bake time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Traditional stuffing is typically made with a base of dried bread cubes, which provide structure and texture. Aromatics like onions and celery are sautéed to release their natural sugars, adding depth of flavor. Fresh herbs like parsley, sage, and thyme bring earthy, savory notes. Broth or stock is used to hydrate the bread, while eggs help bind everything together, creating a custard-like consistency. The fat, liquid, and seasonings infuse the bread with moisture and flavor, making the stuffing tender yet structured.
Whether to add eggs to stuffing comes down to personal preference. A beaten egg acts as a binder, helping hold the ingredients together and creating a more cohesive texture. Eggs add moisture, making the bread cubes softer while helping the stuffing puff up slightly as it bakes. Without eggs, the stuffing will be looser and more crumbly, which some people prefer for a drier texture. Both options can be delicious, depending on whether you like a more structured or rustic stuffing.
Add enough liquid, like broth or stock, to moisten the stuffing while baking so the bread absorbs moisture without becoming soggy. The key is covering the stuffing while it bakes. This traps steam inside, which helps the custard mixture—created from eggs and liquid—puff up and set. The steam also locks in moisture, preventing the stuffing from drying out. Removing the cover at the end allows the top to turn golden brown and slightly crisp while the inside stays tender.
The main difference between turkey stuffing vs dressing lies in how they are prepared. Stuffing is typically placed inside the turkey’s cavity, where it cooks and absorbs the bird’s juices. This process infuses the bread mixture with moisture and flavor but can pose a food safety risk if not thoroughly cooked. On the other hand, dressing is baked separately in a dish, allowing for more even cooking and a crisper texture on top. Both are made with similar ingredients, like bread, broth, aromatics, and herbs, but the cooking method impacts their texture and flavor.
Serve This With
If you tried this Stuffing Recipe, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
Easy Stuffing Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound french loaf, or sourdough loaf
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, or olive oil
- 1 cup diced red onion, or yellow onion, ¼" dice
- 1 cup diced celery, ¼" dice
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons chopped sage
- 2 teaspoons chopped rosemary
- 2 teaspoons chopped thyme
- 1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3 large eggs
- 3 cups unsalted chicken stock, or broth
Instructions
- Toast Bread – Set the oven rack to the lower and upper-middle position. Preheat to 350ºF (177ºC). Slice the bread into ¾-inch cubes and then spread in a single layer on two large sheet pans. There should be about 16 cups of cubes.Toast the cubes in the oven until the edges are dry and crisp, about 10 minutes, gently stirring after 5 minutes. Allow the pieces to cool completely on the sheet pan while cooking the aromatics. The bread will completely dry out.
- Saute Aromatics – Heat a large 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Melt the butter in the pan, add onions and celery, and saute until tender, 5 to 6 minutes. Add garlic, and saute until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add sage, rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper, stir and cook for 30 seconds.
- Combine Bread & Aromatics – Transfer 12 cups of the toasted bread to a large bowl. There will be extra bread to use as desired. Transfer the sauteed aromatics to the bowl. Add parsley and garlic powder and gently stir to combine.
- Soak Bread – In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and chicken stock. Pour the liquid evenly over the bread, and gently stir to combine. Allow soaking for 5 minutes.
- Bake Stuffing – Set the oven rack to the middle position. Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish with vegetable oil, softened butter, or cooking spray. Evenly spread the stuffing mixture into the dish.Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake until the internal temperature reaches at least 144ºF (62ºC) and the surface is slightly dry, about 15 to 20 minutes. Serve warm.
Notes
- Recipe Yield: 8 cups
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Substituting Store-Bought Bread: Use 12 cups of dried bread cubes instead of fresh bread loaf.
- Using Dried Herbs: Use half the fresh herbs (sage, thyme, and rosemary), for a total of 1 tablespoon dried. Poultry seasonings can also be used; add 1 tablespoon.
- Make-Ahead: Cut and dry bread up to 5 days before using, and store in an airtight container. Combine all of the stuffing ingredients, cover, refrigerate, and bake within 1 day. Bake covered for 30 minutes, then remove and bake until the internal temperature reaches at least 144ºF (62ºC) and the surface is dry.
- Reheating: Cool the baked stuffing, cover, and refrigerate. Warm individual portions on high power in the microwave in 30-second intervals until warm. Alternatively, heat in a 300ºF (149ºC) oven until warmed through.
- Make it Dairy-Free: Substitute olive oil for butter.
- Make it Gluten-Free: Use gluten-free bread.
- Make it Vegetarian: Use unsalted vegetable stock or broth instead of chicken.
Nutrition Facts
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000-calorie diet. All nutritional information is based on estimated third-party calculations. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods, and portion sizes per household.
Recipe Resources
Susan Mercurio says
This is very like the stuffing I learned from my mother, with a different technique and with the addition of mushrooms.
I saved it on Pinterest, because it sounds delicious!
Jessica Gavin says
Let me know if you make the stuffing recipe! Would love to hear what you think!
Carol Greenwood says
This is the dressing recipe most like the one my mother always made. (She used homemade chicken broth and supermarket bread.)
Jessica Gavin says
Thanks for sharing, Carol! Nostalgic recipes are always the best. 🙂
Cindy H. says
I made this and loved it. I thought about “stuffing” it into our turkey but opted to bake it separately. I’ve tried several stuffing/dressing recipes over the years and this one was really simple with a lot of flavor. I stuck with fresh herbs and I loved how super moist it was. This is a keeper. Thank you!
Jessica Gavin says
Whoo-hoo! Thank you for making the stuffing recipe, I’m so happy that you enjoyed it!
Cynthia says
Amen Momshar! I prefer a vegetarian stuffing (yes, I’m from the northeast) over a meat laden one so this one is perfect. Never tried eggs in mine but I have never had a bad recipe from Jessica so I’m all in and will make. Thanks Jessica!
Jessica Gavin says
You’re welcome! I can’t wait to hear what you think about the stuffing!
Momshar says
Wow, folks. It’s a recipe. Like it or keep scrolling! It’s the basic classic stuffing/dressing. I’ve seen so many different kinds from sausage to oysters added. Any hoot…..let’s be kind and leave the snarky comments off.
Happy Holidays!
Frank Mosher says
I love most of your recipes, but not this one. As mentioned, it is a “Stuffing” which automatically means, stuffed inside the bird! Secondly, your recipe is totally bereft of any of the common ingredients of a North American Stuffing! Like, where are the cooked sausages, the apples, and on and on? What keeps the dressing moist inside the bird? Nothing you have suggested! Who in their right mind would want to add eggs to a Stuffing? Just absurd! Bear in mind, that everyone has their favourite stuffing, usually handed down from their Mom, but, nothing like this, regardless of one’s culture. I would respectfully suggest you delete this from your offerings of generally great recipes, because this is not one of those. Cheers!
Jessica Gavin says
I appreciate your feedback, Frank. I do have a sausage stuffing that has all of the ingredients you are looking for if you’d like to check it out. I like to have a variety of recipes so that home cooks have options to fit their needs. You can absolutely omit the eggs, however, I like them because they give more of an interesting texture that helps to lock in the moisture. Happy cooking!
Sondra says
I purchased a 1 pound sourdough bread, cubed and baked it, but it only measured 8 cups of cubed bread. Would you get another loaf so I will have 12 cups cubed bread?
Jessica Gavin says
If you have the chance, I would get more if possible. If not, I would reduce the eggs to 2 and chicken stock to 2 cups.
Jim says
Jessica, my dear lady, by definition this is not a stuffing. A stuffing is cooked stuffed inside the bird or other meat, or vegetable….that is why it is called stuffing. When cooked alone it is called a “dressing”. However, by whatever name you choose to call it, it does look delicious. 🙂
Jessica Gavin says
I appreciate your insights, Jim!