Sometimes Simple Stuffing Recipes are Welcome on Thanksgiving
If you are like me on Thanksgiving Day, you somehow suddenly become a master multi-tasker. Preparing several dishes at a time, making sure the oven is constantly filled with dishes being cooked in a pre-determined order, and decorating the table and dining room for the main event: Thanksgiving dinner. In all this chaotic order it’s welcoming to have some dishes that remain simple, without any extra fuss.
My Simple Stuffing recipe is exactly what is needed. It has the all the main ingredients (bread, celery, sage, vegetable broth), along with some others that can be adjusted by you. Feel free to stay faithful to this recipe or to let it merely be a starting point for your own inspiration. Let this Simple Stuffing recipe help you become centered in the midst of your hustle to prepare dinner.
This Simple Stuffing recipe is also vegan. If you have vegan guests, cook the stuffing over a stove and then bake it in the second phase. This way, your vegan friends can enjoy the stuffing and other vegan side dishes while others eat the turkey. However, you can also add a little milk with eggs before baking the stuffing if don’t mind it being vegetarian. Read the notes below in the recipe for suggestions and options.
The dish of Simple Stuffing in the featured photo above was taken before putting the dish into the oven to bake in the final round.
Enjoy the simplicity of this stuffing. Share this recipe with your friends so they can also enjoy the ease of this dish.
Simple Thanksgiving Stuffing
Ingredients
- 1400 g bread dried and cubed
- 3 onion chopped
- 3 celery branches large
- 1 leek white part only large
- 1000 ml vegetable broth
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp thyme
- 1 pinch sage large (about 8 leaves)
- black pepper
- 1 tsp parsley dried (or 3 times more fresh)
- salt (at end)
- 100 g pine nuts roasted (optional) (walnuts or pecans also good)
Instructions
Stuffing over Stove-top
- I usually use a mix of breads in my stuffing. Sourdough bread and cornbread are especially tasty in stuffing. Dry the bread before preparing your stuffing. You can buy the bread about 3 days in advance and let it dry out and become stale. Leave the bread in an open bag so it's exposed to air. If the bread is not dry by the day of Thanksgiving, cut the bread into cubes and lay the cubes on a baking sheet. Put the baking sheet into an oven at 160°C / 320°F for about 10 minutes until the bread cubes are lightly browned and dry. Watch out that it does not burn. If it does, scrape off the burned parts before using. You may need to do several batches.
- Peel and chop the onions. Wash and dice the celery. Wash and slice the white part of the leeks. You may wish to cut the leek slices in half.
- Pour the olive oil in a 6 Liter / 6 Qt pot over a medium flame. Add the onions and let them cook about 2 minutes before adding the celery and leeks. Continue to cook another 3 minutes
- Add the herbs and black pepper into the vegetable mixture. Stir and leave about 1 minute.
- Add the cubes of bread into the pot. Pour about 4/5 of the vegetable broth over the bread and stir. Use a large wooden spoon to distribute the broth over all the bread. It's best to start with about half of this amount of broth and then add the remainder (except about 1/5) bit by bit until the mixture is moist but not soggy. Watch not to add too much liquid as the stuffing will become more soggy as it cooks. Cook the stuffing over low to medium flame until it has the consistency you want.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning. Add the salt at this point.
Baking Stuffing
- At this point you can let the stuffing sit a little while if you need to prepare other dishes. I usually leave the stuffing in a large Pyrex dish until I remove the turkey from the oven (about 15 minutes before serving). I sometimes even prepare the above steps the day before and put the Pyrex dish with plastic wrap in the refrigerator. If you prepare it in advance, remove the dish from the refrigerator about 20 minutes before baking.
- If you would like to put some of the stuffing in your turkey, take some of this stuffing and put it lightly into the main cavity. Don't pack it too tight as it will expand slightly as it cooks. Put all the remainder stuffing into the Pyrex dish.
- Before putting the Pyrex dish into the oven, add the remaining vegetable broth and stir as well as the roasted pine nuts (or other nuts) if you use them. For a vegetarian option, break 2 eggs into a bowl and add a little milk (120 ml / 1/2 cup). Mix lightly and add to the stuffing in the Pyrex dish INSTEAD OF the 1/5 portion of vegetable broth. Please note if you put some stuffing into the turkey, you will not need all the liquid indicated above for this step. Adjust according to portion remaining in the Pyrex dish. Do not add the extra liquid (especially the milk and eggs) to the part of stuffing you put inside the turkey.
- Bake the Pyrex dish of stuffing about 15 or 20 minutes until the dish becomes hot and cooks further.
- Adjust the seasoning before serving. Enjoy!
The stuffing was just perfect, just as I remembered!
Josephine, I’m so glad you enjoyed the stuffing and that it turned out so well for you! Try some other recipes!