Every year food editors across the land are tasked with figuring out how to make stuffing new and exciting (and somehow different from the hundreds of stuffing recipes that already exist right here on Epicurious alone). But what if I told you that you didn’t need any of those recipes—that you could make the Thanksgiving stuffing of your dreams with an easy-to-memorize formula and whatever mix-ins sound good to you?
Stuffing (or dressing, if you’d rather) is a forgiving dish. It’s happy to play along with whatever kind of baking dish you want to use and whatever bread you have on hand, and it’s easy to scale up or scale down to accommodate your number of guests.
Usually in this series I give you a ratio to follow that doesn’t require any specific measurement. For the best stuffing, it’s a good idea to be a little more exact. But don’t worry, this isn’t a recipe; it’s still just a ratio, and there will be plenty of opportunity to mix and match to suit your tastes. Let’s get started:
For 8 to 10 servings: You’ll need a 3-qt. baking dish, 10 cups bread cubes, 3 cups chopped vegetables, 3 cups liquid, and 2 large eggs. You’ll also need some form of fat, some spices and herbs, and you can choose to add up to 1 lb. meat and any other mix-ins you want.
For 4 to 6 servings: You’ll need a 2-qt. baking dish, 5 cups bread cubes, 1½ cups chopped vegetables, 1½ cups liquid, and 1 large egg. You’ll also need some form of fat, some spices and herbs, and you can choose to add up to ½ pound meat and any other mix-ins you want.
Got it? Now let’s dig in a little deeper.
1. Cube and dry some bread.
You can use any kind of bread (or mix of breads) you want. I love making stuffing with cornbread, and I usually make my favorite gluten-free cornbread to use, but you could certainly buy a loaf if you’d rather. You could use a single loaf of bread, like whole-grain sourdough, or mix it by half with something like dark rye, French bread, or another crusty white bread. My colleague Joe Sevier makes his family’s favorite dressing with a combination of cornbread and biscuits. Avoid pre-sliced sandwich bread, though, which can dissolve into mush if you’re not careful.
Whatever bread you choose, cut, tear, or crumble it into any size pieces you like—but do keep the sizing consistent. Classic stuffing is usually made with bread cut into half-inch cubes, but there’s no reason you can’t make your bread cubes a little larger. Tearing your bread is a great option if you like a more rustic stuffing. The craggy rips are great at catching all those mix-ins and get nice and toasty in the oven. Break down enough bread until you have 10 cups (or 5, if you’re making a smaller batch), then spread them out on a baking sheet (or two) and toast them in a 325°F oven, tossing occasionally, until they’re dry and crisp like croutons, about 20 minutes. Let them cool, then dump all that bread into a large bowl—your biggest.
2. Cook some mix-ins.
While your bread is cooling, dice some produce to lend aromatic flavor and texture to your homemade stuffing. The most classic stuffings are made with a mix of chopped celery and white or yellow onion, but you don’t have to stop there—you don’t even have to go there at all. Try leeks or shallots instead of onions, or add garlic to the mix. Or, if you’re anti-allium, leave them out. How about combining chopped fennel with tart, fresh apples? Or maybe mushrooms and kale? You might want to scratch another classic side dish off your menu by incorporating the sweet potatoes or squash into your stuffing instead. Keep chopping fruits and veggies until you have 3 cups (or 1½ cups if you’re making a smaller batch).
If you want meat in your stuffing, set the vegetables aside and prep the meat next. Chop some bacon or pancetta, remove some sausage (fresh or smoked) from its casing, or shred a rotisserie chicken. You can use up to 1 pound of meat for a big batch or ½ pound for a smaller one. I love using spicy fresh chorizo or hot Italian sausage in my stuffing. Sagey breakfast sausage is also quite popular—that’s what we chose for Epi’s favorite stuffing recipe. If you're starting with uncooked meat, you'll want to brown it in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add a little fat to the pan first (2–4 Tbsp. unsalted butter or any cooking oil) and fry the meat until it's fully cooked. Transfer your meat into the bowl with the dried bread cubes, leaving behind any rendered fat.
Next, add your chopped veggies to the same skillet. If the meat you used didn’t render much fat, add a little more to the skillet first. If you didn’t cook any meat, you’ll want to start with a little extra fat, about 6–8 Tbsp. total. Sauté your vegetables over medium heat, stirring often, until they’re softened and beginning to brown, scraping up any caramelized bits so that you don’t waste an ounce of flavor.
3. Toss, season, and add some extras.
You don’t necessarily need to add dried herbs or spices to your stuffing, especially if you’re using a heavily seasoned sausage in your mix, but you can if you’d like. Add about ½ tsp. of crushed red pepper flakes or smoked paprika, or 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper. A dash of floral crushed fennel seeds or lemony coriander (about ½ tsp of either should be good) could be nice. Or cut right to the chase and add a few big shakes of poultry seasoning or any other savory spice mix you love like za’atar, garam masala, or sazón. Certainly, you’ll want to add some kosher salt. Stir whatever you choose into the vegetables in the hot skillet, then dump those seasoned veggies into your big bowl of bread and toss everything together.
Adding fresh herbs will balance the richness of the meat and fat, as well as the earthy spices. If you’d like, add a few handfuls of chopped fresh sage, parsley, rosemary, or thyme to your mixing bowl.
Next, toss in any extras: Add in a handful of nuts like toasted pecans or hazelnuts or roasted chestnuts. You could also add some dried fruit such as dried cranberries or golden raisins. Add up to 1 cup of these extra ingredients.
Toss everything together, and taste it. This is the best moment to taste before you add the eggs and the liquid. You won’t be able to get a totally clear picture of how the completed stuffing will taste, but you should be able to gauge whether you’ve added enough seasoning. If it tastes a little bland, this is the moment to add more salt and spices.
4. Add liquid and eggs.
Traditionally, stuffing is moistened with turkey stock or chicken stock, but you can use vegetable broth if you’re aiming for vegan or vegetarian stuffing. Store-bought low-sodium chicken broth will absolutely do, but if you want to know how to make stuffing really shine, it’s all about using homemade stock. Want even more flavor? You can cut the stock with a bit of wine, booze (dry vermouth and brandy are both good options), or apple cider (use about ½ cup of any of these to 2½ cups broth or stock); or replace some of the stock with a little white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar (no more than ¼ cup) to add some brightness to your stuffing.
I mentioned that you’ll need about 3 cups liquid for a large batch of stuffing (1½ cups for a small batch), but depending on your mix-ins you might not need all of that liquid: Start by whisking your eggs into half the amount of liquid needed for your stuffing—that’s one egg for a small batch or two for a large one. Pour this over the big bowl of stuffing mix, and toss everything together to coat. Let it sit for five minutes, then toss it again and squeeze a piece of bread with your fingers: If it’s still hard, you need to add more liquid, about ½ cup at a time, tossing and squeezing as before until the bread squishes a bit between your fingers. Most bread stuffings will need the full amount of liquid, but if you’ve used some softer breads, like cornbread, you may need to use less.
5. Pack the stuffing into a baking dish.
For a large batch of stuffing, you’ll need a 3-qt. baking dish. You could use a 13x9” casserole dish or that same large skillet you used to cook the aromatics (just make sure it’s oven-safe). For a smaller batch, you’ll need a 2-qt. pan, which is an 8” square baking dish, or a 9” round pan with sides at least 2” high. Grease up your dish with butter or oil, then spill your moistened stuffing mixture into the dish. Press down on it lightly to pack it in, but don’t smush it. Dot the top with more pats of butter or drizzle on some more oil to encourage the exposed bits to get extra crispy, then cover the dish with aluminum foil.
At this point you can refrigerate the stuffing for up to two days, which is great news for people who like to get ahead. But you can also keep trucking along if you’re trying to get the whole Thanksgiving dinner cooked in just one day.
6. Bake and serve your stuffing.
This stuffing needs to be baked in two stages. Stage one: Bake the dish covered at a moderate temperature for 30 to 40 minutes to cook it through. Stage two: Uncover the dish and crank up the oven so the top of your stuffing can get golden brown and crispy, which should take another 20 to 30 minutes. The exact temperature is not so important though—stuffing is happy to ride along with whatever else you have in your oven that might require a specific temperature.
The first part of cooking should happen in a preheated oven set anywhere from 300°F to 375°F, while the temperature for the second stage should be somewhere between 400°F and 475°F. You can do the first baking phase or even the full two stages in advance if you need to, depending on how your oven timing needs to work on Thanksgiving.
I like to get stage one of my stuffing bake done in the morning before the turkey goes in to roast. You’ll know it’s ready when the stuffing springs back when you press it lightly and you don’t see any liquid pooling around the edges. I tend to pause here and then do the final bake while the roasted turkey rests. (Par-baked stuffing is fine to sit out on the counter for a few hours.) But that’s just how I do it; the point of this stuffing is that it’s about how you do it. You could also fully bake the stuffing the day before you want to serve it and then reheat it for about 20 minutes (until it’s warmed through) while you whisk together your gravy on the stovetop.
I’m of the opinion that great stuffing doesn’t need any garnishes, but if you like you can sprinkle on a handful of chopped fresh parsley or whatever other fresh herbs you mixed into the stuffing to add some color. Now all you need is a big serving spoon and a table of hungry guests.