Classic Stuffing Recipe (Baked Separately)
- Preparation 15 min
- Cooking 1 h 30 min
- Servings 8
- Freezing Absolutely
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🦃 The stuffing that takes me back to my grandmother’s, only better!
I built this recipe for the site, but from the first bite it took me back to the classic stuffing my grandmother made, on my mother’s side. Except this one is even better. Soft in the center, crisp on top, with fresh parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme filling the whole kitchen. It is so good you will go back for more stuffing before you go back for more turkey!
🍞 A bread stuffing with real flavour and texture
It all starts with the bread. I cut a baguette into cubes and dry it in a low oven until it is completely dry. That way it soaks up the broth instead of turning to mush. The onion and celery cook in butter with a little olive oil, the fresh herbs go in on top, then the eggs whisked into the broth bind everything together. What you get is a real mix of textures.
🔥 Baked separately, finished under the broiler
I bake it in a dish, never inside the turkey. It goes into the oven covered first, then uncovered, with about forty little cubes of butter on top. After that it still needed a bit more colour, so I finished it under the broiler for a few minutes. The top comes out crisp and golden all over, the center stays soft. With my turkey and my make-ahead turkey gravy, that is the whole holiday dinner.
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🍞 Dry your bread in the oven, even if it’s day-old
Stale bread is not the same as oven-dried bread. Properly dry bread soaks up the broth and stays tender. Bread that is just stale gives you a gummy stuffing. I dried my cubes in the oven, left them on the counter overnight under a kitchen towel, and finished the stuffing the next day. It was perfect.
🫒 Butter and olive oil, for flavour
The onion and celery cook in a mix of butter and olive oil. It is for flavour: the two together give a rounder base.
🥚 Eggs in all the broth, at once
No need to add the broth in two steps. I whisk both eggs into all of the broth and pour it over the bread in one go. Mix well so every cube gets some.
🧈 About forty little cubes of butter
I cut the butter for the top into tiny cubes instead of big pieces. They melt all over and make little golden crusts across the whole surface.
🔥 The broiler, only at the end
After 45 minutes uncovered, mine still was not golden enough. Two or three minutes under the broiler took care of it. Stay by the oven: it browns fast.
🌿 Fresh herbs, ideally
That is what I used, and I found it perfect. If you only have dried herbs, use less: dried, they are stronger. Count on about a third of the fresh amount.
📅 Make-ahead prep
The bread can be dried the day before, and you can also cook the onion and celery the day before and keep them in the fridge. But the stuffing itself gets assembled on the day, never the night before. Mix everything, put it in the dish and into the oven.
⏲️ Rest, then serve
I let it rest 10 minutes out of the oven and serve it right away. If your turkey isn’t ready, you can keep it warm in a 200°F (95°C) oven, loosely covered.
🦃 Baked separately, not in the turkey
It bakes in its own dish. Your turkey cooks at its own pace, and the stuffing has time to brown on top.
🧊 Leftovers, fridge only
Leftovers keep for 3 to 5 days in the fridge, in an airtight container. I don’t freeze it: it’s bread, and once thawed it’s just not good anymore.
✅ What to serve with my classic stuffing
With your turkey and my make-ahead turkey gravy, definitely. It goes very well with my perfectly juicy Christmas roast turkey and my maple glazed roast turkey. For a turkey that’s out of the ordinary, try my apple stuffed roast turkey with cider or my whiskey brined turkey. It could go with a roast chicken, but this one is really a Christmas thing.
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Ingrédients
- 1 lb (450 g) day-old white baguette, cut into ½-inch (1 cm) cubes
- ¾ cup (180 ml) unsalted butter, divided
- ¼ cup (60 ml) olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion, finely diced
- 1 ½ cups (375 ml) celery, finely diced
- ⅔ cup (160 ml) flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
- ¼ cup (60 ml) fresh sage, finely chopped
- 3 tbsp (45 ml) fresh rosemary, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) fresh thyme, finely chopped
- 1 tsp (5 ml) salt
- 1 tsp (5 ml) pepper
- 2 ½ cups (625 ml) low-sodium chicken broth
- 2 large eggs
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Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 250°F (120°C). Spread the bread cubes on a baking sheet and dry them for 45 minutes, stirring now and then. The bread should be very dry.
- Put the dried bread in a very large bowl. Raise the oven to 350°F (180°C) and grease a 9 x 13-inch (23 x 33 cm) baking dish.
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt ½ cup (125 ml) of the butter with the olive oil. Add the onion and celery and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring, until tender and barely golden. Pour over the bread.
- Add the parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper. Mix.
- In a bowl, whisk the eggs with all of the broth. Pour over the bread and mix well.
- Transfer to the baking dish. Cut the remaining butter (¼ cup, 60 ml) into about forty small cubes and scatter them over the top.
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes.
- Remove the foil and bake for another 45 minutes. Finish under the broiler for 2 to 3 minutes, until the top is nicely golden.
- Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Because properly dry bread soaks up the broth and stays tender, while bread that is just stale turns gummy. I dry my baguette cubes for 45 minutes in a 250°F oven. You can do it the day before and leave the bread on the counter under a towel.
Eggs bind the stuffing. Whisked into the broth, they coat every bread cube and set as it bakes, so the stuffing holds together in the dish and stays soft in the center instead of being a pile of soggy cubes.
For this one, 40 minutes covered with foil, then 45 minutes uncovered, then 2 to 3 minutes under the broiler to brown the top. Let it rest 10 minutes before serving.
I don’t recommend it. It’s bread, and once thawed the texture just isn’t good. Leftovers keep for 3 to 5 days in the fridge.
Turkey and a good gravy, the Christmas classic. It goes well with my perfectly juicy Christmas roast turkey and my maple glazed roast turkey.
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