This homemade stuffing recipe is the classic holiday side dish you are looking for! Passed down through generations and featuring simple ingredients with perfect poultry seasoning flavour. Stuff your turkey, chicken, or just make a large pan full and bake separately.
If you’re looking for a classic homemade bread stuffing recipe, look no further! My mom’s recipe is so easy to make and is the perfect side dish for a delicious turkey dinner over the holidays.
Our family loves stuffing so much, I always make a pan of it to go alongside a bowl of Spinach Stuffing Balls and the Green Bean Casserole.
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My Mom’s Homemade Bread Stuffing Recipe
Today I’m so pleased to share my mom’s Homemade Bread Stuffing recipe with you. It’s such a classic side dish made with simple ingredients but it’s the perfect side dish alongside a roasted turkey or chicken dinner.
The aroma that fills your home as it cooks is unmistakable to anyone who visits. Breathe deeply and enjoy the mouthwatering scent of classic bread stuffing as it bakes inside or alongside your main.
What Ingredients Are in This Homemade Stuffing Recipe?
This stuffing is a very basic recipe made with six ingredients plus seasonings. All you need is a loaf of bread, some celery and onion, chicken stock, and butter.
What makes this stuffing so very delicious is a good amount of poultry seasoning and aromatics such as celery and onions.
Poultry seasoning is a blend of herbs and spices that includes a combination of dried ground sage, savoury, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, black pepper, and nutmeg.
Ground cloves and either celery seed or salt may also be a part of the blend.
If it’s been a while since you’ve replaced the poultry seasoning, I highly recommend buying a new tin of this holiday essential. Fresh spices make for the most aromatic stuffing.
What Bread is Best For This Homemade Stuffing Recipe?
In short, you can use any bread you like in stuffing as long as it’s stale. I prefer whole wheat or sometimes white bread in my stuffing.
Bread with seeds or seasonings may change the flavour of the stuffing and sourdough makes the stuffing taste too sour.
Cornbread stuffing is absolutely delicious as well, especially when it also contains sausage.
Making stuffing is a great way to use up the ends or heels of bread. Start collecting unused bread a few weeks before you intend to make it so it can dry out.
Tear the bread up into smaller pieces and let it dry out in a pan on top of your fridge.
If you forget and are stuck for time, tear a loaf of bread into pieces and dry them out in your oven. If the bread isn’t dry, you may end up with overly mushy stuffing and the texture can be quite off-putting.
How To Make Perfect Homemade Stuffing
Once you have all the stale bread ready to go, you’re ready for the next step; the vegetables. I like to small dice my onion and celery before I sauté them in butter.
Sautéing the vegetables until they become soft and translucent is very important step. If you skip it, you’ll end up with crunchy, uncooked vegetables in the finished dish.
To finish, add the poultry seasoning and sauté for a minute or two for maximum flavour. Next, add the vegetables to the torn bread then season with salt and pepper.
Lastly, drizzle melted butter and chicken broth over the bread mixture and mix well.
Test the moisture level by gripping a handful of the mixture. If it clumps together, it’s perfect. If not, just add a bit more plain water or stock until it begins to stick together.
Variations on Homemade Stuffing
This is a very basic recipe and many people often add other ingredients to suit their personal tastes.
Some enjoy the texture that nuts or water chestnuts bring to the dish, or the flavour of dried cranberries.
Adding proteins such as sausage, turkey giblets, and even oysters are also popular. I’ve never had oyster stuffing but I bet it’s delicious!
How to Store and Reheat Leftover Stuffing
On the rare occasion we have leftover stuffing, I store it in either a plastic bag or lidded container. It should last for up to 5 days when stored in this way.
The easiest way to reheat it is to pop it into the microwave for 1 or 2 minutes. Alternatively, reheat it stove top in a frying pan or in a foil covered casserole in a 350 F oven for 10-15 minutes.
Homemade Stuffing Recipe
This homemade stuffing recipe is the classic holiday side dish you are looking for! Passed down through generations and featuring simple ingredients with the perfect poultry seasoning flavour. Stuff your turkey, chicken, or just make a large pan full and bake separately.
Ingredients
- 1 loaf bread; torn into 1-2 cm pieces and dried overnight.
- 4 sticks green celery (preferably with some leaves); finely diced
- 1 medium onion; finely diced
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter; melted
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- poultry seasoning
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- The night before, tear up the bread and let it dry out on the counter overnight.
- In the morning, sauté the celery and onion until they become soft and the onion becomes translucent.
- Place bread, vegetables, butter, stock, and poulty seasoning in a large bowl and season. Mix it up well and place in a 9x12 glass baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 F for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, remove foil and broil until the top becomes golden.
Notes
If you want to use this stuffing in a turkey, please refer to this Turkey post for cooking times.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
10Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 294Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 25mgSodium: 431mgCarbohydrates: 39gFiber: 2gSugar: 5gProtein: 7g
Nutritional calculation was provided by Nutritionix and is an estimation only. For special diets or medical issues please use your preferred calculator.
I’m using the bagged stuffing…how much stock should I use?
Hi Kathy, this is a ‘from scratch’ recipe. I have not tested it with bagged stuffing so it’s probably best if you follow the package directions.
I made this recently for my family and everyone loved it. It’s definitely my favorite stuffing. My husband and another family are diabetic so I’m wondering if multigrain bread would work just as well?
HI Deb you can certainly give it a try. I always use multigrain for everything BUT stuffing because I personally don’t like flax seeds, etc in my stuffing. Also note that in general, multigrain bread has a denser texture which may result in dense or heavy stuffing.
After baking, can you back it first and then put it in a crockpot on the warm setting until serving time?
I’ve never done it but I don’t see why not. Grease the crockpot insert first and be prepared to add some more stock in case it dries out. Keep it on low or warm for sure.
Can you use dried stuffing cubes like the ones made from Pepperidge Farm instead of dried out day old bread that has been cut up? If so, how many cups would you need?
Hi Kay. I would go with 10 cups of bread cubes.
How much Poultry Seasoning?? I don’t see any amount!!
Start with a tablespoon, go from there. You want it nicely scented but not bitter. It all depends on how potent your poultry seasoning is… that’s why I don’t have an amount listed. Happy Thanksgiving!
This sounds like my Mom’s recipe.
Simple and delicious!
I would like to make this and bake it a day ahead of when I will need it.
If I make, bake and cool it before refrigeration and foil cover it and then reheat it as you suggested in the oven the day of , Do you think it would be as good?
Yes, it will be just fine. Just a gentle reheat and make sure it is covered well so it won’t dry out.
I made this last weekend. I had to add more stock than what the recipe called for. Also I added dried parsley. Next time I would add fresh parsley. I also added a little bit of black pepper.
Herbs are always a great idea! The recipe does call for salt and pepper to taste. Thanks for trying my recipe Sandy.
Could I double the recipe and put it all in the same pan to bake?
No, you will either need two pans or on larger pan with double the volume.
Can you add dries cranberries
For sure! They would be a delicious addition Bev.
Can this stuffing be made a head of time and frozen? I am 80years old and like to prepare as much as possible ahead of time. Can’t wait to try this recipe.
Hi Noreen. I honestly cannot say for sure as I have never done it myself. Onions and celery freeze well, so I would lean towards being in favour of making and freezing the stuffing ahead of time.
How far in advance can you make this without it being soggy or unenjoyable?
You can make it the night before and refrigerate.
This looks delicious! I can’t wait to try it out for Christmas! Does any kind of bread work best? I have never made this homemade before.
Hi Chantelle, I prefer to use a loaf of white bread to make the stuffing. Whole wheat might work too but don’t use anything with seeds in it.
If we’re not fans of celery is there another veggie you would suggest substituting or do you think it will still taste as good without it? Thanks!
Honestly, I am not a fan of celery either. This is the only recipe (besides soup stock) that I will use it in. Chop it really small and you won’t even notice. Or leave it out.
Awesome, thank you so much!
Hi Sue!
I am so excited to make this tomorrow for my family for Thanksgiving. I did have one question!
I don’t have the right size glass baking dish, but I do have a metal one. Would that change the cooking time at all in the oven?
Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving!
Rachel
Hi Rachel. Thank you for choosing my recipe. You can use a metal pan, however I would keep a close eye on it as it will bake quicker. Also, be sure to grease the pan well so the stuffing comes out. Happy Thanksgiving!
I am making stuffing for the first time and I found your recipe and it looks similar to my moms, I will let you know how it turns out.
Thank you Sandy, it’s a classic for many people. I hope you enjoy it and Happy Thanksgiving!
Can you make this in a loaf as opposed to a 9×12 dish? Would it cook differently?
As long as your loaf pan has the same volume as a 9 x 12 pan I say go for it (or use two loaf pans and be sure to butter them well). You’ll have less crispy bits (which I personally love) because less of the stuffing will be exposed.
This is just like Mom’s ! She did sauté her onion and celery in the butter. I notice you add it when everything is mixed . Do you have any thoughts on this ? Thinking of trying it your way this year. Thanks!
Hi Sue, you can for sure sauté the onion and celery first. I usually do. Enjoy that turkey!
Does it turn out too moist if I stuff it in the actual turkey?
No, it does not. I’ve stuffed my turkey for years. Just make sure to take the internal stuffing temperature all the way to 165 F.
I make this exact recipe from my mom. We use a little sage also. We cook neck and gizzards in chicken stock with onions and celery. I have to use 2 loaves of bread because my family loves it. I leave it out over night spread out on the kitchen table.
That’s an excellent tip to dry out the bread, thanks Brenda!
I usually cook the gizzards (heart, liver, kidney and neck) in about 2 cups of water with some diced onion, dried savoury, about a tablespoon of soy sauce. Let this cool, save the meats for your pets, and use this “broth” in your stuffing as extra liquid, or in the cooking juices for your gravy. It adds a ton of flavour and nutrients as well.
That’s a great idea to use up the gizzards like that. I would probably leave out the soy sauce or use low sodium soy sauce if I was giving it to my pets though.
This looks exactly like my mother’s recipe. How many cups of bread do you think there is in a loaf. There are so many different sizes of bread loaves.
I’m not 100% certain but it’s probably around 10 cups of bread cubes.
Okay, now I want to head into the kitchen to make this. It looks incredible.
It’s so homey and comforting. I just love stuffing any time of the year.
How much poultry seasoning should be added?
Hi Diane. I’ve left it blank because I consider it a matter of taste. I like a lot of seasoning so I go pretty heavy handed but some don’t like it as seasoned. Try about 1 tbsp and go from there if you think it needs more.
One of the best things about Christmas dinner has to be the stuffing, and frankly, it is hard to beat the classics!
100%!!
There is truly nothing better about the holidays than stuffing. This is an instant classic!
Love this recipe! Stuffing is literally my favourite part of the holiday meal, and as much as I love the gourmet versions with loads of different add-ins, I will always have a soft spot for the classic. Honestly, I’m tempted to just make a big batch on a random weekday just so I can get my fix.
Funny enough that is exactly what I did haha. My mom also makes stuffed pork ribs where she places the stuffing between 2 racks of ribs. It’s a great alterative if you don’t want to roast a chicken or turkey.
*My Mom always added one beaten egg.
That doesn’t sound too out of the ordinary to me. I’m not sure the purpose of it though as the stuffing already sticks together. Maybe it was just for more protein?
Love all the celery in this one! Perfectly moist.
I’m so happy I stumbled onto this recipe. It’s just what I need for upcoming holidays. Can’t wait to give it a try. Looks so delicious.
Wonderful!! I hope you enjoy this classic recipe Natalie.
I was curious about the celery when it says sticks is that the whole bunch or just sticks?
I think you somehow answered your own question. 4 Sticks, not the whole bunch.