This is an America’s Test Kitchen recipe that I absolutely love. By not actually stuffing the cavity of a bird, we a) avoid any food safety concerns, and b) can make more stuffing than we could cram into a typical turkey or chicken. And trust me, the result is every bit as delicious!

Ingredients

Amt Ingredient
1 lb Bread (potato, french, or challah)
8 T Unsalted butter
1 Large onion, chopped medium (~1 1/2 C)
4 Medium celery ribs, diced medium (~1 1/2 C)
1/2 t1 Dried sage, thyme, and marjoram
1/2 t Black pepper
2 C Low sodium chicken broth2
3 Large eggs, lightly beaten
1 t Salt

Instructions

Bread cubes

  1. Cut bread slices into 1/2” cubes.
  2. Dry overnight or place on a sheet pan and dry in a 225F oven until brittle but not brown, 30-40 minutes.

Onion mixture

  1. Heat butter over a large skillet over medium-high heat until melted.
  2. Pour off 2 T butter and reserve.
  3. Return skillet to heat and add onions and celery.
  4. Cook until translucent, about 8 minutes.
  5. Add sage, thyme, marjoram, and black pepper, and cook until fragrant.

If you want to make the stuffing a day ahead, you can stop at this stage and put the onion mixture in the refrigerator where it will keep for up to two days.

Making the stuffing

  1. Preheat oven to 400F (350F for challah).
  2. In a large bowl add bread cubes, broth, eggs, salt, and onion mixture3.
  3. Gently toss to distribute wet and dry ingredients evenly.
  4. Turn out mixture into a greased 13x9 baking dish and drizzle with reserved melted butter.
  5. Cover tightly with foil and bake until fragrant, about 25 minutes (30 minutes for challah).
  6. Remove foil and bake until golden brown crust forms, 15 to 20 minutes longer.
  7. Serve warm.

  1. Or 1 1/2 t fresh, minced. ↩

  2. If this is for a turkey dinner and you want to get fancy, make your roast turkey the day before and use the bones to make broth that you can then use in this stuffing recipe. ↩

  3. If you made this a day ahead, remember to reheat onion mixture to liquify butter. ↩