Come for the turkey, stay for the stuffing. As long as I’ve been eating, preparing and learning about the art of Thanksgiving Dinner, I’ve known that the stuffing is the real heart of the meal. You can fancy up your dinner all you want. You can almondine your beans and gratin your potatoes, but the stuffing will always be where the true comfort lies.
Below I’m sharing my favorite stuffing varieties (yes, I’m saying stuffing even though I never actually stuff anything into anyone). And I often serve all of these at my Thanksgiving Dinner!
Stuffing Varieties
- Cornbread Dressing – a southern staple that subs out traditional bread cubes for hunks of cornbread. The cornbread gives a depth of flavor and often a hint of sweetness that you just don’t get from white or wheat bread. If you haven’t tried this, I encourage you to give it a go. No, I don’t know why I call this one “dressing” and the other “stuffing”. I am who I am.
- Sausage stuffing – adding meat into a side dish will, of course, up the ante, but it also brings a kick of spice that makes the flavors pop. This is another spin you should try if you’ve got a family full of meat eaters.
- Apple and veggie stuffing – apples are celebration of fall and incorporating one autumn tradition into another is really a thing of beauty. Apples deliver a sweetness that balances out the flavor of onions and celery.
Tips for Stuffing Success
- Fresh herbs should be the star of the show. Dried herbs are great! And they’re always welcome (see below). But gild the lily with fresh sage, thyme and rosemary. If your recipe calls for dried herbs, follow those directions, but add in a bit of the fresh version as well. They will deliver different elements of the same flavor profile.
- Go ahead and embrace dried herbs too. If your recipe calls for ONLY fresh herbs, I would still play it safe and add pinch of the dried version or dried poultry seasoning. Fresh herbs aren’t always as pungent as the dried version so you risk missing out on some of the vital herby flavor if you’re only using fresh. Add a pinch of dried. It won’t hurt anything.
- Save some oven space with slow cooker or stove top recipes. A lot of recipes will ask you to bake your stuffing in the oven, but you can sacrifice vital time and space on Turkey Day if you do that. Look for recipes that utilize the crock pot or a Dutch oven on the stove. This is crucial. There’s literally an entire company built on saving you space by making stuffing on your Stove Top.
- Save yourself time and start with packaged stuffing cubes. There are a lot of new options in stores right now, not just Pepperidge Farms or the afore mentioned Stove Top Stuffing (though I am a huge fan of both, bc why reinvent the wheel). You can certainly cube and dry out bead on your own, but it can take a while and, well, it’s not a lot of fun. Many smaller bakeries other bread companies are starting to offer packaged cubes during the holidays, even Martin’s Potatobred has a bagged stuffing in stores. You’re busy. Accept some help from the grocery store.
Stuffing Recipes
With all of this in mind, I’m sharing some recipes that I feel embrace a lot of what I’ve mentioned above!
- Sausage and Apple Stuffing from Ina Garten
- Southern Cornbread Dressing from Author Valerie Luesse via Southern Living Magazine
- Apple, Celery and Onion Stuffing from Rachael Ray
- Crockpot Stuffing from Spend with Pennies
How does your family enjoy their stuffing? Let me know, I’d love to learn how your family celebrates!
