Stuffing recipes... help!

[smilie]

I need some help with stuffing... I'm an out of the box kind of girl when it comes to stuffing and I'd like to start making it for real. Any good recipes?

 

[soccerdad72]

My wife makes a sausage stuffing very similar to this, except she like the Pepperidge Farms cubed stuffing mix:

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/9202/sausage-stuffing/

 

[fla4fun]

Ours is very basic.

2-3 loaves of the cheapest soft white bread you can buy. Put in the oven on cookie sheets at a really low temp (as low as the oven will go) and dry the bread. This usually takes about 5 hours or so, but check on it every so often. You want the bread dry, but not browned. We have a couple huge pizza pans with holes in the bottom that work really well for this step, as it lets both sides dry at the same time. We have tried using pre-prepared bread, but it did not work at all. The pre-prepared bread did not absorb the broth correctly.

In a pot, put a box or two of regular chicken broth, 2-3 large onions (chopped) and one bundle of celery (chopped) with about a third of a bottle of sage (it looks kind of powdered). Cook until veggies are tender. You can up the broth based on how much stuffing you like to prepare. We like a couple casseroles plus what is in the bird, so we use two boxes of broth and three (sometimes four if they're small) loaves of bread.

Break bread into large chunks in to a large bowl. Ladle broth over bread until slightly moist (if putting in the bird) or fairly moist (if baking separately). Bake casseroles until bubbly (usually 15 minutes) and starting to brown on top.

We use regular broth, so we do not add salt or any seasonings other than sage when preparing the stuffing. We prefer to add seasonings to taste at the table. We never have any stuffing left after Thanksgiving weekend.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

Stove.Top.

 

[Floridaman999]

Stove.Top.

I've tried to do many versions of homemade stuffing and I always go back to Stove Top. It's easy and it works for us so I guess I'll just go with it.

 

[smilie]

Stove.Top.

This is always what I make... I'm scared to try something else and ruin it. Maybe I can just add to it.

 

[fla4fun]

This is always what I make... I'm scared to try something else and ruin it. Maybe I can just add to it.

I have been known to doctor up Stove Top when I make it with a roast chicken. I use broth instead of water, and add some fresh onion and celery.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

I have been known to doctor up Stove Top when I make it with a roast chicken. I use broth instead of water, and add some fresh onion and celery.

Same here...and I always use real butter, not margarine.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I've used Pepperidge Farm for years and years. Just doctor it up a bit with almonds, mushrooms and black olives. I could even put in a bit of celery. My mom made it from scratch all her life with hamburger as the meat in it instead of sausage. I don't recall us eating a lot of sausage as a kid. Plenty of bacon, but no sausage, not even Jimmy Dean.

Always use butter and chicken broth.

 

[luvsJack]

Are you planning to stuff the bird? IF not, that opens up a world of possibilities for different stuffing/dressing recipes.

Honestly, I can't imagine eating Stove Top on Thanksgiving. First off, it would take about 50 boxes at our gatherings and second, its just not the same as homemade.

Think about what you like or might like--apples, sausage, squash, chicken, pecans, oysters--whatever sounds good or you know someone likes. Then google a recipe for stuffing with that ingredient. Look at the recipe and make sure it doesn't have something in it that you or your family won't eat. If it does figure out a way around that or what to replace it with. My husband hates celery, my dressing has celery. I just use celery seed instead. Most things you can figure out a replacement or leave out. But, if it calls for something like 3 chopped onions and your family hates onions, I would look for another recipe because apparently its supposed to taste like onion.

There are so many different variations. Some very easy.

And honestly, whether you do dressing or you do stuffing, its one of those things that as long as you get the moisture content right, you can't really mess it up. Its all about your taste. Or your family's taste.

 

[Cloudy]

I make a Chestnut Stuffing doctoring up a bag of Brownberry Sage and Onion Stuffing.

1 Stick of Butter
1 Large Onion, chopped
4-5 Stalks of Celery, Chopped
1 Bag or Jar of Roasted Chestnuts, chopped (I find the bagged ones at Kroger in the Ethnic/Specialty food section, Williams Sonoma has jarred but they are super expensive, or substitute 1/2 cup Pecans, chopped)
1 Bag Brownberry Sage and Onion Stuffing Mix
2 Cans Chicken Broth

Melt butter in large stockpot. Add chopped onions and celery. Cook until soft and onions are translucent. Add chopped chestnuts or pecans and cook for another couple of minutes. Add bag of stuffing mix and 2 cans of chicken broth. Then either stuff the turkey or transfer to a 9x13 pan and cook at 350 degrees for around 35-45 minutes until heated through.

 

[olwyngdh]

My mother's/grandmother's/great-grandmother's stuffing.

4 or so loaves of day-old bread, torn into about in inch pieces
2 or so large onions, chopped
about the same amount of celery chopped (stuff the rest with cream cheese mixed with worstershire sauce for appetizers)
a half dozen eggs or more if you need them
small container of poultry seasoning

Tear the bread into a large roasting pan the night before you are cooking it. Hide it from the cat so you can leave it uncovered
saute the onions and celery in butter
Pour the hot onions and celery over the bread, mix it in a bit
Add the eggs and mix
Add the poultry seasoning. Keep tasting and risking salmonella until there is the right amount of seasoning.

Stuff the bird tight and don't forget the neck
Stick the rest in a baking dish and bake because some weird people like dry stuffing

(Other than the salmonella warning, this is the way my Grandmother wrote it down for my mother.)

 

[serenitynow]

I've used Pepperidge Farm for years and years. Just doctor it up a bit with almonds, mushrooms and black olives. I could even put in a bit of celery. My mom made it from scratch all her life with hamburger as the meat in it instead of sausage. I don't recall us eating a lot of sausage as a kid. Plenty of bacon, but no sausage, not even Jimmy Dean.

Always use butter and chicken broth.

Always butter and chicken broth! It’s a good idea to use low sodium or no sodium chicken broth if you are doctoring up Stove Top, as it already contains a lot of salt. It’s easy to add a little salt if it needs it in the taste test, but you can’t take it out if too salty.

 

[smilie]

Hide it from the cat so you can leave it uncovered

Keep tasting and risking salmonella until there is the right amount of seasoning.

I absolutely love your recipe directions!!!!

 

[Kellydelly]

I buy a couple of large loaves of Italian bread (or any similar white bread) and I tear it into bite-sized pieces. Then I melt a couple of sticks of butter in a frying pan and add a couple onions chopped up, a few chopped celery stalks, and at a lb of mushrooms sliced up. Saute the veggies till they are tender, then mix them into the bread. I add chicken broth to the bread mixture to moisten it (I like it pretty soft but not soggy). I season the stuffing with a ton of sage, poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper. I then put it into a baking dish and heat it through (after turkey is out of the oven resting). I don't even know how my mom used to make hers but it had neck meat and giblets in and and that is GROSS to me. I never relished hers. I love Stove Top too, but Thanksgiving gets more effort of out of me, lol.

 

[easyas123]

My mother's/grandmother's/great-grandmother's stuffing.)

Oh my goodness - that's gold.
And sounds like a darn good recipe...makes me want to give it a try vs. my regular use of the pepperidge farms cubes.

 

[NYCgrrl]

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/147-bread-stuffing
Add what you like: sauteed sausage stuffing, chestnuts, oysters, craisins, any kind of nuts, whatever turns you on. I always add chopped celery and carrots to my stuffing so if you want to add make the ratio same as the onions.

 

[mom2rb]

I make cornbread dressing. We have fried and smoked turkey so no stuffing here.
4 pans of cornbread torn into big chunks (make it the day before so it dries out)
Sauté green onions and celery in butter (4 of each)
Use a small bag of seasoned bread crumbs
4 sliced boiled eggs ( my family used to dice it but DH thinks that it is strange, this way he can pick it out easily)
4 beaten eggs
4 cans of chicken broth
So much poultry seasoning that you just know that you ruined it, then you taste it and add more
Try not to over mix it of the cornbread will be too mushy
If it is too dry add more broth if it is too wet add more bread crumbs
Bake 45 minutes with foil then around 45 without, top should be brown

My Nanny taught me how to make her mother’s recipe and two weeks later she passed away. The next Thanksgiving, when I made it, my dad, aunts, uncles, and their cousins were in tears because it tasted just like what their grandmother made. No one knew that she taught me.

 

[mickeyboat]

We use Pepperidge Farms cubes and along with the broth and butter, we add onions, celery, sausage and apples. We both stuff the bird and cook some in a greased baking dish. The dressing in the pan is drier and the edges are a bit crunchy, which is what DH likes. I like the mushy stuff from the bird.

 

[Minnesota!]

White Castle stuffing.

You're welcome.