An easy to make Bread Stuffing
A savory bread side dish
Most of us think of stuffing as something we have on special occasions but it’s a tasty side dish any time.
Often times when stuffing shows up on the dinner table it has been made from a box of dried bread with seasoning. That boxed or bagged version of stuffing is no match for a real homemade stuffing made from a loaf of bread.
If you have never made your own bread stuffing, you may be amazed to see how easy it is.
To stuff or not to stuff
I’m coming right out with it. I don’t stuff. I know from the reaction of many that not cooking my stuffing in the bird is an unpopular choice. It’s often thought that various sources have unnecessarily scared cautious cooks from cooking stuffing in the bird. I often hear people say something like “I grew up eating stuffing cooked in the bird and it never hurt me”. And I can say the same thing!
It’s far out of my league to determine which side of this discussion is right or wrong. I am not cooking my stuffing in a baking dish due to food safety considerations. That actually has nothing to do with why I bake my stuffing in a baking dish instead of the bird.
PS: Just for the record, I think technically when stuffing is cooked outside the bird it is called a dressing, but it’s all stuffing to me.
Why I don’t stuff
I find that the breast meat of my roasted chicken or turkey is more moist and evenly cooked when I don’t have stuffing in the cavity. That said, I do add things to the cavity to improve moisture and flavor. See more on that in Roasting A Whole Chicken.
When cooked in the bird, stuffing is not cooked evenly. At least not when I am roasting. When the stuffing expands out of the cavity that part of the stuffing becomes hardened and dry. At the same time the stuffing on the bottom of the bird has sucked up moisture and can actually be mushy. That’s too much stuffing lost for me! I love stuffing. When I cook stuffing in a baking dish it’s all cooked uniformly and I can enjoy every bite.
I have always made more stuffing than I could fit in the bird so I was baking that extra stuffing anyway. For years my baked stuffing was not as good as the stuffing in the bird. But after years of experimenting, I have found some techniques to make my baked bread stuffing taste as good as when it is cooked in the bird. I’m going to show you how I do it.
A loaf of bread becomes your blank canvas
We are going to be making a simple and basic bread poultry stuffing using a loaf of plain white sliced bread. It is a very typical New England poultry stuffing and it is delicious.
Why are we using plain white sliced bread? Sliced white bread is usually the most economical bread to buy and in lots of households the most likely to be on hand. That’s why. Using sliced white bread as the basic component demonstrates that stuffing is not something special, it starts with your leftover white bread.
BUT
It’s doesn’t need to be white bread
Stuffing is not for sliced white bread alone. In fact, there are breads made with eggs in the dough that are often recommended for stuffing due to their rich flavor and texture. Challah bread and brioche bread are a couple of commonly used enriched breads. When using an enriched bread made with eggs your stuffing will be lot denser and brings more flavor of it’s own to the stuffing than plain bagged white bread does.
You can also use whole grain bread. I will use bolder flavors when I am using a hearty whole grain bread.
Stuffing doesn’t need to be for poultry alone
Get creative. You can make a rye bread stuffing when you are having ham or a brined meat like corned beef. Look to the flavors typically paired with the meat you are serving to give you some idea of what you can add to your stuffing to bring new flavors to your bread side dish.
Bread isn’t for stuffing alone
Sweet bread stuffing?
Have you ever had bread pudding? Bread pudding is nothing more than a bread stuffing with sweet ingredients added instead of savory. The most common bread pudding has an autumn flavor profile of warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. We have an easy bread pudding recipe Homemade Bread Pudding. Just like savory stuffing, when making bread pudding your loaf of white bread is ready to showcase any flavor profile you come up with.
Once you get the basics of making a bread stuffing or bread pudding, you can mix and match fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices. The liquid you use is also a major component in your flavor profile. I often use cider as a liquid in both my savory stuffing and my bread pudding. Especially when I am using apple and want to play up that flavor.
Let’s get started
Start with
2 stalks of celery
1 medium yellow onion
1/2 stick of butter (Save the other half for later)
Prepare your ingredients
Chop the celery and yellow onion in small pieces.
Melt 1/2 stick of butter in a skillet on medium high heat. When melted, add the chopped celery and onion and sauté until tender. If they start to brown before they get tender, turn the heat down.
Put your sautéed onion, celery and melted butter aside.
You also need:
| 1 loaf of sliced white bread or another bread of your choice |
| 1 3/4 cups of chicken broth or stock |
| 2 eggs |
| 2 tablespoons Bell’s Seasoning |
| 1/2 teaspoon salt |
| And your sautéed celery, onion and melted butter |
Cut the bread in cubes
Cut the whole loaf of bread into cubes with a bread knife. The serrated knife in the picture is a bread knife. As the name implies it is perfect for cutting bread. Gently saw through the bread so it isn’t tearing apart. I usually stack up 3 or 4 pieces and cut them all at once. The cubes shown above were made from cutting twice down the middle and 3 cuts across. What size cubes you make is not as important as making the cubes fairly uniform in size.
About the ingredients
Bread
In this recipe we are using a loaf of everyday sliced white bread and cutting it into rough cut cubes.
You can use stale/dried bread also. Some would say you should always use dried bread. If you are going to use an everyday loaf of sliced bread it’s not going to dry on it’s own without help. You have to take it out of the bag and leave the slices out for a day or two or you can dry your bread on a cookie sheet in the oven at a low temperature.
There are many places in the world where freshly baked bread from a bakery or made at home is still a daily staple. Those loaves of bread usually don’t have added preservatives. Finding a use for leftover bread is how stuffing, bread pudding and bread crumbs came to be. If you are using a loaf of artisan bread from the bakery section of your grocery store or a bakery, farmer’s market or bake sale it most likely will have a lot less preservatives and will dry out in a day or two all on it’s own.
Dried or stale bread will soak up more liquid, so if you are using it plan on using more liquid to get your desired texture.
Liquid
Assuming you don’t have any stock of your own sitting around for this recipe buy a 14-15 ounce can of store bought chicken broth or chicken stock. You will get your 1 and 3/4 cup.
If you are interested in finding out more on making and freezing your own stock check out MAKING STOCK. It’s really easy. Instead of throwing poultry or meat bones away, you boil them in water with some carrots, onion and celery, then strain. If you like making soups, stews and gravies you can save a fortune by making your own stock.
Eggs
Eggs are a necessary component in stuffing or bread pudding. It is the eggs that hold the stuffing together and they add lightness, volume and texture.
Lightly beat the eggs in a small bowl or cup with a fork or small whisk before adding them to the other ingredients. You will find this step in almost any recipe that calls for uncooked eggs to be added. Mixing the yolks into the egg whites before adding helps ensure you won’t be getting a glob of yolk or a glob of egg white in the finished product.
Bell’s seasoning
In our neck of the woods, Thanksgiving stuffing tastes like Bell’s seasoning. It’s made in New England. The classic blended seasoning has been around unchanged for 150 years so there are generations of people who have grown up with Bell’s seasoning stuffing.
I have tried to make a similar tasting seasoning from my own herbs, but it is never the same. I have often used my own herbs in stuffing, but when I am looking for that traditional Thanksgiving flavor, there is no substitute for Bell’s.
A note about adding other ingredients
This bread stuffing is not going to take long in the oven so when you are adding something that you know should be cooked and/or tender do that before adding them. That would be expecially important if you are adding a meat such as sausage. Cook it thoroughly before you add it.
Make the stuffing
Put your cut bread cubes in a large bowl
Put all your bread cubes in a large bowl.
See how the bowl is almost full with bread? Wait till you see how much the bread melts down as soon as you add the other ingredients!
Mix the other ingredients together
In a small bowl or measuring cup, mix together the sautéed vegetables with melted butter, the chicken stock or broth, the eggs, salt and Bells seasoning. Combining them together first makes it easier to thoroughly incorporate the ingredients into the bread cubes.
Add the mixture to the bread cubes and mix gently, don’t mush it together. You should still be able to see cubes of bread.
Get your stuffing ready for the oven
Put the stuffing in a baking dish with a cover
Put slices of butter on top
Cut the remaining 1/2 stick of butter into slices and put them on top of the stuffing before covering and baking.
Put the stuffing in a baking dish or skillet that has a tightly fitting cover.
Slice the remaining 1/2 stick of butter and distribute the pats of butter over the top of stuffing. Then cover the baking dish/skillet.
You can also use an oven safe skillet with a tightly fitting cover. If you don’t have a cover for the baking dish you have, cover it tightly with aluminum foil before putting it in the oven.
Bake
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
I am using a 10 inch by 10 inch shallow baking dish. An 8 or 9 inch square baking dish is fine, but you may want to leave the stuffing in the oven for an additional 5 minutes or so. If you are using a larger rectangular baking dish your stuffing will be done in less than 30 minutes because it will be spread thinner. Check it after 20 minutes. You will know your stuffing is done when the sides are brown and slightly pulled away from the dish. There will be a little browning on top especially around the edges. All of your stuffing is going to be moist. That is how I like it.
Another way to check if your stuffing is done, is to put a fork in the middle and and look at the bread. The bread cubes should be swollen up. It should be moist on the inside, but not wet. There are eggs in the stuffing that firm up when they are cooked. A mushy middle would indicate that the eggs are not fully cooked. You don’t want to have partially cooked egg in your stuffing.
If you want a hardened crust on top remove the cover from your baking dish about 10 minutes before coming out of the oven. If you want a golden brown top but not a hardened crust remove the cover 5 minutes before it is done.
The stuffing is done. The edges have somewhat pulled away from the sides and there is some light browning on top and around the edges.
Your stuffing should be moist, but not wet.
Serve
To serve, you can cut pieces in the baking dish like you would a cake or brownies, or you can scoop it out with a spoon and put it in a bowl to serve family style.
I think stuffing is ALWAYS better with gravy. If you don’t already know how to make your own gravy and you want to, we show you in Making your own Gravy.
Make your own Bread Stuffing
Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion
- 2 stalks celery
- 1 stick butter ½ melted and ½ for top
- 1 loaf white bread or any bread you want to use
- 1 ¾ cup chicken broth or chicken stock
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 2 tablespoons Bell's seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Prepare your ingredients
- Chop the onion and celery in small pieces.
- Cut the loaf of bread into cubes.
- Lightly beat the eggs.
- Melt ½ stick of butter in a skillet on medium high heat and sauté the chopped celery and onion until tender.
Mix
- Put your bread cubes in a large bowl. If you don't have a bowl large enough use a large saucepan like a dutch oven.
- In a small bowl or measuring cup, mix together the celery, onions and melted butter, broth, eggs, Bell's seasoning and salt. Gently fold the mixture into the bread cubes. You want the bread to remain in cubes not mashed up.
- Put the stuffing in a shallow baking dish that has a cover or an oven safe skillet with a tight fitting lid. Use aluminum foil to cover the baking dish tightly if you don't have a cover.
- Slice the remaining 1/2 stick of butter into slices and place them over the top of the stuffing.
Bake
- Cover the baking dish or skillet tightly and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes for a 10 x 10 in baking dish. Add time if the dish is smaller and decrease the time if you are using a larger rectangular baking dish.
- When the stuffing is done the edges will pull away from sides of the dish slightly. Also, if you stick a fork in the middle the inside should be moist but not mushy. Keep in mind that there are eggs in the stuffing and if the middle is mushy it would indicate they are not fully cooked. They need to be fully cooked.