Wednesday, November 14, 2012

My Favorite Thanksgiving Stuffing

I know, that's one catchy title there isn't it?  But I'm a simple girl and I named it what it is!  For me, Thanksgiving is all about the stuffing.  I grew up on Stove Top in varying incarnations from truly on the stove top to Grandma stuffing it in the bird to baking it in the oven.  I seem to be the only one that is truly that crazy over the stuff in my family and that's fine with me!  When I decided I was going to put some love into my stuffing (aka- make it from scratch for a family who still prefers the boxed stuff), I was going to make it on my terms.  I wanted to reduce the calories and sodium if I could but not sacrifice flavor.  That's how I came up with...




I use sourdough and whole grain bread and it is sooo good.  The sourdough just gives it this great flavor and texture that you're not going to get out of a box.  This batch got frozen and is waiting for me to thaw on the Saturday after Thanksgiving because it's ALL mine.  Well, okay, I guess I'll share with the Mr too.

My Favorite Thanksgiving Stuffing
(Makes 12 one cup servings)

10 oz Boudin (or similar) sourdough, cubed
10 oz Brownberry 12 Grain Bread, cubed (or you could use sprouted bread to fiber it up)
1 1/2 cups TJ's Low Sodium Chicken Broth
1 cup onions, diced
1 large stalk celery, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1/2 cup frozen spinach
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 tsp poultry seasoning
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper


Start your onions caramelizing.  It might take a while but yes, it's worth it!  When they're about 40 minutes in, add your spinach to cook with them the rest of the way.  You can do this a day ahead and keep it in the fridge (or even freeze it if you need to do it further in advance)


Cut bread into cubes.  In a 400 degree oven, toast the bread for 7-8 minutes.


Time to cut your veggies.  I like my stuffing kind of rustic and chunky so I cut them medium sized but you can  dice them to the size of your preference.  Saute in a little cooking spray until they're fork tender.


Pull your bread out when it's all toasted and let cool for at least 15 minutes in a large bowl.


Time to add all of the goodness!  Add your veggies (onions, spinach, carrots and celery).


I like to give it a little toss to distribute everything before adding the other components.


Add your 1 1/2 cups of low sodium chicken broth giving a stir as you do to evenly coat the bread cubes.  If you like yours slightly more moist, keep 1/4 cup of extra broth handy.  (Not included in the nutritional info)


Time to beat the eggs!


Add the eggs to the stuffing and toss to coat.


Add your poultry seasoning and other spices.  I cannot stress this enough, do not skip out on the poultry seasoning!  This is what makes stuffing taste like stuffing!


Choose your preferred cooking vessel - a 9x13 cooking sprayed pan or if you have an oven safe serving bowl, spray the bottom and sides of it and add the stuffing.


Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees and if you need to keep it warm in the oven as other things finish up, cover it with foil.

Dig in!


Nutritional info per cup serving:  Calories 148  Total Fat 2g  Poly Fat 1g  Cholesterol 31mg  Sodium 242mg Potassium 95mg  Total Carbs 26g  Fiber 3g  Sugars 3g  Protein 6g  Vitamin A 28%  Vitamin C 4%  Calcium 6%  Iron 10%

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24 comments:

  1. My family was never very big on making homemade stuffing growing up until they discovered a recipe for oyster stuffing. But as a kid that just sounded gross and none of us kids touched that stuff, which was probably the adults way of getting it all for themselves because they looked forward to that more than the turkey I think.

    Fast forward to now and the stuffing you make. Wow! It is sooo much better than the stuff I was used to. I especially love it with the Boudin bread but let's not share that stuff with family. That's just for us cause we appreciate it more!

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    1. My great aunt has an oyster stuffing recipe that was my absolute favorite as a kid. Maybe I didn't care because I didn't know what oysters were? HA!

      Yes, this is "special" stuffing and while you don't have to use Boudin since we pay to have it shipped I'm not sharin' with just anyone! LOL

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  2. I'm the only one in my immediate family who doesn't like stuffing. My sister and mother will climb over one another to get at it (especially the bit that hangs out the turkey's rump--yeah, my mother is a die hard "it's not stuffing if it wasn't stuffed up the turkey's wazoo" person).

    This looks a lot more appealing than the stuffing my mother makes (with cheap white bread and a handful of other ingredients).

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    1. More for the stuffing diehards! ;-) But yeah, the sourdough gives a great boost in flavor and the other bread boosts up the fiber...double win in my book!

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  3. WOW!! This looks and sounds amazing! I may have to make this one!!

    Thanks for sharing!

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  4. Mmmm. Sounds good. I love stuffing from the turkey too, yep the wazoo too! But, with so many people thinking that this is the fastest way to food poisoning now (chickens...we never ever had a case!) I only do that for family. So this sounds like a great alternative!

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    1. As long as it's cooked long enough you're good to go. I do love the moisture it gives. I've done it stuffed in the bird, wrapped in cheesecloth. Easy in and out! :)

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  5. I'm so adding sourdough to my shopping list. I have everything else on hand, but I'm going to try this. I usually only do the bread and rolls. Hubby usually does the stuffing (along with the turkey, potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole...) but I think this year I'll make it the day before and he can make his own from the box to stuff up the turkey's wazoo if he wants to. I'm going to eat this, but I think maybe I'll add dried cranberries.

    I owe you a bread recipe too, I'll send it to you sparkmail sometime in the next couple days.

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    1. YAY!! I think you'll love the addition of sourdough to this. Once I made this, I can't eat it any other way.

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  6. OMG, this looks delicious! Stuffing is my absolute favorite part of Thanksgiving Dinner and that's saying a lot cause I love all of it! I use the eggs in mine too, I wasn't sure if that's a standard ingredient in all stuffing or not, I only know that's how Mom made it, so that's how I make it. Oh but Mom used to cut up those awful giblets in ours. She & Dad loved their stuffing like that. I HATED it, as did my brother, and later my sister-in-law and husband. We complained enough, so finally she started making a batch of stuffing with the giblets and another pan without for those of us who didn't like them in there. I like to bake my stuffing at least an hour, maybe an hour and a half, with the last half hour or so, uncovered so the top gets crunchy! Of course then I have to have gravy poured over it. LOVE ME SOME STUFFING!

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    1. Hurray for another stuffing gal! I never used to use eggs in mine and I saw it on some old school cooking show on a local station and they said that's what makes it taste like the kind you'd get from a restaurant. Yeah baby!

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  7. I never got the big deal about stuffing because, like your family, mine just made stuffing with Stouffer's or croutons. It was always an afterthought to me and I might take a little spoonful to round out my plate, but it was nothing I looked forward to. But when you make it from scratch OH MAN what a difference! I used French bread in my stuffing this year, but I love the idea of using sourdough!

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    1. Yep I think homemade is definitely better or at least when you do a little more than dump everything straight out of a box. But when you go to the extra trouble, it's definitely worth it!

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  8. I have to admit that sourdough might make a difference, but in my book, you Yankees don't make stuffing right. ;-) It's 'posed to have CORNBREAD. I've made my grandmother's cornbread stuffing for 40 years, and I love it so much I'm just not about to try something else. She used mostly cornbread, with some bread in it, too. Of course, both the cornbread (Texas style, not that sweet cake you Yankees and the eastern half of the South call cornbread) and the bread were home baked and dried ahead of time. The bread was usually whole wheat because that's what she baked, but sometimes a biscuit or two found its way in there, too, if there happened to be any leftovers in the week or two before Thanksgiving. Then celery, onion, apple, herbs and 'butter the size of a walnut' as her handwritten recipe said, topped off with some of the stock from cooking the giblets. (Giblets are properly used in the gravy, btw, along with hard-boiled egg.) We called it dressing, but I recently read that dressing is baked outside the turkey and stuffing is baked inside. I have yet to give my family food poisoning and have stuffed turkeys twice a year for over 40 years. He's not pretty, but he's yummy! I'm also very opinionated about how cranberry sauce should be prepared, just in case you wouldn't guess. LOL Oh, and pumpkin pie.

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    1. Calm down girlie, I said it was *my* favorite stuffing, not yours. I have nothing against cornbread and as far as this "yankee vs Southern" business, can't we all just get along? ;)

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    2. Of course, darlin', all in good fun! Right now I'm loving the sweet potato pie recipe.

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  9. This is very similar to our family stuffing recipe but mom and grandma always put cornbread in it as well. I could just set the whole pan of stuffing at my plate and by-pass everything else--I love it that much... I just read the above post--ours is mostly bread with cornbread in it--ours wouldn't pass muster with Cheri either, but that's ok! Now I REALLY want some stuffing!!!!

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    1. Yeah I could totally tell everyone "have at the rest of it, the stuffing is mine!" I saw the Grand Traverse Pie Company has this turkey and stuffing pie. You KNOW I'm making that at some point! HA!

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  10. Your recipe takes me back to my youth! Making the stuffing was a childhood ritual for me, it was my job! I have done it many times since but, since I don't have the "stuffing bowl" (my brother has it) it's just not the same!!

    BTW, I've made some awesome cornbread stuffing too!

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  11. You are making me want to re-visit the grocery store!Yummy :) Funny how I never liked stuffing, until I realized there was actual stuffing that didn't come from a box of Stove Top. When I had some of the good homemade stuff (chorizo and cornbread stuffing), I became an immediate fan. This recipe is going on my to do list.

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  12. This looks gorgeous!! I'm a stuffing gal too. I'm more about the sides than the actual turkey. And for some reason the salad always tastes better with that meal, too. The smell of the sauteed onions and celery cannot be beat!

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