This Light and Fluffy Stuffing is filled a delicious sweet and savoury combination of apple and aromatics – in the form of onion, garlic and herbs.
My mom has a special stuffing recipe that she created. No turkey dinner at my parents’ house would ever be complete without it. It’s a very non-traditional stuffing though (Mom calls it dressing).
When I recently cooked a turkey (just to free up freezer space!) I decided to try my hand at creating a stuffing myself.
While this stuffing would never take the place of Mom’s, it’s a simpler, lighter version that we’ll definitely be eating when we have more casual turkey dinners (and it’s a lot less work to make).
Made using leftover bread, a few pantry staples, an apple I had on hand and herbs from my garden (or your spice rack), it’s pretty budget friendly too! The fruity notes play really nicely with my homemade Easy Cranberry Sauce, so you may want to consider serving the two together!
(PS – check out our posts on Stocking Your Pantry on a Dime, Stocking Your Freezer on a Dime, and Stocking your Fridge on a Dime post.
Step-by-Step Instructions – Light and Fluffy Stuffing
Ingredients for Light and Fluffy Stuffing.
Cut your bread into 1/4 inch pieces and spread it on a cookie sheet. Aim for around 6 cups of diced bread. Bake in a 275 degree F oven for 10-15 minutes – until bread is dried out. This helps to avoid soggy stuffing.
Chop one apple and three stalks of celery into pieces and dice one large onion into smaller pieces. Mince five cloves of garlic, about four sage leaves and a teaspoon of fresh thyme (you could also use 1/2 a teaspoon of each dried sage and thyme.)
Melt two tablespoons of butter over medium heat in a large frying pan, pot or wok. Add apple, onion, celery, herbs and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Saute for about a minute.
Lower temperature to medium-low, cover and sweat vegetables for about five minutes, until they have released their juices but still have some firmness.
Remove from heat. Add dried bread cubes, 3 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley (or 1 and 1/2 tablespoons dried) and one cup of chicken broth (I recommend Better than Bouillon, mixed according to package directions). Toss to combine well.
Add to oven safe dish, cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees F for around 45 minutes. If you’d like a crunchy top, remove foil for the last ten minutes. Serve hot.
Enjoy! 🙂
Light and Fluffy Stuffing
Ingredients
- 6 cups cubed bread
- 1 medium sized apple
- 4 leaves fresh sage (can use scant 1/2 teaspoon dried sage)
- 1 tsp fresh thyme (can use 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme)
- 3 stalks celery
- 1 large onion
- 5 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup chicken broth (I highly recommend Better Than Bouillon, mixed according to package directions)
- 3 tbsp fresh parsley (can use 1 and 1/2 tablespoons dried parsley)
Instructions
- Cut your bread into 1/4 inch pieces and spread it on a cookie sheet. Aim for around 6 cups of diced bread. Bake in a 275 degree F oven for 10-15 minutes - until bread is dried out. This helps to avoid soggy stuffing.
- Chop one apple and three stalks of celery into pieces and dice one large onion into smaller pieces. Mince five cloves of garlic, about four sage leaves and a teaspoon of fresh thyme.
- Melt two tablespoons of butter over medium heat in a large frying pan, pot or wok. Add apple, onion, celery, herbs and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Sautee for about a minute.
- Lower temperature to medium-low, cover and sweat vegetables for about five minutes, until they have released their juices but still have some firmness.
- Remove from heat. Add dried bread cubes, 3 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley (or 1 and 1/2 tablespoons dried) and one cup of chicken broth (I recommend Better than Bouillon, mixed according to package directions). Toss to combine well.
- Add to oven safe dish, cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees F for around 45 minutes. If you'd like a crunchy top, remove foil for the last ten minutes. Serve hot.
Nutrition
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Stace says
Years ago I made this recipe or one extremely similar, and it came out soggy 🙁 I just tried it again but read up first on how to avoid common mistakes when making stuffing… the recipe is delicious, it was my technique that was bad! I made a test batch for 2, to prepare for this Thanksgiving… We didn’t leave a single crumb. BTW, we ended up using low sodium broth, but it still packed a ton of flavor. If going down to 1/3 of recipe, bake for 35-40 min and broil for 8. Any more and it would have burnt. Making for 8 next week. Thanks!
Myra says
Thank you so much for your comment Stace! I’m sure it will be helpful for people to know how to reduce the recipe. Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Lu says
Looks so festive .. cannot wait to try it thanks Myra
Myra says
I hope you enjoy! 🙂
Eliza says
Looks so beautiful with all the colors!!! Xo
Myra says
Thanks! 🙂
Cecile says
Nice! Looking forward to all the deliciousness
Myra says
Thanks! 🙂
Vanessa Cooper says
Love your blog ????
Way to go, so proud of you both! I am so making your stuffing recipe with Christmas dinner.
You are a very talented duo in the kitchen and I know you have learned from one of the best.
Myra says
Thank you so much Vanessa! Merry Christmas to all of you guys! 🙂