The Best Traditional Thanksgiving Stuffing — 🧡😋 Nothing frilly or trendy in this recipe. It’s a classic, easy, homemade stuffing that everyone loves!! Simple ingredients with stellar results! It’ll be your new go-to recipe!!
Table of Contents
A Classic Thanksgiving Stuffing Recipe
People love serving this traditional stuffing at Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and I even receive emails at other times during the year from people who make it and no matter the season — it’s always a hit!
My family are stuffing fanatics for classic and traditional stuffings. No pears, dried fruit and nuts, wild mushrooms, or even bacon or sausage need apply.
Think: old-fashioned stuffing made with day-old bread, onions, celery, butter, and herbs.
The stuffing is lightly crusted and golden on top, soft underneath, full of rich buttery flavor, and well-seasoned from the herbs.
As the stuffing bakes, my house smells exactly like Thanksgiving and like all the Thanksgivings I remember at my mom’s and grandma’s houses growing up smelled. Warm, cozy, comforting, and happy. This is the BEST stuffing recipe ever!
Homemade Stuffing Ingredients
Like I’ve already mentioned, this easy Thanksgiving stuffing recipe calls for simple, straightforward ingredients. Classic, but delicious!
- Onions
- Celery
- Fresh herbs (parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme)
- Butter
- Broth – I use reduced sodium chicken broth, but vegetable broth works too.
- Bread
- Eggs
- Salt and pepper – season to taste
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make the Best Stuffing
This classic Thanksgiving stuffing is easy and straightforward to make, even if you’ve never made homemade stuffing before.
Here’s a quick overview of the recipe:
- Melt the butter in a skillet, then sauté the onion and celery until softened.
- In a large bowl, stir together the dried bread cubes, sautéed vegetables, fresh herbs, and broth.
- Add the eggs last, mixed in with a little broth for easier distribution.
- Turn the stuffing into a greased 9×13-inch baking dish and dot the top with butter. Bake until done.
Time Saving Tip
To save time day of, bake and dry out the bread the night before and leave uncovered on the counter until the morning you’re ready to make the traditional stuffing.
Recipe FAQs
Technically this is a dressing recipe because it’s not stuffed inside the bird, but in my family we still call it stuffing rather than dressing. Our age old mis-naming tradition.
I used a loaf (baguette) of day-old white French bread from my grocery store’s bakery that I cubed, dried in the oven for 45 minutes, and allowed it to sit out overnight.
To save time on the big day, I dry it out the night before but you can do it that morning if time permits. You want to begin with really dry bread because otherwise it’ll turn to mush.
I’ve never pre-made or pre-assembled this classic stuffing recipe, but I think it’d be fine to assemble the night before and bake the day after. Check the stuffing just before baking it. If the bread seems dry at all, drizzle a little extra broth over top. You do NOT want to end up with dry stuffing!
Yes, this classic stuffing recipe tells you to cover the stuffing with foil and bake it for 40 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 40 minutes.
If you need to keep the homemade stuffing warm before serving it, loosely cover it with foil and stick it in a 200ºF oven.
Stuffing is best warm and fresh but will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat gently as desired.
Yes! Once baked, let the Thanksgiving stuffing cool completely before storing in a freezer bag. You can reheat the stuffing from frozen in a 350F oven (don’t let it thaw first, otherwise the bread will turn to mush).
This is our go to recipe for Thanksgiving stuffing. It’s a hit every year. I’ve made it with homemade bread cubes, store bought bakery bread cubes, and packaged Oroweat/Pepperidge Farm bread cubes. They all come out great. — Jody
What to Serve with Homemade Stuffing
Recipe Video Tutorial
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Traditional Homemade Thanksgiving Stuffing
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, divided
- 1 pound day-old white French bread, diced into 1/2-inch cubes and dried
- 1 extra-large, about 2 1/2 cups sweet Vidalia or yellow onion, diced small
- 1 ½ cups celery, diced small
- ⅔ cup Italian flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely minced
- ¼ cup fresh sage leaves, finely minced
- 3 tablespoons fresh rosemary, sticks discarded, finely minced
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme, sticks discarded, finely minced
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon pepper, or to taste
- 2 ½ cups low-sodium chicken broth, divided
- 2 large eggs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250F. Place cubed bread on a baking sheet and bake, stirring occasionally, until dried out, about 45 minutes. You must begin with very dry bread or it’ll turn to mush. Tip – To save time on the day of, bake and dry out the bread the night before and leave uncovered on the counter until the morning you’re ready to make the stuffing.
- When you’re ready to make the stuffing, transfer bread to a very large bowl; set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350F and spray a 9×13-inch pan or 3-quart baking dish with cooking spray; set aside.
- To a large skillet, add 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter and heat over medium-high heat to melt.
- Add the onions, celery, and cook until vegetables have softened and are just beginning to lightly brown, about 10 minutes. Stir frequently. Transfer vegetables to bowl with bread.
- Add the parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper, 1 1/4 cups chicken broth, and toss well to combine; set aside. Note about salt – the saltiness level of low-sodium chicken broth varies, and so do personal preferences, so salt to taste.
- To a small bowl, add the remaining 1 1/4 cups chicken broth, 2 eggs, and whisk to combine. Pour mixture over bread and toss well to combine. Turn mixture out into prepared baking dish.
- Dice the remaining 1/4 cup (half of 1 stick) butter into 8 to 10 pieces and evenly dot the butter over the top of the stuffing.
- Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 40 to 45 minutes, or until top is as lightly golden browned as desired. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Easy Stuffing Recipes:
All of my Thanksgiving recipes!
Slow Cooker Sausage Stuffing — This sausage stuffing is super easy to make since the slow cooker does all the hard work for you! There’s no sauteing or browning required at all and you can FREE UP YOUR OVEN!!
Homemade Stovetop Stuffing — With this easy homemade stuffing recipe, you’ll never need a box of the store-bought stuff again!
Cornbread Stuffing — 🧡💛🙌 Fast and easy homemade cornbread is transformed into a family favorite cornbread stuffing side dish with the addition of celery, onions, garlic, broth, and a bouquet of fresh herbs!
Pull-Apart Stuffing Ring — You’ll never guess the secret ingredient that not only makes this stuffing ring FAST and EASY, but also creates PERFECT texture! The stuffing is soft and tender, buttery and moist, not at all soggy, and seasoned to perfection with sage, thyme, rosemary, and parsley!
Originally published November 5, 2018 and republished with updated text November 20, 2020.
Delicioso. Outstanding recipe. We tried it for the very first time and everyone loved it in my family.
Delicioso. Outstanding recipe. We tried it for the very first time and everyone loved it in my family.
I tried it for the first time and the recipe came exactly. I really love it. Its truly amazing recipe.
Thanks once again.
I searched and searched for a stuffing recipe for Thanksgiving and finally found this one. There is A LOT that goes into making this stuffing. I made it for my families Thanksgiving dinner without trying it first. It was okay. No rave reviews about it. I will say it has way to much seasoning for mine and my families taste buds. Don’t get me wrong we love flavor but the amount of herbs and spices this recipe calls for was over done. If I make this again I will cut the seasonings in half. My hubby says I should never make this recipe again but I think it deserves another chance if I scale back on the seasonings maybe it will be better. One thing I did learn was to always use french bread in my stuffing. The instructions given on what kind of bread and how to prepare was awesome so thanks for the tip.
My first turkey! Our 10 person Thanksgiving dinner loved it and agreed that it was in their top 3 turkeys ever. Was easy to prep the ingredients the night before and assemble once the oven was hot on the day.
This is the absolute best stuffing I’ve ever had in my life. I made it for the first time 3 years ago when I was abroad for thanksgiving and I’ve come back to it every year since. It’s a huge hit! I even made it for Christmas dinner in Ireland this year. I always use a cheap baguette and fresh herbs. Delicious every time!!
This is the absolute best stuffing I’ve ever had in my life. I made it for the first time 3 years ago when I was abroad for thanksgiving and I’ve come back to it every year since. It’s a huge hit! I even made it for Christmas dinner in Ireland this year. I always use a cheap baguette and fresh herbs. Delicious every time!!
Thank you so much for the 5 star review and for making this recipe for the past 3 years! Great to hear that it’s the best stuffing ever and always a huge hit and that you were also resourceful when you were abroad and wanted stuffing :)
How many cups is one pound of French bread!
I don’t know because you need 1 pound of bread, how many ever cups you get out of that, I can say. It’s a lot and I don’t count them. I just keep chopping until I’ve got my 1 pound of bread chopped up.
I’ve made this stuffing recipe for years and it’s always a hit. I add sage sausage and apples in mine. I cook the veggies and apple slices in the sausage grease and butter. If you add sausage and apples, I recommend using more bread than called for just to even out the ratio of bread to other fillings. This year I made it with dried herbs rather than fresh herbs (for times sake) and I definitely noticed a difference. Will stick with fresh herbs in the future.
I’ve made this stuffing recipe for years and it’s always a hit. I add sage sausage and apples in mine. I cook the veggies and apple slices in the sausage grease and butter. If you add sausage and apples, I recommend using more bread than called for just to even out the ratio of bread to other fillings. This year I made it with dried herbs rather than fresh herbs (for times sake) and I definitely noticed a difference. Will stick with fresh herbs in the future.
Thanks for the 5 star review and great to hear you’ve been making this for years with some additions of your own, too! I agree, fresh herbs are definitely the way to go for us as well.
I made your stuffing/dressing recipe this year and it was perfect! My family gobbled it up. Will definitely make again. I wasn’t sure whether to measure the fresh herbs before or after chopping, so I measured first and then chopped. Turned out great!
I made your stuffing/dressing recipe this year and it was perfect! My family gobbled it up. Will definitely make again. I wasn’t sure whether to measure the fresh herbs before or after chopping, so I measured first and then chopped. Turned out great!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad that it turned out great and you will definitely make it again!
I chop, then measure. But really, it’s a super flexible recipe and either way works fine.
Made this exactly as Written and it was delicious. I have always been dressing challenged and this turned out absolutely perfect.. Next time I make it though though, I will add Dried cranberries and some nuts just simply because we like that. There is absolutely no need to do that as it’s perfect just like it is.
Made this exactly as Written and it was delicious. I have always been dressing challenged and this turned out absolutely perfect.. Next time I make it though though, I will add Dried cranberries and some nuts just simply because we like that. There is absolutely no need to do that as it’s perfect just like it is.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it turned out perfectly! Cranberries and nuts will be a lovely addition next time.
Made it for the first time ever followed the recipe exactly and it came out great !
Made it for the first time ever followed the recipe exactly and it came out great !
Thanks for the 5 star review and great to hear it came out great!