There’s no Thanksgiving dinner without roasted turkey. But there’s no roasted turkey without the juicy and delicious stuffing inside. As you plan your holiday menu, you must have at least one Thanksgiving stuffing for the table.
Traditional stuffing usually means you cook this side dish inside the bird’s cavity. However, stuffing recipes evolved so you can have this holiday goodness without risking an undercooked delicacy inside a turkey.
Thus, you now cook stuffing in a baking dish or right into a hot crock pot. This ensures you get a hot and well-cooked dish the whole party will enjoy.
1. Cornbread Stuffing with Sausage and Bacon
Many are familiar with simple cornbread stuffing. But what if you can take that classic stuffing recipe and elevate it into a more flavorful side dish?
The flavors in this homemade stuffing recipe are classic – sausage, bacon, and cornbread. But they come together to form a savory and luxurious dish. The flavor profile is incredibly full of depth, as you get sweetness, saltiness, and more.
You’ll need cornbread, pecans, peppered bacon, and sausage with sage. For aromatics, you must have an onion, celery, fresh parsley, rosemary, rubbed sage, thyme, salt, black pepper, butter, chicken stock, and sage leaves.
2. Sausage, Apple, and Cranberry Stuffing
A Thanksgiving meal is a heartwarming occasion people look forward to during fall. Thus, we need a recipe that captures the taste of autumn and put it into a side dish. This delicious stuffing achieves that!
Besides being a savory sausage stuffing, it also features fruity flavors from apples and cranberries. These, combined with fresh herbs, sourdough bread, butter, and shallots, make an impeccable and outstanding flavor profile.
To make this stuffing, you’ll need crusty artisan bread, Italian sausage, dried cranberries, and diced apples. You’ll also need pecans, shallots, onion, parsley, sage, rosemary, chicken stock, and unsalted butter.
3. Cheesy Herb Stuffing
Cheesy stuffing isn’t traditional, but what dish isn’t made better by cheese? Thus, we’re taking a well-loved stuffing recipe and giving it a cheesy and unforgettable twist.
To make this cheesy herb stuffing, you’ll need french bread, olive oil, yellow onion, salt, black pepper, celery, carrots, Italian parsley, low-sodium chicken broth, egg, and cheddar cheese. To make dry bread cubes, leave the french bread out overnight, then dice.
Preheat the oven and prep the vegetables, bread, and herbs by following the directions. Everything comes together in a prepared baking dish and cooked until golden brown, aromatic, and cheesy.
4. Artichoke Parmesan Sourdough Stuffing
Are you planning gourmet feels for your Thanksgiving feast? If so, this artichoke parmesan sourdough stuffing will find its place on your menu. The elements of this dish elevate a humble holiday side dish.
This dish has three main components: sourdough bread, marinated artichoke hearts, and freshly grated parmesan cheese. Besides those, you’ll also need mushrooms, butter, onions, celery, garlic, reduced-sodium chicken broth, rosemary, black pepper, and egg.
You can make this recipe ahead of time by baking it in a casserole dish. But there are also directions for cooking this as an actual turkey stuffing.
5. Caramelized Onion and Apple Stuffing
Caramelized onions aren’t just perfect for Philly cheesesteaks, BBQ sandwiches, and burgers. They also help make a great Thanksgiving stuffing, especially combined with juicy apples. This recipe features rich and sweet flavors, a culinary delight for a holiday get-together.
This recipe is homemade, such that you’ll make the caramelized onions from scratch. Thus, you’ll need olive oil, yellow onions, thyme, kosher salt, ground pepper, red wine, and cider vinegar.
Once the onions are ready, you’ll prep the stuffing. You’ll need multigrain bread, olive oil, black pepper, butter, celery, onion, red apples, sage, thyme, salt, and chicken broth.
6. Black and Brown Rice Stuffing With Walnuts and Pears
Not fond of dried bread cubes? You can make delicious and elegant stuffing using rice instead. This recipe features not just one rice but a blend of black and brown grains. Black rice is also known as forbidden rice.
You’ll need black rice, brown rice, chicken or vegetable stock, salt, olive oil, onion, celery, garlic cloves, and butter. Other necessary ingredients are pears, toasted walnuts, lentils, sage, thyme leaves, and ground pepper.
Because there’s no bread mixture, the flavors and textures in this stuffing side dish are unique. It’s also healthy as both types of rice contribute essential nutrients.
7. Pineapple Stuffing
Stuffing is usually a savory side dish, but this pineapple stuffing is a cross between that and a dessert. Although the author recommends this for Easter, it also works great in bringing fresh flavors to your Thanksgiving table.
To make this stuffing, you’ll need butter, granulated sugar, kosher salt, eggs, crushed pineapple, and soft bread. Before adding eggs, you’ll cream butter, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Then fold in pineapples with their juice.
Tear bread into pieces and add to the bowl to make a pineapple and bread mixture. Place in a baking dish, then bake until golden.
8. Keto Stuffing
Have some beloved guests on a strict keto diet? There’s no need to leave them out when you can make excellent keto stuffing without all the heavy carbs. It tastes so good you can’t tell the difference!
To make this keto stuffing, you’ll need keto bread, melted butter, celery, leeks, garlic, Italian blend seasoning, sage, salt, pepper, olive oil, and chicken broth. You can include celery seasoning for more flavor.
Crumble the bread and drizzle with oil before baking to make toasted bread crumbs or pieces. While that cooks, sauté vegetables, then combine everything and bake. Serve hot!
9. Vegan Stuffing
If you’re a vegan, you’ll know that finding options that align with your lifestyle can be challenging. To help ease the burden, I’ve found the best stuffing recipe you can have for Thanksgiving.
This vegan-friendly recipe made a lot of adaptations to replicate the same hearty and homey flavors without including non-vegan ingredients. For instance, instead of meat, there are lentils, flax eggs for regular eggs, and vegetable broth for chicken.
You’ll need whole-grain bread, green lentils, olive oil, vegan butter, onions, and celery. You must also have salt, pepper, vegetable broth, flaxseed meal, water, and dried sage.
10. Slow Cooker Stuffing
Is your oven busy? There’s no need to fret – get your crock pot instead so you can make stuffing while prepping other baked dishes. It saves time, makes many dishes, and you get a grand Thanksgiving!
For this slow cooker stuffing recipe, you’ll need white sandwich bread, dried bread cubes, low-sodium chicken broth, eggs, poultry seasoning, and salt. There’s also black pepper, unsalted butter, yellow onion, celery, carrot, and fresh herbs.
The fresh herbs are parsley, sage, thyme, marjoram, and rosemary. It cooks for three to five hours in the slow cooker but no worries because you’ll only be waiting.
10 Creative Stuffing Recipes for Thanksgiving
Make a standout side dish using these Thanksgiving stuffing recipes.
Ingredients
Cornbread Stuffing with Sausage and Bacon
Sausage, Apple, and Cranberry Stuffing
Cheesy Herb Stuffing
Artichoke Parmesan Sourdough Stuffing
Caramelized Onion and Apple Stuffing
Black and Brown Rice Stuffing With Walnuts and Pears
Pineapple Stuffing
Keto Stuffing
Vegan Stuffing
Slow Cooker Stuffing
Directions
- Select your favorite recipe.
- Organize all the required ingredients.
- Prep a stuffing for Thanksgiving in 30 minutes or less!