Grandma’s Thanksgiving Stuffing is a classic stuffing recipe that has withstood the test of time. It has the perfect balance of chewy and moist, sweet, and savory and can be made entirely from scratch, or with some simple shortcuts.
Jump to:
- The Best Thanksgiving Stuffing Recipe
- What is the Best Kind of Bread for Classic Bread Stuffing?
- Gluten-Free Grandma's Thanksgiving Stuffing
- How to Make Your Own Homemade Bread Cubes for Grandma's Thanksgiving Stuffing
- Ingredients in Grandma’s Thanksgiving Stuffing Recipe
- How to Make Grandma’s Thanksgiving Stuffing
- How Much Stuffing Should I Make?
- How Far in Advance Can You Make This Classic Stuffing Recipe?
- Grandma's Thanksgiving Stuffing Recipe
The Best Thanksgiving Stuffing Recipe
This recipe for Grandma’s Thanksgiving Stuffing is easily the Thanksgiving side dish that our family looks forward to most each year. It has been handed down from our very own Grandma, and now we are passing it along to you!
It’s made with chicken broth, a mixture of amazing savory herbs and spices, and just the right amount of butter. A little crunchy on top and soft and chewy in the middle, it’s everything you want in a classic stuffing recipe. If you are looking for a switch our Best Sausage and Apple Stuffing recipe is amazing too. It has savory sausage with little bits of sweet apples. Oh Yum!
Grandma’s Thanksgiving Stuffing is made entirely from scratch, although you can speed up the prep time by about an hour and use bread cubes from the deli. If you really wanted to go all out, you could also make your own Homemade Chicken Stock, but we won’t judge you if you buy it from the box!
And if you're feeding a smaller crowd this year or need to make a little extra turkey, this recipe for Herb Crusted Turkey Breast is so easy and delicious.
For more of our favorite Thanksgiving recipes, check out our 33 Best Thanksgiving Sides.
What is the Best Kind of Bread for Classic Bread Stuffing?
If you plan to make your own dried bread cubes, you can use a mixture of sourdough, French bread, and wheat bread for Grandma’s Thanksgiving Stuffing. It’s best to try and find fresh bakery loaves, rather than pre-sliced sandwich bread which has a lot of moisture.
Pro-tip: save yourself a little money and look for bread in the marked down or day-old section of the bakery section at your local grocery store!
Gluten-Free Grandma's Thanksgiving Stuffing
All you need to do to make this stuffing gluten-free is to use gluten-free bread. You should be able to find either loaves or sliced gluten-free bread at the grocery store. From there, making the homemade dry bread cubes would be exactly the same process as it would for regular bread.
How to Make Your Own Homemade Bread Cubes for Grandma's Thanksgiving Stuffing
- Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
- Cut the bread into cubes, about ½" to ¾" cubed pieces, and lay them on a baking sheet in a single layer.
- Bake in a 250-degree oven for about an hour, tossing them a few times to make sure they dry all the way through.
- Remove from the oven and set aside while you make the rest of the stuffing. If you make these ahead of time, let them cool completely then transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Ingredients in Grandma’s Thanksgiving Stuffing Recipe
- Dry Bread - you can make your own dried bread cubes, or buy them in the deli or bakery section of the grocery store. You want them to be about ½” - ¾” in size.
- Butter - you can use salted or unsalted butter for this recipe.
- Onion - white or yellow onions work great.
- Celery - you can use the entire stalk, cutting it into uniform ½” pieces.
- Poultry Seasoning - you should be able to find this in the spices section at the store.
- Thyme and Sage - we prefer fresh herbs, but dried will work, too.
- Salt and Pepper
- Chicken Stock - you can purchase stock in the box from the store, or even make your own. You can also use vegetable stock to make this vegetarian.
- Parsley - fresh chopped parsley is an optional garnish. It adds a nice freshness to your stuffing.
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How to Make Grandma’s Thanksgiving Stuffing
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large pot over medium heat, add the butter and let it melt. Next, add the onion and celery and cook, stirring frequently, until your celery and onions are tender and translucent - about 8 minutes.
- Add the poultry seasoning, thyme, sage, salt, pepper, and 1 ½" cups of the chicken stock.
- Put the dry cubed bread into a large bowl and pour the chicken stock and celery mixture over the top of the bread. Gently fold the ingredients together - the stuffing should be moist but there should be no standing liquid. If it seems a little dry, add up to ½ cup of the additional chicken stock.
- Spray a 9" x 13" baking dish with non-stick cooking spray, then spread the stuffing evenly into the prepared dish.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 45-60 minutes, stirring gently every 15-20 minutes. The top should be lightly golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and top with chopped fresh parsley before serving Immediately. Enjoy!
How Much Stuffing Should I Make?
When you are calculating how much stuffing to make for a crowd, we recommend about 1 cup for a normal meal or about 1 ½ cups per person for Thanksgiving.
By these portion sizes, this recipe will feed about 15 people for a regular meal, or 10 people for Thanksgiving.
How Far in Advance Can You Make This Classic Stuffing Recipe?
Stuffing is best warm and fresh, but leftovers will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days.
If you want to make this the day before Thanksgiving, simply make the stuffing but do not bake. You can store the filling in a covered bowl, or another airtight container, up to 48 hours before baking.
Once you are ready to bake, prepare your 9” x 13” baking dish with non-stick cooking spray, add the stuffing from the fridge and bake for 45-60 minutes, or until the top is crusty and lightly golden brown.
Grandma's Thanksgiving Stuffing Recipe
Ingredients
Homemade Breadcrumbs for Stuffing
- 16 cups Dry Bread Cubes homemade* or store-bought (3 large loaves of bread for homemade)
Ingredients for Grandma's Stuffing
- ½ cup Butter
- 2 cups Onion ½" dice
- 2 cups Celery ½" dice
- 3 tsp Poultry Seasoning
- ½ tsp Thyme fresh chopped or dried
- ½ tsp Sage fresh chopped or dried
- 1 tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Ground Black Pepper
- 2 large Eggs
- 1 ½-3 cups Chicken Broth can substitute vegetable Stock (The amount of chicken broth needed will depend on how dense and moist your bread it. You want your stuffing to be moist but no standing broth before it bakes.)
- 1 tablespoon Parsley fresh chopped for garnish
Instructions
How to Make Homemade Breadcrumbs for Stuffing
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
- Using a serrated bread knife, cut the bread into cubes, about ½" to ¾" cubed pieces, and lay them on a baking sheet in a single layer.
- Bake in a 250-degree oven for about an hour, tossing them a few times to make sure they dry all the way through.
- Remove from the oven and set aside while you make the rest of the stuffing. If you make these ahead of time, let them cool completely then transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature for up to 1 week.
How to Make a Classic Stuffing Recipe (Grandma's Old Fashioned Stuffing)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large pot over medium heat, add the butter and let it melt. Next, add the onion and celery and cook, stirring frequently, until your celery and onions are tender and translucent - about 8 minutes.
- Add the poultry seasoning, thyme, sage, salt and 1 ½" cups of the chicken broth. Add eggs and whisk until combined.
- Put the dry cubed bread into a large bowl and pour the chicken broth and celery mixture over the top of the bread. Gently fold the ingredients together - the stuffing should be moist but there should be no standing liquid. If it seems a little dry, add up to ½ cup of the additional chicken broth.
- Spray a 9" x 13" baking dish with non-stick cooking spray, then spread the stuffing evenly into the prepared dish.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 45-60 minutes, stirring gently every 15-20 minutes. The top should be lightly golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and top with chopped fresh parsley before serving Immediately. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
*How to Make Homemade Dry Bread Cubes:
- Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
- Cut the bread into cubes, about ½" to ¾" cubed pieces, and lay them on a baking sheet in a single layer.
- Bake in a 250-degree oven for about an hour, tossing them a few times to make sure they dry all the way through.
- Remove from the oven and set aside while you make the rest of the stuffing. If you make these ahead of time, let them cool completely then transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Nutrition
Here's some more of the Best Thanksgiving Recipes:
- 33 Best Thanksgiving Side Dishes
- Crockpot 3 Citrus Turkey Recipe
- Herb Roasted Turkey Breast
- Easy No-Bake Cheesecake
- Cranberry Orange Sauce
- Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes
- Oven-Roasted Brussels Sprouts
- Garlic Roasted Green Beans
- Roasted Acorn Squash Soup
- Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan-Crusted Topping
- Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
- No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake
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Grandma's Thanksgiving Stuffing is made with chicken broth, a mixture of amazing savory herbs and spices and just the right amount of butter. A little crunchy on top and soft and chewy in the middle, it’s everything you want in a classic stuffing recipe.
Brande
Ok seriously... 2nd recipe I’ve tried and LOVED from The Carefree Kitchen! This stuffing is the best I have ever had and will NEVER go back to Pepperidge farms or stove EVERRRR in my life!! The toasted tops of this stuffing is a real winner, while still being nice and moist. I must say I used an extra 1/2 cup broth right before I transferred to the oven just in case (there was no liquid at the bottom still) and it probably would have been fine without! Basically obsessed with this site and can’t wait to try more! THANK YOU!!
Lucinda
Hi! I can't wait to try this! going to make it tonight and cook tomorrow
Question.. where does the egg come in? The ingredients calls for two eggs but in the video I don't see where the eggs were added? LOL Then I read back thru the comments.
Happy Thanksgiving All!
LR
Hi I was actually wondering if there is anything that can be substituted for the eggs?
Heather
If you want a smaller batch, can we just split the recipe in half?
Meghan
I made the homemade bread crumbs using wheat bread, and 3 loaves yielded 32c of bread crumbs!!! Yikes!!! I measured out 16c and added other ingredients- the amount of onion, celery and spices was spot on for the 16c bread but I needed way more broth and used a total of 4c. I also had to use my next size up casserole dish- 9x13 would have been too small. I have it prepped and ready to bake tomorrow- it smells and looks great, but I’m going to make an extra pan for my mother with all the extra bread cubes lol!! Happy Thanksgiving!
Nikki
Agreed. The measuring on this was super off. Way too much bread and not nearly enough broth. Unfortunately I didn’t trust my gut and not two pans of stuffing are not worth presenting.
Lisa
Can this stuffing be made a day ahead???
Ashley
I was wondering the same thing!
Carol
Yes. Pour it into your pan, cover with lid or Press and Seal wrap. Cook the next day.
I think the dressing is even better this way. It lets the flavors blend.
Wendy
Made this tonight for early Thanksgiving dinner. I had to add more broth each time I stirred during the 10 min intervals, careful not to overdo. Would have been super dry had I not. Could be because I used cornbread instead of white/wheat bread, idk. Turned out great! My hubby says reminded him of his Granma’s! Says no one has been able to replicate before ????
Also had to divide into 2 dishes (too much for 1 9x12 dish.
Thanks for sharing!
The Carefree Kitchen
So glad to hear your hubby loved it. Yeah, the cornbread could be a little more dry. Best wishes, happy thanksgiving!
elizabeth
Does the 16 cups fit in one 9x13 baking dish?
The Carefree Kitchen
It kind of depends on what bread you use and how dense it is. Mine fit in a 9 by 13" but some people are reporting it's too full. You could do a large baking sheet (Cookie Sheet) or even 2 9 by 13" baking dishes.
Jamie
Hi can I use Pepperidge farm seasoned bread crumbs instead of bread crumbs?
Tammy
I was wondering the same thing it seems my granny did that but she would also use one pan of cornbread with the seasoned breadcrumbs
The Carefree Kitchen
I actually haven't tried this recipe with cornbread. It should probably work just fine. Let me know how it goes!
The Carefree Kitchen
You bet! It should translate over to prepared bread crumbs just fine. Add enough broth to moisten the bread but no standing broth in the bottom fo the bowl. Best wishes!
Toni
Are the eggs optional? I see them in the recipe but not the step by step or the video.
Karen
I noticed that too. Put the eggs in, it holds it together.
The Carefree Kitchen
The egg are optional but the recipe will be more moist with eggs. I forgot to add eggs in the video and it turned out great but preferably, use eggs.
Jennifer
If I prepare the stuffing today, and put in fridge to bake tomorrow, do I use the chicken broth too or will it make it too soggy overnight?
Karen
Can you make this in a crockpot?
The Carefree Kitchen
It will be much more moist in the crockpot. The oven kind of dries it out and in so doing, makes the flavors more intense. Another option would be to make it in the oven and then transfer to the crockpot to keep it warm for an hour or so.
Sara
Could I put the bread in the toaster instead of the oven to dry it out to save a little time? I’m excited to try this on Thanksgiving!!
Amy
Can you stuff a turkey with this?
The Carefree Kitchen
You bet!
The Carefree Kitchen
I haven't tried the toaster oven but you can also cut it up and then leave it out on the counter over night to dry it out. You can also make this a day or two before Thanksgiving and then just cook it on the big day.
Jessica
Hi! Can this be made ahead or will it be dried out if I reheat it?
The Carefree Kitchen
Jessica,
There is a section above called "How Far in Advance Can You Make This Classic Stuffing Recipe?" that describes how to make this ahead of time.
Hope it answers your question!
The Carefree Kitchen
It's best to make it to the stage just before baking if you're making it ahead. Just mix it up, cover with plastic wrap and store in the fridge until you're ready to bake it. Then you can bake it before your Thanksgiving dinner. Best of luck! I hope you have a great thanksgiving!
Emely
Hello wondering how many loaves of regular white bread does it take to equate the 16c of bread cubes?
The Carefree Kitchen
I estimate about 3 loaves!
Scott
No comment just a question. Can I use chicken stock instead of chicken broth? If so how much will it change the taste? Will it taste better or worse?
Also I will be using this to stuff a turkey with.
The Carefree Kitchen
Scott,
Either will work great! Stock might give it a slightly richer flavor if you are using homemade. Otherwise, you shouldn't notice much of a difference.
Enjoy!
Robyn Cronin
What’s the best bread to use?
The Carefree Kitchen
Hi Robyn,
There is actually a paragraph about this above titled "What is the Best Kind of Bread for Classic Bread Stuffing?"
Hope that helps!
The Carefree Kitchen
You bet, chicken stock and chicken broth will both work. Best of luck!
Molly R Pavilonis
Do not actually stuff the turkey! Great way to have soggy stuffing and get salmonella!
Stef
I have stuffed the turkey myself for 20 years and my father and grandmother before me. No one has gotten sick. If you can eat the turkey without getting sick you can eat the stuffing. I prefer my stuffing from the turkey versus the extra one I put in the oven. This is my exact recipe, minus the eggs.
Jim U
I plan on using this recipe for T-Giving. Sounds exactly like my grandma’s recipe except she used a pinch of this and a pinch of that when it came to the seasonings. It will be stuffed in the bird. It will be interesting to see how the bird vs pan differ (if any) in taste. Will let you know.
The Carefree Kitchen
My Grandma's recipe had a few pinches too. haha! Best wished on your TUrkey Day! Yes, please let me know!
andrea ortiz
This sounds so yummy! Wondering if I can stuff a turkey with this recipe and if so how big of a turkey?
Hope
I would say this would stuff a fairly large turkey, probably 20lb or so. If you do a larger turkey, just stuff and put the extra dressing in a smaller pan. Happy Thanksgiving ????
The Carefree Kitchen
Yes, I think that would work great!
The Carefree Kitchen
To be honest, I haven't stuffed a turkey with this recipe. I usually just bake it in a baking dish and then stuff by turkey with an apple, onion, and some seasonings. I find that makes really tender and juicy turkey! I'm sure this recipe will work great in your turkey though. Let me know how it goes! ????