This Slow Cooker Stuffing turns our favorite homemade stuffing recipe into an easy make-ahead side dish. This stuffing is moist, flavorful, and can be made up to a day in advance.
If you are looking for more Thanksgiving stuffing recipes, you may also love this Cornbread Stuffing or Sausage and Apple Stuffing.
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Easy Slow Cooker Stuffing
When it’s time to plan your holiday menus, make-ahead recipes like this Slow Cooker Stuffing are total lifesavers. The finished stuffing is just as moist and delicious as our classic Grandma’s Thanksgiving Stuffing recipe, but it can be made up to 24 hours in advance and doesn’t take up any precious oven space.
We’ve kept things simple and added onions, celery, and herbs to the stuffing. But, feel free to make this recipe your own by adding cooked sausage, apples, cranberries, or any of your favorite stuffing ingredients.
Below, you will find instructions on how to make your own dry bread cubes for stuffing, but you can also use unseasoned store bought bread cubes. Any kind of unsliced loaf of bread will work great as long as you fully dry it so that it can completely absorb the liquid.
Key Ingredients
- Dry Bread for Stuffing - 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.
- Thyme and Sage - fresh herbs are great, but dried will work, too.
- 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.
How to Make Crockpot Stuffing
- Make the dry bread cubes. Bake bread cubes 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.
- Cook the onions and celery. In a large pot over medium heat, add butter and melt. Add onion and celery and cook, stirring frequently, until the celery and onions are tender and translucent, or about 8 minutes.
- Mix the stuffing mixture. Add the poultry seasoning, thyme, sage, salt and 1½" 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.
- Cook. Spray the inside of a slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray, then add the stuffing and cover with the lid. Cook on low for 4-6 hours, stirring gently every 2 hours. The edges of the dressing will become a little crispy and the liquid should all be absorbed.
- Serve. To serve, top the dressing with chopped fresh parsley. Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! You can make this up to 24 hours in advance if you want. Before cooking, just cover the stuffing mixture and store in the fridge overnight. The next day, transfer to your slow cooker and cook as directed.
For this recipe, the cooking time of your stuffing should take around 4-6 hours on low heat. This is assuming that you cook the onions and celery in a pot first, then mix everything together and add it to the crockpot.
You’ll know that your stuffing has finished cooking when it’s a little crispy around the edges and set in the middle. There should be absolutely no liquid, although the stuffing will be nice and moist.
If you find yourself with soggy stuffing, the most likely reasons are that you either didn’t fully dry the bread cubes or you added too much liquid. Make sure that your bread cubes are completely dry and crispy, and add the stock slowly as directed in the recipe.
Storing and Reheating Instructions
- Refrigerator: store leftovers in an airtight container or covered in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- To reheat: you can either microwave your stuffing or cover and reheat in a preheated 350 degree oven. If your stuffing is still in the crock pot, you could also turn it onto the warm setting.
Slow Cooker Stuffing Recipe
Ingredients
- 16 cups Dry Bread Cubes homemade or store-bought (2-3 large loaves of bread for homemade)
- ½ cup Butter
- 2 cups Onion ½" diced
- 2 cups Celery ½" diced
- 3 teaspoon Poultry Seasoning
- ½ teaspoon Thyme fresh chopped or dried
- ½ teaspoon Sage fresh chopped or dried
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
- 2 large Eggs
- 1½-3 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
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
- Using a serrated bread knife, cut the bread into 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.
- In a large pot over medium heat, add butter and melt. Add onion and celery and cook, stirring frequently, until the celery and onions are tender and translucent, or about 8 minutes.
- Add the poultry seasoning, thyme, sage, salt and 1½" 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 the inside of a slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray, then add the stuffing and cover with the lid. Cook on low for 4-6 hours, stirring gently every 2 hours. The edges of the dressing will become a little crispy and the liquid should all be absorbed.
- To serve, top the dressing with chopped fresh parsley. Enjoy!
Nutrition
More Thanksgiving Side Dishes
- Sausage and Apple Stuffing
- Chili Spiced Sweet Potato Chunks
- Roasted Sweet Potato with Lime and Chipotle
- Dinner Rolls
- Gruyere Mashed Potatoes
- Cheesy Potatoes
- Cheesy Potatoes in Crock Pot
- Make Ahead Holiday Potatoes
- Green Beans
- Best Mashed Potatoes
- Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Sweet Potatoes Casserole
- Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallows
- More Crockpot Recipes
- More Best Thanksgiving Recipes
This Crockpot Stuffing is moist, flavorful, and can be made up to 24 hours ahead of time. It's the perfect Thanksgiving side dish to add to your next holiday menu.
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