We love this classic bread stuffing recipe with butter, onions, sage, thyme, and parsley. Perfect with turkey, chicken, and for the holidays like Thanksgiving!
⭐️ Try our fresh mushroom stuffing with happy reviews!
#1 Secret for the best stuffing
The secret to the most flavorful, delicious stuffing is the type of bread you use. Using our garlic herb homemade croutons guarantees the best flavor and texture for your stuffing. Our croutons can also be made up to 2 weeks in advance, making your life easier!
Of all the traditional side dishes, stuffing is at the top of my list! Every Thanksgiving, I plan our stuffing before the actual turkey!
My Grandma always made the best onion and sage stuffing. It was from a box, but I swear she did something to make it her own. That’s why I’ve fallen so hard for this easy stuffing recipe. I love the butter-cooked onions and fresh sage.
Key ingredients
The best bread for stuffing is dry or stale bread. Fresh bread will make your dish soggy.
⭐️ Better yet, use homemade croutons. We use our garlic and herb croutons to make stuffing and bake cubes of day-old bread with olive oil, garlic, and herbs until crisp and lightly golden.
This process dries out the bread, making them perfect for stuffing (not to mention the added pop of flavor from the garlic and herbs).
Onion, celery, and garlic cooked in butter add classic flavor to our stuffing. If you don’t like celery in stuffing, you can leave it out.
Chicken broth binds the mixture and keeps it moist. We do not use eggs. In other stuffing recipes, eggs act as a binder and help to make the mixture fluffy when baked. We use butter and broth in our recipe for our binder and don’t miss the eggs at all. Here’s our chicken broth recipe. For a vegetarian bread stuffing, substitute the chicken broth for veggie broth.
Sage, thyme, and parsley add fresh herb flavor. I especially LOVE the sage. It’s the sage that reminds me of my Grandmother’s stuffing.
Quick overview. Making the best stuffing
Thanks to the onions and sage, this recipe is the perfect stuffing for turkey. Sage is such a fantastic herb with poultry like chicken and turkey.
To make stuffing, cook your onions, celery, and garlic first. I cook them in a skillet with a lid. We are not trying to brown them, just soften them. Add your broth and the croutons. When your veggies are soft, toss fresh herbs and transfer the stuffing mix to a baking dish.
How long to bake stuffing
Bake stuffing (uncovered) in a 350° F oven for about 40 minutes. I like to rotate the casserole dish halfway through baking. When baked, our stuffing is moist and set in the middle, and the top is golden brown and crispy.
Once your stuffing is perfectly golden and crispy, remove it from the oven and let it cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Allowing it to rest helps the stuffing firm up slightly.
What to serve with stuffing?
You can make this stuffing recipe anytime, but it’s perfect for Thanksgiving. Here are a few more of our favorite side dishes:
- Our Best Roast Turkey
- Perfect Turkey Gravy
- Creamy Mashed Potatoes
- Mashed Sweet Potatoes
- Sautéed Brussels Sprouts
- Roasted Carrots
- Green Bean Casserole (recipe coming soon)
What is the best bread for stuffing?
I use country-style white bread or a rustic loaf from my local bakery to make the croutons in this homemade stuffing recipe. Our croutons are great for stuffing as they stay firm when baked, maintaining texture instead of getting mushy.
If you prefer to use plain bread cubes. We recommend tossing them onto a baking sheet and bake for 10 to 20 minutes in a 350° F oven. This short time in the oven will dry the bread, making it stand up better in the stuffing mixture. Remember, though, you will lose a bit of herb flavor when not using the croutons.
Can you stuff this stuffing into turkey?
Yes, but when preparing a turkey, we prefer not to. Stuffing the turkey can affect the overall cooking process. The heat takes longer to penetrate the cavity. Stuffing your turkey pretty much guarantees overcooked turkey meat.
By cooking the stuffing separately, we guarantee we cook the turkey and stuffing perfectly without compromise.
Easy Herb Stuffing
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
We love this classic stuffing recipe made with bread! It is especially good served with chicken and turkey. This is an excellent Thanksgiving stuffing recipe.
For the best stuffing, use our homemade herb and garlic croutons. They are easy to make. If you do not wish to use croutons, tips are provided below the recipe for using plain bread.
When buying bread for the croutons and stuffing, choose a sturdy loaf. Some options include rustic French bread, Sourdough bread, or our preferred choice, a good-quality day-old white bread from a nearby bakery.
You Will Need
4 tablespoon butter
1 ½ cups finely chopped onion, 1 medium
1 ½ cups finely chopped celery, 3 stalks
2 cloves minced garlic, 2 teaspoons
1 ¾ cups chicken broth or veggie broth
5 cups herb and garlic croutons or good-quality day-old white bread, see below
1 teaspoon chopped thyme
1 teaspoon chopped sage
2 ½ tablespoons chopped parsley
6 twists pepper
1/4 teaspoon to 1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions
1Heat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit (176° C).
2Melt the butter in a wide skillet with a lid over medium heat.
3Stir in the onion, celery, and garlic. Cover and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.
4Pour in the broth and bring to a simmer.
5Toss in the croutons, stirring around the pan to combine. Cook for 5 minutes.
6Stir in the thyme, sage, parsley, and pepper. Taste, and then season with salt — depending on the broth you have used, you may need to add 1/4 teaspoon to 1/2 teaspoon.
7Bake the stuffing, uncovered, for 40 minutes, or until the middle sets and the top turns golden brown and crisp. Rotate the stuffing halfway through baking.
8Let stand on the counter for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Plain bread cubes: If you prefer to use plain bread cubes. We recommend tossing them onto a baking sheet and bake for 10 to 20 minutes in a 350° F oven. This short time in the oven will dry the bread, making it stand up better in the stuffing mixture. Remember, though, you will lose a bit of herb flavor when not using the croutons.
- Croutons can be made up to 2 weeks in advance.
- Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values.
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This was delicious!! Making the croutons (not hard) made all the difference!!
Can I prepare this recipe in full, cover, refrigerate and bake next day. Looking for some time savers. Will it be too soggy? At room temp, how much time to bake?
Hi Arlene, we would recommend that you just finishing baking the stuffing and then save it in the fridge. It would probably get to soggy if you baked it the next day.
Other than using garlic, this is exacly the same recipe I’ve used for several decades and it’s perfect. The last 15 yrs I’ve also added mushrooms and some apple for moisture because we were forced to use gf bread.
Hi Conni, We love using mushrooms for stuffing, too. Here’s our mushroom packed stuffing if you are interested. I’ve never added apple, but its a great idea! I’ll have to try it next time.
I use day old cornbread and I also use green pepper with the onion and celery, sage poultry seasoning seasoning salt garlic salt and black pepper, the chicken stock, some of the pan drippings from the roasted Turkey and butter
All sounds lovely, Jeani.
I love this recipe! I recognize it from my childhood. On a more humorous note I could title this recipe as “Yet another one of Grandma’s recipes and why she died so young” (No, I’m just kidding.) Having this stuffing once a year won’t hurt anyone. It represents a celebration by semi-starving people who founded this country. I think it’s symbolism is far more important than any dietary or ethnic protocols. I will never miss out on eating this kind of stuffing as long as I can.
This stuffing is exactly the same as my mom’s, the one that I have made for 50 years. By far the best stuffing.
I am glad that we agree with your mom. Mom recipes are usually the best 🙂