There are many misconceptions about stuffing. Everybody’s favorite Thanksgiving side, but how often do we eat it on regular non-turkey days?
First, let’s get clear. There’s no reason to limit your Thanksgiving stuffing recipe to that signature box with a bag of croutons and spice seasoning inside. You can absolutely make stuffing from scratch using your own bread from the kitchen and lots of other delicious ingredients in a variety of combinations.
The other thing is, lots of people moan and complain that there’s never any stuffing left over. It’s pretty easy to make more! All you have to do is get in the habit of thinking about stuffing and making sure to have some on hand anytime you cook roasted meat and want some delicious, stick to your ribs comfort sides to go along with it.
Let’s start by detailing foods you might find in your refrigerator that will go great in your stuffing:
Bread of course. It’s better if the bread is a couple of days old, but it could be fresh. You might want to put it in the toaster. It’s really up to you. bread and butter, or some other kind of fat like a healthy oil, is the basis for a great stuffing dish.
You definitely want broth. Broth UPS the savory factor. Most go with chicken broth, but vegans can add veggie broth, or there could be beef broth around and you can easily add that to make your stuffing really rich and delicious.
Some nice combinations of vegetables to try in your next stuffing recipe:
- Onions, peppers and mushrooms
- Mushrooms, spinach and onions
- Onions, pear, cranberries, walnuts
If you don’t have onion, sub in scallions.
Your stuffing will be better if you add in a savory, fatty meat. (If you’re a vegetarian, you don’t have to add meat, of course.) Sausage is the traditional stuffing ingredient. But you could also fry up a package of bacon. Cook your meat ahead of time in a big skillet, and drain the fat.
You could also crumble ground turkey meat and add sausage-like seasonings i.e. sage, rosemary, and maybe a little fennel if you didn’t have sausage or you wanted to cut fat from the recipe. Ham could be a good addition to your stuffing, especially if it’s left over baked ham.
In that case, you might want to combine peppers, onions and pineapple for an interesting Hawaiian twist. Maybe not for Thanksgiving. Remember, though, that we can eat stuffing anytime we want!! And who doesn’t love stuffing?
Okay: so now we have bread, butter and oil, a mix of chopped vegetables, and cooked sausage or similar meat. Cut up and tear up the bread. Add this plus all other ingredients except broth or other liquids, to a big bowl.
Season with Herbs and Spices
A good, traditional American stuffing mix will include dried sage, rosemary, allspice, and maybe a little nutmeg or yellow curry powder… but go light on the curry. How much spice? About a quarter teaspoon of each is pretty good. Adding extra spice doesn’t necessarily make the food better.
Mix up the spices with salt and pepper. If you like garlic, shake a little garlic powder in. If you don’t have celery and enjoy the flavor of it, shake on some celery powder.
A fresh herb is a nice thing to have if you’re making stuffing. Flat leaf parsley is the herb of choice. If you don’t have any fresh herbs, it’s okay. Your stuffing will still be good.
If you’re using sausage and mushrooms, you can make this an Italian stuffing. To do this, use the same seasonings you would use to make stuffed mushrooms. Instead of onions and herbs, grate two cloves of garlic into the bowl and finely chopped, fresh parsley. Shake in a good amount of Parmesan cheese and mix everything with mushrooms. Instead of butter use olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
So all your dry ingredients are in a big bowl now. Use your hands to toss everything up and make sure the butter and oil coat the bread nicely and that the spices are well combined with everything else. Take out a big Pyrex dish and grease the bottom with some butter. Add your stuffing to the pan. Pour chicken broth over all, and place in the oven.
Other liquids you can use to flavor your stuffing along with the broth:
- Apple cider if you’ve made a fruit and nut stuffing.
- White wine if you’ve made a sausage mushroom stuffing.
- Half and half if you want your stuffing to be a little creamy.
The point of all of this is to search around your kitchen for ingredients that would make an interesting stuffing using what you have. This will save you money, reduce food waste and inspire the creative chef in you.
Happy Thanksgiving!
