Holiday Dressing Or Stuffing
Dressing or Stuffing
I’ve posted this recipe before, its what I make every single Thanksgiving and have been doing so for many years. This recipe has undergone some changes over time, but has essentially remained the same for a while now. There are a lot of components but it’s pretty straightforward and easy to make. I don’t feed an army but make enough for a small army, everyone wants to take some of this home. I like to use cornbread in my dressing and a little bread cubes, lots of nuts, walnuts and pecans and I add them to the usual suspects, onion, celery etc… You can make it vegetarian by simply omitting the bacon and chicken stock (use vegetable stock instead), I’ve done that and it’s still really good.
Makes A lot of dressing/stuffing
Double your favorite recipe for cornbread (I use the recipe on the cornmeal package)
4 cups cubed herbed bread
2 cups ground walnuts
2 cups chopped pecans
1 Chopped white or yellow onion
1 Chopped Granny Smith Apple skin removed chopped into bite size pieces
2 cups chopped celery chopped
1 Pomegranate with the seeds removed its approximately one cup.(OPTIONAL)
1 pound good quality bacon cooked until crisp and broken into small pieces
2 tbs bacon fat
2-3 cups chicken stock (add in installments you don’t want your stuffing to wet)
2 large eggs lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk or half and half
2-4 teaspoons dried sage (If using fresh sage increase the amount to suit your taste)
2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper (black, mixed, your choice)
4-6 tablespoons butter to saute vegetables
- Double a recipe for cornbread, I like to bake it a day or two before I make the stuffing cut into cubes or break off small chunks and set out on a baking sheet to dry or you can scatter on two baking sheets and bake in a 200 degree oven until dried.You can also air dry uncovered but its quicker in the oven.
- You can make your own herbed bread cubes by cutting a day old loaf of artisan bread into cubes, toss with some chopped herbs (I like sage) a little olive oil and bake in a 200 degree oven until bread is toasted or you can use bagged cubed herbed bread if you wish
- Grind walnuts in food processor and roast in fry pan on low heat careful not to burn, You will know they are done when you can smell the walnuts.
- Chop pecans, onion, apple and celery. Melt butter (You can use olive oil if you like) in saute pan add the onions and celery saute until onions are translucent then add the pecans, pomegranate,apple and the sage continue cooking until the ingredients are cooked through but not mushy. Fry the bacon until its crisp break into bite size pieces set aside.Reserve 2 tbs of bacon fat.
- In large mixing bowl add the cornbread and bread cubes. Add all the other ingredients Toss to mix careful not to over mix you want the breads to retain its shape as much as possible. Now add the chicken stock, eggs and milk and mix everything together. Adjust seasoning, add salt if you wish or more sage to suit your taste.
- Butter your casserole or baking pan and put your dressing in. Bake covered with foil in a pre-heated 375 degree oven for 45 minutes then to crisp the top drizzle some of the pan juices from the turkey on top and put in broiler for a few minutes until the top is crisp. You can make this a day ahead and then refrigerate.(Let sit at room temperature for an hour before baking) NOTE: I like to cover and bake then crisp in the broiler you can with very good results just bake uncovered for 30-45 minutes.
- I like to use as few pans as possible, in the morning I add the dried cornbread and bread cubes to a large mixing bowl and add what I cooked to the bowl as I go using the same saute pan for everything. Since there are so many steps here I find this makes sense. In the end I only have one saute pan to wash.
apuginthekitchen 
2 different nuts… I like that!
Yes, I love the nuts in this dressing. Thanks so much.
Stuffing! My favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal. I like the option of pomegranates. Very interesting!
The pomegranates are really good in the dressing. I try to use them whenever I can. Thanks so much. Everyone say’s that the stuffing is their favorite part of the meal.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you and same to you!
This is like my dream come true! For years, I’ve been wanting to try cornbread dressing, but with just 6 of us at Thanksgiving (and knowing people would want “regular” dressing too) it just seems like too much food. I’m loving this combination of both! You say cubed herb bread – do you buy this fresh, or buy those packaged dried stuffing breadcrumbs? I’m leery of those, but I’ve heard they’re actually pretty good!
I have bought pepperidge farm herbed cube bread before and it works great, sometimes I make it myself, like this year, I have a stale loaf of bread that I am going to dry today. I just drizzle with a little olive oil toss with some dried sage and put it in a 200 degree oven for a few hours. It’s really a delicious stuffing/dressing everyone here loves it. Thank you.
This sounds yummy no wonder your guests want to take some home. It’s not a stuffing I am familiar with, the one I make to go with the Christmas turkey is much simpler than this but I love the idea of adding bacon and pomegranate – I think it’s time for me to experiment.
Thank you, thats exactly how this evolved, a series of experiments. It came about as a combination of flavors from other dishes I liked a lot and morphed into this stuffing. Which I have to say is really good.
My most favorite Thanksgiving side… it could be the entree and I’d be happy happy happy!! This looks fabulous.. ❤
Almost everyone I know say’s the same thing about the dressing. Must admit it’s mine also. Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving.
After looking at several stuffing recipes over here you guys just do it better! They’re all very samey here. I was supposed to be going with my version last weekend. Hah, didn’t work. Right now I’m nursing a lousy cold so I didn’t make it this weekend either! There’s still time for me. Another four weeks, I guess.
I love playing around with stuffing, you don’t have to follow a recipe and can experiment. Take care of your cold, I just got over one. Drank Emergen-C every day 4 x a day it helped. Thanks Johnny! Lucky you still have time, Thursday is the big day here.
Yum! Looks wonderful Suzanne. I found some frozen cranberries yesterday, so have already made my (i.e. your) cranberry sauce – ready and waiting in the fridge and it tastes fabulous! Now just have to keep up with you for the rest of the week – eek! I’m very grateful that a friend of mine is making a gorgeous ‘Deep Dish Apple Pie’ to bring, so I can relax on the dessert front… I’ve never made stuffing before, but will be giving it a go with your recipe this year! 🙂 Thanks again Suzanne.
So happy the cranberry is good and how fantastic your friend is bringing an apple pie. By the time you are done you will be a bonafide Thanksgiving expert. Stuffing is easy, mine makes enough for a small army so cut the recipe in half if you don’t want stuffing for a month. Thanks for giving this a go, I am so excited and thrilled.
Once again you have me drooling! Wow, this sounds delicious. Probably beyond my skill level (or maybe patience level) but I’ll keep it in mind. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
LOL, this is easy, honestly I am sure you could do it. Your chicken turned out beautifully!
Oh this is a good one! I think I’ll take you up on the nuts. Although I have had them in dressing before I have never added nuts to mine. Keep posting your Thanksgiving recipes! Love them.
The nuts really make this dressing special, especially the ground toasted walnuts, they are fantastic in this with the cornbread. Thanks so much.
Oh Suzanne, this looks and sounds wonderful. I love apple in stuffing, and bacon… oh, that must be the best part!
Thank you so much, yes the apples and bacon are a really nice addition.
Stuffing is my favorite part of Thanksgiving hands down, I can’t even get it out of the oven or stove top before I start snacking on it, yum!
Oh me too, I love it. Thanks so much Pamela.
What fantastic looking stuffing!
Thank you so much, Happy Thanksgiving!
I’m not much on making stuffing (but put a bowl in front of me and I’ll polish it off) as it seems like a lot of work. But yours looks amazing. Wonder if I could convince my mom to let me bring the stuffing this year? 😉
Happy Thanksgiving, Suzanne Am grateful for having met you this year!
Thank you so much Liz, Happy Thanksgiving and I also am so happy to have met you and that I am following your wonderful blog.
Hope you have a wonderfully delicious Thanksgiving 😀
Cheers
CCU
Thank you so much and Happy Holidays to you!
Looks wonderful, Suzanne!!! Omitting the bacon? I don’t think so!!! Bacon and nuts is a killer combination in my book. I love it! 🙂
I did omit once when I had vegetarians over and it was good but not anything like the original, yes please, bacon!! The nuts also give this dressing a wonderful flavor and texture. Thanks Francesca and Happy Thanksgiving to you, Stefano and the children.
Hmmmm… yummy stuffing!!! Your guests are sure in for a wonderful treat, Suzanne!
Love it. 🙂
Thanks Stefano, it’s a marathon for the next few days I assign a sticky note on my computer for each day and check off what I do. So much prep for one meal. I hear you cook a great turkey!!!
Oh no, that’s far from the truth, Suzanne!!! I just do my best, but I could sure use a cooking class or three from you! 🙂
Well only if we could barter and you could teach me a little something about wine. Wouldn’t it be fun to get together for a wine a food day!
What a great dressing recipe! I love that you use two types of fruit, lots of herbs, and bacon. Will definitely try your recipe this year.
Thank you it has been a work in progress for a while but now it goes unchanged. It’s really nice and if you try I do hope you like. Thank you so much and Happy Thanksgiving.
Suzanne, it shows how people go gaga over stuffing. Nuts and fruits are must! 😛
Happy Thanksgiving!
There are almost as many variations of stuffing or dressing as there are people making it, I love fruit and nuts together in this and my inspiration was Fesenjoon (not sure if I spelled that correctly) the walnuts and pomegranate are so delicious I wanted that in my stuffing. Thank you so much.
That is wonderful!
Many spell the way you did, so it is OK I guess. Official word and its English spelling is fesenjan. Iranians tend to pronounce many words that end with ‘an’ to ‘oun’. In that case, it should really be spelled fesenjoun.
Thats good to know, yes I have always heard with the oun sound not an. It’s one of my favorite Iranian dishes,
This sounds wonderful, unfortunately, I could never make this with my daughter around as she is deathly allergic to all tree nuts 😦 Stuffing is my favorite part of the Thanksgiving spread-you don’t even have to wait a second for me to answer! 🙂
Allergies to tree nuts are horrible, I am so sorry to hear that your daughter has the terrible allergy. I have to agree, stuffing/dressing is my favorite and just about everyone in my family too, Thanks so much Christina!
This sounds fantastic Suzanne. I love stuffing, particularly when it’s choc full of nuts, herbs and dried fruit goodness. I can understand why everyone would love this so much!
Stuffing is the best, my family and friends always tell me they could completely do without the turkey and just opt in for stuffing. LOL, thanks Laura.
*Stuffing* 🙂
this recipe sounds like everything i’d want in a stuffing — apples, nuts, bacon, and sage. Oh. My.
Thanks Jen, it does have a bit of everything
I’m bookmarking this – I love stuffing but have never made one as delicious as this sounds. It sounds like a meal in itself.
This dressing is a meal in itself, pour some gravy on it and serve with some vegetables and I am happy. Thank you so much.
With all those nuts AND bacon! How could this not be delicious?!!
Thanks Rhonda, two of my favorite ingredients and they do really make this very special. Happy Thanksgiving,
Stuffing is the VERY best part of the meal for me and I LOVE nuts in there too !! My wifes family has always done a rice stuffing which I just don’t like … they “sometimes” humor me and take a stab at a bread stuffing (and bless ’em for trying) but … it’s just not as good as the one I make (my Mom’s recipe) … Thanks for sharing !! HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!
I totally agree and thank you so much. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.