When I was a child, I always knew the holidays were nearly here when my mother started saving her bread for stuffing. She’d bake cornbread, break it up, and set it aside with cubed white bread. I’d think it’s nearly turkey time!
We had stuffing or dressing with turkey on Thanksgiving and Christmas. As a child, I called her good china the “turkey plates”. That made her laugh. My recipe is slightly different from my mother’s classic Southern recipe. I’m not a big fan of sage, and as an adult I started trying to find recipes without it. If you can’t think of dressing without it, feel free to add and adapt the recipe. This is a tasty stuffing that meets a vegetarian’s needs (if you use vegetable broth) while making the meat lover happy with apples, cranberries, and pecans.
Apple Pecan Stuffing With Cranberries
Use organic when available, serves 8, #gluten-free
Apple Pecan Stuffing With Cranberries GF
Ingredients
- 6 cups Tart green apples, cubed (Granny Smith are good)
- 5 stalks Celery, diced
- 1 Large onion diced (or 2 medium)
- 1/4 cup Fresh parsley chopped
- 1 cup Dried cranberries
- 1 cup Pecans
- 5 1/2 cups Gluten-free bread cubes (or regular bread, or 1/2 white bread & 1/2 cornbread)
- 1/2 cup Grass-fed butter or Earth Balance margarine (1 stick)
- 1 tbsp Fresh rosemary minced
- 2 tsp Dried thyme leaves
- 1 tsp Dried basil
- 2 Cloves garlic, peeled and pressed
- 3 cups Chicken stock or vegetable stock for vegetarians
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 tsp Optional ground sage
- 1 1/2 cups Optional chopped carrots
- 1/4 tsp Optional turmeric for a golden color
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
- If you're making your own bread cubes, lay the bread slices out overnight to get stale or toast them in a toaster or the oven
- Stack the bread 2 or 3 slices high and cut into cubes with a knife
- Wash, trim and cube the onions and celery (& carrot if using)
- Peel, core, & cube the apples
- Put all the vegetables, apples, cranberries, pecans, and bread in a very large bowl and set aside
- Melt the butter in pan over medium heat, and add the spices. herbs, and garlic and stir well
- Add 2 cups of the chicken stock to the butter mixture
- Use 3rd cup as needed below
- Drizzle the butter over the bread cube mixture slowly, while stirring
- Make sure that all of the dressing is evenly covered with the butter and chicken stock mixture
- If the mixture looks too dry, add a little more chicken stock
- Transfer the dressing to a large buttered baking dish
- Cover the dish with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes
- Remove foil and bake another 20 to 30 minutes until the dressing starts to brown on top
- Serve hot. Store leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container.
Enjoy!
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Nom Nom for stuffing. It’s great for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Yes I see you like apple! Hope you are enjoying all the Christmas preparations. Thanks for stopping by my blog.
That sounds delicious. You’ve reminded me i need to get the ingredients for our traditional cornbread dressing.
I make a very similar version of stuffing each year but I have NEVER thought of adding apples– YUM! Pinned.
These flavors pair so well together! I love stuffing/dressing but never thought of using this combo. Pinning so I can revisit to try one day soon!
Thanks for linking up this past week at our Encouraging Hearts & Home blog hop.
Sounds so good. But I am not sure about nuts. I don’t like nuts in things. Silly me. I would make this for the family though! Thanks for sharing at the Fabulous Party!
you can certainly make it without nuts, it’s still good – thanks for dropping by Sherry
This sounds so good! Thanks for sharing and Merry Christmas.
Sounds yummy!! Thanks so much for linking up at #AThemedLinkup 4 for All Things Thanksgiving. Shared.
Congrats! Your post is FEATURED at #AThemedLinkup 5 for Thanksgiving Recipes from my previous linkup for All Things Thanksgiving!
Thanks so much for the feature! Have a great day!
Visiting again to say thanks so much for linking up at #AThemedLinkup 5 for Thanksgiving Recipes. Shared.