Apple-Cranberry Stuffing
This recipe is perfect for serving with turkey on Thanksgiving.
Servings: 10 servings
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 3/4 cup finely chopped onion
- 1 1/2 cups chopped celery with leaves, approximately 3 large stalks
- 7 cups dry unseasoned bread cubes
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves or 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried sage leaves or 1 1/2 tablespoon minced fresh sage
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 7 tablespoons low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 3 cups apples peeled, cored and 1/2" diced; approximately 2 1/2 average sized apples
- 3/4 cup sweetened dried cranberries
Instructions
To Make Dried Bread Cubes
- If unseasoned bread cubes are unavailable in store, they may be made from white sliced bread. Arnold Country White bread works well. (French baguettes tend to be a bit chewy in the stuffing.) 10 cups of diced white bread will yield around 7 cups dry. Heat oven to 200°F. Dice bread about 1/2" and place on rimmed baking sheet. Bake 20 - 30 minutes or longer, turning periodically with a spatula, until dry.
Stuffing
- To back stuffing separately from chicken or turkey, preheat oven to 400°F. Grease an oblong baking dish, approximately 10 x 13".
- Set a 6-quart stock pot on stove, add oil and heat over medium heat. Add onion and celery; cook until onion is tender, approximately 7 minutes. Add thyme, sage, and pepper; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- In a small bowl whisk together eggs, salt, and 7 tablespoons chicken broth (4 tablespoons if cooking inside turkey).
- Off heat, to mixture in stock pot, stir in about 2 cups bread cubes, diced apples, and cranberries. Incorporate whisked egg mixture. Add remaining bread cubes. Toss to uniformly combine.
- If not cooking inside turkey, turn mixture into baking dish, cover with foil, and bake until apples are cooked, about 25 - 30 minutes.
- If stuffing a turkey, line cavity with cheese cloth, to be able to pull out easily later. Pack stuffing into turkey just before putting turkey in the oven. Extra stuffing can be baked separately in a pan as described above. Make sure stuffing inside turkey reaches 165°F before removing from oven. Before serving, toss together to combine the stuffing cooked inside the turkey with that baked in the pan.
Notes
Allow 3/4 cup stuffing for each pound of ready-to-cook chicken or turkey. A 1- to 1 1/4 pound Rock Cornish hen requires about 1 cup stuffing. Allow 1/4 to 1/3 cup stuffing for each rib pork chop. This recipe makes enough for a 12-pound turkey. 1 1/2 times recipe makes enough to stuff 20 lb turkey plus 9" sq baking pan full.
As a shortcut, one could use dry seasoned stuffing cubes and omit sage and thyme.
If preparing stuffing for Thanksgiving, to reduce stress on the holiday, chop the onions and celery the night before and store in refrigerator.