Holiday Stuffing/Dressing (gluten free)
Why make your own stuffing when you can buy a mix at the store?
Well, if you are making it gluten free, it is rare to find a mix at the store, let alone a good one. If you are making it with gluten, just know that your own personal stuffing or dressing will far surpass anything you could buy and people will ask you to bring your stuffing to family holidays. Not kidding. This family recipe I’m sharing was one that I assumed everyone made. It’s nothing fancy and it also cheats a bit with a premixed spice combo – but you can tweak the spices however you wish to boost a specific flavor you love.
Ingredients
- 3 nice sized stalks of celery finely diced
- 1 large onion finely diced
- 1 loaf of bread, diced and dried out overnight (we use gluten free bread which dries out more quickly!)
- 2 eggs
- chicken broth (quantity varies)
- Italian seasoning
- garlic salt
- 3 cloves of minced garlic
- pepper
- 1 stick of butter (8 tbsp)
Directions
Step One
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook the diced onion and celery in the butter at low to medium heat. You will need to mix this pretty frequently and adjust the temperature if it’s burning the onion or celery. Cook this until the onions are translucent. Next add the garlic and about a tablespoon of Italian seasoning and cook a few more minutes. Take off the stove.
Step Two
If your bread is already diced and dried out – fabulous! If not, dice a loaf of bread that you like and bake it in the oven on a cookie sheet at a low temperature, approximately 250 degrees. To determine diced sizes of bread, simply think about what size you’d want to put on a fork 🙂 Prepare your cooking dish – I use a 13 x 9 glass casserole dish. Butter the entire dish – include the sides.
Step Three
Put all of the bread in a large bowl. Add the onion/garlic/celery combo while slowly stirring the diced bread. The goal is to coat all the bread. Next, start adding a bit of garlic salt. Add it just like you’d add salt to any recipe, and then simply taste it as you stir to see when it has reached the sufficient salt flavor you like. Next, add pepper, stir, and taste until it is also sufficient.
Step Four
In a separate bowl whisk about a cup of chicken broth with the two eggs. Slowly add this mixture to your bowl of bread. If it is too dry for you, add more chicken broth. Remember that you will be baking this, so it will dry out a bit as it cooks. I add chicken broth to create wet bread cubes, but not soggy bread cubes. The good news is this…if you start baking this and it looks like croutons, simply pull the pan out, drizzle some chicken broth over the dish and gently stir.
Step Five
Once you have sufficiently mixed your chicken broth/eggs into the bread bowl pour the mixture into your baking dish. Cover and cook for 45 minutes in your preheated oven at 350 degrees. After 45 minutes, take the cover off (I use aluminum foil) and cook for another twenty minutes. When done, taste test it! Add more garlic salt if it’s a little bland, honestly you can drizzle a little butter over it as well if it’s a little dry. If you plan to smother your dressing with gravy, you may prefer a drier dressing. My stuffing or dressing is the recipe of choice for holiday gatherings – and I always make it gluten free – no one even knows! Because this is the only dressing I know and grew up with, I suppose ignorance is bliss in this case – I’m happy to pass it on to you 🙂
Step Six
Serve and enjoy! With leftovers, store it in a container with a lid, and add a little chicken broth right before you warm it up, if it’s a bit dry. Stuffing, aka dressing, is fabulous the next day after a long holiday cooking extravaganza – enjoy! Gluten free or not, is delicious as leftovers, just be sure to seal it when storing in the fridge, which is why I try to buy baking dishes with lids.
Notes
Why do I use store bought Italian seasoning and not my own homemade spice? We definitely make spices that we consider our staple spices. However, Italian spice mix is not currently on my list of priorities – pick and choose your priorities and if it’s important to you, by all means you can absolutely make your own.
Stuffing/Dressing
Ingredients
- 3 nice sized stalks of celery finely diced
- 1 large onion finely diced
- 1 loaf of bread diced and dried out overnight (we use gluten free bread which dries out more quickly!)
- 2 eggs
- chicken broth quantity varies
- Italian seasoning
- garlic salt
- 3 cloves of minced garlic
- pepper
- 1 stick of butter 8 tbsp
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook the diced onion and celery in the butter at low to medium heat. You will need to mix this pretty frequently and adjust the temperature if it’s burning the onion or celery. Cook this until the onions are translucent. Next add the garlic and about a tablespoon of Italian seasoning and cook a few more minutes. Take off the stove.
- If your bread is already diced and dried out – fabulous! If not, dice a loaf of bread that you like and bake it in the oven on a cookie sheet at a low temperature, approximately 250 degrees. If you are unsure of diced sizes of bread, simply think about what size you’d want to put on a fork 🙂 Prepare your cooking dish – I use a 13 x 9 glass casserole dish. Butter the entire dish – include the sides.
- Put all of the bread in a large bowl. Add the onion/garlic/celery combo while slowly stirring the diced bread. The goal is to coat all the bread. Next, start adding a bit of garlic salt. Add it just like you’d add salt to any recipe, and then simply taste it as you stir to see when it has reached the sufficient salt flavor you like. Next, add pepper, stir, and taste until it is also sufficient.
- In a separate bowl whisk about a cup of chicken broth with the two eggs. Slowly add this mixture to your bowl of bread. If it is too dry for you, add more chicken broth. Remember that you will be baking this, so it will dry out a bit as it cooks. When I add chicken broth I am looking for bread cubes that aren’t soggy, but are definitely wet. The good news is this…if you start baking this and it looks like croutons, simply pull the pan out, drizzle some chicken broth over the dish and gently stir.
- Once you have sufficiently mixed your chicken broth/eggs into the bread bowl pour the entire mixture into your baking dish. Cover the dish and cook for 45 minutes in your preheated oven at 350 degrees. After 45 minutes, take the cover off (I use aluminum foil) and cook for another twenty minutes. When it is done, taste test it! Add more garlic salt if it’s a little bland, honestly you can drizzle a little butter over it as well if it’s a little dry. If you plan to smother your dressing with gravy, you may prefer a drier dressing. Make it yours and enjoy! My dressing is the recipe of choice for holiday gatherings. I am asked to bring it in lieu of other dressings that have come before at family gatherings. Because this is the only dressing I know and grew up with, I suppose ignorance is bliss in this case – I’m happy to pass it on to you 🙂
- Serve and enjoy! If you have leftovers, simply store it in a container with a lid, and you can always add a little chicken broth when warming it up if you feel it has gotten to dry.
Notes
