Stuffing, or “dressing” if you live in the south, is one of the best parts of Thanksgiving dinner. But usually it’s made with the rich drippings from the roasted turkey, which means it’s off limits for vegetarians. But worry not! We’ve crafted a Vegetarian Stuffing recipe that is every bit as flavorful with its toasty cubes of bread, colorful vegetables, an aromatic blend of herbs, and a rich vegetable broth. This vegetarian stuffing is absolutely to die for and might just become your new staple Thanksgiving dinner recipe!
See this recipe in my Easy Thanksgiving Dinner for Beginners meal plan.
Ingredients for Vegetarian Stuffing
Here’s all you’ll need to make an incredibly flavorful homemade vegetarian stuffing:
- Vegetables: Vegetables add flavor, color, and texture to this stuffing. We use a mix of mushrooms, onions, carrots, celery, and garlic for this stuffing recipe.
- Butter: Butter keeps the stuffing deliciously rich and moist.
- Herbs: Savory herbs like parsley, sage, thyme, and pepper give this vegetarian stuffing a cozy flavor.
- French bread: A crusty loaf of French bread provides body to the stuffing and a vehicle for all of that delicious flavor to soak into.
- Broth: Broth helps the flavors permeate throughout the stuffing and softens the bread into the moist and rich stuffing texture.
Vegan Stuffing Instructions
This vegetarian stuffing can be easily made into a vegan stuffing Simply substitute the butter in this recipe for a store-bought vegan butter and you’re good to go!
Stuffing Flavor Variations
The best part about this vegetarian stuffing is that it is versatile. You can add so many different ingredients to change the flavor. Here are a few fun flavor variation ideas:
- Try adding diced apples, cranberries, or butternut squash to the mix of vegetables.
- Swap out the French bread for something like day-old cornbread, croissants, or brioche.
- Use a different flavor broth. Try a vegetarian “chicken” flavor, mushroom broth, or even a miso broth.
- Try adding different herbs and spices like, poultry seasoning, turmeric, Cajun seasoning, or even curry powder.
Make Ahead Instructions
Cooking Thanksgiving dinner can get pretty hectic, so I always try to do as much prep ahead of time as possible. You can prep this Vegetarian Stuffing up to two days in advance. Simply prepare the recipe below but stop after combining the sautéed vegetables and bread. Refrigerate the bread and vegetable mixture until the day of. Before baking, add the broth and stir well to combine. Transfer the mixture to the casserole dish and bake as usual.
Vegetarian Stuffing
Servings 8 1 cup eachIngredients
- 8 oz mushrooms ($1.99)
- 4 stalks celery ($0.75)
- 3 carrots ($0.22)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.25)
- 4 cloves garlic ($0.32)
- 1/4 bunch parsley ($0.20)
- 6 Tbsp salted butter, divided ($0.66)
- 1 tsp dried sage ($0.10)
- 1 tsp dried thyme ($0.10)
- Freshly cracked pepper ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp salt (or to taste) ($0.02)
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts ($1.38)
- 1 large loaf French bread (stale*) ($1.29)
- 1.5 cups vegetable broth ($0.21)
Instructions
- Begin by preparing the vegetables. Wash and slice the mushrooms, wash and dice the celery, peel and shred the carrots (use a large-holed cheese grater), dice the onion, mince the garlic, and chop the parsley.
- Add 3 Tbsp of the butter to a large pot along with the sliced mushrooms. Sauté the mushrooms over medium heat until they have released all of their moisture and have begun to caramelize and brown on the edges (about 5-7 minutes).
- Add the garlic, onion, sage, thyme, some freshly cracked pepper, and 1/4 tsp salt to the pot. Continue to sauté the onions are soft and transparent (about 3-5 minutes), add the celery and continue to sauté for a few minutes more. Finally, add the shredded carrots and continue to sauté for a couple more minutes, or just until the carrots begin to soften.
- While sautéing the vegetables, add the chopped walnuts to a dry skillet. Cook and stir the walnut pieces over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, or just until they begin to give off a nutty aroma. Remove them from the heat immediately.
- Finally, add the toasted walnuts, the remaining 3 Tbsp butter, and a handful of fresh parsley to the pot. Stir until the butter has fully melted. Taste the vegetable mixture and add a touch more salt if needed. It should be well seasoned.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cut the stale bread into 1/2-inch cubes. Add the cubes to the pot with the sautéed vegetables and herbs. Stir well to coat the bread in the butter. Finally, pour in the vegetable broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well each time before adding more. The bread will not be completely saturated, but will absorb more moisture as the stuffing bakes.
- Coat the inside of a 3-quart casserole dish with non-stick spray. Add the stuffing mixture to the casserole dish, spread it out evenly, and compress it down slightly. Cover the dish with foil. Bake the stuffing in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and crispy. Garnish with any remaining chopped parsley just before serving.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
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Seriously though, I need to make this year-round. This stuff is too good to save for Thanksgiving!
How to Make Homemade Vegetarian Stuffing – Step by Step Photos
Start by prepping all of your vegetables (unless you’re a skilled multi-tasker, then you can prep them item by item as you add them to the pot to sauté). Dice one yellow onion, mince 4 cloves garlic, finely dice 4 stalks celery, shred 2 carrots using a large-holed cheese grater, slice 8oz. mushrooms, and roughly chop 1/4 bunch parsley.
Add 3 Tbsp butter and the sliced mushrooms to a large pot. Sauté the mushrooms over medium heat until they have released all their moisture and the edges begin to brown and caramelize.
Add the minced garlic, diced onion, 1 tsp dried sage, 1 tsp dried thyme, some freshly cracked pepper and about 1/4 tsp salt to the pot. Continue to sauté until the onions are mostly soft and transparent.
Add the diced celery and sauté a few minutes more, then add the shredded carrots and sauté for just a couple minutes more.
While the vegetables are sautéing, toast 1/2 cup walnut pieces in a dry skillet. Stir and cook them over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, or just until you start to smell a very nutty aroma. Remove them from the heat right away to prevent them from burning.
Finally, stir the remaining 3 Tbsp butter, the toasted walnuts, and a handful of the chopped parsley into the pot with the vegetables until the butter has melted. Taste the vegetable mixture and add more salt if needed. It should be well seasoned. Turn the heat off under the pot and begin to preheat the oven to 350ºF.
If your bread is not fully stale (as mine was not), you can slice the bread, place it on a baking sheet, and put it in the oven as the oven preheats. Let the bread cool before you cut it into cubes (more moisture evaporates as it cools). I used one large French loaf for this recipe, which yielded about 10 cups bread cubes. Cut the cubes into 1/2-inch cubes.
Stir the bread cubes into the pot with the vegetables, butter, and herbs. Stir well so that the bread absorbs some of that yummy butter.
Add 1.5 cups vegetable broth to the pot, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well each time before adding more (I use Better Than Bouillon). The bread cubes may break down and crumble a bit as you stir, but that’s okay. The bread will not be fully saturated after all the broth is added. It will absorb even more moisture as it bakes.
Coat the inside of a 3-quart casserole dish (about a 9×13-inch) with non-stick spray, then pour the stuffing mixture into the dish. Spread it out evenly, then pat it down slightly. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and crispy.
Garnish the homemade Vegetarian Stuffing with any remaining chopped parsley just before serving. This recipe makes about 8 cups of stuffing.
Aaaand I’m probably going to end up eating this Savory Vegetarian Stuffing all myself. #oops
Fabulous! We made this for your Thanksgiving meal today. By far the best stuffing we’ve had in years. I used a whole grain, multi seed bread it turned out fabulous. The only other change, we used Turkey bone broth instead of vegetable broth. I can not tell you enough how good this turned out.
Thanks for the wonderful recipe.
I made this today and it was amazing! The only thing I wonder about changing is the walnuts. Any suggestions on a non-nut substitute?
In that case I think I would just leave them out. It’s not necessary to replace them with anything. :)
My dressing loving family gave this two thumbs up! I mixed it up the night before and put it in the oven while the turkey rested and was carved. Came out moist enough with a bit of crispy on top.
Why is there music playing on this page that I can’t turn off?
There was a communication error between me and my ad team, but it has been resolved. Sorry about the annoyance!
Beth, this looks delicious! I think I need this as a side dish to balance all the heavier Thanksgiving foods that will certainly find their way into my belly! :)
Would this recipe work as a “make ahead”? What would you recommend to keep the bread from getting too soggy or dried out? Thanks!
Hmm, unfortunately I haven’t tried making it ahead of time, so I’m not sure how that will affect the final product.
I haven’t made this dressing yet, but I routinely make my dressing for Thanksgiving a day ahead of time. I don’t bake it a day ahead of time. Once it’s been baked it stays moist and doesn’t dry out.
The secret to a dressing that isn’t soggy is making sure the bread is dry and that means drying it in the oven. The rationale is that bread that is left to stale feels dry, but when bread stales, the starch crystalizes, locking the moisture in the starch crystals, which makes the bread feel hard and dry even though it still contains most of its original moisture. When liquid is added you’re adding liquid to already moist bread. Bread that is oven dried is dry. This is from Cook’s Country.
I think if I were going to make this dressing in advance, I’d use oven-dried bread and about twice as much liquid. My own rule of thumb for how much liquid to use is whatever the volume of the oven-dried bread, say 12 cups, I use 1/4 to 1/3 that amount for the volume of the liquid, so 3-4 cups. A one pound loaf of bread that has been oven dried will require about 3 cups of liquid.
To oven dry bread, cut it into 1/2-inch pieces and place on a baking sheet. Put it in a 325หF oven for 50 to 55 minutes, tossing it about halfway through the baking time. Let cool and transfer to bowl to continue with recipe, or store in a plastic bag until ready to use. I also dry leftover bread like this and when cool put it into the food processor to make bread crumbs. Once dried, the bread cubes last for a very long time.
Do you think the final cooking in the oven could be done in a crockpot instead? We’d love to save some oven space!
Yes, probably! It won’t have a crispy top like the oven version, but you can definitely heat it in the slow cooker.
We make a very similar stuffing every year (we’re talking 50+ years history in our family Thanksgiving meals) and we always do it in the crockpot on low for 2-3hr.
The only thing we do differently is mix in 2 beaten eggs at the end, which may contribute to a good texture.
where was this recipe when i was vegetarian?!
Savory stuffings are my favorite! Thanks for this great recipe!
I’m a “stuffing” person too. And I used to love making sandwiches with leftover stuffing when I was a kid.
This sounds fabulous, and even though I’m not making Thanksgiving dinner this year, I might make it just to eat all by myself. My husband is vegetarian, but he’s not actually fond of stuffing for some reason. Maybe this will change his mind.
In the south it is dressing if it is outside the bird, and stuffing if it is inside – but to me it’s all stuffing since I’m from the north! :D
I’m from the north and it’s dressing if it’s outside the bird and stuffing if it’s inside.
In the south, we call it dressing. But in my family we never put it inside the bird. It “dresses” the turkey, so to speak. =)
Ugh I am so jealous that it is American thanksgiving this weekend. I might have to make this anyways because Canadian thanksgiving just seems like it was so long ago now and I need stuffing in my life!
Kailee — come to my house! I got my plans flipped, and I have no one to cook for now. (Boyfriend is having issues with his ex’s family, and my brother has to work (he’s retail) ) I had a huge meal planned, and now, no one is free until Monday, and I have to work Monday. If you’re up for a drive to Ohio, my front door is open! :)
This is stuffing. Dressing is something you pour on a salad.
Depends on where the world you are!
Looks great! I have been tasked with bringing the stuffing this year. How do you think this would turn out if I added some ground Italian sausage? I have a lot of meat lovers in my family.
I think it would be great and you could probably reduce the butter by about half if you do that. :)