What is your favorite food to eat on Thanksgiving? Mine is stuffing! As there are many variations of stuffing out there, my favorite is a classic bread stuffing. I am so happy to share with you one of my favorite family recipes. My family makes their broth for this recipe using the turkey neck, then that’s the shredded meat that will be used. You can easily substitute that out for chicken broth and chicken meat. Taste mixture as you go along to judge whether or not you need to add any more seasoning. Keep in mind, the broth does have salt in it, so you may not need to add as much salt to your mixture. Nothing in this recipe is raw, so you can definitely fit in a few taste tests throughout the process.

Ingredients:

• Good quality crusty Italian bread like ciabatta, 1 big loaf cut into small cubes

• 1 cup (or little more if needed) chicken (or turkey) broth

• ½ cup finely shredded/chopped chicken thighs (or turkey neck made from the broth)

• 4-5 stalks of celery, finely chopped 

• 6 scallions, finely chopped 

• 1 bunch of fresh parsley, finely chopped

• 1 stick of butter

• 1 tbsp ground sage

• 1 tbsp ground thyme

• 1 tbsp poultry seasoning

• 1 tsp ground black pepper

• 1 tsp salt, or more to taste

Instructions:

To prepare croutons-

1. Fill one baking sheet of the cubed bread. Sprinkle with thyme and sage. Preheat oven to 350. Once oven is hot, turn the oven off and then place the baking sheet in the oven. Let them sit in the oven until they are toasted. Do not over toast or burn. Make sure they are fully dried out. They can stay in the oven untouched for 1-2 days. Then transfer them to a Ziplock baggie until you are ready to use. 

To prepare stuffing-

1. Preheat oven 350.

2. Place all the bread cubes in a large bowl. Set aside.

3. Place shredded chicken or turkey into a bowl. Set aside.

4. Melt butter in a large pan over low heat. Add celery, scallions, parsley, ground sage, ground thyme, black pepper, salt and poultry seasoning. Stir and saute until everything softens and becomes translucent. If it becomes dry, add a little more butter. This mixture should be very soft and fragrant. Remove from heat.

5. Use a spatula to pour the entire mixture over bread cubes, clean out the pan so all the drippings go onto the bread. Then, add the chicken and broth mixture. Start to toss to combine well. Little by little, add broth if it is dry. Use enough to get them wet, but not soaked. The mixture should definitely be moist. It shouldn’t look like it is swimming in the broth, but just wet enough.

6. Transfer into a baking dish, cover loosely with foil then bake for 30 minute or until evenly hot. 

We’d love to see your finished product! Post your picture on Instagram, tag us @danimade.kitchen and hashtag it #danimade