Stuffing with Cranberries and Apples. This is the classic stuffing recipe I make every Thanksgiving and one of the must-have recipes for my family's Thanksgiving dinner.
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I need four things on Thanksgiving.
- Turkey
- Gravy
- Mashed potatoes
- Stuffing.
Oh, and a glass of wine or two. Everything else is nice; those four are mandatory, or it's just not Thanksgiving.
Here is the simple stuffing recipe I use every year, loosely based on a recipe from Pam Anderson. When I hear "stuffing," this is what I expect; more important, it's what my family demands at the table.
I have rotisserie "drip pan cooking" instructions because I always cook a rotisserie Thanksgiving turkey. I use the grill to free up space in my oven for all the other sides. I slide the pan of stuffing under the turkey when it has about an hour to cook. If you're not as obsessed with rotisserie cooking as I am, ignore the rotisserie instructions and jump to the oven instructions in the recipe.
Ingredients
- Butter
- Onions
- Celery
- Granny Smith apples
- Garlic
- Fine Sea Salt
- Fresh thyme leaves
- Fresh sage leaves
- Dry bread cubes
- Dried cranberries
- Chicken or Turkey broth
- Fresh ground black pepper
- Eggs
Instructions
Sauté the onions and apples: Melt the butter in a large frypan over medium-high heat. Add the diced onion, celery, and apples. Stir in the garlic, fine sea salt, thyme, and sage. Sauté, stirring often, until the onions soften, about 8 minutes.
Mix the stuffing: Pour half the bread crumbs into your largest mixing bowl. Pour the contents of the frypan over the top, add the dried cranberries, and stir until everything is mixed. Sprinkle with salt (if using homemade broth) and pepper, and pour in half the broth. Stir until everything starts to compact, then add the remaining bread and broth in batches, stirring until everything compacts enough to fit it in the bowl. Stir in the beaten eggs.
Fill the pan: Pack the stuffing into the foil baking pan. It will look like too much stuffing, but you can pack it all in there. Cover the pan with a sheet of aluminum foil and crimp it on to make a lid.
Cook the stuffing (grill): If using a rotisserie grill, cut a few 2-inch slits in the foil cover to catch the turkey drippings, then put the stuffing under the rotisserie turkey with an hour left to cook. Cook the stuffing for 45 minutes, then remove the foil cover and cook for another 15 minutes, or until the stuffing starts to brown and measures 150°F.
OR: Cook the stuffing (oven): If cooking in the oven, preheat to 350°F. Cook the stuffing for 45 minutes, then remove the foil cover and cook for another 15 minutes, or until the stuffing starts to brown and measures 150°F.
Serve: Scoop the stuffing into a serving bowl, serve, and enjoy!
Top Tip
I'm a charcoal snob, but this recipe works better on a gas grill. The even heat of the gas makes a great oven substitute. The charcoal grill tends to burn the stuffing around the edges and undercook the stuffing in the middle.
Equipment
- 11" by 15" foil pan (or 12" by 16" oval turkey roasting pan)
Adapted from: Pam Anderson, Sharon's Favorite Stuffing
Rotisserie Pan Bread Stuffing with Cranberries and Apples
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 16 servings of stuffing 1x
Description
Stuffing with Cranberries and Apples. This is the classic stuffing recipe I make every Thanksgiving and one of the must-have recipes for my family's Thanksgiving dinner.
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons butter (1 stick)
- 2 large onions, diced
- 2 ribs celery, diced
- 3 apples, peeled, cored, and diced (granny smith or other tart baking apple)
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves (or 1½ teaspoons dried thyme)
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh sage leaves (or 1½ teaspoon dried sage)
- 2 pounds dried bread cubes (look for the bags in the bakery of your local grocery store)
- 5 ounces dried cranberries (1 cup)
- 4 cups chicken broth (homemade chicken broth or homemade turkey broth or store-bought broth)
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt (if using homemade broth)
- 2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
- 2 eggs, beaten
Instructions
- Sauté the Aromatics: Melt the butter in a large frypan over medium-high heat. Add the onions, celery, apples, and garlic, then sprinkle with 2 teaspoons of kosher salt. Saute until the onions are soft, about five minutes. Stir in the thyme and sage, and cook until you smell the herbs, about another minute.
- Mix the Stuffing: Put half the bread and the cranberries in a large bowl. Scrape the onion and celery mix from the frypan into the bowl, then stir until evenly mixed. Pour in half the broth, add the salt and pepper, and stir until all the bread is damp. Add the rest of the dried bread and broth in batches, stirring until the stuffing in the bowl has compacted enough to add more bread. Stir in the beaten egg. Pour the stuffing into the foil pan and pack it in to make it fit (it will look like too much stuffing for the pan at first).
- Cook the Stuffing on the Grill: Crimp a sheet of aluminum foil over the pan, then cut slits in the foil so the turkey drippings can drip through into the stuffing. The grill should be set for indirect medium heat (about 350°F), with a drip pan under the turkey. When the turkey has 1 hour left to cook, replace the drip pan with the pan full of stuffing. Pour any drippings in the drip pan onto the sheet of aluminum foil covering the stuffing; it will drip through the slits into the stuffing. Cook with the foil covering the stuffing for 45 minutes. Remove the foil covering the pan. Cook until the stuffing is browned and crispy on top and measures 150°F in the center, about 15 more minutes.
- OR Cook the Stuffing in the Oven: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Crimp a sheet of aluminum foil over the pan and put the pan in the oven. Bake for 45 minutes, then remove the foil covering the pan. Bake until the stuffing is browned and crispy on top and measures 150°F in the center, about 15 more minutes.
- Serve: Carefully remove the stuffing from the grill or oven - foil pans will flex and spill. Scoop the stuffing into a serving dish, serve, and enjoy. (If the stuffing is going to sit while you carve the turkey, cover the pan with foil to keep the stuffing warm.)
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
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Notes
- Don't want to cook it in your drip pan? No worries, cook it in the oven. Put it in a regular baking dish instead of a foil pan, then replace step 3 with: Cover the pan with foil, but don't cut the slits into the foil. Put the pan in a preheated 350°F oven and cook for 45 minutes, remove the foil and cook until browned on top, about 15 more minutes.
- This stuffing for a crowd. If you are serving eight people or less, you'll want to make a smaller batch of stuffing. Halve the ingredients and cook in a 9 by 13 pan. Cook covered with foil for 30 minutes, then 15 minutes uncovered.
- You need a really big bowl for step 2. If your bowl isn't big enough to hold all the bread at once, start with enough bread to fill the bowl ¾ of the way full, stir in the sautéed aromatics, then stir in a couple cups of the chicken broth. Continue to add more bread and chicken broth as the mixture settles, until all the bread and broth are added.
- I buy dried bead in the bakery section of my local grocery store. They run old bread through their bread slicer and bag it up. I look for bags with a mix of different breads - white, wheat, pumpernickel - to get a blend of color.
- If you want to get really adventurous, you can swap multiple drip pans underneath the turkey during the two hour cooking time. Start with rotisserie sweet potatoes, remove them at the one hour mark, and replace with the pan full of stuffing.
What do you think? Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.
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