As a child, stuffing was my least favorite part of Thanksgiving. All the other young’ns at school raved about how much they loved stuffing, but in my tiny head, I was like “ya’ll crazy, this tastes like turkey vomit.” Since I was the only brown kid in class, I assumed that stuffing was a food for white people and kept my mouth shut.
If you don’t want to read my ramblings on stuffing, head to the recipe video over here.
Later I realized a few things. One, I was eating boxed Stovetop stuffing, which is made with garbage ingredients and therefore tastes like garbage. And two, the reason stuffing tasted like turkey vomit to me was that it was being cooked inside of a turkey’s arsethole, which is not that dissimilar from turkey vomit.
Then I started making my own stuffing from scratch (I definitely did not shove it inside of a turkey’s buttocks) and surprise surprise, I started to love stuffing. You can check out the video I made over on Youtube here.
This classic stuffing recipe is super easy to make and you can customize it however you like. It’s traditional to use celery in stuffing, but I sort of hate celery, so I used a bell pepper instead. If you can’t find leeks, simply use onions instead. And feel free to get fancy with the bread, and use any day-old fresh bread you like. But don’t omit the sage or garlic – they’re going to make your kitchen smell fantastic, like you bottled up Thanksgiving dinner and turned it into a scented candle. If that doesn’t sound appetizing, just trust me.
Another great thing about this recipe is that you can prepare most of it in advance. Once you finish cooking the vegetable mixture, let it cool and then store it in an airtight container in your fridge. Simply cover the casserole pan with the bread pieces, dried cherries and pecans with aluminum foil. When you’re ready to bake the stuffing, just pour the vegetable mixture on top of the bread and add a few splashes of vegetable stock to keep things moist.
If you love this classic vegan Thanksgiving stuffing as much as we do, please be sure to leave a rating and review below :) And as always, I love seeing your remakes on Instagram!
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Classic Thanksgiving Stuffing (Vegan)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons vegan butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon fresh sage, finely chopped
- 2 leeks, white and light green parts only, diced
- 1 carrot, diced
- 1 small bell pepper, diced
- 1 Granny smith apple, unpeeled and chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup vegetable broth, plus extra ½ cup as needed
- 1 loaf of day-old French bread or other bread (approximately 6 cups), cubed
- ¼ cup dried unsweetened cherries
- ½ cup pecans, toasted
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Minced parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF or 175ºC.
- Heat a deep skillet or saucepan over medium heat, then add the vegan butter and olive oil.
- Once melted, add in the sage, leeks, carrot and bell pepper and cook for 3-5 minutes.
- Once the leeks are translucent, add the garlic, chopped apple and a generous amount of salt and pepper.
- After the apples have cooked for 2 minutes, pour in the vegetable broth and season with more salt and pepper as needed. Saute the mixture for 1 to 2 more minutes.
- While the vegetable mixture is cooking, chop or tear the bread into approximately 1/2-inch squares and place in a 9×9 inch casserole dish. Add the dried cranberries and pecans to the bread and spread evenly.
- Pour the vegetable mixture over the bread and spread evenly.
- Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring the stuffing halfway through cooking to help meld the flavors.
- Remove the foil and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes until the stuffing is golden brown and crisp on top.
- Remove and let cool 5 minutes. Top with minced parsley.
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I have been making this stuffing recipe every Thanksgiving for the past three years. I’m coming back to it now in August because I just couldn’t wait another three months to have it! It really is just THAT good! Thank you Nisha :)
Aw, how sweet! So awesome to hear how much you love the recipe :) Cheers!
Is it possible to make this recipe in the Instant Pot? Thanks!
This recipe was the best! I doubled the recipe and the leftovers were gone in one day. I didn’t make any modifications.
That’s so great to hear, Janet! Next time, would you mind leaving a rating alongside your review? Star ratings are big help to readers who are thinking of making the recipe. Thanks!
Love, love love this recipe. I just lefted out the nuts since I had already made my Nut Loaf. I also substituted your cherries and put in whole cranberries!! Yum! Yum!! 🙋♀️
Hi Nisha! I’m curious about one of the ingredients. It says under ingredients dried, unsweetened cherries but in the directions is says cranberries. Does it make a difference? Thank you!
Hi there Nikki, unsweetened dried cherries are a lot less sweet than cranberries so Nisha prefers to use those but either work!
Hi Nisha!Do you have suggestions for an alternative to the vegan butter? Btw cannot wait to try this for Thanksgiving this year!! xo
Hi Alexis! Sorry for the delayed response (I was on vacation)! You can use olive oil instead :)
It looks delicious, I have never eaten it, hope that I want to complete this thing soon.
Thanks for your comment, Sebastian! Stuffing is so delicious and this version is so easy to make. Hope you give it a try!
How incredible this stuffing is! I love the balance of sweet and savory, as well as being such a healthy dish. Perfect choice for our Thanksgiving feast!
Thank you so much, Noelle Yes, it’s the perfect combo of sweet and savory. Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
This sounds absolutely amazing! I never cooked a Thanksgiving meal since I am not American but I love that you came up with this alternative. Why torture an innocent turkey when you can have something cruelty-free, healthy and delicious instead :)
Thank you so much for the kind comment, Ela! Yes, I totally agree! There’s absolutely no need to slaughter innocent animals to enjoy a holiday with friends and family. Thanks for stopping by!
This looks and sounds very delicious Nisha :-)Love this idea <3
Thank you, sweetheart! It’s so tasty :)