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!
Introducing
Big Vegan Flavor
Techniques and 150 recipes to master vegan cooking.
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.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Love this? Leave a rating below!
Hi Nisha,
I’m starting to look ahead to Thanksgiving already! It’s become my favorite holiday as Ive gotten older! Wish you could have come my house in the 80s when we were kids, I think my mom’s dressing would have been a pleasant surprise for you. It was always my favorite part of the meal because we only got dressing on Thanksgiving and Christmas every year. (Bell’s seasoning is the secret ingredient in New England.) Your recipe sounds delicious and is different from what we usually do, so I’m going to bring it to some holidays to shake things up! Hoping for some new Thanksgiving recipes from you in 2025! You’re my favorite cook!
Hi Heather, thank you so much for the lovely review! We’ve never heard of Bell’s seasoning, but we agree the seasoning is always what takes a dish over the top!
We’re so glad you’re thinking of making this stuffing, we hope you love it! I will be sure to pass along your sweet message.
Happy early Thanksgiving!
Yum! Yum!! Yum!!!
I really like your mushroom stuffing, but my whole family loves this recipe!
Thanks for the awesome review, Kelly! 🙂