Fresh Herb Stuffing

This recipe may be big on flavor, but you'll need very little time to throw it together—under an hour, in fact. Thanksgiving stuffing is a classic dish—simple and easy to make. And there's honestly nothing yummier than a big pile of it drizzled with gravy. Though you can buy boxed versions a classic recipe such as this one — which relies on fresh as opposed to freeze-dried veggies, and uses real bread — is much more flavorful and filling. 

What is stuffing made from?

While there are many kinds of stuffing, each with their own unique mix of ingredients, the basic foundation is bread, vegetables such as celery and onions, stock, butter, and herbs. 

What herbs are traditional with stuffing?

Standard herbs in Thanksgiving stuffing often include a mix of sage, rosemary, parsley, and thyme. While many recipes will provide different mixes of that—with some additions or substitutions—we found that a simpler mix of fresh thyme with plenty of flat-leaf parsley actually allows the thyme to really shine, without the flavors getting muddled together.

Should you cook stuffing inside the turkey?

We've included instructions for cooking this stuffing inside the turkey as well as for baking it separately — though we suggest you cook them both separately. While traditionally stuffing was cooked inside the bird (which is why it's called stuffing, of course!), there aren't many advantages to doing it that way. Using homemade or store-bought stock gives the stuffing all the flavor you'd get from cooking them together, and you don't risk overcooking the bird or undercooking the stuffing when you can focus on the best time and temperature for each. And since cooking a stuffed bird takes so much longer, you don't really save time doing it that way either.