This cranberry stuffing will complete your Thanksgiving dinner side dishes. Imagine the delicious juices from the dried cranberries, fresh vegetables, hearty chicken stock, and herbs all soaked up by wheat bread complement your savory turkey. For some classic pairings, serve this cranberry dressing with roast chicken, grilled pork tenderloin, or leave the meat out if you want to and serve it as a casserole dish.
Tips on Making Cranberry Stuffing
One of the advantages of making your own homemade cranberry stuffing is that it gives you control over what ingredients to put into it. So skip store-bought ones, and take note of these tips to ensure you serve the most delicious cranberry stuffing for your loved ones.
- Use tight-crumb bread like brioche, challah, white bread, and wheat bread. These types of bread are excellent in capturing the most amount of flavorful juices in your stuffing. For a gluten-free stuffing, you can also make this recipe by using gluten free cornbread.
- Dehydrate your bread for maximum absorption. To do this, start by cutting them into cubes or tearing them into small pieces. Then lay them on a baking sheet loosely covered with paper towels to dry overnight. Alternatively, you can toss them into the oven at 200 degrees F for 20 to 30 minutes right before making your stuffing.
- Experiment on the fruits you’ll be mixing to your stuffing by substituting or adding dried sour cherries and dried blueberries.
- Use firm sweet apples such as granny smith, honey crisps, and macintosh. These apples hold their shape well and do not become mushy after baking.
- Add other tasty ingredients like sausage, bacon, turkey breast, or sweet potato to make your homemade stuffing more hearty and flavorful. Simply crumble and saute them ahead of the vegetables and then proceed according to the recipe instructions. For extra crunch, you can toss in and top chopped pecans and walnuts.
How To Make Cranberry Stuffing
This quick and easy cranberry stuffing makes a healthy and tasty pair for your turkey, and also tastes scrumptious as it is. It’ll be a hit on your dinner table thanks to its fragrant spices, sweet fruits, and crunchy nuts.
Ingredients
- ½ cup celery, chopped
- ½ cup carrots, chopped
- ½ cup red onion, chopped
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ¼ cup beer of your choice, preferably pale lager
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 4 cups whole wheat bread, of your choice, crusts trimmed and cubed
- ¼ cup parsley, chopped
- ½ tbsp white pepper, ground
- 1 tsp tarragon, dried
- ½ tsp paprika
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup cranberries, canned, chopped and dried
- 1 cup whole water chestnuts, canned, drained, and chopped
- 1 cup green apple, chopped
- cooking spray
To Serve:
- fresh parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a baking casserole of your choice.
- In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Sauté the carrots, celery, and onion briefly until translucent.
- Deglaze with beer and reduce briefly. Transfer into a large mixing bowl.
- Add the rest of the ingredients into the same mixing bowl. Gradually mix to combine, either using a spatula or gloved clean hands.
- Set aside briefly to have the bread soak up the liquids, for roughly 15 minutes.
- Transfer your mixture into the greased baking casserole. Lightly tap to release any air bubbles.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Once baked, transfer to cooling racks and allow to cool down briefly.
- Garnish with parsley and portion accordingly. Serve warm!
Nutrition
- Sugar: 14g
- :
- Calcium: 199mg
- Calories: 585kcal
- Carbohydrates: 79g
- Cholesterol: 41mg
- Fat: 21g
- Fiber: 14g
- Iron: 5mg
- Potassium: 636mg
- Protein: 22g
- Saturated Fat: 11g
- Sodium: 1327mg
- Trans Fat: 1g
- Vitamin A: 2548IU
- Vitamin C: 15mg
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use fresh cranberries instead of dried ones?
Absolutely! Take an equal amount of fresh cranberries with the amount called for dried cranberries in the recipe. Your apple cranberry stuffing will lean more towards a tart flavor, but this will be easily balanced by the sweetness of the apples. Take note that it might come out with a reddish hue due to the juices of fresh cranberries. This also applies to fresh blueberries and sour cherries.
Can you make cranberry stuffing the day before?
Yes, you can make stuffing 3 or 4 days ahead of time, cooked or uncooked, and keep it in a plastic wrap-covered pan in the fridge. You can also freeze it for longer storage. It saves you time in cutting the bread and sauteing the other ingredients on Thanksgiving day.
Conclusion
A must-have during the holiday season, this easy-to-follow recipe can spice up your turkey and dinner menu. Your guests will be gushing over your savory turkey made special by our fruity and savory cranberry stuffing.Have your own special recipe to share? Submit Your Recipe Today!
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