There is a long held belief that the smell that makes everybody who walks into your house say “Smells like Thanksgiving in here!” comes from the turkey.  I am a firm believer that the smell actually comes from the stuffing.   If you ever cook a turkey without stuffing or stuffing without a turkey, you’ll see what I mean.

I really believe that when it comes to stuffing, simple is best.  Please, no walnuts or cranberries in mine.  Just bread, onions, celery… you know, like our forefathers intended. 😉

This is my Nan’s Thanksgiving Stuffing, which is the only stuffing I’ve been eating for the last 35 years, tweaked just a notch.  My main tweak is that I use fresh french bread that I then cut up and let go stale instead of those little dried bread croutons that you get in a back, which is what my Nan uses.  I also use chicken broth instead of boiling water, and a poultry seasoning instead of plain old sage.

When you ask Nan for this recipe, she always says things like “Then dump quite a lot of sage in” without any exact amounts.  “Then I just mush in a bunch of water” (imagine that in a British accent, because she’s British) so I have tried and true taste tested the exact amounts for the perfect stuffing. I really believe that this stuffing is the exact perfect, simple, homey Thanksgiving dressing to go next to your turkey and your green bean casserole.

I’ve been asked “Why the egg?”  The answer to that is that I’m not sure! I know lots of stuffing recipes don’t use eggs.  Maybe it helps it all stick together.  I guess the best reply is that I use an egg because that is what my Nan always did.

I have also been asked if this can go inside your turkey.  Of course! It won’t be quite as golden and pretty, but it will still taste amazing.

Make this, along with my most perfectly moist Thanksgiving Turkey (Click here for my How to Cook the Perfect Thanksgiving Turkey with Step-by-Step Photo Instructions post) and you are all ready to host the second best holiday of the year.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:
8 cups of cubed, stale bread (I cut up a loaf of french bread into squares three days prior and let it sit on my counter for three whole days until it’s good and hard.)
1 cup of diced yellow onion
1 cup of diced celery
2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter
1 cup of chicken broth
1 egg
2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° and grease 10 inch casserole dish and set aside.  In a large skillet, melt your butter and sautee your onion and celery in the butter, until soft, for about 10 minutes.

Place your bread cubes in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, whisk together your chicken broth, egg, and seasoning.  Dump the sauteed onions and celery with the butter over the top of your bread and mix well.  Then, pour the chicken broth mixture over the top, and mix that really well.

Dump everything into your casserole dish and bake for 30 minutes.  Enjoy!