Simple Is Best Stuffing

A decade after Victoria Granoff introduced this easy Thanksgiving stuffing recipe, it remains a staff and fan favorite. As former BA test kitchen director Carla Lalli Music says, it’s “everything you want about stuffing—straight down the middle.” (Catch her making it here.) And yes, while we refer to it as a bread stuffing, it’s technically more of a dressing because it’s cooked outside of the bird in a separate casserole dish and not inside the cavity of a turkey. Why do it that way? It’s key to achieving both a golden brown crust and a buttery, custardy center.

Cooking an entire Thanksgiving dinner is time-intensive enough, so this recipe gets right to the point while maximizing flavor and texture. For that crispy top, skip the bread cubes and tear into a good loaf of dried-out crusty white bread—meaning an Italian or French bread, like a pane Pugliese, boule, miche, or a sourdough bread such as pain de campagne, not packaged sandwich bread. Those irregular chunks will make for a more interesting texture than uniform cubes and an appealing rustic look to boot.

If you’re short on prep time, store-bought chicken broth is fine; be sure to go low-sodium to keep the salt in check. (Of course, we always recommend making chicken stock ahead of time, if possible). But we won’t concede on dried herbs. Fresh parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme (sing it with us) make this classic stuffing stand out—and they’re helpful to have on hand for other holiday classics.

If you want to mix it up with other kinds of bread (we see you, brioche and cornbread!) or without any bread at all, we’ve got plenty more homemade stuffing recipes to choose from.