The sides are my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner and this doctored up Thanksgiving Stove Top Stuffing might be my very favorite of all. Using the breadcrumbs and seasoning that come in the Stovetop stuffing store-bought box are super handy, while adding freshly sautéed vegetables and the giblets from your turkey make for a flavorful, delicious side dish.
Whether you’re making this easy smoked turkey recipe, a Cajun turkey, a convection oven turkey, or cooking it the old-fashioned way, thanksgiving stuffing goes hand in hand with your holiday bird. (Regardless of which way we cook our turkey, we use this Citrus Turkey Brine!)
This glorified stuffing is out of this world amazing. And it’s so easy to make because good ol’ Stovetop has done all the prep work for us! You can adjust the add-ins for your personal tastes, but using this recipe guarantees you’ll have a crowd pleaser to set on the Thanksgiving table with Granny’s homemade sweet dinner rolls, cranberry jello salad, and creamy mashed potatoes. Every so often we make 2 stuffings for Thanksgiving, because they are all soooo good, try out our Cornbread Sausage Stuffing or our sourdough stuffing with sausage.
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What is Stovetop Stuffing?
Boxed Stovetop stuffing is a pre-made mixture of dried breadcrumbs and seasoning that you can cook up in just a few minutes on the stovetop by adding water and butter. A quick stir and simmer and you have fluffy, moist stuffing in minutes. It’s just as good as homemade stuffing.
We like to use Stovetop stuffing as an easy side or to mix in with some of our other favorite, easy dinners, but for Thanksgiving, we like to spice it up a bit. Stovetop stuffing can also be stuffed into a chicken or turkey, which adds even more flavor and moisture.
You can choose what kind of additions you’d like to use to make this doctored up stove top stuffing, but we typically start with celery and onions and sauté them in some olive oil on the stovetop. We also use the giblets (heart and gizzard, but never the liver because we’re not fans), which add another level of flavor to this stuffing.
We add in dried cranberries after the stuffing is prepared. I just love the contrast of the sweetness that cranberries add. I’ve tried raisins, as well, but those need to be stirred in to the stuffing after it finishes cooking in the turkey. Otherwise, the drippings from the turkey add too much moisture to the raisins and they plump right back up into grape status. ha! Pecans or walnuts can be a nice addition also.
🦃 Ingredients:
- Celery – dice your celery into bite-size pieces
- Onions – Sweet Vidalia onions or just your standard yellow onions work
- Turkey giblets – dice up the giblets into really tiny pieces, there is not much between the turkey heart and gizzard, but it really adds some texture and flavor to the stuffing. (Use the neck to make this turkey neck gravy recipe to serve over the stuffing, yummmm)
- Olive oil – you can use your favorite oil for sautéing the vegetables and giblets
- Butter – we use unsalted butter, the same amount of butter as indicated on the Stovetop package – don’t skimp, this adds lots of flavor
- Turkey flavored Stove top stuffing mix – We use a double pack of stuffing AT LEAST and if we want enough for leftovers, sometimes I even double this recipe and use FOUR packs
- Dried cranberries – adjust the cranberries to your taste, but definitely give these a try. It’s a great addition, the contrasting sweetness is so yummy. The cranberries don’t plump up when the stuffing is cooked in the turkey.
For a full list of ingredients and their measurements, 📋 please view my printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Substitutions and Variations
- You can use the chicken flavor stuffing also.
- If the store is out of Stovetop: look for bread cubes that have seasoning already added. I haven’t found another brand that is quite as moist and yummy as Stovetop.
- If you don’t stuff it into the Turkey, when adding in the water in step 3, you can use chicken broth, chicken stock, turkey stock, or vegetable broth instead. I’ve used both and it gives it a nice flavor.
- If you choose to NOT stuff your turkey with this stuffing, you can place it in an oven safe dish and roast it next to the turkey (if there is enough oven space) until golden brown on top.
- A few years in a row we added in pork sausage into this stuffing mix and it was amazing!!
- The best part of this stuffing mix is you can add in any of your favorite fresh ingredients: fresh diced carrots or green beans, fresh apples, we also play around with adding fresh herbs too. We love to add in sage, fresh thyme, and oregano.
🔪 Instructions:
Step 1: Over medium heat, sauté the celery, saute onions, and giblets in a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Cook until the celery and onions are soft, the onions are translucent, and the giblets are browned.
Step 2: Add the breadcrumbs and butter to the pan. Mix to melt the butter and combine the ingredients.
Step 3: Add in the water and cover the mixture and let the bread soak up all the water. This only takes a few minutes.
Step 4: Stir in the dried cranberries.
Step 5: The Thanksgiving stovetop stuffing is ready! You can eat it as is or stuff it into your prepared turkey.
Step 6: Serve turkey stuffing warm out of the roasted turkey OR from a beautiful serving bowl.
How to Stuff your Turkey
This doctored up Thanksgiving Stove top Stuffing is still delicious and relatively easy to make, but I would be remiss to not tell you that the yummy factor increases exponentially by giving it a few hours in the oven to soak up all the turkey drippings.
Remember not to stuff your turkey too tight. Loosely packing the stuffing into both the neck and the body cavities is the best method. Stuffed turkeys take longer to cook, but it’s worth the wait! Be sure the stuffing registers 165°F before removing the turkey from the oven.
Recipe FAQs
Remove giblets from your defrosted turkey and rinse. Pat dry with a paper towel. Dice into small pieces, discarding the tough muscle tissue and using only the soft tissue. If you like the flavor of liver, you can add it to the recipe with the other giblets.
Unless I’m cooking two turkeys, I usually do have extra stuffing that won’t fit in my turkey. I am really careful to keep the stuffing that won’t be going into the turkey in a separate bowl so that it doesn’t get contaminated by the raw turkey when I’m stuffing it.
No, it’s not safe to stuff the turkey in advance. Stuff right before putting the turkey into the oven.
Yes! Since your turkey typically spends hours in the oven, it’s nice to have your stuffing ready to go early on Thanksgiving day. I usually prepare the stuffing the night before and then I just have to stuff the turkey right before I stick it in the oven.
If you tried this doctored up Thanksgiving Stovetop Stuffing Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you liked it in the 📝 comments below.
Thanksgiving Stovetop Stuffing
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cups diced celery
- 2 cups diced yellow onions
- ½ cup turkey giblets diced
- 12 oz. Stovetop Stuffing turkey flavor
- ½ cup butter salted
- 3 cups water
- 1 cup dried cranberries
Instructions
- Saute celery, onions, and giblets in olive oil until giblets are browned and vegetables are soft.
- Add butter, water, and contents of Stovetop stuffing to the pan. Stir to combine.
- When butter has melted and stuffing is thoroughly mixed, remove from heat and cover with a lid for 5-10 minutes to allow breadcrumbs to soak up all of the water.
- Stir in cranberries.
- Serve or stuff turkey and cook until stuffing and turkey meat register 165°F.
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Comments & Reviews
Nichole Choice says
Delicious. Thank you!
Susan says
I dress up my Stove Top Stuffing by adding sautéed onion, celery. Core and shred an apple. Add the apple to the onion and celery. Sauté until the apple is softened. Use apple juice instead of water. Add some spices. Ground black pepper, salt free seasoning blend, parsley, garlic powder, chives, onion powder are a few suggestions. Dried fruit can also be added. Raisins or dried cranberries are good.
Debi says
This sounds yummy ! I’m going to try it !
Donna says
We have streamlined our Holiday labor by using Stovetop. Our add-ins are different but the end result comes pretty darn close to the dish my Mom and Aunt served every year. We add green pepper to the veggies, saute’ all in butter, combine the Savory Herb or Sage Stovetop with Pettridge Farm or another brand of Cornbread stuffing. Use low sodium chicken broth, instead of water, cooked and crumbled chicken sausage, and a bit of wild rice. Taste for additional seasoning. As close as being on the edge of the Mason-Dixon Line!!! Be careful not to make it too moist or it will have a gummy consistency. Stuff if you must. I place the prepared “dressing” in a separate buttered 9X13 baking dish and bake it briefly to make sure it is not too moist and to form a slight crust on the top. It works for me!!!
girlinspired says
That sounds delicious! I should try mixing in half cornbread stuffing – that sounds good. And I love sausage and a little crisp topping on mine, too!