Thursday, November 3, 2011

Stuffing/Dressing for Thanksgiving, gluten free of course


    I think that stuffing/dressing is probably the most intimidating of the Thanksgiving foods to make gluten free. I remember that first gluten free Thanksgiving for me. I was not sure how in the world I was going to make the stuffing. I looked and looked for a recipe. I finally came up with a good one. I merged a couple of recipes and converted them to gluten free to come up with the recipe that I use today.
     The truth is.....stuffing/dressing is NOT hard to make!!! My recipe does require some prep work because I make my own cornbread and then dry it out into bread cubes to use in my stuffing. You wouldn't have to do that if you don't want to. You can buy gluten free stuffing cubes at places like Whole Foods. Usually I do a mixture of 1/2 cornbread and 1/2 Whole Foods gluten free bread cubes. However, I have done ALL cornbread before when Whole Foods was out due to me not getting my tush in gear and getting them early.


Gluten-Free Bread Stuffing

Ingredients
3/4 cup margarine or butter
1-small bunch chopped celery (with leaves)
1 finely chopped onion
9 cups toasted gluten-free bread cubes (I use 1/2 bread 1/2 cornbread)
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon pepper
2 boxes Swanson's chicken broth (more or less depending how moist you want it) (usually on the more side because gf bread soaks up the juices)

Instructions
Heat margarine in pan over medium-high heat. Saute celery and onion in margarine about 7 minutes (until tender). Remove from heat.

Stir in remaining ingredients. Depending on how moist you want the stuffing, use more or less of the chicken broth.

Transfer to a 9x13pan . Bake at 375 degrees for 35-45 minutes.

Melt margarine in a heavy skillet

Saute celery and onion in the margarine until onion looks transparent.
Add spices in with the sauteed veggies.
Remove from heat. Begin adding bread crumbs and chicken broth to the mixture.
Gluten free bread soaks up LOTS of broth. Be sure to have plenty or your stuffing will be dry. I add more broth after I get it transferred to the 9x13 pan.
Ok it's ready for the oven....Bake at 375 deg. for 35-45 min. Cover with foil for the first 30 min. Then remove the foil so the top can get crispy.



I hope you are feeling a little less intimidated now. Making gluten free stuffing/dressing is NOT that hard. Enjoy!!

-Jessica





9 comments:

  1. Looks delicious. Does using cornbread help to avoid that powdery taste that GF bread can give to stuffing? That's been my problem in the past.

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  2. I guess I haven't run into the powdery issue Mary. I have always made my stuffing with 1/2 cornbread and 1/2 gf bread or just all cornbread.

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  3. that is making me hungry ... it looks so gooood!

    i make an extra loaf of bread the week before and then make dried bread cubes out of it for my stuffing. Also, when my bread goes stale I wrap up what is left and put it in the freezer for stuffing or bread crumbs.

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  4. Definitely going to try this for Thanksgiving this year. One question though...might sound silly, but how do you dry the bread cubes? We live in Hawaii and don't have a problem with our bread going stall but getting moldy! Would cutting up the cubes and putting them in the oven at a low temp for awhile dry them out do you think? Thanks! (and Thanks for your blog--GREAT recipes!!)

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  5. Chris, that isn't a silly question at all!! That is exactly what I do. I cube the bread and put it on a baking sheet on a very low oven temperature. I check on it and toss it around every 20-30 min. until I think it is dry enough. Sometimes I even just leave it in the oven (turned off) overnight after I do that....lets it dry out even more.
    You will have to let me know what you think of the recipe once you have given it a whirl.

    -Jessica

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  6. How much chicken broth is in a box? Thanks!

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  7. Robyn-
    The boxes that I buy are 32 oz. I hope that helps!! I often buy 3 boxes just incase I cook the stuffing too long or it seems dryer than I like, you can always add more stock.

    -Jessica

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  8. Aloha Jessica--Just looking up your stuffing recipe for tomorrow and see I forgot to tell you last year how good it was--the best ever :) I split it up into two casseroles added some sausage and apple chunks to one like my mom use to make. That was good too. Cornbread is made and I'm good to go! Have a great Turkey Day :)

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  9. Chris, Great to hear from you again. I'm so glad that you enjoyed the recipe. Happy Turkey day from me to you! I'm just getting ready to put my dressing into the oven for lunch here in a while!

    -Jessica

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