I grew up in a family that called stuffing "dressing", and as a child I resented it because I thought all the other families stuffed it into the bird and that we were doing it wrong. Because of Stove Top Stuffing, you know? So I always called it stuffing even though my grandmothers, who cared about food safety, never put it in the bird. So that's why this is called Slow Cooker Stuffing and not Slow Cooker Dressing. Feel free to name it whatever you wish.
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Crockpot or Slow Cooker Stuffing
The texture is different. It has cornbread, but it also calls for baguette cubes, so you get little cubes of bread throughout and the pieces near the sides of the slow cooker get chewy and brown. There's some textural variation. It may not be close enough to the finer textured (and greasier) stuffing some people like, but that's okay. There's room in the world for all kinds of stuffing, so it's kind of sad we eat it only around holidays.
Instant Pot Stuffing
You can also make this using the slow cooker function of the Instant Pot. Instead of using a separate skillet to cook the onion and celery, just use the sauté function of the Instant Pot. Once the vegetables are done, you can mix the bread, seasonings, egg and broth all in the Instant Pot and use the low setting to cook the stuffing for four hours. If using this method, let the mixture cool down a bit before adding the egg, otherwise you'll have cooked egg in your stuffing.
6-Inch Skillet Stuffing
This recipe can be baked in the oven too. I like making a small batch 6-inch skillet full of stuffing by scaling the recipe down to ¼. I cook the butter, onions and celery together in the little skillet, pour the vegetables over the bread and spices, stir it all together and pile it back into the skillet. Bake time is about 30 minutes at 350 F.
Crockpot aka Slow Cooker Stuffing
1 ½ cup chopped onions
1 cup celery
1 or 2 sticks of butter, (salted)**
8 inch square pan of cornbread, crumbled (10 oz)
10 ounces chewy baguette type bread or ciabatta, cut into cubes
1 ½ teaspoons poultry seasoning
2 large eggs
1 ½ cup chicken broth to start, then add as needed (33% reduced sodium)
plenty of fresh ground pepper
1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage or to taste
⅓ cup toasted pecans, chopped
Melt 1 stick of the butter in a large skillet. Saute onions and celery for about 4 minutes or until soft. Turn off the heat.
In a large bowl (or you can do it in the slow cooker bowl), mix bread and crumbled cornbread. Toss with poultry seasoning. Pour onion/celery mixture into bread mixture and stir until moist. Add eggs and stir well. Pour in 1 ½ cups broth.
Empty mixture into slow cooker and cook for four hours, stopping to stir once or twice. After 4 hours, you should have a good base stuffing, but it will need some more flavorings and may need another hour or so of cook time depending on whether you like your stuffing very moist or slightly dryer.
So after 4 hours, add fresh pepper to taste (about ¼ to ½ teaspoon), sage and toss with pecans. You can also drizzle in more butter if you'd like or add more broth if needed.
Serves 6 to 8
Making Slow Cooker Stuffing
Here are a few shots I took while making the last batch for Thanksgiving. I now put the bread mixture directly in the slow cooker crock. There's really no need to mix it in a separate bowl.
- Step 1: Melt the butter in a large pan. Add onions and celery and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Step 2: Tear up the bread and crumble cornbread in a large bowl or in the slow cooker.
- Step 3: Season the bread with poultry seasoning, then add the cooked vegetable mixture.
- Step 4: Stir in the broth and the eggs, then cover slow cooker and heat for 4 hours. After 4 hours, season to taste with more salt. Moisten with additional butter or broth.
Recipe
Crockpot aka Slow Cooker Stuffing
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup chopped onions
- 1 cup celery
- 1 stick (or 2) of butter (salted)**
- 8 inch square pan of cornbread crumbled (10 oz)
- 10 ounces chewy baguette type bread or ciabatta cut into cubes
- 1 ½ teaspoons poultry seasoning
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ cup chicken broth to start then add as needed (33% reduced sodium)
- plenty of fresh ground pepper
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage or to taste
- ⅓ cup toasted pecans chopped
Instructions
- Melt 1 stick of the butter in a large skillet. Saute onions and celery for about 4 minutes or until soft. Turn off the heat.
- In large bowl (or the slow cooker bowl) mix bread and crumbled corn bread. Toss with poultry seasoning. Pour onion/celery mixture into bread mixture and stir until moist. Add eggs and stir well. Pour in 1 ½ cups broth.
- Empty mixture into slow cooker and cook for four hours, stopping to stir once or twice. After 4 hours, you should have a good base stuffing, but it will need some more flavorings. At this point, add fresh pepper to taste (about ¼ to ½ teaspoon), sage and toss with pecans. You can also add the remaining stick of butter, but if you like your stuffing on the lighter side, you can leave out the second stick of butter and moisten with broth only. If you are feeding a group of people who like traditional rich stuffing, it's probably best to use all of the butter.
- Also, using the slow cooker allows you to add extra salt as needed. I usually make this with salted butter and lower salt (not sodium free) broth, so very little extra salt is needed. But always salt to taste.
- Total cook time should be 4 hours on low give or take a few minutes.
- Serves 6 to 8
Christine Steendahl-"The Menu Mom" says
Wow, this sounds so simple and tasty! It will free up space in the oven as well. Can't wait to try it! Thanks for sharing.
Emily Barrett says
Just wanted to say thanks for this recipe. I made it "full fat" for Thanksgiving and it was a hit! Wonderful way to orchestrate meal timing with one oven. Dinner was served just as the in-laws walked in the door! --EB
Deb Schiff says
What a great idea! It looks so good!
Anna says
Hi Aaron,
I cook it on low. Just added that!
My slow cooker is a Rival Crock*Pot.
Aaron says
I was wondering what temperature you cooked the stuffing on and what type of slow cooker you used.
Jennifer says
Wow, what a great idea. I was already debating doing something in the crock pot for Thanksgiving as it seems I run out of room in the oven. I was thinking sweet potatoes in the crock pot would work, but the stuffing ideas is great, too.
Kaitlin says
Yum this looks GOOD!
Sara says
This looks delicious, I love slow cooker recipes!
Heidi says
we ALWAYS do cornbread stuffing, but I'm lucky that my mom makes a big tub of it and then just brings that over and I don't have to mess with it.
I'm heading to your hood this weekend Anna, I'll wave! 😉
Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) says
Aaahhhh, I've been waiting to find a recipe like this! For me, the stuffing is the best part of the meal, and I love the thought of having it cooking for hours while I'm busy doing other things. One question: you cooked on low for a total of how many hours?
Anj says
As much as I love Luby's, I am glad you are pulling the real deal off. Your recipes look so traditional and very yummy. I just might have to break tradition and try this stuffing in the crock pot, sounds great. That is my go-to pumpkin pie recipe - the best and so easy. It will be a grand meal for sure, very worthy of being thankful for I am sure.
bakingblonde says
I am soooo making this soon! I LOVE stuffing, it would be my meal most wintery nights if I could get away with that many carbs every night!
Joanna says
i can't wait for thanksgiving, anna. i am going nuts looking at all these pictures of food. that stuffing looks soo good. i bet the pecans give it a nice crunch. i'd definitely say stuffing is in my top 2 favorite thanksgiving foods. #1 would have to be sweet potato casserole 🙂