No Thanksgiving meal would be complete without a scrumptious turkey stuffing and my breadless turkey stuffing is always a favorite!
Although I grew up in Paris, I was blessed to enjoy the beautiful tradition of Thanksgiving each and every year.
Mom who is a Mexican-American from Texas always prepared a fabulous Thanksgiving feast. She prepared our Thanksgiving meal like she did every other meal — with lots of love and one hundred percent from scratch 🙂
I am my mother’s daughter and I absolutely LOVE the hours I spend preparing our family Thanksgiving meal, everything made from carefully selected fresh ingredients… And of course I cherish all the happy faces around my Thanksgiving table.
My breadless turkey stuffing is naturally gluten free and a real a cornucopia of fall vegetables, fruits and nuts mixed with brown and wild rice.
I make my turkey stuffing the way I cook most things — with a little bit of this and a little bit of that, so use this recipe as a guide and add whatever feels right to you.
Here what goes inside my gluten free turkey stuffing:
- Onion
- Garlic
- Apples
- Carrots
- Potatoes
- Mushrooms
- Pecans
- Almonds
- Chestnuts
- Pine nuts
- Cranberries
- Black currants
- Dried blueberries
- Wild and sprouted rice
- fresh herbs — sage and thyme
- Paté de foie gras*
*I reserve stuffing before adding the foie gras for my two vegetarian daughters.
How to Make the Perfect Gluten Free Turkey Stuffing
I prepare my gluten free turkey stuffing the evening before Thanksgiving.
It gives all the ingredients plenty of time to cook slowly to perfection and fills my home with tantalizing aromas.
It also saves me a lot of stress the next day 🙂
Since there is no bread, I add just enough stock to keep the ingredients moist. Remember the turkey juices will be added during cooking so don’t add too much stock or you will have a real wet stuffing.
Once cooked I allow the stuffing to cool at rom temperature before refrigerating.
This recipe makes enough to stuff a large turkey. Stuff both cavities and arrange the left over stuffing around your bird. When your turkey is done, the stuffing is drenched with turkey juices and absolutely delicious!
Because two of my daughters are vegetarian I keep some of the stuffing aside so they may enjoy it as well.
Should You Use Fresh Chestnuts or Not?
I favor fresh ingredients for all my recipes and chestnuts are no exception.
I love roasting them on the fire when I can. It brings back fond memories of holding warm cones of chestnut in my hands, walking the streets of Paris with my mom and sibling. It also adds a hint of smokey flavor that I absolutely love!
If roasting is not an option I simply boil them. Be warned! Peeling boiled chestnuts is a tedious and messy process!
If you are short on time or just don’t want to deal with the messy process you way want to purchase pre-cooked chestnuts instead. They are pretty easy to find either canned or vacuum sealed. Amazon has a great selection, including the organic ones (affiliate link)
My Breadless Turkey Stuffing Earned the Praises of a Distinguished French Chef!
I first wrote down this recipe when my parents had just moved to the South of France after my father retired. One of my dear friends from LA was passing through with her mom and we decided to have a Thanksgiving meal, with all the trimmings.
On the morning of our feast my parents’ oven was not working! They live in a small village and dad called a local restaurant to ask if we could possibly “borrow” an oven. When we picked up our cooked turkey, dad offered to pay the owner for the use of the oven. He refused but asked if we could give him the recipe for the stuffing instead 😉
Mais bien sur!
And now I can share this recipe with you as well, thanks to dad’s broken oven 🙂
Scrumptious Breadless Turkey Stuffing
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp organic butter olive oil or coconut oil
- 1 medium onion coarsely chopped
- 6 cloves garlic coarsely minced
- 16 oz mushrooms cut into chunks
- 1-2 large organic apple
- 2-4 medium organic potatoes
- 1 large organic carrot
- 2 lbs fresh chestnuts boiled and peeled*
- 1 cup slivered almonds coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup pecan pieces
- 1/2 cup pine nuts
- 1/2 cup cranberries - fresh or dried
- 1/2 cup dried currants or organic raisins
- 3 cups cooked brown rice
- 1 cup cooked wild rice
- 2 to 4 cups organic chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 Tbsp fresh thyme chopped
- 1 Tbsp fresh sage chopped
- Fresh ground salt and pepper to tase
- optional: 4 oz paté de foie gras**
Instructions
- Place a large stock pot over medium high heat. Melt butter.
- Add sliced onion, minced garlic and cook until onions are translucent.
- Add mushrooms. Cook until tender and mushrooms begin to release their juices.
- Cube apples, potatoes and carrots and add to pot. Reduce heat to medium and cook until tender.
- Add chestnuts, almonds, pecans, cranberries, currants and cooked rice. Add chicken or vegetable stock as needed to keep stuffing moist.
- Add thyme and sage. Salt and pepper to taste.
- Reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes stirring to combine all ingredients and flavors.
- Cool completely before stuffing your bird.
- I like to make my stuffing the night before and let it cool at room temperature. I then salt and pepper my bird (inside and out) and stuff both cavities. There is plenty of stuffing to lay all around the bird in your roasting pan.
- Cook your turkey as you normally would -- I cook it the way my grandma used to, in a paper bag!
- Bon apétit and have a blessed Thanksgiving!
Thank you for sharing. This is a good recipe for Thanksgiving..
You are most welcome Denise. Enjoy!!!
Oooh I am intrigued by this!! I think we will have to give it a pre Thanksgiving test run!! Sounds amazing!
Yay Amber! Let me know what the verdict is 🙂
Delicious Recipe,Thanks for posting 🙂
You are most welcome Kathryn, enjoy!
This sounds very interesting. Going to have to run it by the man before replacing it with our traditional stuffing this year
I hope he gives you the thumbs up Jessica 🙂
Thank you for this! My friend was recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease and she was very sad about missing out on stuffing, possibly her favorite side dish. I’m glad there’s an alternative that looks this delicious.
You are most welcome Danielle. My heart goes out to your friend. But please reassure her, you can live healthy and vibrantly and enjoy all sorts of scrumptious foods with celiac. I don’t have Celiac but I am gluten intolerant. I was lucky enough about 6 years ago to have a physician suggest I give up gluten based on some of the things I was experiencing… migraines being the worst. It was the best advice I ever received and it has changed my life in so many wonderful ways. You’ll find all sorts of delicious recipes here, most without gluten, but all full of flavor and easy to make. Happy Fall!
This looks delicious. I’m thinking I may try it out this upcoming weekend. Thank you!
You are most welcome Pamela. Enjoy!
wow. looks so good. there is so many good ingredients in this. Never tried turkey stuffing but i would love to try it!
I have never tried this stuffing before, I love what you added into this , It looks like a better way to eat your stuffing without all the added weight.
@tisonlyme143
Oh man. Now, this, I will have to try! I wonder though, can I substitute potatoes for cauliflower? I’m on the keto diet so I have to stick with low carbs.
Love this!
Thanks Klittrell
I hope to try this soon, delish!
Thanks Kristin. I can’t wait to make it again in a few days 🙂
(Scrumptious Breadless Turkey Stuffing) I am going to have to keep this good recipe for my daughter-in-law, I know that she would want it for sure.
I hope she loves it as much as we do June! Happy Thanksgiving!
I just LOVE dressing and this sounds amazing!
It is if I may say so myself Bridget 🙂 I hope you enjoy it as much as my family and friends do 🙂
This sounds like an interesting recipe.
Thanks Stephanie 🙂
I never thought of doing stuffing without bread but this recipe sounds so good that I have to try it. You use such great ingredients and I love the addition of pate. So decadent which is what I want to serve at the holidays.
The paté is indeed a decadent touch Mary and I’m so excited you love it! Please come back and let me know how this stuffing turned out for you. I’d love to know 🙂
didn’t think stuffing good be bbreadless, never underestimate stuffing
You’re right Josie, never underestimate stuffing 🙂
I love all the ingredients and am definitely going to give it a try but maybe for Christmas my tried and true stuffing is for Thanksgiving.. Thank you for sharing this….
What is your tried and true stuffing Michele? Would love the recipe! Enjoy a scrumptious Christmas meal!
Thanks for sharing! Sounds so yummy! I’m always looking to try new recipes!
You’re a woman after my heart Lexy. I love trying out new recipes and discovering new favorites!
Interesting variation of the traditional bread stuffing. It does sound good! Happy Holidays!
i have never heard of breadless stuffing before, thanks fro sharing.
It sounds delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
Breadless turkey stuffing never crossed my mind. Brilliant. Okay, I’ll bite.
Thank You Carrie. It’s funny because I have never made stuffing with bread 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. My father has celiac disease so we have to make sure everything we fix is gluten free. This will definitely come in handy when Thanksgiving rolls around again as he loves stuffing.
This sounds great! I can’t wait to try it. Thank you for sharing.
You are most welcome Terri. Enjoy!
this looks sooooo GOOD! would even fill a big guy like me up!
It’s super satisfying Bryan! There are so many scrumptious ingredients in there you won’t be missing the bread 🙂 Enjoy!
I eat gluten free so this sounds perfect!
I hope you love it as much as my family and guests do Kristi.:-)
Good stuffing
Thanks Heru.