Thanksgiving Challah Herb Dressing

Thanksgiving Challah Herb Dressing-1-4Growing up in a Slavic immigrant family in this wonderful country, my family and I weren’t used to all the traditions of the American holidays. In Belarus, there is no such thing as Thanksgiving and didn’t celebrate with a turkey and stuffing. We embraced this wonderful holiday wholeheartedly and now sit down with our families for a feast every year. There certainly is SO much to be thankful for, and I’ll use any excuse to thank God for all the blessings that we have. Our food may not be as traditional as most American families, but most of us do have turkeys on our tables.

Instead of the typical bread stuffing, we usually serve our turkey with a rice or barley stuffing, or even mashed potatoes. It’s just not something we ever ate. I’ve never tried bread stuffing before, but I was curious to find out how it tasted, since the majority of turkeys are paired with it in American homes. Last year, I decided to give it a try and created my own version of a bread stuffing. I studied many different recipes and came up with my own variation. I was skeptical, but turns out that I loved it! This year, I decided to make it again, and I was even more delighted. 

First of all, I’d like to say that I’m calling this a “dressing” because it’s cooked outside the bird, not technically “stuffed” inside. I don’t believe in stuffing a turkey with anything, except some wonderful aromatics to perfume the bird from the inside. Why?

  • In order for the stuffing to cook through, it will take much, MUCH longer than when the actual turkey is ready. By the time the stuffing is ready, your turkey will be as dry as sawdust. I’m not willing to sacrifice my turkey for the sake of stuffing.
  • Second of all, did you ever roast a chicken, turkey or any other kind of bird and notice what pools in the carcass? Not pretty. That will all be mixed in with the stuffing. Also not my idea of delicious yumminess.
  • Third, if you’re stuffing the bird with a bread stuffing, it will mostly be very mushy. Baking it separately will give it more surface area and the dressing will be perfectly golden and crisp on top and  porous and moist inside.

I really like this combination of ingredients. Onions, leeks, celery and herbs create a wonderful aroma and the apples and dry cherries give a bit of sweetness. Pecans give a surprising crunch since the rest of the ingredients are pretty soft. All in all, a great dish for an awesome holiday.

Thanksgiving Challah Herb Dressing-1-6Prep the dressing while your turkey is roasting. When you take out the turkey and LET IT REST, quickly place the dressing in the oven. Since it takes about an hour to bake, your turkey will still be hot by the time the dressing finishes cooking. If you’re lucky and have an extra oven, you won’t have any problem at all.

Challah is a lovely braided, egg bread. I think it’s perfect to use for the dressing, since it soaks in the liquid ingredients without falling apart and then has a great texture once it’s baked. I really like using it for French Toast too:). Challah Bread-1-2Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

Cut the bread into 1 inch cubes. Place on a rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.

Bake in a preheated 300 degree oven for 12-15 minutes, tossing halfway through, until the bread is lightly toasted. Set aside. Increase the temperature to 350 degrees.

Meanwhile, melt 2 Tablespoons of butter in a skillet. Add the onion, season with salt and cook on medium high heat for about 5 minutes, until tender. Add the leeks, celery and apples. Season with salt. Cook for another 7-10 minutes, covered, on medium heat, until it all softens.  

Add it all to the toasted bread cubes. Add the minced herbs, cherries and pecans.

You can use just about any ingredients for the dressing. Sausage, pancetta, mushrooms, peppers, cheese, raisins, dried cranberries, pears, any herbs, fennel or substitute the pecans for any other nuts, like almonds, walnuts, pine nuts, etc.

Toss until well mixed. Pour in the hot chicken broth and the turkey drippings, if using.

Aha! Here’s my secret ingredient! Yep, turkey drippings. I know we all love the flavor that the roasting turkey gives to the stuffing. This way, you add the drippings and enjoy that flavor without having to overcook your turkey, etc. I do this when I make rice or barley stuffing too.

If you don’t want to use the turkey drippings, by all means skip it and add a bit more chicken broth to the dressing instead.

Add the eggs. Gently toss all the ingredients together. Don’t be too aggressive; you don’t want the bread to fall apart. Melt the remaining 2 Tablespoons of butter. Use part of it to butter a 13 x 9 inch baking pan. Set the rest of it aside.

Place the dressing into the baking pan.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 min.

Uncover the baking dish,  brush the top of the dressing with the rest of the melted butter, increase the temperature to 400 and bake for another 25-30 minutes.Thanksgiving Challah Herb Dressing-1-4

Thanksgiving Challah Herb Dressing
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Recipe type: Sides
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • Dressing:
  • 1 (1 lb) loaf challah bread
  • 4 Tablespoons butter, divided
  • 1 onion, minced
  • 1 celery, coarsely chopped
  • 2 leeks, sliced thin, whites only
  • 2 apples, Granny Smith, peeled and chopped
  • ¼-1/3 cup dry cherries, coarsely chopped
  • ¼ cup pecans, coarsely chopped and toasted
  • 2½ cups hot chicken broth
  • ½ cup turkey drippings
  • 4 eggs, beaten
  • thyme, parsley, sage
  • brush with melted butter on top.
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
  2. Cut the bread into 1 inch cubes.
  3. Place on a rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Bake in a preheated 300 degree oven for 12-15 minutes, tossing halfway through, until the bread is lightly toasted.
  4. Increase the temperature to 350 degrees.
  5. Meanwhile, melt 2 Tablespoons of butter in a skillet. Add the onion, season with salt and cook on medium high heat for 5-7 minutes, until tender.
  6. Add the leeks, celery and apples. Season with salt. Cook for another 7-10 minutes, covered, on medium heat, until it all softens.
  7. Add it all to the toasted bread cubes. Add the minced herbs, cherries and pecans. Toss until well mixed.
  8. Pour in the hot chicken broth and the turkey drippings, if using.
  9. Add the eggs.
  10. Gently toss all the ingredients together.
  11. Melt the remaining 2 Tablespoons of butter. Use part of it to butter a 13 x 9 inch baking pan and set the rest of it aside.
  12. Place the dressing in the baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 min.
  13. Uncover the baking dish, brush the top of the dressing with the rest of the melted butter, increase the temperature to 400 and bake for another 25-30 minutes.

11 Comments

  • Natalya Wilson

    looks so delishious!!! I have never tried leeks….or staffing with it in it and apples… thank you for shariing!

  • angelina

    This looks so good olga!On my thanksgiving to do list….Thank you so much for posting wonderful new recipes to try out……

  • Oksana

    Wow! I’ve never-ever made stuffing before, but this one will put an end to it. I’m not baking the turkey for our family potluck this Thanksgiving, but I AM baking this stuffing! This looks so delish! I love all the ingridients, and can’t wait to put them all together in this goodness! thanks a lot for this wonderful recipe! 🙂

  • demelzabunny

    My great-aunt used to make a plainer, but still yummy challah dressing/stuffing, that now my aunt makes for us, since my great-aunt is no longer with us. I can give you the recipe if you would like. She also made it separately from the bird.

    Your recipe looks totally delish! You’re so creative.

  • Susanna

    Olga,

    Great recipe! I just made it last week and had many great responses. I accidentally bought dried, sweetened cranberries instead of cherries, but they ended up being quite nice! The tang from the cranberries went very well with the sweetness of the challah. I was wondering, have you ever added sausage to the stuffing? I thought maybe I’d try chicken apple sausage next time I make it. Do you think I would need to add more liquid to keep the stuffing moist?

    Thanks!

    Susanna

    • olgak7

      I’m so happy to hear that you served this dressing for your family’s Thanksgiving celebration!
      I’ m sure cranberries tasted just as delicious. You can certainly add sausage to the dressing, simply brown it first. I don’t think you need to add any more liquid.

  • Masha

    I’m surprised this recipe is not floating somewhere in your homepage. This is soooooo good ever since I discovered it I make it and everyone loves it. Some look forward to it more than the Turkey 🤣. I wondered though if I was to double the recipe it probably would be more mushy or would need more cooking time, is it best to kee exactly as is and if I want to double to use a whole separate new dish?

    • olgak7

      Hi Masha,
      I’m so glad you enjoy this recipe. I love it too:). You can definitely double the recipe. If you have a bigger baking pan, I would recommend doing that, which will give you more surface area to spread it out so it doesn’t get too mushy. If you don’t have a larger baking pan, increase the baking time.

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