#Recipe #Foody
This flavor-packed vegan stuffing will steal the show! Made with crusty sourdough bread and savory herbs, this scrumptious and easy to make side dish is a must-have at your holiday table.
Stuffing seems to be the popular favorite among holiday side dishes. At least in my experience it does. I’ve gone many-a-Thanksgivings without stuffing though, because, while it’s easy to make a meal out of many Thanksgiving sides, stuffing is usually cooked in the turkey.
Such a sad tale from a lady who loves her bread.
So I set out to create a killer vegan stuffing. One that would be my favorite side dish and everyone else’s too! One that would have all the non-vegans at the table ditching their turkey-fied stuffing in favor of the plant-based stuff.
Well, I did it! As a testament to how good this stuffing was, I’ll tell you that I was totally ready to make an entire meal of it. My husband talked some sense into me and we ended up eating it with salad and Field Roast sausages.
Vegan Stuffing Ingredients
A few things make this stuffing stand above the rest, in my humble opinion. First off, the bread. Make sure you use good crusty bread, and preferably sourdough. The sourdough flavor gives the stuffing a little zip that goes perfectly with the other flavors. This stuff is anything but bland.
Also, herbs. We’re using fresh thyme, rosemary, and sage. They add a nice balance of savory flavors that’s so much nicer than what you get with the dried out herbs in most stuffing mixes.
Onions and garlic add flavor, while celery supplies some texture to this vegan stuffing.
In non-vegan stuffing you’ll find turkey juice or broth. In this recipe we’ll be substituting a mix of vegan butter, white wine, and vegetable broth. Use a really good broth that you like the flavor of. My favorite for this recipe is Better Than Bullion’s seasoned vegetable flavor. If you have your own favorite, feel free to go with that.
And then there’s my secret ingredient: cornstarch. This is our binding. You’ll often find an egg serves this purpose in conventional stuffing. Cornstarch does the job here.
How to Make Vegan Stuffing
Start out by cutting or tearing your bread into small pieces or cutting it into cubes — about 1-inch in size. You’ll want your bread cubes to be a bit dried out, so either cut it a day in advance, or, once cut, place your bread cubes in a warm oven to dry out.
Next, melt some vegan butter in a skillet. Once the butter begins to sizzle, add some celery and onion. Cook them until they soften and begin to brown, for about 10 minutes, then add some garlic and cook everything for about a minute more.
The wine goes in next, followed by your herbs. Bring the wine to a simmer and let it cook for a few minutes to evaporate the alcohol.
Once the liquid has reduced, add your broth. Bring that to a simmer and let it cook for a few minutes.
Meanwhile, stir some cornstarch and cold water together in a small bowl. Get it completely smooth before adding it to your skillet. The broth mixture should thicken up over the next minute or two.
Now remove the skillet from the burner. It’s time to add the broth mixture to the bread. If your skillet is oven-safe, you can add the bread right to it. Otherwise, transfer the bread and the broth mixture to a separate baking dish. I like to use a cast-iron skillet for just this reason!
Stir it up, mix it with your hands, or do whatever you need to do to get a nice even coating of the broth mixture on the bread. Try to avoid saturating any of the bread pieces — you want a nice even coating on the exterior of each one.
Cover the stuffing and bake it for 20 minutes, then uncover it and bake it for another 20.
Sprinkle your stuffing with fresh parsley if you like. And if you’re the kind of person who likes to douse their stuffing in gravy (hi friend!), I highly recommend my super simple vegan gravy.
FAQ & Vegan Stuffing Making Tips
- Make ahead option: Assemble the stuffing (up to step 18 of the recipe) up to a day in advance, cover, and refrigerate. Bake the stuffing on the day of serving.
- Can I substitute dried herbs for the fresh ones called for in the recipe? You can, but I really prefer fresh with this recipe. If you decide to go with dried, use only a third of the amount of each herb called for by the recipe.
- Can this stuffing be made gluten-free? Yup! Just use your favorite gluten-free bread.
- I don’t cook with alcohol. Is there a substitute for the wine? Simply leave it out and skip step 9 of the recipe.
- Assuming you are using the wine, check with Barnivore to ensure the brand you select is vegan.
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The Best Vegan Stuffing
This flavor-packed vegan stuffing will steal the show! Made with crusty sourdough bread and savory herbs, this scrumptious and easy to make side dish is a must-have at your holiday table.
- 1 pound sourdough bread, (cut or torn into 1-inch pieces)
- 1/2 cup vegan butter
- 1 1/2 cups diced celery ((about 5 ribs))
- 1 cup diced onion ((about 1 medium onion))
- 3 garlic cloves, (minced)
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
- 1 cup vegetable broth, (plus more as needed)
- 1/2 cup chilled water
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- Salt and pepper to taste
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Preheat the oven to 200°F (or the lowest temperature your oven allows).
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Arrange the bread pieces on a couple of baking sheets.
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Place the baking sheets into the oven and bake until the bread pieces feel somewhat dried out on their surfaces, 15-20 minutes.
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While the bread is in the oven, place a medium skillet (oven-safe, if available) over medium heat.
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Melt the butter in the skillet and let it heat up for a minute.
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Add the celery and onion to the skillet and cook them, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 10 minutes.
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Add the garlic to the skillet and cook for 1 minute more, until very fragrant.
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Add the wine, rosemary, thyme, and sage to the skillet. Raise the heat and bring the wine to a simmer.
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Allow the wine to cook until reduced by about half, about 4 minutes.
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Stir in 1 cup of broth. Bring it to a simmer.
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Lower the heat and allow the broth to simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
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While the broth simmers, stir the water and cornstarch together in a small bowl.
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Add the cornstarch mixture to the broth and continue to let it simmer until it thickens up a bit, about 1 to 2 minutes.
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Remove the skillet from the heat.
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Remove the bread from the oven when it's finished drying out, and raise the heat to 350°F.
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If you used an oven-safe skillet to cook the vegan butter mixture, add the bread directly to the skillet. Otherwise, place the bread into a medium (2 to 3 quart) baking dish, and add the butter mixture.
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Gently stir the bread and butter mixtures together until the bread is evenly coated. You can add up to an additional 1/2 cup of broth if necessary, but be careful to avoid oversaturating the bread.
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Taste-test and season the stuffing with salt and pepper to taste.
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Cover the skillet or dish and bake for 20 minutes.
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Uncover and bake for about 20 minutes more, until dried out on top and slightly crisp around the edges.
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Remove from the oven and serve.
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via https://www.DMT.NEWS
Alissa Saenz, Khareem Sudlow
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