Thankful and Gluten Free Slow Cooker Stuffing

My belly and my heart are still so full from yesterday's festivities! I hope that you all had a lovely and peaceful Thanksgiving. We had a simple celebration with family and friends at our home. 

This year I have to, have to share a notable recipe with you that made it to our Thanksgiving table.

Slow Cooker Stuffing. That's right, stuffing that you fix, put in your slow cooker and forget about until the big time comes.  I was skeptical about a slow cooker version of stuffing, so to be on the safe side I set aside some of the mix to bake in the oven after the bird came out just in case. But let me tell you, it was good. It was so good.  It was also really liberating not to have one more thing to put in the oven when the bird came out to rest. That last 1/2 hour can feel a little chaotic, you know? This recipe helps relieve a bit of that.

I am gluten intolerant so my stuffing has to be gluten free. To accomplish that I use Ener-G Tapioca Loaf.  Two nights before Thanksgiving I slice up 3 loaves into cubes and toast them in a 350 degree oven in a single layer on baking sheets until they are a golden brown. When you squeeze them they should be hard, not soft at all. Then, they can be used interchangeably in virtually any stuffing recipe if you have a favorite of your own. I don't know why but Tapioca bread works best for gluten free stuffing.

In the past I had successfully made gluten free stuffing before using a heavily altered version of Shauna's but it never felt like 'the one' and every year I had to tweak it this way or that. This recipe is the one. I had to adjust some aspects of the slow cooker recipe since 3 loaves of the Ener-G bread yields more cubes than the recipe calls for. 20 cups vs. 12.

This is what I did.

I used:

3 loaves of Ener-G Tapioca Bread, cubed and oven toasted (approx 20 cups)

1 1/2 cups salted butter

3 1/2 cups chopped onion

3 1/2 cups chopped celery

12 ozs roughly chopped baby bella mushrooms

4 cloves of garlic (the recipe doesn't call for garlic but I always use it)

1 handful or dried parsley (I didn't have fresh on hand)

4 Tblspn of poultry seasoning

1 tspn marjoram

1 1/2 tspns thyme

a wee bit less than a Tblspn of kosher salt

a wee bit less than a tspn pepper

3 eggs, beaten

3 1/2 cups of chicken broth* but use only as much as needed to moisten the mixture

To Make:

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion, celery, garlic, mushrooms and parsley in butter, stirring frequently until tender. (I do this the day before.)

2. Spoon cooked veggies over bread cubes in a very large mixing bowl. Add seasonings (I mix these up the day before too). Pour in enough broth to moisten, a cupful at a time and stirring gently, and then mix in the eggs. Transfer mix to a slow cooker and cover. At least 5qt cooker is needed for this much stuffing. You can save any extra broth you have and check the stuffing while it's cooking. If you want to add a wee bit more as you go along you can.

3. Cook on high for 45 minutes, then reduce heat to low and cook 4-8 hours.Serve!

Easy Peasy and oh, so satisfying.

I feel so thankful this year for so many things (including this stuffing) but another, and more important, one of those things are the connections that I have made through this blog. I am thankful for you! Here's to a relaxing rest of the holiday weekend!

oooxxx

Spidey

Comments

[Sassafrass]

I don't believe it. We both tried out the same stuffing recipe for Thanksgiving! I hadn't made it before and I found it on AllRecipes!

I ended up only using about 1-1.5 cups of broth and left out the majoram, but holy cow was it delicious.

High five on excellent taste!

[Abi]

Great minds! :) Didn't it feel so good to have one less thing to worry about? And then on top of that it tasted so good. I used about 3 cups of broth and didn't have any sage or fresh parsley so I beefed up the poultry seasoning which I love in stuffing anyway. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

[Chris]

Awesome! Thanks for the recipe - something I could actually eat! I've almost forgotten what stuffing tastes like (I've been celiac for about 5 yrs). Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

[earthycrunchy]

What a flippin' great idea! It frees up the oven and it keeps the stuffing moist. Thank you! :) So, do the eggs really add something to the stuffing? I've never put eggs in my stuffing. Kyndale

[Abi]

you know, this was the first time i put eggs in my stuffing too. i can't say that it tasted any different than stuffing w/o eggs but the stuffing was soooo good. i'm just going to make it again as is. in fact, i just picked up bread yesterday to do it again for xmas. i can't wait! it's so liberating not having to put it in the oven or even think about it until you are ready to serve it. happy holidays! i hope you enjoy it! xxoo

[Abi]

sorry for the delayed reply! you are so welcome! i know exactly how you feel. t-day is all about the stuffing for me and this recipe won't leave you wanting for anything. it's not a gf compromise, it's just delicious! xxoo and happy holidays!