Cranberry Chestnut Stuffing

Photo of stuffing dish on the dining room table.
Stuffing at Thanksgiving Dinner. Photo by PattyCooks.

Diet
[x] Flexitarian + Omnivore
[x] Vegan
[x] Vegetarian
[x] Pescatarian
[x] Gluten free: Make with gluten free bread of your choice
[O] Weight Maint: This is carb heavy, limit portion size
[O] Keto Diet
[O] Mediterranean 
[O] Lectin Avoidance: bread (can try using millet instead)
[O] Oxalate Avoidance: bread, chestnuts
[x] Purine Avoidance

Cranberry Chestnut Stuffing

A bread stuffing with cranberries and chestnuts for vegetarian and vegan friends.

Bread Base

  • 1 loaf Choice of bread (Dry toasted in oven, gluten or gluten free, cut into cubes)
  • 1T Dried mixed Italian Herbs (Thyme, oregano and sage)

Dry Ingredients

  • 1 C Dried Cranberries
  • 2 T Sage (Fresh, diced)
  • 2 T Oregano (Fresh, diced)
  • 2 T Thyme (Fresh, diced)
  • 2 T Carrot top greens
  • 2 T Parsley (Fresh, diced)
  • 1 C Thinly chopped celery (leaves and all)
  • 1 C Matchstick carrots
  • 1 White Onion (diced)

Wet Ingredients

  • 1 stick Melted butter
  • 2 leaves Chopped sage
  • 4 C Mushroom veggie broth (More or less as required)

Protein

  • 7.05 oz Chestnuts (Matiz (Spain) organic, peeled and cooked)

Prep Bread (2 days ahead)

  1. Gluten Free or wheat based: Cut bread into cubes a couple of days ahead of time.



  2. Place on a baking sheet in a 200F oven to toast ~2 hours (or more if you want), flip them over half way through the cooking time.



  3. Place in a bowl with herbs and let sit on counter top to completely dry. Cover bowl with a kitchen towel and mix it up every day so everything dries.

Veggie + Herb Prep (day of)

  1. Roughly chop the chestnuts (I prefer Matiz, a Spanish provider, it has always tasted great). Place into the bowl of bread.

  2. Wash and chop celery, carrots, onions (use white or shallots as both will work). Make sure they are dry when you add to the bowl. We are not ready for wet things yet.

  3. Chop all the herbs and greens: carrot top, oregano, thyme, and sage. Mix the bread and all ingredients and set aside until ready to cook.

Mix + Bake

  1. Oven set to 350F.

  2. To cook make sage butter by melting a stick of butter and adding the chopped sage. Add to the bowl and mix it up. (You can also use browned sage butter, or clarified sage butter.)



  3. Start adding up to 4C broth, 1C at a time. Keep mixing until everything is damp but not soaking wet. There should be no liquid at the bottom of the bowl, the bread should have absorbed all the liquid you added.



Bake

  1. Place in baking dishes, and into the oven for ~45 minutes.

  2. I cover the baking dish so it does not get crunchy, others like crunchy crust and they bake without a top.

  3. Serve immediately, best when warm.

Stuffing can be frozen, but I do not like the texture after it has been thawed and reheated. I prefer to just plan meals around it for the next few days. The best reheating results are if you can add a bit of gravy, broth or some additional butter as it melts and heats up the stuffing better. 

Gluten Free: use a loaf of gluten free bread

Vegetarian: If you can find it, add some faux chicken powder to the broth for added flavor.

Vegan: Use whatever bread you use normally, use vegan butter, and Faux chicken powder in the veggie broth.