When it comes to Thanksgiving food, dressing or “stuffing” is my absolute favorite. I want second helpings of it, I want leftovers, I want it forever. I’m not sure why dressing is a side dish reserved specifically for Thanksgiving, because I could eat it all fall and winter long, but let’s take advantage of the holiday and make a huge pan of this leek and mushroom dressing.
The cornbread and sausage dressing that I shared last year is my husband’s absolute favorite. When I was testing this recipe, he said it was good, but wanted to make sure that I still made my cornbread and sausage dressing recipe for Thanksgiving this year. The two dressings are very different. The cornbread sausage version is more time-intensive with browning sausage and baking cornbread, and it also has meat in it, making it a little heavier. This dressing combines two of my favorite things: leeks and mushrooms, with some cranberries for sweetness and parmesan cheese because you can’t go wrong with it.
There are so many different carbohydrate bases for dressing! This one uses what may be the most traditional: cubed bread. But obviously there are also dressing recipes that use cornbread, rice, or a combination of them. How’s a person to decide what dressing to make?! I say make a different one every year. Or maybe make one for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas. Or maybe just make one on a random Tuesday in February and eat it all by itself for dinner. No matter where you turn, you can’t go wrong with a delicious Thanksgiving dressing like this one.
I hope it’s not too early to be sharing Thanksgiving recipes, but the holiday is coming up quickly! With baby #3 due in just 5 days, I’m not sure how many recipes I’ll be sharing between now and the end of the year and wanted to make sure that your holiday table was covered. Enjoy!
- 4 tbsp. butter
- 2 leeks, white and light green parts only, chopped*
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
- 8 oz. mushrooms, chopped
- 10 cups cubed bread (I used a loaf of Italian bread)
- ¾ cup dried cranberries
- 1 tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. dried ground sage
- ½ tsp. dried ground thyme
- ⅛ tsp. nutmeg
- ¼ tsp. black pepper
- 3-4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- ¾ cup shredded parmesan cheese
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Melt butter in a large pan and add leeks, celery, and mushrooms and cook until tender.
- Place bread in a large bowl. Once the vegetables are done cooking, add them to the bowl.
- Add salt, sage, thyme, nutmeg, and pepper and stir to combine.
- Add 3 cups of the broth and stir. Add the last cup as needed to make sure the dressing is nice and moist. The amount of broth you need to use depends on the type of bread, how stale it is, etc.
- Add parmesan cheese and stir to combine.
- Spray a baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and spread dressing mixture inside.
- Bake for 30-45 minutes until golden brown on top! If you're making this in advance, you can refrigerate the dressing a day prior and bake before serving. At refrigerator-temperature, the dressing will take closer to 45 minutes to heat through.
[…] Leek and Mushroom Dressing […]