I posted this Slow Cooker Stuffing recipe over a decade ago, and to date (November 2022) it is still the recipe I use. It’s a traditional Southern stuffing made with a combination of cornbread, baguette (because I like it a little chewy), celery, onions, poultry seasoning, egg and lots of butter. Our Thanksgivings have gotten smaller over the year, so I’ve often had to scale down the recipe somewhat. This year I made a quarter batch and used the Instant Pot, which worked perfectly for the smaller batch since the surface area is smaller.
Crockpot or Slow Cooker Stuffing
Whether you call it Crockpot Stuffing or Slow Cooker Stuffing, it’s a useful recipe because it leaves extra room in the oven on Thanksgiving. It actually tastes great and the cubes of bread near the sides of the slow cooker get chewy and brown. You can start this early in the day, let it do its thing, and add a little broth or give it a stir here and there when needed.
Instant Pot Version
You can also make this using the slow cooker function of the Instant Pot. Instead of using a separate skillet to cook the onion and celery, just use the sauté function of the Instant Pot. Once the vegetables are done, you can mix the bread, seasonings, egg and broth all in the Instant Pot and use the low setting to cook the stuffing for four hours. If using this method, let the mixture cool down a bit before adding the egg, otherwise you’ll have cooked egg in your stuffing.
Crockpot aka Slow Cooker Stuffing
1 1/2 cup onions
1 cup celery
1-2 sticks butter, I used salted (divided use)
8 inch square pan of cornbread, crumbled (10 oz)
10 ounces chewy baguette type bread or ciabatta, cut into cubes
1 1/2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cup chicken broth to start, then add as needed (33% reduced sodium)
plenty of fresh ground pepper
1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage or to taste
1/3 cup toasted pecans, chopped
Melt 1 stick of the butter in a large skillet. Saute onions and celery for about 4 minutes or until soft. Turn off the heat.
In large bowl, mix bread and crumbled corn bread. Toss with poultry seasoning. Pour onion/celery mixture into bread mixture and stir until moist. Add eggs and stir well. Pour in 1 ½ cups broth.
Empty mixture into slow cooker and cook for four hours, stopping to stir once or twice. After 4 hours, you should have a good base stuffing, but it will need some more flavorings. At this point, add fresh pepper to taste (about ¼ to ½ teaspoon), sage and toss with pecans. You can also add the remaining stick of butter, but if you like your stuffing on the lighter side, you can leave out the second stick of butter and moisten with broth only. If you are feeding a group of people who like traditional rich stuffing, it’s probably best to use all of the butter.
Total cook time should be 4 hours on low give or take a few minutes.
Serves 6 to 8
Christine Steendahl-"The Menu Mom"
Wow, this sounds so simple and tasty! It will free up space in the oven as well. Can’t wait to try it! Thanks for sharing.
Emily Barrett
Just wanted to say thanks for this recipe. I made it “full fat” for Thanksgiving and it was a hit! Wonderful way to orchestrate meal timing with one oven. Dinner was served just as the in-laws walked in the door! –EB
Deb Schiff
What a great idea! It looks so good!
Anna
Hi Aaron,
I cook it on low. Just added that!
My slow cooker is a Rival Crock*Pot.
Aaron
I was wondering what temperature you cooked the stuffing on and what type of slow cooker you used.
Jennifer
Wow, what a great idea. I was already debating doing something in the crock pot for Thanksgiving as it seems I run out of room in the oven. I was thinking sweet potatoes in the crock pot would work, but the stuffing ideas is great, too.
Kaitlin
Yum this looks GOOD!
Sara
This looks delicious, I love slow cooker recipes!
Heidi
we ALWAYS do cornbread stuffing, but I’m lucky that my mom makes a big tub of it and then just brings that over and I don’t have to mess with it.
I’m heading to your hood this weekend Anna, I’ll wave! 😉
Lydia (The Perfect Pantry)
Aaahhhh, I’ve been waiting to find a recipe like this! For me, the stuffing is the best part of the meal, and I love the thought of having it cooking for hours while I’m busy doing other things. One question: you cooked on low for a total of how many hours?
Anj
As much as I love Luby’s, I am glad you are pulling the real deal off. Your recipes look so traditional and very yummy. I just might have to break tradition and try this stuffing in the crock pot, sounds great. That is my go-to pumpkin pie recipe – the best and so easy. It will be a grand meal for sure, very worthy of being thankful for I am sure.
bakingblonde
I am soooo making this soon! I LOVE stuffing, it would be my meal most wintery nights if I could get away with that many carbs every night!
Joanna
i can’t wait for thanksgiving, anna. i am going nuts looking at all these pictures of food. that stuffing looks soo good. i bet the pecans give it a nice crunch. i’d definitely say stuffing is in my top 2 favorite thanksgiving foods. #1 would have to be sweet potato casserole 🙂