Packed full of mushrooms, leeks and thyme, this Mushroom Stuffing recipe is so savory and delicious! A tasty vegetarian side dish full of depth and umami flavor, perfect for the holiday table, or as a hearty vegetarian main. Vegan-adaptable!
If you are a mushroom lover, this savory mushroom stuffing is for you! Truth be told, I prefer this hearty holiday side dish as my “main course” on the holiday table with a side of mashed potatoes. It’s so satisfying! Stuffing, in general, is my favorite Thanksgiving day food. It’s always the thing I return to for seconds. And leftover stuffing, well, it gets even better and better in my opinion!
Why You’ll Love This
- Perfect vegetarian side dish or main. This savory dish can be served as a Thanksgiving side, but due to its heartiness, you can even serve it as a vegetarian main and skip the turkey! It satisfies all the holiday cravings.
- Rich, complex flavor. Wild mushrooms bring in a rich, umami flavor, while fennel and leeks add depth and subtle sweetness. This dish is garlicky, fragrant, herbaceous and indulgent.
- Vegan adaptable. You can sub the butter for vegan butter and use flax eggs or vegan eggs to make this dish dairy-free and egg-free.
- Leftovers are even better! The flavors are even richer the next day. This mushroom stuffing makes fantastic leftovers!
Mushroom Stuffing Ingredients
- French Bread or Sourdough: The torn or cut bread cubes provide a base for the stuffing and add texture.
- Fresh wild or tame mushrooms: The star ingredient in this dish, bringing a rich, earthy, and umami flavor to the stuffing. Cremini mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, button mushrooms, portobello, chanterelle or porcini.
- Fennel bulb or Celery: Fennel adds a wonderful depth and subtle sweetness to the stuffing. Alternatively, diced celery can provide a similar crunchy texture and mild flavor.
- Leeks: Contribute a mild, onion-like flavor and add a sweet and aromatic component to the stuffing. Diced onion can be used as a substitute.
- Garlic cloves: Add a pungent and aromatic flavor to the stuffing, enhancing the overall savory profile.
- Fennel seeds: Can be added to enhance the fennel flavor and add a subtle aromatic element to the stuffing.
- Dry white wine: Optional, but can be used to deglaze the pan and add a complex depth of flavor. If preferred, vegetable broth can be used as a substitute.
- Fresh thyme, rosemary or sage: Fresh herbs bring a fragrant and herbaceous flavor to the stuffing, complementing the mushrooms and other ingredients.
- Fresh parsley: Adds a fresh and vibrant note to the stuffing, enhancing the overall flavor.
- Veggie broth, mushroom broth, or chicken broth: Used to moisten the stuffing, adding additional depth of flavor.
- Large eggs: Whisked eggs serve as a binding agent for the stuffing, holding the ingredients together. Vegan eggs can be used as a substitute for a plant-based version.
- Truffle oil (optional): Can be added for a luxurious and earthy flavor, enhancing the overall taste of the stuffing.
How to make Mushroom Stuffing
Preheat oven to 350F.
Cut or tear bread into small bite-sized pieces or cubes, place on a baking sheet, and place in the oven (while it’s still warming up) for 15-20 minutes to lightly toast, or dry overnight on the counter.
Heat butter and olive oil over medium-high heat in an extra-large heavy bottom pan or Dutch oven. A large skillet with a wide rim works fine here, too. Add mushrooms. Stir mushrooms every few minutes or so, for 8- 10 minutes, lowering heat if necessary. Add leeks, fennel, garlic, a teaspoon salt and pepper, fresh herbs, and optional fennel seeds. Continue cooking for another 6-7 minutes, over medium-low, stirring occasionally.
Deglaze the pan with wine (or sub-veggie stock). Let this cook down, stirring up any browned bits, until it’s completely evaporated.
Once the liquid has evaporated, combine this mushroom mixture with cubed bread in a large mixing bowl.
Mix the whisked eggs with 1 1/2 cups of cool broth. Toss this with the mushroom-bread mix. You want the bread nice and moist but not sopping wet. Add more broth as needed.
Pour into a greased 8×11 or 9×13 inch casserole dish, covering with foil for the first 30 minutes. Then, uncover and bake it for 10 minutes so it turns a nice golden brown.
Scatter with fresh sprigs of rosemary, parsley or thyme and a few drops of truffle oil (optional). A little freshly grated parmesan cheese would taste nice too!
Expert Tips
- Dry out the bread. Make sure to dry out the bread a bit- either in the preheating oven, or overnight on the counter.
- Use a mix of herbs! Using a trifecta of herbs- thyme, rosemary and sage- adds the best flavor.
- Make vegan or gluten-free. The stuffing can be made vegan- simply use vegan butter, and flax eggs or an egg replacer. Use gluten-free bread for a gluten-free version.
- Make your own mushroom broth. Pour 1 ½ cups boiling water over ½ ounce dried mushrooms. Cover and let stand 30 minutes, until softened. Strain, add the soaked mushrooms (chop them first) to the bowl in step 5. Use the strained mushroom broth in step 6.
FAQs
Stuffing typically means dried out bread cubes with herbs, vegetables, and broth. You can really enrich the flavor with homemade broth and a mixture of fresh herbs.
French bread is best! But sourdough works well here too.
Wild mushrooms like morels, chanterelles, or lobster mushrooms are great choices, but tame mushrooms like shiitake mushrooms, cremini mushrooms, or button mushrooms taste lovely too!
The eggs act as a binding agent to hold the stuffing together. They are essential, but if you wish to make a vegan stuffing you can use flax eggs or a vegan egg substitute.
Yes! You can prep the bread and saute the vegetables the day before.
Storage & Freezing
Once the stuffing has cooled, transfer to airtight containers and place in the refrigerator for 3-5 days. You can also store in the freezer for 3 months.
Reheat in the oven, toaster oven, or microwave until warmed all the way through.
Hope you love this Mushroom Stuffing as much as we do. You may also want to try our Cornbread Stuffing with Cranberries and Pecans!
More recipes you may like:
Mushroom Stuffing
- Prep Time: 45 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 mins
- Yield: 10
- Category: Vegetarian Side Dish, thanksgiving side dish
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Vegetarian
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
This Mushroom Stuffing recipe with fennel and leeks is so savory and delicious! A tasty vegetarian Thanksgiving side dish full of depth and umami flavor. Vegan- adaptable!
Ingredients
- 1 lb loaf of bread (French Bread or Sourdough) torn or cut into one-inch cubes
- 1/4–1/2 cup butter (or vegan butter) please see notes.
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 1/2 pounds fresh wild or tame mushrooms- shiitake, chanterelles, button, cremini, sliced
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced (or sub 2 cups diced celery)
- 2 cups chopped leeks (white and pale green parts only) or sub-diced onion
- 4–6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 1/2– 1 teaspoon fennel seeds – optional
- 1/2 cup dry white wine, optional, sub veggie broth
- 1/4 cup fresh thyme, rosemary or sage, chopped (a combo is best)
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 1/2– 2 cups Broth or stock- veggie broth, mushroom broth, chicken stock ( add as needed may need more or less)
- 2 large eggs, whisked (or use Vegan Eggs- see notes)
- optional: truffle oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Cut or tear bread into small bite-szed pieces or cubes, place on baking sheet and place in oven (while its still warming up) for 15-20 minutes, to lightly toast, or dry overnight on the counter.
- Heat butter and olive oil over medium-high heat in an extra- large heavy bottom pan or dutch oven. Add mushrooms. Stir mushrooms every few minutes or so for 8- 10 minutes, lowering heat if necessary. Add leeks, fennel, garlic, salt and pepper, fresh herbs and optional fennel seeds. Continue cooking another 6-7 minutes, over medium-low stirring occasionally.
- Deglaze the pan with wine (or sub-veggie stock). Let this cook all the way down, stirring up any browned bits, until it’s completely evaporated.
- Once the liquid has evaporated, combine this mushroom mixture with cubed bread in a large bowl.
- Mix the whisked eggs with 1 1/2 cups of cool broth. Toss this with the mushroom-bread mix. You want the bread nice and moist, but not sopping wet. Add more broth as needed.
- Pour into a greased 8×11 or 9×13 inch baking dish covering with foil for the first 30 minutes. Then uncover, and bake 10 minutes so it turns a nice golden brown.
- Scatter with fresh sprigs of rosemary, parsley or thyme and a few drops of truffle oil (optional).
Notes
BUTTER: You can cut back on the butter- or even add more. Traditional stuffing calls for 1 cup of butter. I’ve made it with 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup olive oil, and we all agreed, it needed more butter. 😉 Up to you.
VEGAN: To keep this vegan, use “egg replacer” or make flax eggs.
Gluten Free: You can make this gluten-free by using gluten-free bread or cornbread.
Mushroom Broth: Feel free to make your own mushroom broth- pour 1 ½ cups boiling water over ½ ounce dried mushrooms. Cover and let stand 30 minutes, until softened. Strain, add the soaked mushrooms (chop them first) to the bowl in step 5. Use the strained mushroom broth in step 6.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ¾ cup
- Calories: 228
- Sugar: 3 g
- Sodium: 452.3 mg
- Fat: 10.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 26.4 g
- Fiber: 2.4 g
- Protein: 6.8 g
- Cholesterol: 15.5 mg
This is really next level stuffing! I added a handful of chopped roasted chestnuts to the mix and a splash of Pernod, along with the white wine, because I didn’t have any fennel seeds. Helped make our early Thanksgiving special!
That sounds delicious Herta! Thanks for the review!
I used dried mushrooms and the leftover juice from rehydrating them. Fantasic!
Awesome to hear- thanks for coming back to rate it!
This was really tasty! I did a mixture of bread and your “perfect cornbread”, and used “wild mushroom powder” in place of the rehydrated ‘shrooms Very well received at the TDay feast!
Hi Joseph, I always love hearing how you adapt our recipes, it always makes me smile- such a creative cook! Glad everyone enjoyed and hope you had a beautiful Thanksgiving. Thanks for being here through the years.
Mmmmm haven’t even eaten it yet but smells great! I used all different mushrooms I could find! Added chestnuts which added another layer of yummy. Since I baked early to free up oven, how should I reheat? Should I add more broth? Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving if you see this!
Hi Jodie, sorry I missed this on time. I usually reheat on a 350F oven covered, checking after about 10-15 minutes to see if it needs more broth. Hopefully it worked out ok!
That’s what I did. I packed it with mushrooms and did the leek celery combo! After I added the whole cube of butter I freaked because I thought it was too much and took some out quickly! Probably got about 6 Tbl. worth! We all loved this recipe and I’d say it saved the dinner as I way overcooked my Turkey. Also followed your insta pot mash potatoes and those were a hit also!!
Perfect Jodie! Glad it worked for you!
Are the mushrooms kept whole?
They are sliced.
I have made this for the past three years at Thanksgiving. We look forward to it all year. I am prepping my grocery list and think I may be missing something. Were their direction for mushroom broth made by hydrating dry mushrooms? I think I remember how it was done, but wanted to ensure I did not miss something. Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
Hi Jennifer- I added it back to the recipe notes!
Planning on enjoying this as a Christmas dinner side dish. Do you think that I could make it the day before, and then bake the day of Christmas? Or, would it get soggy? Any tips? So excited – we have been loving mushrooms lately.
Hi Vanessa! I think that should be fine! Just really cook off the liquid from the mushrooms. 🙂
This sounds tasty! Missed this recipe for Thanksgiving but will add it to my Christmas recipe list.
Awesome Gwen!
For the first time ever my husband liked stuffing. It truly was the highlight of our Thanksgiving meal this year. As my husband is allergic to garlic, I omitted all of that. Instead, I used a bit more fennel bulb, absolutely included the fennel seeds, and enriched it further by using some rehydrated wild mushrooms along with fresh champignons. I used the white wine and for the broth I combined some of the reserved mushroom water and some quality chicken bouillon. I’m giving this all five stars, but confess I wonder if all of the indicated garlic would even be good, if I’d been able to use it. I think it would overwhelm all of the other beautiful flavors. Perhaps people should consider using less.
Appreciate this Elaine!
Hi Sylvia,
What if you skip the egg? I’m grossed out by those egg replacers. Or would the flaxseed and water type of egg replacer work?
Looking forward to trying this.
Thank you,
Heather
The egg gives this a little lift and richness. That being said, I think you could just leave it out and add more liquid if it seems dry when mixing.
Amazing ! Delicious ! Another perfect recipe. Soooo good. Great for company or just for yourself. 😊
Thanks karin- so glad you like this!
Hello 🙂 Thank you for your wonderful recipes! I have a question about this one. I live in Poland and we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here so I am not so accustomed to the traditional American dishes but I would like to serve this mushroom stuffing for a Sunday dinner. What other dish or side dish or salad could I serve it with?
Thank you!
Hi Gosia- I would serve a veggie side (green beans, roasted brussel sprouts or broccoli) and a leafy green salad with it. 🙂
Thank you 🙂
Thank you 🙂
What is vegan eggs.
Like a flax egg. 1 tablespoon ground flax mixed with 3 tablespoons water= one egg. I have not tried this here- it probably won’t puff up, but will still have good flavor.
Delicious! The dried mushrooms (I used shitake),fresh criminis, fennel, leeks and fresh herbs all came together for wonderful flavors and textures.
At what temperature should this be baked?
350F
I’m so happy that I’ve found you and your website. I love your recipes. Thank you, Thank you!
This looks so delicious. I will make this for Thanksgiving next week. Can I prep this the day before, refrigerate, and bake it the day of? Or even bake it the day before, refrigerate, and just warm it up for diner?
You could bake it the day before, and reheat. Bring it to room temp ( about an hour) before reheating at 350F. Cover with foil for first 20-25 minutes, then uncover for last 10.
Incredibly good. Everyone asked I make it again for Thanksgiving.
Where do you find wild mushrooms?? I’ve been wanting to cook with them for a while but I haven’t run across many. Any tips?
Wild mushrooms are mushrooms that are foraged or found, like chanterelles, porcini or morels – not commercially grown, usually found at farmers markets, or higher-end grocery stores. You can make this with wild mushrooms, or “tame” i.e., commercially grown mushrooms, or a combo of both. 🙂
I’m not clear where the wine comes in? Mushrooms are on the stove right now….
See step 6. 🙂