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Wild Mushroom Stuffing with fennel and leeks – a tasty vegetarian Thanksgiving Side Dish that is full of depth, complexity and flavor! Vegan adaptable! Updated Nov 2022.
I love the flavor of this Wild Mushroom Stuffing- a delicious vegetarian Thanksgiving side dish that can also be made vegan! Fennel and leeks add lovely depth, complexity and subtle sweetness – and truth be told, I prefer to have this hearty side dish, as my “main course” on the holiday table. 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 in my opinion!
Mushroom Stuffing Ingredients:
- French bread or Sourdough bread ( or sub gluten-free corn bread)
- Butter (or vegan butter) and olive oil
- Fresh mushrooms- shiitake, chanterelles, button, cremini ( a combo of wild and tame mushrooms is nice here)
- Fennel bulb, or sub celery
- Leeks, or sub onions
- 6-8 garlic cloves
- Salt, pepper and optional fennel seeds
- Dry white wine (or sub broth)
- Fresh herbs: thyme, rosemary, parsely and sage ( a combo is best)
- Broth or stock- veggie broth, mushroom broth, or chicken stock
- 2 large eggs, whisked ( or use Flax eggs, or Vegan Eggs- see notes)
This recipe for wild mushroom stuffing, can be made with wild or tame mushrooms of a mix- my favorite!
Saute them in a mixture of butter and olive oil for the best flavor. Leeks and fennel add lovely flavor here, but feel free to sub onions and celery if you wish.
Make sure to dry out the bread a bit- either in the preheating oven, or overnight on the counter.
Using a trifecta of herbs- thyme, rosemary and sage- adds the best flavor.
For the broth- use mushroom broth, veggie broth or chicken broth, and add just enough to moisten.
The stuffing can be made vegan- simply use vegan butter, and flax eggs or egg replacer.
Hope you love this Mushroom Stuffing as much as we do.
More recipes you may like:
A Vegetarian Thanksgiving Dinner
Cornbread Stuffing with Cranberries and Pecans
Vegan & Vegetarian Side Dishes
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Wild Mushroom Stuffing with Fennel and Leeks
- Prep Time: 45 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 mins
- Yield: 10 1x
- Category: Vegetarian Side Dish, thanksgiving side dish
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Vegetarian
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Wild Mushroom Stuffing with fennel and leeks – a tasty vegetarian Thanksgiving Side Dish that is full of depth and flavor flavors. Vegan adaptable! Updated 11/2022
Ingredients
- 1 lb loaf of bread (French Bread or Sourdough) torn or cut into one-inch cubes
- 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.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: - using olive oil and 1 egg
- Calories: 273
- Sugar: 3.6 g
- Sodium: 542.7 mg
- Fat: 12.8 g
- Saturated Fat: 2 g
- Carbohydrates: 31.7 g
- Fiber: 2.8 g
- Protein: 8.1 g
- Cholesterol: 18.6 mg
Keywords: mushroom stuffing, mushrooms stuffing recipe, vegetarian stuffing recipes, thanksgiving side dish, thanksgiving recipes, vegan stuffing, vegan stuffing recipe, wild mushroom stuffing.
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. 🙂