Elana's Pantry

New York Times Bestselling author Elana Amsterdam founded Elana’s Pantry, the go-to website for easy, healthy, grain-free, Paleo recipes, in 2006

cranberry apple stuffing

Cranberry Apple Stuffing

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This Cranberry Apple Stuffing is a family favorite. We love making it at Thanksgiving, but it’s so good we make it all year round. Although gluten-free stuffing may not seem like a big deal, it is to us. Since my older son and I both have celiac disease stuffing is not something we take for granted.

Gluten-Free Bread Recipes

We also cherish gluten-free bread recipes. Mine are all grain-free and paleo as well. I gave up gluten in 1998, and in 2001 I gave up all grains as well as corn, rice, and potatoes. If you’re in the same boat you’ll want to take a look at all of the amazingly easy and tasty creations on my Paleo Bread Recipes page!

Gluten-Free Stuffing Recipe for Thanksgiving

While stuffing is often a time consuming and complex dish to make, this recipe is a bit easier. It’s a traditional bread stuffing spiked with cranberries and green apples. I don’t bake my stuffing inside a turkey because it doesn’t bake evenly when prepared this way. I also like to brown this paleo stuffing in the oven so baking it separately is key.

Print Recipe
Cranberry Apple Stuffing
Serves:
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Soak dried cranberries in chicken broth for 1-2 hours
  2. Heat oil in a 9 inch skillet, over medium heat
  3. Sauté onion until soft, about 15 minutes
  4. Add celery and sauté for 10 minutes
  5. Add apple and parsley and sauté for 3 minutes, until apples begin to soften
  6. Transfer mixture to a large bowl
  7. Bake bread cubes on a parchment paper lined baking sheet for 5-10 minutes at 350°F
  8. Cool for 20 minutes
  9. Stir bread cubes into vegetable mixture
  10. Whisk eggs and salt into cranberry-chicken broth mixture
  11. Add egg-cranberry mixture to stuffing, tossing to combine
  12. Transfer stuffing to a 9 x 13 inch baking dish
  13. Bake stuffing at 350°F uncovered until cooked through and browned on top, about 40 minutes
  14. Let stand 10-15 minutes
  15. Serve

This gluten-free Cranberry Apple Stuffing recipe is based on one I found in Bon Appétit. It has all the components of a good stuffing recipe! For me this includes bread (gluten-free of course), onions, celery, chicken broth, and eggs. These ingredients are the key to a good stuffing recipe!

Gluten-Free Thanksgiving Recipes

Here are some of my other healthy gluten-free Thanksgiving recipes for you!

Comments

  2. What is the best way to reheat this? I made this wonderful stuffing this past weekend and I screwed it up when I put it in the oven to heat up before dinner. It tasted good, but I dried it out. Should I have put a cover on it? I really want to make this again.

    Reply

  3. I am new to paleo as well as cooking in general AND it’s the first year that everyone is coming to my house for Thanksgiving!! I’m wondering if I can make this receipt the day before and how would I reheat it the day of?

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  4. Wow. My traditional stuffing recipe with lots of butter and sage using GF bread this Thanksgiving was terrible (My first year being GF). This, however, using a mixture of GF sandwich bread and GF millet bread was wonderful – thank you!

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  5. I love the photo and I just stopped by to say that I used your recipe for this cranberry apple stuffing for our vegetarian thanks giving and it did not disappoint! Thank you sincerely for making me look like I can cook!

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  6. Served this at our first GF TG dinner and it was a hit! In my opinion, it was a little on the dry side but that may have been due to the fact that my bread cubes were too big and didn’t absorb the broth and butter mixture as well as they could have. Loved that I didn’t have to use any rice flour which has a distinctive taste and can become tiresome to those who eat it often. I used the almond flour bread recipe (linked above) but made my own flour using unblanched almonds ground up in the Thermomix. It didn’t seem to make a difference though. Because I couldn’t find any organic cranberries, I improvised by turing this into a mushroom stuffing using mushrooms, celery, onions, butter and thyme instead of apples. Will definitely make this again, thanks Elana!

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  7. Ooh, I bet this is good! And I bet you feel stuffed afterwards – your bread recipes are so filling and satisfying. and the best part about your recipe? No carbo-overload!

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  8. I just made this for Thanksgiving, and it was DELICIOUS! Even those who could eat the gluten filled stuffing ate it! Thank you so much for providing such great recipes. They really are a blessing to me!

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  9. We enjoyed your Cranberry Apple Stuffing so much that it has become part of our new Traditional Gluten Free Thanksgiving menu! Thanks Elana!

    Reply

  12. Yum! I love stuffing. I am planning on trying out a mushroom quinoa stuffing idea that’s been floating around in my mind tonight. Hopefully it will be just as good as yours. ;-)

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  14. Yum, this looks good! And it gives me the idea to add cranberries to my parsnip and rice cake stuffing. Yes…rice cakes make great stuffing!

    Pat

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  15. Yaaay! I’m so excited to try this! Stuffing is my favorite Thanksgiving dish :) Off to order some more almond flour! Thanks Elana!

    Reply

  16. This stuffing looks amazing! I’m working on my own gluten free, grain free stuffing recipe at the moment with a mock version of cornbread. Hopefully I can get it posted before the holiday. Have a good Thanksgiving!

    Reply

  17. Hi elana,

    last year i created my own stuffing with the usual ingredients but added your rosemary lemon muffins as my bread! it was SO fantastic, along with fresh chestnuts…. already dreaming about it for next week!

    Reply

  18. Perhaps not easy, but worthwhile I am sure! Pretty and flavorful, and one can do neglected kitchen chores while waiting during some of the steps. ;-)

    Thanks, Elana! xo,

    Shirley

    Reply

  19. Thank you! I’ve been waiting all week for this to come out. Sounds like you’ve worked hard for this Thanksgiving.

    Really appreciate all the work you do!

    Reply

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