Stuffing is traditionally baked inside a turkey for holiday meals, but this is not always an option for vegetarians. Adding apples is an excellent way to prevent stuffing from drying out when it is baked separately. Instead of relying on the juices from a turkey for moisture, the juices from the apples keep the stuffing hydrated.
Ingredients for Vegetarian Stuffing
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 ½ cups celery, chopped (about 3 stalks with the leaves on)
- ½ cup margarine (or for a lighter recipe use ¼ cup margarine and ¼ cup water)
- 9 cups soft bread cubes* (about ½ to ¾ inch per cube)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried sage leaves
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- ½ to 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 2 medium to large apples
- *Odds and ends of bread in the freezer can be used to make the bread cubes.
Directions for Preparation
- In a large pot, cook and stir onion and celery in margarine (or margarine and water) until tender.
- Add salt, sage, thyme and poultry seasoning. Mix well.
- Add bread cubes and stir until seasoning is evenly distributed.
- Finally, stir apples into stuffing. Transfer stuffing to large casserole and bake at 325F for 30 minutes.
If short on time, stuffing does not need to be baked. Instead of adding apples at the end, cook them with onions and celery.
Tips for Serving Vegetarian Guests
Hosting a holiday dinner is a big endeavor, and it can be stressful. To help curb stress, hosts and hostesses should keep in mind that they do not need to make an entire second meal to serve to vegetarian guests. Holiday dinners often include many dishes aside from turkey -- such as stuffing, potatoes, sweet potatoes, salads, vegetable dishes and buns. Vegetarians can fill up on these foods, and no not necessarily require a meat substitute.
If guests do wish to prepare a meat substitute for their vegetarian guests, major grocery stores carry ready-made meatless versions of well-known meat dishes. Chickenless Cordon Bleu and Chickenless Kiev go well with holiday meals, especially when served with cranberry sauce. These meatless dishes can be cooked in toaster ovens or microwaves if the oven is busy with a real turkey.
Meatless meat is usually quite filling and contains a greater amount of protein than its meat counterpart. Therefore, guests will not require large portions of meatless meat, especially when they will be eating side dishes as well. If hosts let their guests choose their own portions of meatless meat, they will not feel obligated to eat more than they can comfortably gobble down.
Jill Harris offers additional advice on hosting holiday dinners for vegetarian guests. The holidays are a time for fun with friends and family, and for enjoying great food. Vegetarians and meat eaters alike will love this vegetarian-friendly stuffing!
Julie Atchison - Julie Atchison is an elementary school teacher in Ontario, Canada and enjoys working with students of various ages. She graduated from the ...
