Apple Raisin Dressing

Apple Raisin Dressing Ingredients

Take a peek at what each ingredient in this easy apple raisin dressing brings to the dish:

Butter: The unsung hero of dressing, butter is not only used to cook the veggies, but it adds a richness of flavor. The fat helps to create a moist, luscious dish as well.

Onions and Celery: They bulk up the stuffing, adding flavor and fiber in behind-the-scenes.

Apples: Granny Smith apples bring a balance of tartness and juiciness that takes this dressing to another level. They add moistness and texture while enhancing the flavors from the sage and pecans.

Sage: The earthy flavor of sage adds a traditional backdrop flavor to dressing, making it a perfect accompaniment next to your favorite meat or poultry. We prefer to use rubbed sage over sage leaves, as its texture disappears into the other ingredients.

Salt and Pepper: These seasonings are good connectors. They add flavor and enhance the taste of the other ingredients in this dish. They also bringing everything together into a beautiful flavorful medley.

Cornbread Stuffing: Use a store-bought bag of dried crumbled cornbread with other seasonings. Not stuffing mix, which contains other ingredients like veggies, in addition to the cornbread.

Raisins: We call for golden raisins for this dish, as they are plumper and juicier than regular dark raisins. They add both moisture and sweetness to the dressing. The golden color also disguises their appearance in the dressing, allowing the cornbread to get all the glory.

Pecans: Their nutty flavor and texture are a welcomed addition to the many soft textures this dish has. Of all the nuts, their flavor goes particularly well with sage and apple. Toasting them enhances their crunchiness while bringing out their flavor. Our tip below the recipe will show you just how to do it.

Chicken Broth: Provides the majority of the moisture to this dish. It softens the cornbread crumbs as it bakes, while contributing flavor. We love Progresso Reduced Sodium Chicken Broth for this recipe as it has a terrific homemade flavor. Also, holiday feasts typically contain a lot of sodium, so we look for ways to cut a little here and there. You’ll never miss it in this recipe.

Eggs: Protein in the eggs helps bind the ingredients together, so that when served, you get a nice clump of soft, billowy goodness under the crisped top, rather than being a crumbled mess of individual pieces of cornbread and the veggies.

How to Make Apple Raisin Dressing

Look how easy it is to make this apple raisin dressing for turkey. Then scroll down for the complete recipe, with all the measurements of ingredients and directions, so you’re dressing will bring requests for seconds.

Choosing a Dish

We love using a 13 x 9 glass dish for this recipe. Its shape leaves a large surface area on top for the dressing to crisp. And using glass helps limit the crispiness to only the top. Be sure to spray both the sides and the bottom with cooking spray, so nothing will stick. You can use any 3-quart glass or ceramic casserole dish. If you love really moist dressing, one that’s deeper with less surface area will give you more soft, moist stuffing and less crispy edges.

Create the Veggie Mixture

Cook the onion, celery, and apple first to ensure the right texture. Start with onion and celery in butter. It will take 6 to 10 minutes until the veggies are tender. Then in add the chopped apple. Cook until they are all tender, about 3 minutes longer. This is also the time to stir in the seasonings to ensure they get evenly mixed throughout the entire dish.

Combine and Make it Moist

Here’s where it all comes together! The veggie mixture is mixed with the stuffing, raisins, and pecans to distribute the ingredients evenly to create a symphony of flavor in every bite. Mix the eggs with the broth. This makes sure the eggs are spread throughout the stuffing. If they are added separately, their viscous texture can over coat some of the ingredients while others get no egg love. Start with the smaller amount of broth and gage how moist the dressing is to you. If you live in a humid area, you might want to stop here, but if you like a moister stuffing, add the remaining 1/2 cup, and mix again.

Bake to Brown It

Bake the casserole uncovered, this will allow the top to get golden-brown with those crispy edges. When your top has a nice color, the center has heated to a high enough temperature to cook the egg and let everything soften and settle in.

How to Store Apple Raisin Dressing

Apple raisin stuffing for pork, ham, turkey, chicken, or even roast beef is a great one to enjoy as leftovers! Why not make two dishes of it to keep on hand for a quick side for future meals? For the best texture, make and bake the dressing before storing. Do not prep to bake later.

Refrigerator Storage: Wrap the baking dish tightly with foil or place the cooled leftover stuffing in food-storage containers with tight-fitting lids. Store in the refrigerator up to 1 week.

Freezer Storage: Place cooled stuffing in freezer-safe food storage containers with tight-fitting lids. Store in the freezer up to 2 months.

Reheating Apple Raisin Dressing: If the dressing was in the refrigerator, spoon servings onto microwavable plates or into microwavable bowls. Loosely cover the stuffing and microwave on medium-high (70%) for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until heated through. If the dressing was frozen, you can thaw it overnight in the refrigerator or reheat it frozen using the same reheating directions as for refrigerated stuffing. Or you can microwave it frozen, adding a little extra time, since it’s in a frozen state. The stuffing will be moister (rather than have its crispy edges) if microwaved this way. We do not recommend reheating dressing in the oven, as it will dry out before the center can get hot enough.

Apple Raisin Dressing Variations

Change up the flavor of this dressing with adding an ingredient or making a switch or two. Make it your own with any of these variations:

Fresh Herb Flavor: Add some chopped fresh Italian parsley or cilantro leaves with the onion mixture in step 3, for a fresh flavor and color.

Seasoning Switch: For a bolder seasoned stuffing, reduce the rubbed sage to 1/2 teaspoon and add 1/2 teaspoon each dried oregano and thyme leaves. Use 3 cups of broth in step 3.

Swap the Stuffing: You can easily change out the stuffing for another flavor. For a quick change to this recipe use an equal amount of any other crumbled seasoned stuffing (not the cubes), rather than the cornbread variety.

Trade the Nuts: Rather than use pecans, you could substitute walnuts, almonds, or pine nuts. Or, if you’re not a nut fan, you can leave them out entirely. See our tip below the recipe for toasting them. Keep an eye on the pine nuts, they can brown more quickly than other varieties.

Apple Raisin Dressing with Sausage: Add a pound of cooked and drained bulk sausage with the onion mixture in step 3. You can use regular or hot pork sausage, sweet or hot Italian sausage, or even turkey sausage.

Apple Raisin Dressing with Bacon: Add 1 pound drained cooked and crumbled bacon with the onion mixture in step 3.