This Air Fryer Stuffing is the perfect holiday side dish! Packed with carrots, leeks, and celery, it will impress all your dinner guests!
The sides are the best part of the holidays for me, and this Air Fryer Stuffing is one I’m always making for Thanksgiving and Christmas!
This rich, hearty side dish is packed with veggies and the must-have for stuffing: bread.
In this recipe, I use a mixture of dried bread and soft bread in my stuffing to help give it both a crunchy and chewy texture throughout.
The bread is surrounded by sautéed carrots, leeks, and celery, for the ultimate fall flavor in a baking dish!
If you are gluten-free, you can easily adapt this recipe to fit your dietary needs!
The same goes if you are vegan or vegetarian!
Need more holiday side dishes for your upcoming holiday spreads? Try these: Air Fryer Creamed Corn Casserole, Air Fryer Green Bean Casserole and Air Fryer Sweet Potato Casserole.
How to Make Air Fryer Stuffing
- In a skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Once your butter is melted, add your diced celery. Next, add your diced leeks — or white onions, if you’re out of leeks! Then, add your diced carrots. Sauté the veggies until they’ve softened.
- Once they’re softened, add your spices: Poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper.
- Finally, add the vegetable broth to moisten the bread slightly — but not soggy — and taste the mixture.
- If the flavors are right, pour your bread mixture into an oiled oven-safe baking dish.
- Air Fry at 325F/170C for 22-24 minutes or until your stuffing is golden brown.
- Enjoy!
What Bread is Best for Stuffing?
For this recipe, you can use just about any bread you have — white, wheat, gluten-free, multi-grain, you name it!
The key here is to make sure you dice up half of the bread the day or two in advance so it gets that hard, crusty feeling on the outside.
Leave the bread in a bowl on your counter, and it should be ready to use after about a day!
A large loaf of sandwich bread should give you around 9 cups, so that would be more than enough for this recipe.
I use half dry bread and half soft bread, so I dice the other half right before cooking. Want to do it all ahead of time?
Dice up your bread and leave half out to dry and half in an airtight container to keep moist!
Can I Make This Ahead of Time?
Holiday dishes are the best when they can be made, at least partially, in advance and then cooked on the big day!
For this recipe, you could definitely sauté your veggies the day before and mix them with your soft bread pieces.
I’d wait to add the dried bread pieces and vegetable broth until cook time because the liquid could make the bread overly soft and break down in the fridge.
No one wants gummy stuffing!
You can also just sauté the vegetables the night before and mix them into your bread the next day for the freshest partially make-ahead stuffing!
FOR MORE DELICIOUS RECIPES, TRY THESE:
If you look cooking as much as we do, you probably love to try new recipes!
If you are searching for new recipes to try, here are some of our favorites: Vegan Green Bean Casserole, Air Fryer Butternut Squash, Gluten-Free Chocolate Haystacks, Vegan Mashed Potatoes and Air Fryer Acorn Squash
Gluten Free and wanting to make stuffing? Our friends at Gluten Free Palate have THE most delicious Gluten Free Stuffing!
Pro Tips
- Use Any Air Fryer: This recipe can be made in an air fryer unit with a basket or an air fryer oven. If you're using an air fryer oven, place your food on the middle rack and select the "air fry" function.
- Check your food as it cooks! Since each air fryer runs differently, sometimes air frying is a trial and error-process. When cooking a new recipe, be sure to check on your food often. This will help you avoid over or undercooking, and help you learn your air fryer's specific ways!
Air Fryer Stuffing (Air Fryer Dressing)
Ingredients
- 3 T butter dairy or vegan
- 1.5 c leeks or white onion, diced
- ¾ c carrots diced
- 1.5 c celery diced
- 3 T poultry seasoning
- ½ t salt
- ½ t pepper
- 3 c dried bread pieces cut into cubes
- 3 c soft bread pieces cut into cubes
- ⅓ c vegetable broth or more to moisten
Instructions
- In a skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Once butter is melted, add the leeks, carrots, and celery. Sauté until soft.
- Once softened, add poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine.
- Add the dried and soft bread pieces to the mixture. Stir to combine.
- Add the vegetable broth to the mixture to moisten. Taste at this point to see if it needs more seasoning. If so, add more poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper.
- If the flavors are right, pour your bread mixture into an oiled oven-safe baking dish. Air Fry at 325F/170C for 22-24 minutes or until your stuffing is golden brown.
Notes
Nutrition
Air Fryers can vary greatly. Please take the time to learn your specific air fryer. You may need to adjust times and temperatures based upon your air fryer. All though this website attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, the information should only be considered an estimate. Varying factors such as different product types, different brands, etc. can change nutritional information. It is your responsibility as a consumer to read all labels to make sure the ingredients fit your dietary needs as well as calculate your own nutritional information as a double check.
