Why This Recipe Works

Stuffing muffins aren't just an adorable twist on your classic holiday casserole; they also give each serving the ultimate balance of textures. For ours we started by thoroughly drying ¾-inch cubes of hearty white sandwich bread in a 300-degree oven, creating the perfect base to allow them to soak up more flavorful poultry stock and butter and ensure a tender, moist (not soggy) interior texture. We used convenient chicken bouillon base to make a concentrated chicken broth, imparting extra meatiness and umami to these muffins. Folding two eggs into the bread cubes along with the usual mix of stock and sautéed onions and celery made the baked muffins cohesive enough to hold together when removed from the muffin tin. A brush of melted butter before baking helped the generously domed muffin tops get lightly crispy and deliciously browned, giving each of these “stuffins” the ideal ratio of caramelized exterior and tender, custardy interior. Sage-y breakfast sausage as well as fresh garlic, rosemary, and parsley leveled up our classic stuffing, making it worthy of the most special holiday feast.

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Before You Begin

Use a hearty white sandwich bread such as Arnold Country Style White Bread or Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse Hearty White Bread; you will need one loaf. We developed this recipe using Bell's Poultry Seasoning. We use Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base to make a concentrated chicken broth that imparts extra savoriness to these muffins; we do not recommend using regular chicken broth or powdered bouillon.

Instructions

Adjust oven racks to middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 300 degrees. Arrange bread pieces evenly on 2 rimmed baking sheets and bake until bread is light golden brown and fully dried, 40 to 45 minutes, stirring and rotating sheets halfway through baking. Let bread cool on sheets for 15 minutes, then transfer to large bowl. (Cooled bread can be stored in zipper-lock bag for up to 2 days.) Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees.

Melt 6 tablespoons butter in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, celery, and sausage, breaking up sausage into very small pieces with potato masher, and cook until vegetables are softened and sausage is fully cooked, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in poultry seasoning, garlic, rosemary, pepper, and salt and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Transfer vegetable mixture to bowl with bread.

Whisk water and chicken base together in 4-cup liquid measuring cup. Add water mixture, eggs, and parsley to bread mixture and, using rubber spatula, fold until evenly combined. Let sit until most liquid is absorbed, about 10 minutes. Fold mixture again until liquid is fully absorbed.

Spray 12-cup muffin tin with vegetable oil spray. Divide bread mixture evenly among muffin cups, using all of bread mixture. Gently press on bread mixture to fill cups and heap mixture into loose dome shapes. Brush bread mixture with melted butter. Bake on upper rack until tops of muffins are well browned and crispy, about 35 minutes, rotating muffin tin halfway through baking.

Transfer muffin tin to wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes. Gently place inverted rimmed baking sheet onto muffins, taking care not to compress tops. Grasp edges of muffin tin and baking sheet and carefully flip to release muffins onto sheet. Transfer muffins to wire rack, domed sides up. Let muffins rest for 10 minutes. Serve.To Make Ahead: Cooled muffins can be refrigerated in airtight container for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 1 month. If frozen, thaw muffins overnight in refrigerator or thaw at room temperature for about 3 hours. Bake refrigerated or thawed frozen muffins on rimmed baking sheet on middle rack of 350-degree oven until heated through, about 25 minutes.