J&J’s Stuffing Recipe.

The best stuffing. Recipe right at the top! Scroll down for notes.

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J&J’s Stuffing Recipe Notes

• Recipe as written fits in a deep dish 9×13 casserole, or fills two shallow foil 9×13 pans.
• Bake in two shallow pans if you like more crispy stuffing surface area.
• Baking directions are for room temperature stuffing. If you refrigerate the stuffing before baking, bake covered at 350 for 1 hour, then uncovered at 400 until browned.
• Make ahead: you can brown and freeze the sausage and cut and freeze the vegetables months ahead if you want to.
• The stuffing can also be made completely then frozen in pans or plastic bags. Bake covered at 350 until warmed through, then uncovered at 400 until browned. It will take about 2 hours to warm through from frozen, or 1 hour to warm through if thawed.
• Our family serves J&J’s Stuffing with copious amounts of Ocean Spray whole berry cranberry sauce (not store brand) or plain homemade cranberry sauce (no orange or cinnamon nonsense).
• I make this recipe every Thanksgiving and most Christmases for my kids.
• You can substitute the Stovetop-style fluffy stuffing, homemade dried bread cubes, etc.—just make sure to use 20 oz of stuffing bread so that the liquid and spice ratio is correct.

Frugal Recipe Tips for J&J’s Stuffing: A HUGE Thanksgiving side dish for a total of $2.43!

This stuffing is also fantastic without the sausage; my kids love both versions equally.

• The very cheapest way to make this stuffing:

  • $0 Omit sausage (you will lose about 24 oz of bulk in the recipe so it will fill the pan(s) less full.
  • $1.73 Buy onions at $0.25 per pound, parsley at $0.50, and celery at $0.98. Prep and freeze.
  • $0.50 Make your own bread for the bread cubes—nothing fancy, just flour, water, and a bit of yeast or sourdough starter. A large loaf of bread will cost less than 50 cents (16 oz flour at Walmart which is not the cheapest is $2.38. Use 1 lb flour ($0.48), 1.5 cups water, and a pinch of yeast (let rise longer) or sourdough starter. (either leaven costs less than 2 cents).
  • $0.04 dried sage Winco bulk at $10.18 per pound. 1 cup weighs 1 oz. There are 16 Tbsp in 1 cup. Recipe calls for 1 Tbsp. $10.18 per lb divided by 16 oz divided by 16 Tbsp = $0.04.
  • $0.12 black pepper Winco bulk at $6.50 per pound. Ground pepper weighs 0.3 oz. per Tbsp. There are 53 Tbsp in 1 lb pepper. $6.50 divided by 53 = $0.12
  • $0. Substitute bacon grease, turkey fat, or chicken fat (schmaltz) for butter.
  • $0. Make stock from chicken or turkey carcass, or even a rotisserie chicken carcass. Do not add spices or vegetables because the same flavors are already in the diced vegetables in this stuffing recipe.
  • $0.04 two Tbsp salt. You will need 1-2 Tbsp salt in this recipe since there is no salt in the chicken stock and you are omitting the sausage. Winco salt is $0.79 for a 26 oz cannister ($0.49 per lb). 1 Tbsp salt weighs 0.67 oz. $0.49 per lb divided by 16 oz. ($0.03 per oz) times 0.67 = $0.02. per Tbsp.

  • Total: $2.43 for a huge Thanksgiving side dish that feeds at least 16 people—that’s 15 cents per person for this filling and traditional Thanksgiving side dish.

More Frugal Recipe Tips for J&J’s Stuffing Recipe:

• I buy the Jimmy Dean sausage and the Mrs. Cubbison’s bread cube stuffing any time during the year when I find a good sale. I freeze the sausage and store the bread cube stuffing in the back of the pantry. Normal price for Jimmy Dean sausage tube is $4. Normal price for Mrs. Cubbison’s 10 oz cube stuffing is $1.98 but in 2025 even Winco jacked up the price to $2.48.
• I buy poultry seasoning and/or dried sage at Winco from the bulk bins so it costs less than 10 cents for enough to last me at least two years.
• Handifoil foil pans at Winco at four for 2.98 ($0.75 each) to take the stuffing to church and work events. Handifoil is made in the USA unlike “Dollar” Tree pans, and cheaper.
• I make my own chicken broth but if you do not, the cheapest way to make chicken broth is with bouillon powder or cubes, not the premixed cartons or cans of chicken broth. You can also save turkey stock from last year’s turkey neck and/or carcass. Reduce it all the way down to one cup, refrigerate in a shallow dish, then cut into cubes. The cubes will feel like very firm Jello. Freeze the cubes. This fits more than a gallon of stock into the space of 1 cup.
• White, brown, or Vidalia (sweet) onions all work in this recipe, so buy the onions that are the cheapest per pound.
• If you grow your own parsley, onions, and/or celery, use your homegrown produce.
• Fresh sage is great if you grow it; use about 1 packed cup of fresh sage, and dice finely, for this recipe.
• Butter has never gone under $2 per pound in the Phoenix area in the last 6 months; $2.77 is the cheapest sale price (Safeway, but always limit of two.) $2.98 per pound at Winco in November of 2025. $2.87 per pound at Sam’s Club.
• I get 6% cashback on groceries with my American Express Blue Cash Preferred card. I can even get 6% cashback at Winco even though Winco doesn’t take credit cards: buy a small Winco gift card in store, then reload it online with your Amex Blue Cash Preferred to earn 6% cash back on your gift card reloads. Use my Amex link here to get a $300 cash back bonus with my referral on the American Express Blue Cash Preferred card when you spend $3,000 in 6 months. NOTE: Use your cell phone for this link so you will see the $300 cash back bonus. On desktop, it might only offer you $250!