Stuffing is such a part of Thanksgiving for so many people (me included), but I’ve never loved the boxed, processed stuffing mixes that just seem bland and mushy. Sure, there are some decent store-bought options, but they tend to be more pricey and I love creating new takes on classic recipes using seasonal and local ingredients.
Grain Free Stuffing
A few years ago, I had the idea to use seasonal root vegetables like turnips and sweet potatoes as a base for a “stuffing” and experimented with different mixtures and ratios until I found this one. It is hearty, nourishing and a beautiful addition to a Thanksgiving table!
This grain free stuffing is better when cooked outside the bird, and can easily be prepared a day or two ahead of time and reheated in a 9×13 baking dish to save time on Thanksgiving Day. The leftovers can actually be breaded in coconut flour and pan-fried to make a “bread” for leftover turkey sandwiches.
If you are hosting Thanksgiving this year, why not serve a meal with as much nutrition as it has taste?
Savory Grain-Free Stuffing
Yield 8 -10
A grain free nutrient packed stuffing made with root vegetables, fragrant apples and herbs and spices.
Ingredients
- 2 large turnips (not sure how big they normally are, but mine weighed about 2 lbs each, so 4 lbs total)
- 3 large or 4 medium sweet potatoes
- 3 large onions
- 5 large ribs of celery (or about 1 medium sized head)
- 1 package of fresh button mushrooms
- 1 apple
- 1 pound of sage pork sausage (optional)
- 2-3 teaspoons or more garlic powder (to taste)
- 2-3 teaspoons sage powder or more (to taste)
- About 1 teaspoon each of Rosemary, Thyme and Oregano
- 1 teaspoon Turmeric
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoons of salt or more (to taste)
- 1/2 cup of oil for cooking: tallow, lard, ghee, coconut oil, etc. (just no vegetable oils)- I prefer tallow
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Peel turnips and sweet potatoes and cut into small (1/2 inch) cubes
- Grease 2 large baking sheets with oil and evenly spread the turnips and sweet potatoes on them (Depending on the size of your baking sheets, it may take another baking sheet or a couple rounds to fit them all)
- Sprinkle with some of the garlic, sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano, turmeric, pepper and salt and toss with your hands.
- Put into oven and bake for about an hour until they are soft and starting to brown... toss a few times to brown evenly.
- While those are cooking ... in a large skillet (or Wok) brown the sausage if you are using it.
- Finely dice the onions, and celery and add to the pan once the sausage has cooked. You might need to add more oil.
- Dice the mushrooms and peel and dice the apple and add once the onions/celery have started to soften.
- Continue cooking until all are cooked and add more of the above spices to your taste.
- Once turnips and sweet potatoes are done, mix with the sausage/onion/celery/apple/mushroom combination and continue mixing until well incorporated and starting to clump together.
- Transfer to a greased 9x19 baking dish and warm in oven if serving immediately or put in fridge, covered.
- For reheating: 30 minutes, covered @350 degrees.
Courses Side
Cuisine Thanksgiving
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What dish makes it seem like Thanksgiving for you? How do you make it healthy?
I can not wait for this!! Stuffing is the best, I was bumming about not having it this year…not any more. Thanks so much, your site is so helpful!
the guy in the pic looks like Ryne Renolds lol
Mmm this looks so yummy!
Katie, this was sooo delicious! Didn’t even miss the bread stuffing. And I noticed that it seemed to go pretty quickly at our Thanksgiving buffet table. Cranberry sauce was delish too, though I did add a bit more honey. Thanks so much for posting these recipes.
This looks like an interesting recipe — I would like to make a lot smaller quantity. Would you say you use about equal amounts of turnip and sweet potato?
yep 🙂
This was a total hit at our Thanksgiving this year. I’m the only person in my “friends/family” that does not want grains in my life so I had to make a few staples to bring so I could be happy. This stuffing was gone so fast and eaten by all.
And…I did not have all the seasonings and neither did the one grocer I tried…so I added your synergistic blend. Amazing.
This is my second time making this recipe. Once for Thanksgiving and tonight because we have a spare turkey. It is SO good, it was a total hit and I will be making it every year. Thank you!
Just checked this out for this year. So great to have alternatives! I’ve never heard of a 2 pound turnip, though. Could it have been a rutabaga?
Is that 1 teaspoon dried or fresh Rosemary, Thyme and Oregano??
Dried, I usually double it if using fresh, but spice to your own preference…
Hey Wellness Mama, we have our own stuffing recipe and I’m looking for something to replace the cornbread we use in it. Any suggestions?
Maybe try making a dry almond flour bread? Similar texture at least…
I made this two years ago. It was delicious and tasted just like regular stuffing. It makes a large amount. I came here to find the recipe again because I am making it again this year. Thank you so much for creating this recipe. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I’m glad I can enjoy stuffing w/out grains involved.
My 9 year old son is on the ketogenic diet to control his epilepsy (2 years seizure controlled in December – yeah!!). I plan to make this for Thanksgiving this year for him – slightly modified (will use yams rather than sweet potatoes given it has a slower sugar content). Can’t wait to see his reaction!
Katie, I will try your recipe this Thanksgiving. It sounds delicious! I am surprised that you use pork. Pork is not a health food item and is the most undigestible meat that you can eat. Most of the pork is now being imported from China and raised in deplorable conditions.
I’m guessing she sources her pork locally or at least from a healthy source. There’s plenty of local farms around here that sell natural pork.
This looks awesome and I cant wait to try it tomorrow!!!Can you confirm that you are using turnips and not rutabaga? The turnips in our store are small, but the rutabagas are around 2lbs… Do you think rutabaga would work??
I’m sure it would! I plan to switch up the roots myself and use parsnips, my favorite.
We loved this! My sister and I made it in the morning, and when we tasted it, we joked about just eating it ourselves and not serving it to the family! Amazing how good some vegetables and spices can taste! Although I love sausage, we didn’t have any on hand and the stuffing was totally delicious without any meat.
Killer good! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Made this tonight with a roasted chicken and it was amazing! I left out the pork and it was still so delicious! One question– have you ever tried freezing this? I totally didn’t look at the servings until after I bought everything and now I have a ton of stuffing leftover (not a bad thing!). I’ll probably just eat it all this week for lunches but was thinking it would be great if I could freeze some for later. What do you think? Thanks!
Wow, I’m glad you like it so much! I haven’t tried freezing it, but I bet it would work. You could try just a small serving and see if it tastes good thawed. Let me know if you try it!
Michelle,
I was just looking in the comments to see if anyone talked about freezing the extra. Would you mind letting me know if it froze well? I have 2 big dishes and kind of want to just freeze one for Christmas lol (apparently I am lazy). Your response would be much appreciated.
Krista
Do you think white sweet potatoes or Japanese sweet potatoes would work instead of sweet potatoes? They are milder than sweet potatoes.
I am sure it would be tasty…
I have just finished making this. It’s my first AIP Thanksgiving and I was bumming to think I wouldn’t have stuffing. I should have looked at the yield first though because this recipe sure does make a lot! I hope it does indeed freeze well, Sadly, mine came out a little salty so perhaps there will be more leftovers than what other commenters have reports.
I added 1/2 cup of almond flour to the sausage/turnip mix before baking. It tastes JUST like bread stuffing…even better!! 🙂
This is so good. I am making it tonight for dinner because I can’t wait for Thanksgiving to roll around again!
I’m going to make this, can I substitute the turnip/rutabaga with regular potatoes and can I cook this in the turkey?
I’m wondering if the coconut flour can be incorporated into the recipe while initially baking to get a fluffier “breaded” type consistency? I’m thinking if I coat everything in the coconut flour before baking it in the oven it may bake a bit nicer. Am I misguided in my thinking or can this be done?
How refreshing – I haven’t seen many grain-free stuffings that aren’t made up of mostly meat or nuts! This is great!
One year I stuffed a guinea hen instead of a turkey (I was not in the US) and used boiled chestnuts, walnuts, brown rice and wild rice mixed with olive oil and seasoned with nutmeg and black pepper. It turned out fantastic! I might have added parsley, can’t remember, I never follow recipes closely nor do I often record them, unfortunately. Sausage could be added to this for good results and more flavor.
Another alternative to traditional stuffing.
I made this for Thanksgiving yesterday, because I read the comments saying how good it was. This was outstanding and a total hit! Everyone loved it, even the picky guys that dont eat veggies. I will be making every year from now on instead. And i didnt feel bogged down today because we werent on gluten overload. Thank you so much, Wellness Mama, for sharing this wonderful recipe.
This was so good! Thank you for sharing this recipe. My turnips tasted s bit strong, so I think I will try it with parsnips next time.