Stuffing Balls

charlie #5's Note:

This is an heirloom recipe made by many members of my family. It can be made ahead of the holidays and the balls frozen. One less job at the end. We always formed the stuffing into balls so they were easy to serve individually, easy to grab a cold stuffing ball as leftovers. My Grandma made extra to freeze and use for stuffed chicken breasts later. Grandma always said to try and get a little bit (a speck) of poultry seasoning on each piece of bread. If you like to stuff a bird with it, just place the stuffing balls in the cavity loosely. Unsure of yield. Times do not allow for day of bread getting stale. I always mix mine in a large roasting pan.

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 1 batch

• 2 loaves white bread
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 small green pepper, chopped
• salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 teaspoons ground sage
• 1 1/2-2 teaspoons poultry seasoning

Directions:

1. Open the loaves of bread and allow the bread to get stale for a day.
2. Tear the bread into 1-1/2" pieces including the crusts.
3. Beat the eggs with the milk and water; sparingly, drizzle this mixture over the bread and mix it in just to moisten.
4. Saute the celery, onions, and green pepper in the butter until translucent. Salt and pepper to taste.
5. Add the warm celery and butter mixture to the bread.
6. Add the parsley and sprinkle in a little rubbed sage.
7. Cover lightly with poultry seasoning.
8. Gently toss with your hands.
9. Gently push the stuffing mixture into the corner of your mixing pan and allow to sit for 30 minutes to absorb the liquid in the bread.
10. Form the stuffing into small balls similar to a baseball.
11. You may freeze the balls at this point by arranging on a baking sheet and flash freezing.
12. When frozen, place stuffing balls in the bread bag wrappers.
13. When ready to bake, place balls in a 9 x 13 inch pan with about 1/4" hot broth in the bottom of the pan.
14. You can bake them frozen or defrosted, adjust your time accordingly.
15. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30 minutes, basting a few times until browned.

Reviews

[SkyGlitter]

This is SO delicious and easy to make. I've made it several times now and it does freeze well. I followed the directions exactly with the exception of using white, wheat and sourdough breads and omitted the green pepper. Thanks so much for sharing your heirloom recipe!!!

[Cooks4_6]

I made this with a roast turkey tonight for my family and a few friends. It got pretty good reviews; however, I did leave out the green pepper. It just does not go along with a traditional stuffing as I know it. I made 1/2 batch as the recipe calls (minus the green pepper) and 1/2 with one bag of Pepperidge Farms Herb Stuffing mix instead of the bread and spices. Some liked the bread version better, and some liked the stuffing mix version better. I will definitely be using this format to make stuffing in the future, but might experiment with the mix of spices a bit to try to better emulate my families' recipe.