Stuffing Casserole with Turkey and Bacon

This easy stuffing casserole with ground turkey and bacon is a delicious side dish, perfect for the holiday season. It is full of festive flavours, simple to make and ready in under an hour.

This simple stuffing casserole with turkey and bacon contains the classic festive season ingredients including cranberries and chestnuts. There are only a few simple steps involved and you’ll have a delicious stuffing casserole ready in about an hour.

I don’t use a lot of fat in everyday cooking but I’ve made an exception with this baked stuffing recipe.  The holiday season is not about everyday cooking after all!  A certain amount of fat is necessary to keep the stuffing moist as well as to add more flavour.  Though I do recommend using lean bacon slices.

I used parsley in this stuffing casserole in addition to traditional sage and rosemary for more flavour.

Equipment you’ll need

• Kitchen scales
• Cutting board and knife
• Large frying pan and spatula
• Large bowl and spoon
• Medium size casserole dish

How to make Christmas stuffing casserole: step-by-step

1.Start by frying the onion, celery and cranberries in 2 tablespoons of oil.  Add the wine and continue cooking for another minute or so. Add the sage and rosemary and stir to combine.

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2. Add the bread pieces, season lightly and stir thoroughly to combine. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 190 C/ 375 F/ gas mark 5.

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3. In a pan heat up 2 tablespoons of oil and fry the bacon until it starts changing colour, stirring often.

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4. Combine the bacon with the meat, parsley, chestnuts, spices, seasoning and onion mixture, stir thoroughly and transfer into your casserole dish.

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5. Drizzle over a little oil and bake for 35-40 minutes until nicely browned and crispy on top.

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6. Remove from the oven and serve!

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Serving suggestions for baked stuffing casserole

This easy stuffing casserole makes a fantastic Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner dish.  It tastes delicious served with this spiced healthy cranberry sauce as well as cranberry beetroot chutney.  Try it also with festive roasted brussels sprouts or sweet and moreish honey glazed carrots.  This stuffing casserole can also be enjoyed throughout the festive season as a main dish served with potatoes.

Top tips

• Meat: I recommend using dark turkey meat (thigh meat) rather than turkey breast which is too dry for a stuffing recipe.  You could also use ground pork instead if you prefer.  I chose lean streaky smoked bacon as it adds a bit of nice smoky flavour as well as moisture into the stuffing. You can discard the fat after frying the bacon or add it into the casserole along with the bacon if you prefer.  Alternatively use the fat to drizzle over the casserole instead of oil.
• Herbs: You can use your own combination of herbs rather than my recommendations.
• Best served immediately.
• Refrigerate the leftovers, covered, for up to 3 days.
• Freeze the casserole, unbaked, covered, for up to 3 months.  Bake from frozen.

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Stuffing Casserole with Turkey and Bacon

plus 2 more for coating the pecans

5 from 2 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Side

Cuisine: International

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

Servings: 6 people

Calories: 413kcal

Author: Monika Dabrowski

Ingredients

• 500 g ground turkey at least 7% fat
• 200 g smoked streaky bacon chopped
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 1/2 celery stalk finely chopped
• 4 tbsp white wine
• 90 g chestnuts ready to use, roughly chopped
• 40 g dried sweetened cranberries (0.33 cups)
• 4 tbsp parsley finely chopped
• 4 tbsp fresh sage leaves, finely chopped or 2 teaspoons dried
• 1.5 tsp rosemary leaves finely chopped
• 2/3 tsp each: nutmeg and onion granules
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp fine sea salt plus lots of pepper
• 2 slices of stale bread broken up into chunks
• 4 tbsp olive oil

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 375 F/ 190 C/ gas mark 5.
• Heat up 2 tablespoons of the oil, add the onion and celery and fry over a low/medium heat for 3 minutes stirring occasionally. Add the cranberries, wine and continue frying for another minute stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat, stir in the sage, rosemary and bread pieces and leave to cool.
• In a frying pan heat up 2 tablespoons of oil and fry the bacon pieces until they start changing colour. Combine with the meat, chestnuts, spices and seasoning, parsley and the onion mixture.
• Transfer the mixture to a medium casserole dish, drizzle with a little oil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve.

Notes

• Meat: I recommend using dark turkey meat (thigh meat) rather than turkey breast which is too dry for a stuffing recipe.  You could also use ground pork instead if you prefer.  I chose lean streaky smoked bacon as it adds a bit of nice smoky flavour as well as moisture into the stuffing. You can discard the fat after frying the bacon or add it into the casserole along with the bacon if you prefer.  Alternatively use the fat to drizzle over the casserole instead of oil.
• Herbs: You can use your own combination of herbs rather than my recommendations. 
• Best served immediately.
• Refrigerate the leftovers, covered, for up to 3 days.
• Freeze the casserole, unbaked, covered, for up to 3 months.  Bake from frozen

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 413kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 68mg | Sodium: 703mg | Potassium: 467mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 258IU | Vitamin C: 11mg | Calcium: 52mg | Iron: 2mg

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RECIPE LINK PARTIES

I am bringing this stuffing casserole recipe to #CookBlogShare, which I have the pleasure of hosting this week.  Also sharing with Fiesta Friday, co-hosted this week by Jenny @ Apply To Face Blog., Jess @ Cooking Is My Sport, Jhuls @ The Not So Creative Cook and Judi @ cookingwithauntjuju.com.