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The best paleo stuffing recipe! Perfect for Thanksgiving or as a healthy grain-free side dish for roast chicken. Made with simple ingredients, you’ll be shocked at how much it tastes like “real stuffing”… but better! 

Top-down view of a large oval casserole dish holding a paleo stuffing, made without any grains.

Before You Get Started

  • Choose a type of apple that isn’t too sweet and that holds up well to high temperatures. You don’t want them to become mushy or mealy after you sauté or bake them! Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, and Granny Smith are all great options.

How to Make This Recipe

See recipe card below for full list of measurements, ingredients, and instructions.

Sauté the ingredients.

Melt ghee in a cast-iron skillet, then toss in your onions, celery, mushrooms, apples, and cranberries, along with the parsley and seasonings. Give that a good stir, then sauté everything for 5-10 minutes, until the veggies and cranberries are very soft.

Add the rest.

Stir in the almond flour, then stir in 3 beaten eggs. Make sure everything is mixed really well – you don’t want clumps of almond flour or anything like that.

Bake the Stuffing.

30 to 45 minutes in the oven are all that stand between you and the best paleo stuffing you will ever eat! Once the stuffing is baked-through and browned on top, with slightly crisp edges, you’re all set.

If you don’t have a cast-iron skillet, any oven-safe skillet will work! No oven-safe skillet? Use a regular skillet on the stovetop, then after stirring in the eggs, transfer everything to baking dish for the oven steps.

A wooden spoon rests on paleo stuffing in an oval ceramic casserole dish on a holiday table.

What I Love About This Recipe

  • This paleo stuffing tastes surprisingly like “real” stuffing, despite not containing, y’know… any bread or breadcrumbs or cornbread. It is loaded with savory veggies and sweet cranberries, though.
  • It’s the perfect side dish for an air fryer chicken or a roast turkey, so it’s great for Thanksgiving feasts and weeknight dinners alike. It’s also really easy to make – the oven handles the most time-consuming part!
  • Another reason to love paleo stuffing? It’s super versatile. Feel free to swap out or add whatever you like or have on hand. The paleo sausage from our Whole30 zuppa toscana would be delicious browned and mixed in to this stuffing!

Recipe Variations

  • A Little Something Sweet: No compatible dried cranberries handy? Replace them with chopped dates. You’re also welcome to just add ¼ cup of chopped dates to the stuffing along with the cranberries if you want!
  • No-Fungi Zone: If mushrooms aren’t your thing, no problem. Leave them out entirely and add an extra 1 cup of diced celery!

Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions or variations listed are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.

Recipe By: Cheryl Malik
5 from 91 votes

The Best Paleo Stuffing (Gluten Free, Grain Free)

Prep 10 minutes
Cook 1 hour
Total 1 hour 10 minutes
A healthy paleo stuffing recipe that makes the perfect side dish for chicken or turkey. Ideal for Thanksgiving! Gluten and grain free.
9 servings

Equipment

  • Oven
  • cast-iron skillet or other oven-safe skillet
  • stovetop
  • Large wooden spoon or silicone spatula
  • 9×9 baking dish optional, if not using cast-iron or oven-safe skillet
  • small mixing bowl
  • whisk

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons ghee or avocado oil, or refined coconut oil
  • 3 cups diced white onion
  • 2 cups diced celery
  • 1 cup diced mushrooms button, cremini, or wild mushrooms
  • 1 cup diced apples Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, or Granny Smith apples
  • ¼ cup dried cranberries or ¼ cup chopped dates
  • ¼ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
  • 4 teaspoons poultry seasoning
  • ½ teaspoon salt more or less to taste
  • ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper more or less to taste
  • 2 cups super-fine blanched almond flour
  • 3 large eggs

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit.
  • Place large cast-iron skillet on stovetop over medium heat. When skillet is warm, add 2 tablespoons ghee. Let ghee melt completely, swirling and tilting skillet as needed to distribute oil across skillet.
  • When ghee has melted, add 3 cups diced white onion, 2 cups diced celery, 1 cup diced mushrooms, 1 cup diced apples, ¼ cup dried cranberries, ¼ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley, 4 teaspoons poultry seasoning, ½ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper to skillet. Stir to incorporate.
  • Sauté ingredients until onion, celery, mushrooms, apples, and cranberries are very soft, approximately 6 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  • Once ingredients have softened, remove skillet from heat. Add 2 cups super-fine blanched almond flour to skillet and stir until ingredients are well incorporated.
  • Crack 3 large eggs into small bowl and whisk well until eggs are fully combined and mixture is no longer streaky.
  • Add whisked eggs to skillet and stir until all ingredients are fully incorporated.
  • Optional: If not using cast-iron or other oven-safe skillet, lightly grease 9×9 baking dish with avocado oil, refined coconut oil, or ghee. Transfer mixture to lightly-greased 9×9 baking dish and spread mixture out evenly across baking dish.
  • Once ingredients are fully incorporated, spread mixture evenly across skillet. Place cast-iron skillet (or baking dish) in preheated oven. Bake stuffing 45 minutes.
  • After 45 minutes, check doneness of stuffing. Continue baking stuffing as needed, checking doneness often, until stuffing is baked-through and browned on top.
  • When stuffing is fully baked, carefully remove skillet (or baking dish) from oven. Set stuffing aside to rest 5 minutes, then serve warm.

Video

  • Poultry Seasoning: This is typically a blend of black or white pepper, thyme, sage, marjoram, nutmeg, and rosemary. If you don’t have or can’t find poultry seasoning, you can replace it with a similar combination of dried herbs and spices, or with your favorite fresh herbs.
  • Make-Ahead Option: Prepare the stuffing as written above, then let the prepared stuffing cool completely. Cover the stuffing tightly with food-safe plastic wrap and refrigerate no more than 24 hours. Reheat the stuffing in the oven, adding paleo broth for moisture if needed.

Approximate Information for One Serving

Serving Size: 1servingCalories: 241calProtein: 9gFat: 17gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0.01gCholesterol: 71mgSodium: 175mgPotassium: 228mgTotal Carbs: 17gFiber: 5gSugar: 8gNet Carbs: 12gVitamin A: 364IUVitamin C: 8mgCalcium: 97mgIron: 2mg
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.

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203 Comments

    1. It should be fine to freeze and reheat! Just be sure to add a little bit of broth or water when reheating to keep it from drying out. 😊

    1. Hi, Amy! We have not tried making this in a Crockpot, so we can’t say for sure how it would turn out. We’d love to hear how it turned out if you tried it!

  1. Can I use this stuffing in a turkey roll? If so, do I not cook it ahead of time and just add it in the turkey roll, then cook it all together?

    1. We have not tried this, so we can’t say for sure. Let us know if you ended up trying it!

  2. Delicious! Made for a Friendsgiving and again later for family. All loved this recipe even those that don’t normally like stuffing. Thank you!!5 stars

  3. Can this be made ahead of time like the day before? (without cooking) stored in the fridge then baked on the day?

  4. Came across this recipe. It looks amazing. All ready to try it out this year for Thanksgiving. Was wondering if I can make it ahead of time and reheat the day off. Thoughts or tips?

    1. Hi Cori! Sorry for the delayed response! It should be just fine for reheating the day of. Hope it turned out well! 😊

    1. Hi Mindy! We haven’t tried this with any alternative flours, so we can’t say for sure. Cassava or oat flour might work! Let us know if you try it!

    1. Hi Jenny! You can definitely use any of your favorite seasonings in place of the poultry seasoning.

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