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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!
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.
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.
The Best Paleo Stuffing (Gluten Free, Grain Free)
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
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.
Did You Make This Recipe?
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Other Holiday Recipes You’ll Love
- Whole30 Green Bean Casserole
- Sausage-Stuffed Mushrooms
- Instant Pot Whole30 Cranberry Sauce with Apples and Rosemary (Paleo, No Sugar)
- Perfect Whole30 Turkey Breast and Gravy
- Paleo Peppermint Hot Chocolate
- Whole30 Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes with Garlic and Herbs
- Paleo Pumpkin Pie
- Apple Cider Vinaigrette
- Whole30 Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecans
- Paleo Pecan Pie
- Vegan Mushroom Gravy
- Whole30 Crockpot Mashed Potatoes
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Amazingly good! We have made it many times and also add spicy sausage to it and love it even more!
Ooh, spicy sausage sounds like a delicious addition! Thanks for sharing, Lori!
This sounds great!!! What can you use in place of cranberries or where can you find dried cranberries without added sugar?
Hi Cindy! You can find dried cranberries without added sugar at most grocery stores, Sprouts and Whole Foods usually have a good selection. Chopped dates are an alternative as well!
I found them thank you. The recipe is all put together except eggs and almond flour which I will
Add tomorrow and cook. I’m a bit worried
About the almond flour, it will be interesting to see how it comes out. Thank you!
Hope the stuffing was a hit, Cindy! 😊
I discovered this recipe about 4 years ago and I’ve made it countless times. One of my favourite paleo recipes. Tastes soo great, just like stuffing should.
So glad you love it, Lisa! Thanks for sharing! 😊
Can you use artichokes in this recipe?
We didn’t try it with artichokes specifically but I don’t see why not!
I wasn’t sure this would work for me but I was so surprised how good it is! My adult children are paleo as well and raved about how good it was!! I will make this again and prob again!
So glad you and your family loved it! This is such a great staple to keep on hand! Thanks for sharing, Kathy. 😊
I made this for Thanksgiving and it was so good! We were looking for healthy Thanksgiving recipes with low sodium, but tasty, and this was a winner. The cranberries are the best part. Making again for Christmas day meal!
SO glad! Hope you enjoy again on Christmas! Thanks so much for the review!
Looks delicious! Do you know how it does being frozen and reheated in the oven?
It should do fine, Naida! Just add a little bit of broth or water when reheating so it doesn’t dry out.
I loved it! Tastes a lot like stuffing. I made this for Thanksgiving and two weeks later am making it again!
Love that, Ros! So glad you enjoyed! Thanks so much for the review!
Love this recipe! I added some white wine for sharpness and berbere for heat while sautéing the veggies. Also threw in some air fried sweet potato and Brussels sprouts bc I had them on hand.
Those sound like fantastic additions! Glad you enjoyed! Thanks so much for the review!
I love this recipe and have made it a lot with rave reviews from family. Thank you. This year, I have to try to cook without eggs for the first time ever, and I’m sure you’ve never tested so you can’t officially say, but unofficially, do you have any suggestions on how I might get the lovely texture without eggs? Thank you.
Thanks so much for the review, Ashley! Glad to hear you continue to enjoy! As for as an egg substitute, you could try using flaxseed “eggs” which are made with ground flaxseed meal and water!