These Stuffing Cups are classic stuffing baked in a muffin tin, giving each serving crispy edges all the way around and a fluffy, tender center. They make feeding a crowd easier since everyone gets an individual portion without needing a serving spoon or passing around a big dish, and they're easy to grab and serve.
Stuffing Cups at a Glance
- 🧄 Flavor & Texture: Savory, buttery, cheesy, and herb-packed with tender centers and crispy, golden-brown tops.
- 🛒 Main Ingredients: Bread, butter, celery, onion, garlic, fresh herbs, Parmesan cheese, eggs, and chicken or turkey broth.
- ⏱️ Total Time: 40 minutes to toast bread & prep + 25 minutes in the oven = 1 hour 5 minutes.
- 🍴 Servings: 12
- 🥗 Dietary Info: Make vegetarian by replacing the chicken or turkey broth with vegetable broth and dairy-free with some simple swaps.
- 🍚 Best Served With: Turkey, chicken, holiday roasts, gravy, and other classic holiday dinner sides.
- 🧊 Make Ahead?: Yes, dry the bread and sauté the vegetable mixture up to 3 days ahead.
- ❤️ Why You Will Love It: These individually portioned stuffing muffins turn classic stuffing into an easy side with plenty of cheesy flavor.
Summarize and Save This Content On
A close friend came to the city for treatment, and when I asked what he wanted for dinner, he requested turkey and these little stuffing muffins. That was all I needed to share them, especially since my husband and I love them enough to sneak one straight from the oven!
Over the years, I've found that packing the stuffing into a muffin tin gives them crispy edges and fluffy centers, and I usually add onions, celery, and shredded carrots for extra flavor.
Try some of my other recipes that feature stuffing, like this zucchini casserole with stuffing and my crockpot chicken and stuffing casserole.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Built-in portions: Stuffing muffin cups make it easy to serve individual portions without scooping stuffing from a casserole dish.
- Crispy on all sides: Everyone has a favorite part of the stuffing, and in our house it's the crunchy edge pieces. These give everybody an edge piece, with a tender, savory middle tucked inside.
- Use fancy bread or boxed: Make them with your favorite bakery bread for a homemade touch or use boxed stuffing when you want a shortcut.
Ingredients
To make muffin tin stuffing, you'll need the ingredients below. The bread, eggs, broth, etc. are necessary to achieve the right texture and flavor.
- Bread: Use sourdough or artisan bread rather than sandwich bread because its denser, sturdier structure holds together better as it absorbs the broth instead of becoming mushy. Be sure to dry the bread first; this step is essential for getting the right texture.
- Parmesan cheese: This adds savory flavor while also helping bind the stuffing cups together. If you skip it, the cups may be more likely to fall apart.
- Eggs: Eggs help bind the ingredients so the stuffing cups hold their shape. Three eggs make a firmer, more cohesive cup, while two will give you a softer, more tender texture. They're also a great binder for these meatballs with Parmesan.
- Broth: Start with 1¼ cups and add up to 1½ cups as needed. The range is intentional because different breads absorb different amounts of broth.
- Dried cranberries: These are optional, depending on whether you want a little sweet contrast against the savory stuffing. Leave them out for a more traditional savory flavor.
- Herbs: Fresh oregano, sage, thyme, and parsley add the most flavor, but dried herbs work, too. Use about one-third the amount if you're swapping dried herbs for fresh.
See the recipe card below for exact ingredient amounts, nutritional information, and detailed instructions.
Variations
- Boxed shortcut: Use one 6-ounce box of stuffing mix in place of the dried bread, and reduce the broth to 1 cup. Bake the stuffing cups for 15-20 minutes, or until golden and set. I also use boxed stuffing to make this stuffed chicken breast.
- Sausage: Brown 8 ounces of Italian sausage, drain well, and stir it into the stuffing mixture before portioning.
- Apple: Add 1 small apple, peeled and finely diced, for a little sweetness and a tender bite throughout the individual stuffing portions.
- Cornbread: Replace half of the bread with an equal amount of dried, crumbled cornbread for a slightly sweeter, more tender result. In this cornbread and sausage stuffing, I provide directions for making dry cornbread.
- Extra cheesy: Add ½ cup shredded cheddar, Gruyère, or an Italian cheese blend to the mixture. You can use it in place of some of the Parmesan or add it alongside the Parmesan for extra-cheesy single-serve stuffing cups.
How to Make Stuffing Cups
Preheat the oven to 300°F to dry the bread, then increase the temperature to 375°F before baking the stovetop stuffing cups.
Step 1: Bake the bread. Lay out the bread pieces on 2 baking sheets in a single layer and bake for 30 minutes, tossing every 10 minutes, until they're dried out.
Step 2: Sauté the celery and onion. While the bread toasts, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, and then sauté the celery and onion until softened. Then add the garlic, herbs, and spices, and cook for another 2 minutes.
Step 3: Toss. Combine the dried bread with the celery mixture, parmesan cheese, and dried cranberries. Give it all a light toss and set it aside.
Step 4: Whisk egg and broth. Whisk the eggs and broth until smooth. Pour it over the bread mixture, stir, and let it soak for a few minutes.
Step 5: Fill the muffin tin. Fill each cavity of the muffin tin with about ½ cup portions.
Step 6: Bake and cool. Pop into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and crispy. Allow the cups to cool for about 10-15 minutes before devouring with Instant Pot cranberry sauce.
Expert Tips
- Make ahead in stages: Dry the bread cubes up to 5 days ahead and store them in an airtight container at room temperature. You can also sauté the vegetables up to 3 days ahead and refrigerate them. Assemble and bake the individual stuffing cups on the day you plan to serve them.
- Handle with care: These stuffing cups are naturally more delicate than a sweet muffin, so a little crumbling is normal.
- Storing the leftovers: Once cooled, store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
- Re-crisp in the oven: For crisp edges, place the leftovers back in a greased muffin tin and reheat at 350°F for 10-20 minutes. The microwave is quicker, but it will soften the crispy edges.
If you love crispy stuffing, these leftover stuffing muffins are just as impressive!
Serving Suggestions
- Thanksgiving dinner: Serve these Thanksgiving stuffing cups alongside oven-roasted turkey, gravy, and your favorite holiday sides for an easy twist on traditional stuffing.
- Christmas and special occasions: Stuffing cups or "stuffins" are a fun addition to Christmas dinner, Sunday supper, or any gathering where you want a classic side that feels a little different. They work especially well when you're serving a crowd!
- Round out the plate: Pair them with roasted vegetables or a simple salad for a complete meal. For another cozy side to add to the table, try these easy sweet green beans.
- Leftover ideas: Reheat leftover cups until crisp and serve them with air fryer soft-boiled eggs for breakfast or alongside leftover turkey and cranberry sauce for an easy next-day meal.
Stuffing Cups Recipe FAQs
Stuffing cups are individual portions of traditional stuffing baked in a muffin tin. Instead of serving stuffing from a casserole dish, you bake the mixture in muffin cups to create crispy edges all around and make serving easier.
If your stuffing cups fall apart, the bread may need more broth, or the mixture may need the binding power of eggs and Parmesan. Make sure the bread is dried before mixing, use the recommended amounts of eggs and Parmesan, and let the cups cool for a few minutes before removing them. Gently loosen the edges with a butter knife if needed.
You can, but I recommend greasing the muffin tin directly for this recipe and skipping the paper liners. Paper liners can make it harder to achieve crispy edges and may stick to the stuffing.
You can freeze baked stuffing cups for a convenient make-ahead side dish or to save leftovers. Let them cool completely, then freeze them in a single layer before transferring them to an airtight freezer-safe container or bag for up to 3 months.
Of course. Bake the stuffing mixture in a greased casserole dish instead of a muffin tin, but you won't get the same individual portions or crispy edges on all sides. Spread the mixture evenly in the dish and bake until the center is set and the top is golden.
More savory Muffin Recipes
Do you like to serve savory muffin recipes for meals? Here are some recipes you may also like to try.
If you try this recipe and love it please leave a star rating in the recipe card below or even better, drop a review in the comment section. I always appreciate your feedback. Be sure to follow along with me on Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube for more easy recipes!
Stuffing Cups (Cheesy Muffin Tin Stuffing)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound bread sliced into ½-1 inch cubes
- 8 tablespoons butter
- 3 stalks celery diced
- 1 medium onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon fresh oregano
- 1 tablespoon fresh sage
- 1 teaspoon coarse ground pepper
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme
- ⅔ cup chopped fresh parsley
- ¾ cup parmesan cheese freshly grated
- ½ cup dried cranberries optional
- 3 large eggs
- 1 ¼- 1 ½ cups chicken or turkey broth
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 300 F.
- Lay out your bread on 2 baking sheets in a single layer. Bake the bread for about 30 minutes, or until dried out, tossing every 10 minutes so all sides of the bread can be dried. When the bread is done, increase your oven temperature to 375 F and generously spray a 12-count muffin tin with cooking spray.
- Melt the butter over medium heat and sauté the celery and onion until softened, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic, salt, oregano, sage, pepper, and thyme and sauté for an additional 1-2 minutes.
- Add the dried bread cubes to a large bowl along with the veggie mixture, parsley, parmesan and dried cranberries, if using. Toss together.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and 1 ¼ cups broth. Pour over the bread mixture a little at a time, tossing as you go to evenly coat the bread. You don't want the bread to be soggy. Let it sit for about 3-5 minutes. If it's very dry still, add a bit more broth.
- Use a ½ cup measuring cup to measure portions into each muffin tin slot.
- Bake for about 25-30 minutes until the stuffing cups are golden brown and crispy on top.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for 10-15 minutes before removing to a wire cooling rack or serving plate. Use a butter knife to help leverage the muffins out, if needed.
Video
Notes
- Dry the bread cubes up to 5 days ahead and store them airtight at room temperature. Sauté the vegetables up to 3 days ahead and refrigerate. Assemble and bake the stuffing cups on the day of serving.
- Make sure the bread is dried and the recommended amounts of broth, eggs, and Parmesan are used. Let the stuffing cups cool for a few minutes before removing them, loosening the edges with a butter knife if needed.
- Grease the muffin tin directly for crispier edges and easier removal. Paper liners can stick to the stuffing and prevent the edges from browning.
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