I think that the name Bacon, Pumpkin and Pecan Stuffing alone should be enough to sell almost anyone on giving this tasty stuffing recipe a try. I love making stuffing for Thanksgiving and will often make several batches in the weeks leading up to the big holiday to fine tune my recipes and try variations. This is one of them. I’ve put sausage in stuffing before and I’ve made vegetarian stuffing many times. Bacon isn’t always a food that I associate with Thanksgiving, but I know that bacon lovers everywhere would tell me that everything is better with bacon, and that inspired me to incorporate some into my stuffing.
For this stuffing – a baked-in-the-oven stuffing, not a baked-in-the-turkey one – I first cooked up some finely chopped pieces of bacon. I cooked the bacon until it was crisp, removed it from the frying pan, and tossed my diced onions and celery into the bacon fat. Once those were tender, I added in some spice and some maple syrup, and poured the whole bacon-y mixture, along with the crispy bacon bits, to a mixture of whole grain bread, roasted pumpkin and chopped pecans.
There is just enough bacon to give everything a slightly salty, savory coating and add a whole lot of flavor to this dish, and it goes very well with all of the other elements of the stuffing. The stuffing bakes up to be crisp on top and deliciously moist and tender inside, with a nice bit of crunch from the bacon bits and chopped pecans. I roasted the pumpkin in advance (here are instructions) and used whole grain bread, which had a nutty flavor that complimented both the bacon and the pecans. Feel free to use walnuts instead of pecans, if you prefer, and butternut squash (or another winter squash) can make a nice stand in for the pumpkin.
Bacon, Pumpkin and Pecan Stuffing
7 cups roughly cubed whole grain sandwich bread
2 cups roasted pumpkin, cubed
4-5 slices bacon, diced
1 cup onion, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 tsp ground sage
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup chopped, toasted pecans
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper, to taste
Preheat oven to 350F. Butter an 8×8 or 9×9-inch baking dish
Toss cubed bread and roasted pumpkin into a large mixing bowl.
Heat a skillet to medium-high and add in diced bacon. Cook, stirring occasionally, until bacon is crispy. Strain bacon out and add diced onions and celery to the pan. Reduce heat to medium and cook until onions are just tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in ground sage, garlic powder and maple syrup.
Pour onion mixture over bread cubes. Add in crispy bacon bits and pecans. Toss to coat everything. Pour in chicken broth and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir mixture gently with a spatula until everything is well combined.
Pour into prepared pan.
Bake for about 30 minutes, until stuffing is golden brown on top.
Serves 6
marla {family fresh cooking}
November 11, 2010This stuffing sounds fabulous & is a definite bookmark!
Kydoime
November 11, 2010Here we don’t celebrate thanksgiving but I was planning to stuff a whole rib with your ”Caramelized onion stuffing” Now I have to decide which one chose ๐
schlachtplatte
November 12, 2010Mmmm, the mix of ingredients sounds delicious! Will have to try it someday
the blissful baker
November 12, 2010pumpkin in stuffing? this sounds fantastic!! the addition of pumpkin to any dish can only make it wonderfully delicious! i can’t wait to try this out for thanksgiving.
rose
November 12, 2010This recipe will be going in my OVER THE TOP file and I thought I’d tried just about every stuffing recipe! Will do it ahead as side for pork dinner! Great one, Nicole!
Faith (An Edible Mosaic)
November 12, 2010I love the addition of pumpkin here! And bacon for a little smoky flavor…sounds like a fantastic stuffing!
chloe16
November 17, 2010i made this and my hubby likes it!!
thanks for the recipe… love it!!
Chela0220
November 19, 2011I made this last year and it was a HUGE hit! Where I live one cannot find maple syrup, so I used a mixture of honey and another syrup… Do you think I could substitute corn syrup instead or would that be too heavy?
Jason
November 23, 2012Just made this for thanksgiving this year 10mimutes ago. Had a little taste test and Mmmmmm…. I used maple flavored bacon AND sausage meat and added more maple syrup. Great recipe! I’m gonna make it again for family during the holidays this year! Thanks!