Seafood Stuffing

It’s hard to imagine a Thanksgiving spread without a side dish of savory stuffing. But beyond the basic ingredients—bread, aromatic vegetables and herbs, liquid and egg—stuffing recipes for Thanksgiving vary widely. Some toss in fresh or dried fruit and nuts, others fold in sausage or bacon, and still others add—wait, shellfish? That’s right; if you like a bit of surf and turf at your meals, try pairing seafood stuffing with your turkey this year.

What is seafood stuffing?

If you grew up inland, a seafood stuffing recipe may sound like a decadent break from tradition, yet coastal communities have long added seafood to this Thanksgiving table staple. At one time, the abundance of oysters off the coast of New England and southern states made oyster stuffing an affordable option for low-income families. Shrimp, crab and other seafood remain equally popular stuffing ingredients in Gulf and bayou areas.

That said, this recipe has easy accessibility across the country. Learn how to make seafood stuffing with cans of lump crab meat and raw shrimp that’s been flash-frozen on the boat or at the farm and is sold in any grocery store freezer section. In a nod to its southern connection, slowly cooked onion, celery, green pepper and Cajun seasoning provide a backbone of flavor. Once you mix in the liquid, egg and bread, you bake the seafood stuffing recipe like a casserole in the oven.

But then should it really be called seafood dressing? Not necessarily. Your great-grandmother may argue that a stuffing is cooked inside a turkey while a dressing is baked separately, but that tradition has become outdated. For food safety, the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends cooking any stuffing on its own. So these days, stuffing vs. dressing has become more of a family or regional distinction.

Ingredients for Seafood Stuffing

• Butter: Cook everything in butter to make the seafood extra rich and creamy. A medium-hot burner eliminates worry about smoking and burning fat, which is a key reason other cooking oils are often preferred on the stovetop.
• Shrimp: The secret to juicy shrimp recipes is to start with raw shrimp, especially in a dish that finishes in the oven. You still cook the shrimp on the stovetop—raw shrimp mixed straight into the other ingredients could introduce undesirable bacteria.
• Crabmeat: Canned crabmeat has been precooked and packed in a salt brine. After you drain it, a cool-water rinse removes even more preservatives. If you have access to fresh crustaceans, feel free to substitute crab you’ve cooked and cleaned yourself.
• Cajun holy trinity: Onion, celery and green pepper form an aromatic base that infuses this stuffing with flavor. It’s such a common mixture in the South that it’s known as the Cajun holy trinity.
• Garlic: Although it’s not part of the Cajun holy trinity, garlic is another aromatic that will infuse the stuffing with nutty flavor.
• Seasonings: Playing on the southern theme, this stuffing uses a good dose of Cajun seasoning, a spicy blend that you can buy or make at home. Dried thyme, salt, pepper and fresh parsley round out the seasonings.
• Seafood stock: Seafood stock bumps the from-the-ocean taste of this stuffing up several notches. Easily make your own from shells you collect as you clean shrimp and other shellfish. For a readily available alternative, substitute vegetable stock or, if you don’t need to keep the stuffing pescatarian, chicken stock.
• Egg: A single egg helps bind the ingredients together and prevent the bread from becoming soggy. Stir the egg into the seafood mixture so that everything is coated evenly; this avoids clumps of scrambled egg in the finished dish.
• Bread: Almost any slightly dried-out, day-old bread soaks in stuffing juices better than a fresh loaf. Most people prefer white bread. Try anything from a sandwich loaf to a crusty sourdough boule. Cut off the crusts for a smoother consistency or leave them intact for a more rustic texture.

Directions

Step 1: Cook the seafood

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Preheat the oven to 375°F. In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Add the shrimp and crab, and cook until the shrimp slightly curl, two to three minutes per side. Transfer the seafood to a large bowl.

Editor’s Tip: Shrimp are completely cooked when they turn opaque and just curl, but they continue cooking a little longer when you remove them from the heat. You don’t want to mix raw shrimp into the stuffing and then put it in the oven, but to avoid rubbery baked shrimp, err on the side of barely cooked on the stovetop.

Step 2: Saute the aromatics

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In the same skillet, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Add the onion, celery and bell pepper, and cook until tender, seven to eight minutes, stirring occasionally.

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Add the garlic and cook one minute longer.

Step 3: Combine the ingredients

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Add the onion mixture to the large bowl with the shrimp and crab. Add the Cajun seasoning, thyme, salt, pepper, stock and egg. Stir to combine.

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Fold in the bread cubes and parsley, then toss to coat.

Step 4: Bake the stuffing

Transfer the mixture to a greased 13×9-inch baking dish. Bake until golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes.

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Seafood Stuffing Variations

• Add oysters: Substitute fresh oysters for some of the shrimp or crab. Whether you shuck these yourself or buy a container of pre-shucked oysters, either will taste better than canned oysters, which have already been boiled or smoked. The USDA recommends cooking the oysters with the other shellfish before you bake the stuffing.
• Chop the shellfish: Shellfish lovers will appreciate the distinct texture and flavor of larger pieces, but for guests who might be hesitant about seafood stuffing, the texture might be off-putting. Chopping up the shrimp and crabmeat lets them melt more readily into the finished dish. The same is true if you swap in oysters or other seafood.
• Use cornbread: Homemade cornbread’s crumb and flavor work particularly well in this seafood stuffing recipe. Classic cornbread uses wheat flour, but it’s easy to make gluten-free cornbread and keep this dish wheat free. Let the cornbread cool completely, and then crumble it into the dressing in place of the bread cubes.

How to Store Seafood Stuffing

Fully cook seafood stuffing before you store it. It keeps best when divided into smaller portions in airtight containers, which must be placed in the refrigerator. If you want to put the whole pan in the fridge, first let it cool completely—but for no more than two hours at room temperature. Then cover it with an airtight lid or storage wrap.

How long does seafood stuffing last?

When packed airtight and refrigerated, seafood stuffing lasts for three to four days. The texture of the shrimp and crabmeat will likely suffer if you freeze this stuffing, so we don’t recommend it.

Can you make seafood stuffing ahead of time?

You can prep most ingredients for this seafood stuffing recipe ahead of time, but for safety reasons, keep the seafood, other wet ingredients and the dry ingredients separate until you’re ready to bake the dish. Prep just a day in advance for the best texture and flavor in the baked dressing.

For a make-ahead version, cook the shrimp and crab in butter and then put them in an airtight container in the fridge. Chop and refrigerate the vegetables raw, or cook them before refrigeration. Cube the bread and keep it in a separate bag in the refrigerator. The next day, combine all the prepped ingredients with the seasonings and egg, then bake the dressing as directed in the recipe.

How do you reheat seafood stuffing?

Seafood stuffing is best reheated in the oven. Warm the stuffing in a preheated 375° oven until a thermometer inserted in the center registers 165°. You can use a microwave instead, but the shrimp might become tough and rubbery. One tool you should never use to reheat seafood stuffing is a slow cooker: The temperature stays too low for too long, causing the food to pass through the safety danger zone.

Seafood Stuffing Tips

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Can I use fresh bread for stuffing?

Fresh bread often turns soggy and falls apart when baked in stuffing, so day-old bread works best. To help it dry out, cut the loaf into several pieces, put them in a paper or breathable bread bag, leave the bag on the counter for a day or two, and then cut the bread pieces into cubes. Don’t let the bread dry out too long, though—rock-hard stale bread tends to turn chewy and rubbery when baked in stuffing.

To dry out soft fresh bread at the last minute, toast slices at 275° until they firm up enough to cut evenly. Then cube the bread and keep toasting until all sides feel slightly dry, 10 to 25 minutes total. Let the cubes cool before you toss them with the other stuffing ingredients.

What can you serve with seafood stuffing?

Stuffing is a holiday staple, so serve this version alongside one of these Thanksgiving turkey recipes or next to several Christmas side dish recipes. With its shellfish and bread, this stuffing is so filling that lighter vegetable dishes stand out next to it. Try roasted Brussels sprouts, carrots or squash, and spinach salad. Southern side dishes, like black-eyed peas with collard greens and roasted fresh okra, play well with the stuffing’s Cajun seasonings.

How else can you use seafood stuffing?

Leftover seafood stuffing can take on new life after its debut on the holiday table. Mix it with a little extra egg and shape it into patties to fry into the easiest crab cakes ever. Roast acorn squash with leftover stuffing, or turn the leftovers into breakfast baked egg stuffing cups. Add the stuffing to jumbo pasta shells as done with these seafood-stuffed shells (with or without the creamy sauce), or roll the seafood stuffing with fish fillets and bake it as you would this flounder with shrimp stuffing.