Vegan Stuffing | Mexican Turkey Stuffing Made with Bolillos
This fusion Mexican turkey stuffing made with bolillos is going to become your favorite go-to stuffing recipe. It’s made with the traditional stuffing ingredients but given a Mexican and vegan touch.
Mexican Turkey Stuffing
Are you a fan of stuffing?
I’m a big fan. As a kid I used to love to make the stuff out of a box and just eat it on it’s own — and it didn’t need to be Thanksgiving for me to do this. (hehe)
Stuffing is always a must for on on Thanksgiving. But I don’t like to actually stuff it in my vegan turkey roast. I like to make it on the side and serve it on the side.
One year I didn’t have day old bread or baguettes, but I did have plenty of day old bolillos and decided why not, it’s bread too.
The results are delicious and it gives this vegan stuffing recipe a little Mexican touch. The seasonings are the same as many traditional American recipes, so you’ll still get that yummy holiday flavor with my bolillo stuffing recipe.
It’s really easy to make and you can make it the same day or a day or two before you enjoy your vegan Thanksgiving feast.
Vegan Stuffing
This is a 100% vegan stuffing recipe.
Bolillos are not made with animal products, so they’re vegan.
The seasonings are all vegan and the fat and liquid used to make this recipe, both are vegan as well.
Mexican Turkey Stuffing Ingredients
The ingredients are very simple ones and quite affordable as well as easy to access. Let me know if you have any question or need any swaps.
- Bolillos: These crusty bread rolls are similar to French baguettes, not as crunchy though. They work perfectly to make stuffing, French toast, sandwiches and of course tortas. You can find them at Mexican grocery stores, Latin stores or if you’re lucky at your local grocery store.
- Vegan Butter or Olive Oil: I like to use vegan butter in this recipe, but I know it can be a bit overpriced these days. So feel free to use olive oil instead. The amounts would be the same.
- Mexican Cebollitas: These are spring onions and we used them a lot in Mexican cooking. They add a different taste than just white onion, it’s delicious.
- Garlic: Because garlic makes everything taste yum!
- Celery: All stuffing needs celery.
- Unsalted Poultry Seasoning: This is a common seasoning mix for vegan cooking and in my recipe, it’s indispensable.
- Black Pepper: It adds a tiny bit of heat. If you’d like to give it a bit of a kick you can swap the black pepper for red chile pepper…chipotle would work great.
- Vegetable Broth: If you can get vegan chicken broth you can use that instead.
You can use store-bought or homemade poultry seasoning. I made it from an easy to follow recipe by The Forked Spoon, highly recommend you make her recipe. Find it here Homemade Poultry Seasoning Recipe.
Variations
Some people like to add a protein to their stuffing. I was never a fan of this, but let me share some vegan protein options you could add if you’d like.
Vegan Mexican chorizo: You could sauté some, crumbled, and mix it into the rest of the ingredients. You could use anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 cup. This too, of course, would give your bolillo stuffing recipe an extra Mexican touch.
Lentils: I’ve seen lots of vegan stuffing recipes that use lentils. You could add about 1/2 cup of cooked green or brown lentils. Being free to adjust the amount to your taste.
How to Make Vegan Stuffing
Amigos, this recipe couldn’t be any easier to make. The hardest thing is slicing up the bread. Really, that simple.
- The night before slice the bolillos in half (like if you were making a torta), then slice into even sized cubes. Set on a large tray or place inside a large paper bag and allow to sit overnight on the counter. This is to dry them out. The next day spread them out on a large baking sheet to make sure they’re hard and crunchy. Once dry place it into a very large mixing bowl or pot — large enough to mix it.
- Melt the butter, then add the cebollitas and garlic and sauté until soft and translucent.
- Add the celery and sauté until it’s soft and translucent. The onion and garlic may brown a bit and that’s ok, it’ll give your stuffing extra flavor.
- Sprinkle in the poultry seasoning and the black pepper. Mix until well combined and cook for a minute.
- Add a big splash of the vegetable broth to the pan to help deglaze it. Make sure to scrape up all the little burnt bits on the bottom.
- Pour the pan contents into the dried bolillo cubes. Add another splash of the vegetable broth to the pan to get any bits left, pour into the bolillo and mix as best as possible until well combined.
- Keep mixing and adding a little vegetable broth at a time until the bolillos are well hydrated.
- Pour the stuffing into a baking dish. I used an 8×8 baking dish. Spread to an even layer.
- Cover with aluminium foil and bake for 35 minutes or until firm. I have a convection oven and it may be quicker or slower than yours. Do check your stuffing after 30 minutes.
- Serve as desired. If you’d like you can uncover the stuffing and allow it to brown a bit before serving.
Vegan Stuffing | Mexican Turkey Stuffing Made with Bolillos
Video
Ingredients
- 5 whole bolillos day old and cubed
- 2 Tablespoons vegan butter or olive oil
- 5 whole cebollitas chopped including green parts (spring onions)
- 4 whole garlic cloves minced
- 1.5 Tablespoons poultry seasoning unsalted type
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 cups vegetable broth
Instructions
- The night before slice the bolillos in half (like if you were making a torta), then slice into even sized cubes. Set on a large tray or place inside a large paper bag and allow to sit overnight on the counter. This is to dry them out. The next day spread them out on a large baking sheet to make sure they’re hard and crunchy. Once dry place it into a very large mixing bowl or pot — large enough to mix it.
- Melt the butter, then add the cebollitas and garlic and sauté until soft and translucent.
- Add the celery and sauté until it’s soft and translucent. The onion and garlic may brown a bit and that’s ok, it’ll give your stuffing extra flavor.
- Sprinkle in the poultry seasoning and the black pepper. Mix until well combined and cook for a minute.
- Add a big splash of the vegetable broth to the pan to help deglaze it. Make sure to scrape up all the little burnt bits on the bottom.
- Pour the pan contents into the dried bolillo cubes. Add another splash of the vegetable broth to the pan to get any bits left, pour into the bolillo and mix as best as possible until well combined.
- Keep mixing and adding a little vegetable broth at a time until the bolillos are well hydrated.
- Pour the stuffing into a baking dish. I used an 8×8 baking dish. Spread to an even layer.
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 35 minutes or until firm. I have a convection oven and it may be quicker or slower than yours. Do check your stuffing after 30 minutes.
- Serve as desired. If you’d like you can uncover the stuffing and allow it to brown a bit before serving.
Notes
- Notice that I didn’t use salt, this is because the vegan butter and vegetable broth that I used are salty. But please feel free to use salt if you’d like — specially if you’re broth is low sodium.
- The calories and nutritional information will differ according to the brand of vegan butter and broth you use.
Nutrition
More Mexican Thanksgiving Recipes
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- The Easiest Mexican Green Beans | Ejotes a la Mexicana
- Mexican Espagueti Blanco | Espagueti a la Crema (Vegan)
- The Easiest Mexican Green Beans | Ejotes a la Mexicana
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- Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie for Two
Nancy Lopez is a food blogger and author of the cookbook Mexican Tamales Made Meatless. Born in Mexico, raised in the US, and currently living in Southern Mexico, she has followed a meatless diet for almost 10 years. It is her passion and mission to share all she has learned about vegan Mexican cooking and vegetarian Mexican recipes. Mexican Made Meatless is a blog dedicated to preserving the authentic flavors of Mexican cuisine just without the meat. It’s a place to celebrate Mexican culture and all it’s delightfully delicious traditional foods. Read more…
