Wild Rice Stuffing is naturally gluten-free and makes a delicious alternative to traditional bread stuffing. It’s the perfect make-ahead side dish for Thanksgiving!
Made with easy whole-food ingredients, this will quickly become one of your favorite stuffing recipes. It’s loaded with flavor, and won’t take up any space in your oven during a busy holiday meal.
It pairs perfectly with your Thanksgiving turkey or vegetarian meatloaf, along with any other holiday sides you love.
As written, this recipe is naturally vegan and gluten-free. If you don’t have fresh herbs on hand, you can swap them for your favorite poultry seasoning to make this dish as easy as possible.
Ingredients You’ll Need
This recipe features crunchy pecans, dried cranberries, sweet apples, and chewy wild rice. Using a wild rice blend will give this stuffing a better combination of textures since it’s typically made with a blend of brown rice and wild rice.
In a pinch, you can use your own mix of half brown rice and half wild rice for a similar result.
Note: Be sure to check the label on your package when using a wild rice blend. Some brands may include a gluten-containing grain, like barley or farro. If you need to make gluten-free stuffing, stick to blends that are labeled as “gluten-free” on the package.
Mushrooms give this stuffing a meaty texture and extra nutrients, but if you’re not crazy about their texture, chop them into smaller pieces. This way you won’t bite into a big slice of mushroom later! When they are chopped, you can’t tell you’re eating mushrooms at all.
How to Make Wild Rice Stuffing
Add the dry wild rice blend to a fine mesh strainer and rinse the rice under running water. This will give the rice a better texture later.
Pour the rinsed rice into a saucepan and cover it with 1 3/4 cup vegetable broth or chicken broth. Season with a 1/4 teaspoon of salt, then bring the liquid to a boil.
Once it’s boiling, lower the heat and cover the pot with a lid. Let the rice cook for 40 minutes at a low simmer, then remove it from the heat but keep the lid on for an additional 10 minutes.
This extra step will ensure the rice is tender, without burning to the bottom of the pot.
While the rice is cooking, dice the onion and celery then add them to a large skillet with a drizzle of olive oil. (You can use butter if you don’t need a dairy-free recipe.)
Saute the veggies until they start to soften, about 5 minutes. Then add in the garlic, sage, thyme, and chopped mushrooms.
Season with salt and pepper, then continue to cook the veggies until they are tender, about 8 to 10 more minutes.
When the rice is done cooking, fluff it with a fork, then add it to the pan of sauteed veggies. Stir well, so the mixture will be evenly seasoned.
Next, add in the chopped pecans, cranberries, and diced apple. Adjust any seasoning to taste, adding more salt, if needed.
Stir again, so everything will be warm, then serve immediately as a warm side dish. Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Wild rice stuffing can be made up to 5 days in advance, but if you are making this ahead of time, don’t add in the apple and pecans until just before serving, so they will retain their crunch. Add them in after reheating the stuffing on the stovetop.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can! In that case, use equal parts dry rice to liquid. So, you’ll use 1 cup of rinsed rice plus 1 cup of vegetable broth. Cook at high pressure for 22 minutes, then let the pressure naturally release for 10 minutes after that. (See my How to use your Instant Pot post if you need guidance.)
Yes, rice freezes well so this stuffing is freezer-friendly. Store it in an airtight container for up to 3 months in the freezer. Be sure to let it thaw for at least 24 hours in the fridge before warming it up again for serving.
Yes, this recipe will work with white rice, brown rice, or wild rice, but the texture will be slightly different with each variety. (The cooking time may also change so use the guidance on the package.)
Looking for more holiday side dishes? Try Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes, Glazed Sweet Potatoes, Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Butternut Squash Soup, or Sweet Potato Casserole for more ideas.
Wild Rice Stuffing
Ingredients
- 1 cup wild rice blend
- 1 ¾ cups vegetable broth (or water)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion , chopped
- 3 celery ribs , chopped
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 8 ounces mushrooms , sliced
- 2 tablespoons fresh chopped sage (or 1 tsp ground)
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped thyme (or 1 tsp dried)
- 1 teaspoon salt , plus more to taste
- 1 large apple , cored and diced
- ⅓ cup dried cranberries
- ⅓ cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Pour the dry rice into a fine mesh strainer and rinse under running water. Transfer the rinsed rice to a medium saucepan, cover it with the vegetable broth, and add a 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer and cover for 40 minutes. When the timer goes off, remove the pan from the heat but keep the lid on for an additional 10 minutes. (See notes for Instant Pot cooking directions.)
- While the rice is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large deep skillet over medium heat and saute the onion and celery until tender, about 5 minutes. Add in the garlic, mushrooms, sage, thyme, and salt, and saute another 8 to 10 minutes, until the mushrooms are tender.
- Combine the cooked rice and mushroom mixture, and stir in the apple, cranberries, and pecans. Adjust any seasoning to taste, and serve warm.
- Leftovers can be stored in the fridge in a sealed container for up to 5 days.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
If you try this Wild Rice Stuffing recipe, please leave a comment and star rating below letting me know how you like it.
I love that I can just add this to our vegan thanksgiving menu and know it will be as amazing as it looks, because all of your recipes are! Can’t wait to try it! Any chance your cookbook will be out in time for holiday gifts?
Where did you buy your wild rice and cranberries ? What kind of a pot are you using to cook this in? Love your colorful pots 🙂
thanks !
I bought them at Whole Foods, but they can also be found on Amazon using the links in the post above.
Sage and mushrooms is such a match made in heaven! This is perfect, pinning!
Yum! I now plan to make this for Thanksgiving which is great because I was stumped on what my contribution would be! I decided I wanted to substitute the apple with something and thought I was a bit brilliant with aiming to sauté parsnips with the veggies, instead. Then, I refreshed my memory with what your stuffing was from two years ago, and realized, I’d pretty much just combined the two stuffings – ha. Thank you!
This was delicious! I felt so good about bringing something that provided for many different dietary needs, & because of allergies, I let people choose if they wanted to top it with pecans &/or toasted almonds! It got a lot of compliments! & because I multiplied it a few times for our thirty-some people, I was able to enjoy leftovers for a few days! This may sound wild, but it makes a delicious breakfast! Thank you so much!
I’ve been testing recipes for my Thanksgiving meal too and I love getting little tastes of the Holiday early! I think that this looks absolutely delicious and so hearty! I can’t wait to make it!
Great shout using rice instead of flour – I was just thinking that I needed to find a gluten free stuffing option. I am testing out a chocolate yule log and some grain free mince pie this weekend – hard times…
I just love how you cooked this in a Dutch Oven, my new favorite cooking device of all time. So much easier for me than a crock pot. This wild rice spin is so much healthier than the traditional “Stuffing in a box that I will not call out on this blog”. What a great alternative. All the spice are still there……so the flavor is awesome, just not the bad stuff. We’re experimenting with recipes here too, I was making sweet potatoes fries and cut the end of my finger off with a mandolin!!! I had to go to the ER. It was embarrassing until the doctor told me I was the 4th person she had seen just this past week who lost a bit of finger due to a mandolin accident. So if you’re out, be careful with those!!
I’m so sorry to hear that– mandolin cuts are the worst! I cut my finger on one of those in a cooking class a couple years ago, and it was awful. I feel your pain, and I hope you heal quickly!
You should try this mandoline. I bought it because I have the same problem with cutting my fingers on mandolines. This one makes it really hard to cut yourself, which is awesome! http://www.amazon.com/PL8-Professional-Mandoline-1000/dp/B00JLIKA5C
which vegetable broth did you use? I can never find one I like and eat brand makes a dish taste different. Also if someone can’t have mushrooms do you have any ideas what I could use instead of mushrooms?
*each brand
This would be the perfect stuffing to serve at our Thanksgiving dinner – I have several family members who are gluten sensitive, and myself and couple others are vegetarian or vegan. I love the cranberries and pecans! I think it’d be delicious stuffed in a roasted squash..mmmm 🙂
hey love,
I am so very in love and addicted to your blog. Lately I find myself re-reading all of your old posts until a new one appears. Keep up the amazing work and the balanced approach to health 🙂
Just a quick query. I just started my own blog last week and am really struggling in terms of getting more links in my menu – it’s only letting me have one. and also how do I have those little picture links to my social media sites – like how under your photo your facebook link etc comes up. I am using wordpress and followed all of your instructions in your how to page on blogging but would really appreciate it if you could let me know what I need to do. is it just that my theme doesn’t offer it or is there something I’m missing,
cheers xxx
Made this last night and it was really good! Lots of flavor. I didn’t have the specific spices you had on hand, so used applewood smoked salt and herbs de Provence. I filled delicata squash with the stuffing and it was prefect! Thanks for the inspiration
Katie
How much is a serving?
I made this last night – yum!! I even used cranberries that I dried myself in the oven this week-end (takes quite a while…). Thank-you for the recipe!!
Delicious and very flavorful! Just made this for thanksgiving.
I made this for my vegan Thanksgiving this year, and it was a huge hit! Thanks for the recipe. 🙂 I think it may be a new Thanksgiving tradition….
this was delicious–thanks for sharing the recipe! And I really love the Orange Julius you shared as well–yummy!
Just wanted to leave my two cents. I made this for Thanksgiving and LOVED it!! Thank you!!
With recipes calling for Coconut Oil, do I use refined or unrefined? I’m not sure I understand the difference when I was looking at the two options at the store.
I usually use unrefined coconut oil in all of my recipes, which has a very mild coconut flavor, however some people prefer using refined coconut oil in cooking because it has no coconut flavor at all.
What a delicious recipe! I just featured it on my site The Allergy Free Wife: http://theallergyfreewife.com/blog/2015/11/21/national-stuffing-day Thank you for sharing!
Thanksgiving morning a favorite time of the day. I am making this wild rice stuffing and roasting acorn squash. Half the family is vegan and the other half meat lovers. I’ve been cooking for 3 days to make sides for everyone. And this recipe is perfect for everyone. Roasting the acorn squash with coconut oil is perfect for this dish with the Apple and pecans.
Your Wild Rice Stuffing recipe was a hit at my Thanksgiving table! I was working around gluten and dairy allergies, and very critical chefs with no allergies. EVERYONE LOVED THE STUFFING! The vegetable broth accidently never made it into the dish, and a bit of Holland House Sherry cooking wine made it in. It was fantastic, thank you for your creative masterpiece.
The flavor and texture of this dish is fantastic! I found I needed to add salt because I had used Low Sodium vegetable broth. That was easy. It was also wonderful made with dried Thyme and Sage. It was even better the next after giving the flavors time to develop. The toasted Pecans were devine. Absolutely make this!
I made this about a month ago, my husband didn’t like it. Let me rant here just a bit, he wants healthy non-meat foods, but when I tell him about these main dish type recipes he says “No way”! Plus he’s part Italian and hates pasta because he ate it too much growing up. So I mentioned the spiralized veggie pastas, again heck no. So we have been eating pretty much garbage dinners and your wonderful desserts for a while now.
What “garbage dinners” does he like? If you just made homemade versions of those, that would be so much healthier! Pump them up with extra veggies and/or beans to make them even healthier!
Thank you for this recipe! My son has a wheat allergy and so he usually has to skip the stuffing. I have it on my stove right now and am loving the smells — can’t wait to eat it!
Love this! It’s like comfort food because the flavor just takes you back to the old days of traditional Thanksgiving stuffing. We couldn’t stop eating it!
I made this for Thanksgiving dinner last night that we hosted at our house for 20+ people. It was a huge hit and was gone quick. I will be making this again for sure! Thank you
I made this yesterday for Thanksgiving for 20+ people that came over to our home. It was a huge hit. Everyone loved it! I left out the cranberries and apples and just kept it more savory. Everyone loved all the fresh herb flavors. I garnished it with sauteed mushrooms, pecans, and fresh shredded baby arugula. So yum! I will be making this again soon! Thank you <3
THANks so much for the awesome recipe! CuriouS if this can be prepared ahead of time and the best way to reheat if so? Thanks!
Since I don’t use a microwave, I usually reheat things by spreading them out on a pan and putting it under the broiler for a couple minutes, or you could stir fry it in a skillet over medium heat until warm.
This recipe I came across earlier this year and I MUST say that this is RIDICULOUSLY DUH-LICIOUS !!! I’v made this at least 6x thus far. I’ve even topped this dish with some baked some BBQ chickpeas/Garbanzo Beans and it was SUPERB!!! It’s definitely great on it’s on !!! I’m actually making this again tonight, which is why I’m leaving this comment. GREAT JOB !! 5 Stars
What kind of apple would you recommend?
I love Fuji apples in almost anything, but I think Honey Crisp would work well here, too.
Thank you Megan!! We just wrapped up our first Thanksgiving feast of the week. Most of our sides were your recipes – Wild Rice and Mushroom Stuffing, Clean green bean casserole, and balsamic roasted brussel sprouts. Of course, I made your vegan gravy too (last week too with the portabella mushrooms and mashed cauli). And who can forget dessert – Easy vegan pumpkin pie (I have seriously been eating this weekly since you posted it!). It was so exciting to see my family embrace clean eating.Its been a transition over a few years for them, but My mom and mother in law both have your first cookbook and though they used to use it only when we came over, now they use Your recipes all the time! Just wanted to say thanks for what you do.
We have some friends coming over for Thanksgiving and one person has to be gluten free. After looking at many different recipes on the Internet, yours is the one I’ll be making. It looks and sounds delicious! Thanks!
Thanks, Peggy! I hope everyone will enjoy it!
Can you use dried herbs instead of fresh? My local supermarket is out however I really want to make this recipe! I made It last year and it was phenomenal!
I was wondering the same thing about dried herbs.
Fresh herbs are pricey and I always have dried on hand.
I usually use 1 teaspoon of dried for every 1 tablespoon of fresh herbs, but you can start with even less than that and add more to taste as you go.
Thank you, Megan!
Just made this delicious stuffing with black rice to stuff my delicata squash . This recipie is a keeper.Thank you<3
I’ve made this for a few years in a row for thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. It’s always been a big hit. Sometimes I use just brown rice, or omit the mushrooms or nuts. It works great for customization and always gets devoured any which way.
This is my ‘go-to’ dressing recipe since Thanksgiving 2017. It was an enormous hit! I often a mix of mushrooms. The rice I use varies as well, but I like variety there too. A wild rice blend works really nicely in this recipe. My family just loves it!
We are driving and 2 hours away the day before thanksgiving. I don’t want to rely on making something in an unknown kitchen. Do you think this is something I can make ahead?
Can you cook this on a regular pot?
Can’t wait to make this for Thanksgiving. Has anyone made this a day in advance and reheated? Or is it better to make day of?
You can make it in advance, but I’d leave out the nuts until you reheat it so they stay crunchy.
Thank you..I read you usually reheat in the oven. Would you add some stock to keep it moist?
Can you use dried herbs in this instead of fresh ? If so how much do you suggest using ? Thanks for the great recipe ! My first vegan thanksgiving and glad to find this traditional stuffing replacement!
I made this for a family member who can’t have gluten, soy or dairy (she is also vegetarian). I also made the traditional bread stuffing (which my daughter loves!!). My daughter taste-tested both, and loved this wild rice stuffing even more than the bread stuffing!! This recipe is going into my favorites folder! Thank you 🙂
I made this recipe as a vegan option for our guests, and it was a total hit. I added everything suggested in the recipe (found cranberries sweetened with apple juice), and it was so beautiful and delicious. I never review recipes I’ve followed, but this was an exception since it was so excellent. Thank you!
Why do I need a Dutch oven, your instruction doesn’t include any oven time
A Dutch oven is a type of pot, not an oven
So delicious!! I will definitely be making it again.
I already know we’re going to love this! My son’s girlfriend is gluten free so, I’m making my 1st gluten free side dish Fri. night to go with a turkey etc. I’m very excited and look forward to making more food for her! Thank you for posting this! I really appreciate it and she will love this as I know we all will!
I usually stuff my turkey with traditional bread stuffing but gluten allergies no longer allow that. I tried gluten free bread stuffings and they were awful. I am excited to try this wild rice stuffing but sounds wonderful. I plan to leave out all the fruit and add sweet sausage. Can I cook this and then stuff my bird with it to cook?
Is it okay to make the rice and mushroom dish earlier in the day, then add the cranberries and apples later? Do you reheat it with the apples?
Could this be made the night before and then put in the slow cooker in the morning?
You can definitely make it the night before, I just hold-off adding the nuts until right before serving so they’ll retain their crunch. I usually reheat it in a skillet on the stove top, but I’m guessing the slow cooker should work, too. Let me know how it goes!
It’s so great not to worry about gluten on a day involving many indulgences. This made my whole house smell like Thanksgiving. Easy to make and tastes elegant and virtuous. I’m loving my Detoxinista Thanksgiving!