When it comes to preparing a holiday feast, scheduling oven time is one of the trickiest parts. The sweet potatoes and rolls go in when the turkey comes out, but will you have enough room or time for the stuffing or the green bean casserole? I find that if you can use your slow cooker or instant pot to save oven and stove top space and take a few tasks off your hands, it’s immeasurably helpful on a big day of cooking. This Slow Cooker Stuffing does just that. It not only saves you space, it also happens to be incredibly moist and delicious – an ideal side that takes very little effort.

There is a little bit of stove top cooking here so you get the ideal flavor out of those veggies, but the nice thing is you can do that part early in the day before you have to worry about mashed potatoes and gravy and cranberry sauce, and then get the mixture into the slow cooker where you can set it and forget it until it’s time to eat.

You just sauté some onions, celery, and seasonings in butter before mixing it with the dried cubes of bread. The stove top part takes mere minutes. The slow cooker part takes longer, but it’s out of sight, out of mind, and in three and a half hours or so you get to scoop out a stuffing (or dressing, if you prefer) that’s moist but not mushy and full of savory flavor.

As far as I’m concerned, stuffing is a totally necessary part of any holiday meal, and preparing it in your crockpot makes it super easy on you without sacrificing any flavor.