8 Store-Bought Stuffing Mixes For Thanksgiving, Ranked

For many families, Thanksgiving dinner is one of the biggest cooking productions of the year. Often, it requires days of preparation across several households, with food rotating in and out of the oven and across the stovetop to cook, cool, and reheat — all timed to land on the table at exactly the right time and temperature. It's no wonder that we'd want a little help wherever we could find it, and one of the easiest shortcuts on Thanksgiving menus everywhere is the stuffing.

Luckily, grocery stores everywhere sell ready-to-cook stuffing mixes to suit just about every taste, cooking style, and dietary consideration, all while making the work of preparing a holiday feast a little bit easier. (Sorry, even if you call it dressing, most of the packaging is still labeled as stuffing.) So to find out which stuffing mixes were worth adding to the table this year, I went to the store and picked up eight widely available mixes to put to the test. The lineup includes traditional and herb-seasoned mixes, gluten-free and allergen-conscious products, and a few less-traditional options that might add a little something extra to your meal this year that you weren't expecting. From worst to best, here's how they ranked.

Nearly all of the baking mixes I tested for this roundup ask for the addition of butter (or some kind of butter substitute in the case of a nondairy preparation), with the Mrs. Cubbison's Traditional Seasoned Stuffing mix having the highest butter-to-stuffing mix ratio of them all. The average mix calls for about ¼ cup of butter, and while some have as little as 2 tablespoons, this mix calls for double the average at ½ cup of butter per comparable stuffing mix. I generally feel like adding butter to a mix can only help your stuffing, but in Mrs. Cubbison's case, more is not more. Instead, the stuffing is practically frying itself in a pool of butter after baking for 40 minutes.

This mix also asks for the inclusion of something that none of the other mixes do — a beaten egg. Of course, the egg is optional, and the instructions stipulate that it's really only for the oven casserole preparation, but in the spirit of trying what makes this mix unique, I gave the oven casserole preparation a try. The egg doesn't stand out against the backdrop of the intense butter content, but it undoubtedly contributes to the overall richness of the stuffing. If I take away anything from this stuffing mix, it might be the addition of an egg to help boost the overall richness and creaminess of a much less rich stuffing.

It wasn't that long ago that even the idea of a cousin with an allergy attending Thanksgiving dinner would send the family into a tailspin trying to figure out how to prepare enough allergen-free dishes to make sure they had enough to eat on the big day. So the fact that there are gluten-free and allergen-conscious stuffing mix options so widely available now takes a lot of pressure off to make sure everyone gets fed.

I hadn't heard of Gillian's before, but it was in stock at my local grocery store alongside all of the other stuffing mixes, which was enough to warrant it a try. Not only is it gluten-free, but it's also free from dairy, soy, tree nuts, peanuts, and preservatives. The basic stovetop preparation instructions are roughly the same for this mix as they are for all of the other mixes, which includes bringing water and your choice of fat to a boil, adding the stuffing mix, stirring till moistened, and leaving to sit for about five minutes.

Unfortunately, the color and texture of this particular stuffing mix is the most off-putting of the entire lineup. Straight out of the bag, it looks like brown bread croutons, which isn't all that bad, but the mixture turns more gray-brown as it rests. The flavor is completely fine, well-seasoned, and hits all of the familiar Thanksgiving stuffing notes. But it might be hard to convince people to try it based on looks alone when there are so many other appetizing dishes on the table.

When it comes to stuffing, is any brand name more recognizable than Stove Top? Available year-round on the bread aisle, Stove Top offers a stuffing mix that can famously be prepared in just five minutes, either on the stovetop or in the microwave. So, I generally consider this as the baseline stuffing on which I'm judging all of the others from.

At my local grocery store, a box of Stove Top stuffing is typically $3.73, but with Thanksgiving fast approaching, I picked up two boxes on sale, priced at two for $5. I prepared the Savory Herbs flavor with the classic stovetop preparation instructions, and the Turkey flavor with the microwave instructions to see if there were any differences in texture, as well as flavor. The difference between the two flavors was so minimal that I had to make a real effort not to confuse them. Texturally, the methods also yielded similar results, but the stuffing prepared in the microwave had a little bit more gumminess to it than the stovetop version did. This is most likely due to cooking the stuffing mix in the microwave with the liquid instead of adding it after the fact.

There are seven Stove Top Stuffing Mix flavors, all available in 6-ounce packages, with a few of the more popular flavors also available in 12-ounce packages. Consider picking up several flavors to mix together, to make a stuffing that packs more flavor than any one mix could on its own.

There's no question that this is an aesthetically pleasing stuffing, and given that it comes from a high-end kitchen goods retailer, I'd expect no less. Williams Sonoma sells five stuffing mixes, each made with a different crouton bread, including focaccia, French bread, brioche, cornbread, and a gluten-free classic stuffing. Not only do the stuffings look impressive on the box, but they look delightful in any dish you prepare it in, so be prepared to turn some heads with this one.

The focaccia croutons are the largest format stuffing pieces of any I tested in this lineup, which isn't entirely my style, but is understandably appealing to others. If you like smaller breading pieces, you can just mix them a little more once they're moistened to break the chunks down. This mix also calls for a little more effort on your part, substituting chicken or vegetable stock where others use water, and adding diced onion and celery to toss into the stuffing mix.

I can't deny that the stuffing tastes good, but does it taste $10 to $20 good — especially when you still have to buy other ingredients to actually assemble and cook it yourself? Only if you're really trying to inspire a next-level kind of envy in one of your family members over dinner. Otherwise, I'd probably pick up one of the less expensive mixes, and make it with the applicable chicken stock and chopped vegetables for mostly the same outcome in terms of flavor.

As you can see, not all stuffing mixes call for freshly chopped vegetables, but those that do ask for both onions and celery. Surprisingly, Aleia's Savory Stuffing Mix is the only one that also asks for carrots. I say surprisingly because carrots round out the soffrito or mirepoix trifecta of onions, celery, and carrots that many chefs use as the base for countless recipes, including stuffing. While the ratio of ingredients varies depending on the method and recipe you're following, it's common to start by sweating or sautéing these vegetables down first in the fat of your choice, then deglazing with a liquid and continuing with your recipe. Even if the mix you choose doesn't include a carrot, consider adding one.

Not only did Aleia's win points for including carrots (because if I'm going to chop vegetables to add to the mix, what's an extra carrot at that point?), but I completely forgot while I was making it that it was a gluten-free and allergen-friendly mix. The gluten-free croutons are nearly indistinguishable from wheat croutons, visually, and the additional packet of seasoning mix helped boost the herbal flavor to complement the rest of the stuffing. Warm and fresh out of the oven, the stuffing is one of the more attractive dishes in this lineup, and unless you knew it was gluten-free stuffing, you probably wouldn't guess. Aleia's can be found in retailers nationwide, and I picked up a box at my local Whole Foods for $6.99.

Never ones to color too closely inside the lines, Trader Joe's offers two Stuffing Mixes, but neither is entirely traditional. The closest you'll get is the Cornbread Stuffing Mix, which is made with a combination of toasted white bread and cornbread croutons. It asks for the addition of water and butter and includes a seasoning pouch of herbs and spices that gets boiled with the butter and water. The grocery store also offers a Gluten-Free Stuffing Mix, and claims the only difference is with the gluten-free croutons themselves.

The seasoning packet is a nice touch, that somehow makes you feel like you've gone the extra mile of chopping up some herbs — without actually doing any extra work other than cutting open another packet of ingredients. The final product is certainly one of the more attractive stuffing mixes, and even though the mix partially includes cornbread, it should appeal to everyone at the table. One note on preparing a stuffing mix with larger croutons like this one: If you'd like to maintain the attractive larger-format shape of most of the croutons, resist the temptation to over-mix the stuffing after pouring the hot seasoning liquid over them. Otherwise, the dried bread will start to break down surprisingly quickly as it soaks up the hot seasoning liquid.

The Trader Joe's Cornbread Stuffing Mix is on the larger side of available mixes, in a 12.4-ounce box. The cornbread version costs $4.99 and the gluten-free version costs $6.49.

Aside from being organic, the 365 Whole Foods Market brand Traditional Stuffing Mix with Chicken Flavor is just as easy to make as a box of Stove Top Stuffing, with roughly the same mix-ins. After all, pretty much all of the stuffings on this list can be five-minute stuffings if you don't add any extra vegetables and use the boil, cover, and fluff method. Instead of a 6-ounce box, it comes in a 10-ounce bag and asks for slightly more water and 6 tablespoons of butter instead of 4 tablespoons. But it isn't the seasoning blend, mix-ins, or cooking method that sets it apart; it's the texture.

The 365 stuffing mix is made with cracked rye and cracked wheat, which includes the grain kernels for additional texture and flavor. The kernels aren't hard, especially after soaking, but they do add a little extra chew to the stuffing that none of the other brands offer. As someone who enjoys whole grains, it was a welcome addition that put this stuffing at the top of the five-minute stuffing pack.

For those looking for a vegan version, the Organic Multigrain Stuffing Mix is the same thing, minus the organic dehydrated green bell peppers and organic natural flavor. It's hard to argue with the price of this stuffing mix too. The regular price is just $3.79 (a deal given its larger size and that it's all organic), and for Amazon Prime members, it's discounted further to $2.78.

Even though the Pepperidge Farm Herb Seasoned Classic Stuffing is widely available, and sold at the same low price point as some of the other quick five-minute stovetop stuffing mixes, this mix actually calls for a little bit more effort to assemble. Taking cues from some of the more hands-on mixes, it involves cooking the onions and celery in butter in advance, before adding broth to your saucepan to boil. From there, you can stir in the stuffing mix and let sit for five minutes before serving or pop the whole thing in a casserole dish to bake.

The dry mix itself has a texture that more closely resembles breadcrumbs than torn bread or croutons, but if you'd prefer a slightly larger stuffing mix texture, Pepperidge Farm also makes a Cubed Stuffing Mix that has a slightly larger texture. This is also the darkest of the stuffing mixes that I tested, but the color has no adverse effect on the flavor (in fact, I think it makes it taste even better somehow). While this particular stuffing mix takes a little more effort overall than I expected to give for a $3.73 bag of stuffing mix, it was absolutely worth every penny in the flavor department, and the most economical path to a delicious Thanksgiving side dish.

My first criteria when choosing stuffing mixes for this taste test, was to aim for the most traditional flavors a particular brand had to offer, and only branching out to mixes with other ingredients (like cornbread, focaccia, and gluten-free breadcrumbs) when a classic option wasn't available. This helped set a baseline of flavors to taste and compare from, that most people familiar with stuffing, even in passing, could relate to.

While some may want a stuffing mix that requires little to no effort to assemble, others are happy to use it as a launching point to create a more complex dish. So, it was important to test mixes that required nothing more than bringing water and butter to a boil, as well as those that required extra fresh ingredients to prepare separately. I also thought it was important to include at least two gluten-free, allergen-friendly options, given how common those considerations are when hosting a group meal.

I only chose stovetop, microwave, or oven casserole preparations to get the full flavor of the stuffing, although several mixes include directions for actually cooking it inside of a bird as well. I also didn't add any personal touches, like dried fruit, nuts, mushrooms, or vegetables, unless explicitly called for in the instructions — although I think nearly every stuffing mix I tried could benefit from a few personal touches if you have the energy to add more than what's provided on an already busy cooking day.