Sticky Rice Stuffing. It’s gonna be all the rage this Thanksgiving. For any adventurous Thanksgiving cooks who want to try something other than a traditional bread stuffing or dressing this year, this is the recipe for you.
A Family Recipe Retrofitted for Thanksgiving!
We’ve actually been making this sticky rice stuffing for years. It’s featured in one of my all-time favorites: Roast Chicken with Sticky Rice.
I’ve also heard tell that my grandfather had a recipe involving an entire de-boned chicken stuffed with sticky rice and roasted (I’ve asked my dad to bring that recipe out of the vault, so stay tuned), but this is the first time I ever thought to make it as a Thanksgiving side dish.
As a lover of bread stuffing (it’s actually my favorite Thanksgiving side dish), I was a little apprehensive about making a rice-based one. But it WORKS. Smothered in some of that onion giblet gravy from our Five Spice Turkey recipe, it is pure Thanksgiving heaven.
The key is putting the stuffing in the oven for about 15 minutes. Magical things happen when this stuffing is roasted. It gets nice and crispy on the top and bottom, while staying gooey in the middle.
A Great Gluten-Free Stuffing Option
Since it’s rice-based, this stuffing can also be made completely gluten-free. I included some notes in the ingredients list on small substitutions that you can make, like using gluten-free soy sauce, molasses instead of dark soy sauce, and another meat alternative to lop cheung (which contains soy sauce).
If you want to make it completely vegetarian, you can simply omit the meat ingredient and substitute roasted & chopped chestnuts, toasted pecans, or toasted pine nuts. You can also use mushroom or vegetable stock instead of chicken stock.
I’ll definitely be adding this sticky rice stuffing to the menu this year, and I don’t think anyone is going to miss the bread! You’ll also want to check out our complete Holiday Season Recipe collection for other great Thanksgiving and holiday recipes.
Sticky Rice Stuffing: Recipe Instructions
Cook the sweet rice (sticky rice). The most foolproof way is to soak it overnight (at least 6 hours), and then steam it for 40 minutes. If you have a rice cooker with a sweet rice setting, you can also cook it that way.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat and add 2 tablespoons oil. When oil is hot, add the onions and sliced Chinese sausage (lop cheung). Cook for 3-5 minutes.
Add the fresh shiitake mushrooms and cook until caramelized.
Add the cooked rice, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, chicken stock, and scallions. Mix until the rice is an even brown color.
Spread the sticky rice stuffing out evenly in the pan, and transfer to the oven. Roast the stuffing for 15 minutes, until crisp on the top and bottom. Serve!
Sticky Rice Stuffing
Ingredients
- 2 cups sweet rice (also called sticky rice)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 onion (thinly sliced)
- 2 links of Chinese sausage (lop cheung, sliced; can substitute bacon or any other gluten-free sausage)
- 8 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms (thinly sliced, or substitute re-constituted dried shiitake mushrooms)
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce (or gluten-free soy sauce)
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce (or 1 teaspoon molasses, if you want to stay gluten-free)
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken stock
- 2 scallions (thinly sliced)
Instructions
- Cook the sweet rice (sticky rice). The most foolproof way is to soak it overnight (or at least 6 hours), and then steam it for 40 minutes. If you have a rice cooker with a sweet rice setting, you can also cook it that way.
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat and add 2 tablespoons oil. When oil is hot, add the onions and sliced Chinese sausage. Cook for 3-5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook until caramelized.
- Add the cooked rice, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, chicken stock, and scallions. Mix until the rice is an even brown color.
- Spread the stuffing out evenly in the pan, and transfer to the oven. Roast the stuffing for 15 minutes, until crisp on the top and bottom. Serve!
This was so amazing for thanksgiving. Everyone loved it. The only difference was I added some oyster sauce according to the other reader comments.
Thanks so much for reporting back, Yaoli!
Made it again this year! I prepared it until the baking step, put it in an oiled Pyrex and saved the final bake for the next day. Tasted great!
BTW, I listened to the ‘Recipe Club’ podcast episode that featured this recipe last year and was disappointed by their review of it. My interpretation is the hosts really don’t have much understanding of Cantonese food and didn’t get the flavors and texture the recipe is trying to create. I laughed out loud to hear David Chang say he wanted to create color in the dish by deeply caramelizing the ingredients rather than using dark soy sauce. To each their own, but it would’ve been nice to hear more nuance in their discussion. This recipe is great!
Thank you for that kind comment and dose of positivity, Sarah! :) We made this stuffing this year too (my husband’s sister requests it!).
Just double checking, if I use a rice cooker then I don’t need to soak the rice overnight? Thank you!
Hi Tyng, you should soak it overnight regardless. I would suggest steaming it rather than cooking it in the rice cooker, though, unless your rice cooker has a sweet rice setting.