Pennsylvania Dutch Potato Filling
Half mashed potatoes, half stuffing: boiled potatoes beaten with milk, eggs and parsley, mixed with onion and celery cooked in butter and buttery toasted bread cubes, and baked until crusty on top.
In Pennsylvania Dutch country the stuffing is called filling, and one of the best-loved versions is made with mashed potatoes. Wikipedia says potato filling has been served for centuries in parts of Pennsylvania such as Berks County, citing the Reading Eagle, and that it is used as a stuffing or baked as a casserole, sometimes in a pig's stomach. PhillyVoice reports a Pennsylvania Dutch food historian's view that filling has been around since at least the 1700s and took off in the 1800s, and that customers call a Berks County grange hall in September to reserve its filling (November 23, 2022:). Potatoes in stuffing are old in America: Amelia Simmons's 1796 "American Cookery" already offers a turkey stuffing of three pints of boiled, mashed potatoes wet with butter, with sweet herbs, pepper and salt.
🇺🇸 This one is American
Half mashed potatoes, half stuffing: boiled potatoes beaten with milk, eggs and parsley, mixed with onion and celery cooked in butter and buttery toasted bread cubes, and baked until crusty on top.
🇬🇧 The original
The English original is sage and onion bound with breadcrumbs and butter, cooked inside the bird or in a dish beside it. See the Sage and Onion Stuffing (Mrs Beeton, 1861) recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
Butter-toasted bread
Tossing the dry cubes in butter before they go into the potatoes keeps them in distinct, chewy pieces instead of melting into the mash.
Eggs in the mash
Beaten eggs lighten the potatoes and help the casserole set into a scoopable filling with a crust on top.
Step by step
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 300°F. Spread the bread cubes on a baking sheet and bake 10 to 15 minutes, stirring once or twice, until dry and lightly browned. Raise the oven to 350°F and butter a 2 1/2 to 3-quart casserole.
- Step 2
Cover the potatoes with salted water by about 1 inch in a large saucepan, cover and boil 15 to 20 minutes, until tender.
- Step 3
Drain and mash the potatoes coarsely, then beat in the milk, eggs, parsley, salt and pepper until smooth.
- Step 4
Melt 4 tbsp butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the onions and celery with the poultry seasoning 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until soft and lightly browned. Lift them into the potatoes with a slotted spoon.
- Step 5
Melt 4 tbsp more butter in the skillet over medium heat, toss in the bread cubes until coated, then stir them into the potatoes.
- Step 6
Spoon into the casserole, melt the last 2 tbsp butter and drizzle it over the top.
- Step 7
Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until the top is lightly browned and crusty and the center reads 165°F.
Pennsylvania Dutch Potato Filling
Serves 8 · one 2 1/2 to 3-quart casserole · 1 hr 20 min total
Bread
- 4 cups bread cubes (from about 6 slices white bread)
Potatoes
- 7 medium potatoes (about 3 lb), peeled and quartered
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Vegetables and butter
- 10 tbsp butter, divided
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- 3 celery ribs, thinly sliced
- 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
Method
- Heat the oven to 300°F. Spread the bread cubes on a baking sheet and bake 10 to 15 minutes, stirring once or twice, until dry and lightly browned. Raise the oven to 350°F and butter a 2 1/2 to 3-quart casserole.
- Cover the potatoes with salted water by about 1 inch in a large saucepan, cover and boil 15 to 20 minutes, until tender.
- Drain and mash the potatoes coarsely, then beat in the milk, eggs, parsley, salt and pepper until smooth.
- Melt 4 tbsp butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the onions and celery with the poultry seasoning 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until soft and lightly browned. Lift them into the potatoes with a slotted spoon.
- Melt 4 tbsp more butter in the skillet over medium heat, toss in the bread cubes until coated, then stir them into the potatoes.
- Spoon into the casserole, melt the last 2 tbsp butter and drizzle it over the top.
- Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until the top is lightly browned and crusty and the center reads 165°F.
Adapted from Tonya Clifford (manager of Pennsylvania Dutch Cooking and Living), "Add Potato Filling to Your Thanksgiving Feast", published by Pennsylvania's Americana Region (the Berks County visitors bureau), November 14, 2024, as written. The recipe gives no serving count; we call it 8. "4 cups dried bread cubes" is from about 6 slices of bread. The 165°F check is ours (USDA FSIS). Visit Berks County. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
Tips
- To make it ahead, assemble it without the melted butter on top and freeze it right away; thaw, add the butter and bake (Clifford). Do not refrigerate it unbaked overnight (FSIS).
- America's Test Kitchen's "Amish Potato Filling" (2018) leaves out the eggs, uses half-and-half and broth and bakes at 400°F for a craggier top.
- Leftover filling reheats well in a buttered skillet, crisping on both sides.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Filling, stuffing or dressing. Documented as regional: Pennsylvania Dutch cooks say filling, and a widely shared survey summary names Pennsylvania's "filling" as a third term (search summaries only).
- Filling dates to the 1700s. Disputed: one Pennsylvania Dutch food historian, unnamed in PhillyVoice's report, says at least the 1700s; Wikipedia says "for centuries"; we found no dated early recipe for the bread-and-potato version. Simmons's 1796 potato stuffing has no bread.
- Eggs or no eggs. Disputed: Clifford's Berks County recipe beats in 2 eggs; ATK's Amish Potato Filling has none. Both are called traditional.
- It is Amish. Folklore as worded: ATK calls its version Amish; Wikipedia and Berks County sources call it Pennsylvania Dutch, a larger community.
Every other stuffing
Sage and Onion Stuffing (Mrs Beeton, 1861)
The Victorian English stuffing for goose, duck and pork: onions simmered until mild, chopped fine with fresh sage, worked together with bread crumbs, butter and an egg yolk, and baked in its own dish until crisp on top.
Chestnut and Pork Stuffing (Farce aux Marrons)
Whole chestnuts simmered in broth until just tender, folded into seasoned ground pork with shallots, thyme and a splash of Cognac, and baked in its own dish: the classic French stuffing for a Christmas turkey.
Artusi's Roast Chicken with Sausage and Chestnut Stuffing (1891)
Pellegrino Artusi's family stuffing of Italian sausage, chicken liver, roasted chestnuts, dried mushrooms and nutmeg, bound with egg and a little bread soaked in broth, packed into a whole chicken and roasted until the stuffing itself reads 165°F.
Lebanese Hashweh (Spiced Rice and Beef Stuffing)
Ground beef and onion browned in olive oil, seasoned with Lebanese seven-spice, cooked with basmati rice in chicken broth and finished with toasted pine nuts and parsley: served on its own or as a stuffing for turkey.
Italian-American Sausage and Fennel Stuffing
Oven-dried white bread cubes tossed with browned sweet Italian sausage, onion and fennel cooked in butter, fresh thyme, marjoram and sage, chicken broth and eggs, baked covered and then uncovered until golden.
Chinese-American Sticky Rice Stuffing
Soaked and steamed glutinous rice tossed with lap cheong (sweet Chinese sausage), onion and caramelized shiitake, seasoned with light and dark soy sauce and chicken stock, then roasted in a cast-iron skillet until the top and bottom turn crisp.
New England Sage Bread Stuffing
Dried French bread cubes tossed with onion and celery cooked in butter, sage, thyme, marjoram and parsley, chicken broth and eggs, baked covered until fragrant and then uncovered until a golden crust forms.
Southern Cornbread Dressing
A pan of cornbread baked, crumbled while hot and mixed with sausage, onion, bell pepper and celery, poultry seasoning, broth, milk and eggs, then baked in ridges with butter brushed on top until crisp outside and almost creamy inside.
New Orleans Oyster Dressing (Leah Chase)
Leah Chase's holiday dressing: day-old bread soaked in oyster liquor, browned ground beef and the Creole trinity cooked in butter, chopped Gulf oysters, thyme and cayenne, bound with egg and baked under seasoned bread crumbs.
Wild Rice Dressing (Minnesota)
Nutty wild rice cooked in broth, mixed with toasted bread crumbs, onion, celery, garlic, sage and thyme and a light custard of cream, eggs and the rice's own cooking liquid, baked covered until set.
Weeknight Crispy Skillet Stuffing
A half-size, one-skillet stuffing for any night: baguette cubes toasted in a hot oven, soaked in broth and egg with browned onion, celery, sage and thyme, crisped on the stove and finished in the oven with a golden crust on top and bottom.
Stovetop-Style Stuffing, Inspired by Stove Top
The boxed classic made from scratch: white and whole wheat bread cut into eraser-size crumbs and dried in the oven, then stirred into a simmering pot of broth, butter, dried onion, celery and poultry seasoning, covered and left to stand 5 minutes. Inspired by, not official.
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