Sekanice (Czech Easter Stuffing)

Sekanice is a delicious stuffing and one of the classic Czech Easter dishes. Prepared on Holy Saturday with lots of eggs, green herbs and smoked meat, it used to be part of the food basket and taken to church to be blessed. Want the recipe? All right, here you go!

➜ What is Czech Easter stuffing?

Sekanice Easter stuffing is a traditional Czech dish that's baked right before Easter. It includes smoked meat, milk-dipped white bread, eggs, a few seasonings, and spring herbs. After spreading it out on a pan or tray, it gets baked in the oven.

This savory Easter tray bake has various names in the Czech Republic. While the old Czech name goes as "sekanice" or "sekanina," today's Czechs know the recipe mostly as "velikonoční nádivka" (Easter stuffing). Other regional names include "hlavička" or "řežábek."

MY TIP: Don't confuse Sekanice stuffing with Sekana meatloaf. Here you will find a recipe for Czech Sekana meatloaf.

➜ Ingredients you need

To make sekanice from scratch, you will need the following:

• Smoked meat; fattier from pork, fully cooked
• White bread; 2-3 days old. Plain white pastry in the style of a French baguette. I used housky, Czech braided rolls. Other Czech options are rohliky rolls or veka bread.
• Eggs; yolks and whites separately
• Whole milk; lukewarm
• Baby spinach; fresh leaves
• Parsley; fresh greens
• Seasoning: nutmeg, garlic cloves, salt and ground pepper
• Unsalted butter; thin slices to cover the surface of the stuffing before it goes into the oven. These make the stuffing even richer and create a crispy golden crust on the dish.
• To prepare baking dish: some butter and plain breadcrumbs

✅ You’ll find the exact amount of ingredients below in the recipe card, which you can also print out.

➜ Note about herbs and meat

Traditionally, Sekanice was the first meaty meal made after the 40-day Lent period before Easter. In the past, Czech grandmothers used to put three types of meat in the stuffing: veal, pork, and lamb. These meats were simmered for a long time until tender, then diced and used as the base of the dish. 

Nowadays, smoked pork is the most commonly used type of meat instead of several different types.

As for green herbs, the stuffing is a kind of tribute to nature as it awakens after a long, cold winter. Many wild green herbs begin to grow in the spring.

In the past, they were picked by hand in forests and meadows; today, they're bought in shops and supermarkets.

One herb, however, is familiar and useful to Czechs. It's the stinging nettle! Nettles (Czech kopřiva) are considered a weed here and grow in ditches. The touch of nettles is easily recognizable - they sting and burn.

➜ How to make Sekanice

Make ahead

STEP 1: Peel the garlic and press it. Dice the smoked meat. Cut white bread into 1/2–1-inch cubes. Carefully separate the egg whites from the yolks, placing each in a separate, clean bowl.

Prepare herbs

STEP 2: Place the spinach leaves in a colander and wash them under running water. Scald them briefly with hot water. Allow to drip off, and then chop the blanched leaves coarsely with a chef's knife along with the leaves of the green parsley.

Get the baking pan ready

STEP 3: Grease the baking dish with some solid fat, such as butter. Then sprinkle with plain breadcrumbs. Gently tap the pan on the counter to shake off any excess breadcrumbs.

Make the stuffing mass

STEP 4: In a mixing bowl, whisk the milk with the egg yolks, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and garlic. 

STEP 5: Place the white bread cubes in a large bowl. Pour the egg mixture over them and stir. Let stand for about five minutes while the bread absorbs the liquid.

Meanwhile, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff.

STEP 6: Add the smoked meat cubes, beaten egg whites, and chopped herbs to the soaked bread. Using a hand spatula, mix gently but thoroughly. 

Bake the stuffing

STEP 7: Spread the stuffing mixture into the prepared baking dish, smoothing the surface. Top with thin slices of butter all over.

STEP 8: Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and bake the stuffing for 40 minutes.

➜ Serving

Serve the Sekanice stuffing warm and sliced. The best side dish is boiled potatoes. Another option is to serve slices of cold stuffing arranged on a plate. Sekanice is delicious, both hot and cold!

➜ Useful hints

• In this recipe, I replaced the Czech spring herbs with fresh spinach leaves. If you are familiar with spring herbs, feel free to experiment and use the ones you think are appropriate for Sekanice.
• Storage tip: When the stuffing has cooled, do not tip it out of the pan. Wrap it in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to five days.
• Toast the slices of Sekanice in a pan with a little butter. We love this method of reheating in our family!

➜ Type and size of baking dish

To make the Easter stuffing from the ingredients on the recipe card, I used a rectangular baking dish about 8x12 inches (20x30 cm). This is a smaller dish that will bake at least six servings of stuffing.

If you want to feed a crowd or are planning a family gathering, double the ingredients and use a 9x13-inch (23x33 cm) rimmed baking dish. The stuffing will be a little taller, but that's okay.

More Czech Easter recipes:

• Mazanec bread
• Jidase pastry
• Egg salad with yogurt