BEST Traditional Thanksgiving Stuffing Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is traditional turkey stuffing made of? ›

Bread: This old-fashioned turkey dressing recipe starts with lightly toasted white bread. Butter: Butter adds moisture, richness, and flavor. Vegetables: You'll need one chopped onion and two stalks of chopped celery for flavor and texture. Broth: Chicken broth keeps the stuffing moist without making it soggy.

Absolutely. Most Thanksgiving stuffing recipes can be made at least partially in advance since: A) They're easily assembled a day or two ahead of Thanksgiving Day; and B) They're often baked using a two-step process (once covered with foil to cook through, then uncovered to achieve a crispy top).

You'll never make stuffing with dried herbs again! Vegetable broth – To moisten the bread. Eggs – They add richness and moisture, helping to create the stuffing's irresistible gooey center.

Make the stuffing, melt butter in a large frying pan and gently sauté onion and garlic for five minutes until soft. Stir in the herbs for one minute then add breadcrumbs to absorb butter. Mix in zest, pine nuts and seasoning and cook over medium heat for about seven minutes until crumbs start to brown and crisp.

I've never not put eggs in stuffing, but also, the eggs act as a binder. They prevent the stuffing from being crumbly and help it hold together.

Cover the baking dish tightly with aluminum foil. Bake at 400°F for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake until crispy. Uncover the stuffing and continue baking until the top is crispy and golden-brown, 15 to 20 minutes more.

The stuffing should be moist but not wet. If there is a puddle of broth at the bottom of the bowl, you've added too much. Add more bread to soak up the excess moisture. If the mix is still dry and crumbly, add more liquid and toss gently until it starts to clump together.

Fully cook raw meat, poultry, or seafood ingredients before adding to stuffing. Combine the ingredients and place them in your bird immediately before cooking. Don't stuff whole poultry with cooked stuffing. In addition to the turkey, the stuffing's center needs to reach 165 F.

You can use any kind; store-bought white bread works well and would probably be my #1 suggestion for stuffing. You could also try using cut up dinner rolls, sourdough bread (actually this would be my personal first pick), challah, or anything else you want to experiment with.

Slightly stale bread absorbs meat juices and other ingredients better than moist, fresh bread. Some people simply use old bread for stuffing, while others prefer to dry out new bread as needed. Manually drying bread takes less time than waiting for the bread to dry on its own.

Is it better to cook the stuffing inside or outside of the turkey and why? ›

For this reason, many experts recommend baking the stuffing outside the bird, where it can easily be cooked to 165°F and is less likely to harbor bacteria.

Rich with double chicken stock, tons of butter, and handfuls of aromatics, it is in my opinion the best cornbread dressing in the world.

"Stuffing is cooked in the cavity of the turkey, so the juices soak into the ingredients, making it more flavorful. Dressing gets cooked on its own and needs extra liquid to make it flavorful." So stuffing is cooked inside the bird. Dressing is cooked outside the bird, usually in a casserole dish.

The earliest documentary evidence is the Roman cookbook, Apicius De Re Coquinaria, which contains recipes for stuffed chicken, dormouse, hare, and pig. Most of the stuffings described consist of vegetables, herbs and spices, nuts, and spelt (a cereal), and frequently contain chopped liver, brains, and other organ meat.

"Stuffing is cooked in the cavity of the turkey, so the juices soak into the ingredients, making it more flavorful. Dressing gets cooked on its own and needs extra liquid to make it flavorful." So stuffing is cooked inside the bird. Dressing is cooked outside the bird, usually in a casserole dish.

Add halved onions, carrot chunks, celery and fresh herbs to the cavity of your turkey, inserting them loosely. These flavor builders are the base of stock and most soups. As your turkey cooks, they'll steam and infuse your bird with moisture and flavor.

Polyester fiberfill is a synthetic fiber used for stuffing pillows and other soft objects such as stuffed animals. It is also used in audio speakers for its acoustic properties. It is commonly sold under the trademark name Poly-Fil, or un-trademarked as polyfill.