Grandma's Homemade Thanksgiving Dressing (Stuffing) Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is traditional stuffing made of? ›

Classic stuffing made with bread cubes, seasonings, and held together with chicken stock and eggs. A holiday staple!

Eggs: Two lightly beaten eggs help hold the dressing together and add moisture. Water: You can add a few tablespoons of water, if you'd like, to achieve your desired consistency. Seasonings: This turkey dressing recipe is seasoned with salt, pepper, rubbed sage, and garlic powder.

directions. Sauté onion and celery in the butter until tender. Combine onion mixture with bread, pepper, eggs, salt, sage and poultry seasoning in a large mixing bowl. Stir in broth until well moistened.

"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.

To understand the difference between the two, all you have to do is look at the cooking method. Stuffing is stuffed (literally) inside the cavity of the turkey, while dressing is roasted in a separate casserole dish.

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).

If you're using raw meat, poultry or shellfish to make your stuffing, cook those first, add them to your stuffing mix and then immediately stuff your bird. If you're preparing the stuffing ahead of time, cool it immediately and placed it in shallow containers in the refrigerator.

The bread in the stuffing absorbs moisture, but if it's dry (as it should be, see above), it takes some time for the liquid to settle in. I suggest adding a little at a time, say 1 cup of broth for every 4 cups of dry mix. Give it a good stir, then let it sit for a minute. The stuffing should be moist but not wet.

On not stuffing your turkey

Bishop: Instead, put the stuffing in a dish — but then it becomes "dressing," if you want to be technical about it. The problem is, when you stuff the turkey, yes, the stuffing gets all of the wonderful flavors from the bird, but it makes it much more difficult to cook the bird.

Fruit, especially dried fruit like raisins, cranberries, figs and apricots can seriously improve a dreary box of stuffing. That bit of sweetness plays beautifully with other flavors on the table. I've found that fresh fruits like apples and pears are stellar as well.

Does Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix go bad? ›

Sometimes expiration dates need to be taken seriously, and sometimes food is safe to eat passed that date. If you mean the kind you buy in the store dry (such a Pepperidge Farm, no, it does not. It will last practically forever.

The primary difference between stuffing and dressing is that stuffing is cooked inside a bird and dressing is made on the side.

Cranberry Sauce Is Perfect with Thanksgiving Turkey

Cranberries are absolutely perfect with turkey. Sort of like lemons and chicken. Something about the flavors, they're just made for each other. Which is why the sauce is so good to spread over turkey in your leftover turkey sandwiches.

What makes this stuffing so moist is the fact that it's cooked with both broth and butter. I think that helps to keep things moist and not dried out, without leaving you with soggy stuffing as well.

Stuffing most often uses dried bread, herbs, and vegetables that are reconstituted with liquid, stuffed into the turkey cavity, and baked until it is firm and finished cooking. In addition, stuffing can also be cooked separately in a casserole dish in the oven, which would then be considered dressing.

So how far back can we find stuffing used in cooking? Some time between the 2nd century BC and the 1st century AD, a chef by the name of Apicius created a cookbook entitled, “Apicius de re Coquinaria.” In its pages are recipes for stuffed chicken, rabbit, pig, and even dormouse.

The BEST traditional Thanksgiving Stuffing recipe is easy to make dried bread cubes, sausage, diced vegetables, and chicken broth. It's a great side dish to make ahead of time and it definitely tastes best homemade! Pair this easy homemade stuffing with our popular turkey recipe, homemade rolls, and Thanksgiving pie.