Old Fashioned Stuffing (2024)

This traditional turkey dressing recipe is proof that you can't go wrong with a tried-and-true classic.

Turkey Dressing Ingredients

You likely have all the ingredients you'll need to make this turkey dressing recipe on hand. If not, here's what to add to your grocery list:

· 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.
· 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.

How to Make Turkey Dressing

You'll find the full, step-by-step recipe below — but here's a brief overview of what you can expect when you make this classic turkey dressing:

1. Make Bread Crumbs: Spread the toasted bread slices on baking sheets. Allow them to sit at room temperature until they're hard, about 24 hours. When they're hard, crush the slices with a rolling pin. Transfer the crumbs to a large bowl.
2. Cook Vegetables: Melt butter in a saucepan. Add the chopped onion and celery and cook, stirring often, until they're soft. Remove from heat and drain.
3. Mix Ingredients: Add the broth and eggs to the bread crumbs. Stir until the mixture is moist, but not mushy. Mix in the cooked vegetables and seasonings.
4. Bake Stuffing: Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish. Bake in a preheated oven until the stuffing is brown and crisp.

How to Store Turkey Dressing

Store your leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days. Reheat gently in the microwave or in the oven.

Can You Freeze Turkey Dressing?

Yes, this recipe freezes quite well. In serving-sized portions, place the turkey dressing in zip-top freezer bags or another freezer-safe container. Wrap in a layer of foil for extra protection. Freeze for three to six months. Reheat in the oven from frozen.

Allrecipes Community Tips and Praise

"I loved this recipe, and so did my family," says Patsy Snyder Hennessey. "I should have made a double batch, because they scraped the pan. The only thing I did differently was to baste this dressing a couple of times with a turkey baster full of juice from the turkey I had roasted earlier in the day."

"It was a wonderful stuffing recipe," according to PRAIRIEMOMMY. "We loved it. It was so easy and so tasty – we cooked it in a turkey and it turned out perfect."

"Awesome," says jofus109. "Easy to make. I halved the recipe, left out the sage and added some chopped apple and pecans to the mix. Great blend of flavors and textures."

Editorial contributions by Corey Williams

Old Fashioned Stuffing (2024)

FAQs

What is traditional stuffing made of? ›

Turkey stuffing was popularized in the early days of Thanksgiving, as it is written in many 16th-century Boston area documents. 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.

Why put eggs in stuffing? ›

Broth: Chicken broth keeps the stuffing moist without making it soggy. 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.

What's the difference between stuffing and dressing for Thanksgiving? ›

"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.

What was stuffing originally made of? ›

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.

How to keep stuffing moist? ›

Typically, baking the stuffing inside the bird helps keep the mixture moist. “I prefer stuffing (in the bird) to dressing (outside of the bird) because all those delicious drippings that come off the turkey gets absorbed right into the stuffing,” Bamford says.

What is British stuffing made of? ›

Stuffing consists of a mixture of savoury ingredients such as breadcrumbs, herbs, fruit, nuts, sausagemeat and onion which are bound together with egg or liquid to form a semi-solid mixture. It is usually cooked with roast meat such as chicken, pork or lamb and is served as an accompaniment to the sliced, cooked meat.

Are you supposed to cook the stuffing before putting it in? ›

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.

Why is Thanksgiving stuffing so good? ›

Juices from the turkey soaked into the stuffing, infusing it with fat and flavor. "You've got those juices, and those juices taste great,” Smith said.

What do southerners call stuffing? ›

But for the Thanksgiving side dish in the South, the term dressing was adopted in place of stuffing, which was viewed as a crude term, during the Victorian era. Although dressing and stuffing are interchangeable terms, the signature ingredient of this Thanksgiving side dish in the South is cornbread.

What is stuffing called when it's not in the turkey? ›

Stuffing and dressing are commonly used as different names for the same thing—a dish consisting of bits of bread (or other starchy things) and various seasonings. The dish can be made by stuffing it (hence the name) inside a turkey or other bird that will be roasted, or by baking or cooking it separately.

Is stove top stuffing or dressing? ›

Dressing is made with cornbread, and is baked in a pan instead of inside the bird. I view Stove Top stuffing as a totally distinct entity from this most beloved of holiday dishes. It is not the stuff of celebrations, but it is a perfectly suitable side dish the rest of the year.

What is Christmas stuffing made of? ›

Easy stuffing

Starting with dried sourdough bread, celery, onion, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, chicken broth and eggs. A whole stick of butter goes in the pan adding onions, herbs and garlic (sausage is optional). Eggs combine everything together before going in the oven on a baking dish.

What is homemade stuffing made of? ›

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!

Why is stuffing so tasty? ›

Stuffing has a symbiotic relationship with turkey. As it cooks, the herbs in the stuffing infuse into the bird, giving it a lot more flavor. The turkey, in turn, drips all its delicious juices into the stuffing as it cooks, moistening it and making it taste great.

What is stuffing mix made of? ›

In a large bowl or large plastic food storage bag, combine ​breadcrumbs with dried parsley, minced onion, celery flakes, thyme, pepper, sage, and marjoram. To prepare stuffing, bring 1 1/4 cups of water or chicken broth and 3 tablespoons of butter to a boil.

Does stuffing usually have meat? ›

Stuffing is a mix of edible ingredients such as herbs, bread and a binder such as egg, traditionally stuffed into a meat cavity before it is cooked. Other ingredients in stuffing might be meat, nuts, butter, chopped vegetables and even fruit or oysters.

What is roast stuffing made of? ›

Stir together onion, celery, bread, pepper, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, and celery salt in a large bowl; pour melted butter over bread mixture and stir to combine. Spoon stuffing into the cavities of chicken; place chicken into a roasting pan.

What is stove top stuffing made of? ›

This stuffing is made on the stove top with oven toasted bread cubes, onion, celery, dried seasonings, butter, and warm chicken broth. The best part is that it frees up oven space because it cooks on the stove top!

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