How to Make Turkey Stuffing
While the turkey may be the centerpiece of your holiday feast, sometimes it's upstaged by what's inside the bird--the turkey stuffing, or dressing, as some people prefer to call it. Stuffing has been used for centuries in all types of foods, though it's hard to say for sure when knowing how to make turkey stuffing first became essential to creating a proper Thanksgiving feast. Classic turkey stuffing is made with bread, spices and herbs and stuffed inside the main cavity of the bird, though you can cook it separately in a casserole or baking dish, too.This traditional recipe brings out even more complex flavors and textures by combining different types of breads, plenty of real butter and fresh herbs. While it's fabulous fare for your holiday table, there's no need to wait for Thanksgiving to cook up a batch of mouthwatering turkey stuffing. In fact, you don't even have to pair it with turkey--you can use this recipe or variations of it to stuff chicken, seafood, game meats, bell peppers, tomatoes or almost any food that has a cavity or can be hollowed out to accommodate stuffing. Just be sure the whole dish, including the stuffing, reaches the target temperature for warding off food-borne illness.
Transcript
Hi, it's Miranda with recipe.com, and today, we're making homemade
turkey stuffing. Now, this delicious indulgent recipe is perfect for
the holidays, but it's so simple tasty. I'm pretty sure
you're gonna wanna make it year round. Thanks to creamy,
creamy butter and lots fresh herbs that has a natural,
delicious flavor, and then add to it the complex texture.
Thanks to the different types of bread and you have
a really special recipe. Okay, so I have the ingredients
all laid down here. Let's get started. We have 4
cups of corn bread, diced. We 8 cups of rustic
bread with the crust still on, diced or torn. We
have half a cup or 2 stick of unsalted butter.
We have 2-1/2 cups of yellow onions chopped, 1/2 cups
of celery, chopped, 2 tablespoons plus 1-1/2 teaspoons of fresh
sage chopped, 2 tablespoons of fresh thyme chopped, 1-1/2 teaspoons
of [unk] salt, 1 teaspoon of black pepper freshly ground,
and 2-3 cups of chicken or turkey stock. I have
3 cups of chicken stock here. So, I preheated my
oven to 350 degrees because the first step is going
to be to toast our bread crumbs. We got our
bread pieces here, and I'm using 2 baking sheets because
I want them to all be able to get kind
of like nice to golden brown and a little bit
crusty. Okay, so I'm just gonna pop like piece of
bread in the oven and let them cook for like
10 to 12 minutes until they are nice and crispy.
Now, it's time to make my vegetables nice and tender.
So, let's pop this on medium heat and you wanna
have pot that's large enough to fit everything in because
we will be tossing the bread in here the vegetables
and stock to make sure you can saute and that's
large enough. So, put that in medium heat. We're gonna
melt my butter, makes this so creamy delicious, and now
gonna add in my onions, delicious south green onions, and
the celery and I'm just gonna saute this on medium
heat until my vegetables are nice and tender. Okay, so
now that the vegetables are soft and smell delicious, we're
just gonna throw up fresh herbs in, also add in
the salt, and the pepper, and just let it saute
for 1 additional minute, really soaked up that delicious herb
flavor. Now, our bread, crisp up beautifully but still little
bit soft, but crispy on the outside, perfect, and we
let it cool in this bowl, so ready to just
top this right in. This is nice if you wanna
make sure that you have, you know, a pot that's
large enough. Now, let's add in our stock our stock,
just give this is a nice toss around, just make
sure everything gets soaked up the broth, and that's why
we toast the bread first so that we're taking some
of the moisture out, so it's nice and dry and
it wants to suck moisture up and so when we
put it in with the stock and the butter, it's
gonna, drink that all up and so you have delicious
yummy bread. Okay, now, this is ready, just pour in.
I have a nice big baking dish here that that
buttered. So, we're just going to pour this in. Oh
my gosh, this smells and looks phenomenal. Alright, let's just
smooth this out a little bit. Okay, beautiful. Okay, now,
[unk] we're gonna pop it in the open that still
left at 350 degrees. We're gonna let it baked uncovered
for about 45 minutes until the top becomes a little
bit crispy golden brown perfect stuffing crumbly delicious. So, let's
come back in 45 minutes. So, our stuffing is fresh,
hot, and smelling so good right out of the oven,
look how top got nice and kind of brown crispy,
but it's still soft, still delicious, look at this, gorgeous,
because of all that amazing butter and that broth. Look
how good this is. Now, of course, you could carry
this with some turkey or any other meat dish or
simply you could just eat this on its own, but
it smells that delicious, and there you go. Now, you
know how to make homemade turkey stuffing. Thanks for watching,
and for more great recipes and savings, visit us at
recipe.com.
What You'll Need
- 4 cups Corn bread, diced
- 8 cups rustic bread with crust, diced or torn
- 1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, unsalted
- 2 1/2 cups (2 - 3 onions) yellow onion, chopped
- 1 1/2 cups (2 - 3 stalks) celery, chopped
- 2 tablespoons + 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh sage, chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
- 2-3 cups chicken or turkey stock
Step By Step
1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Toast bread cubes on baking sheets until slightly crusty, approximately 10 to 12 minutes. Cool and transfer to a large mixing bowl.
2
In a large heavy saute pan, melt butter and saute onions and celery on medium heat until vegetables are tender.
3
Add herbs and saute for an additional minute.
4
Combine vegetable mixture with bread, seasonings and stock.
5
Transfer to a deep buttered baking dish.
6
Bake for 45 minutes uncovered until stuffing is hot and crusty on the top.
This recipe for how to make turkey stuffing is a great foundation and one that lends itself to some creative substitutions and variations. Depending on what types of flavors and textures you're going for, you can experiment with different types of breads or croutons. Change the flavor profile by substituting beef, seafood or vegetable broth for the stock. Play around with various blends of fresh herbs and spices. Or get really adventurous and throw in some raisins or dried cranberries. It may quickly become a favorite side dish among your family and friends.
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