Classic Homemade Stuffing Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is traditional stuffing made of? ›

Carrot, celery, and onion form the base layer of flavor. The vegetables soften and release their flavor, so each bite of stuffing is delicious. Butter is a key player. The rich flavor cooks the vegetables and soaks into the bread.

Eggs: Two lightly beaten eggs help hold the dressing together and add moisture.

The Best Bread for Stuffing

Many types of artisan-style bread will work, from sourdough and rye to whole-grain and garlicky herb. Check out your grocery store or local bakery to see what's in stock.

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.

Vegetable broth – To moisten the bread. Eggs – They add richness and moisture, helping to create the stuffing's irresistible gooey center. And sea salt and fresh black pepper – To make all the flavors pop!

"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.

According to Tastes of Lizzy T, eggs are included in stuffing because they act as a binder that helps the dish keep its shape. However, you can still make great stuffing without them.

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.

Typically high in fat, carbs and salt, stuffing can be made fresh or purchased chilled, frozen or dehydrated. Traditionally, a stuffing would use the giblets of the bird with the addition of sausage meat, a source of starch, such as bread, with some aromatics such as onion, herbs and spices.

Tear, don't cut, your bread.

(Yes, stuffing can be beautiful.) It'll let out some of your Thanksgiving stress to rip apart that loaf, and the crevices on each craggy chunk are the perfect crannies for chopped vegetables and torn herbs to nestle into.

Is it better to make stuffing with fresh or stale bread? ›

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.

If you don't want to take up space in the oven, you can always leave the bread out on the counter to dry. A day or two before you assemble your stuffing, cut the bread into cubes. Then, lay the cubes onto sheet pans and let them dry out at room temperature for 24 to 48 hours.

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.

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.

It is usually made from polyester and other recycled materials. Fiberfill stuffing is inexpensive to make, and its insulating and filler properties make it ideal for different projects and purposes. Fiberfill stuffing is normally made from polyester, a synthetic fiber that is very cheap and easy to recycle.

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.

There are quite a lot of stuffing possibilities but the main two types of soft stuffing materials I like to use are polyester fibrefil and wool roving. In my sewing workshops for kids I use a polyester fibrefil stuffing as it's reasonably priced, does a great job and is also machine washable.

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.