This is the Only Thanksgiving Stuffing Recipe You Need (2024)

FAQs

Should eggs go in stuffing? ›

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.

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 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.

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.

The short answer to whether you can making stuffing ahead of time is yes. "Making stuffing ahead saves time, allows stove and oven space for other things, and making it ahead gives time for the flavor to fully develop," Chef David Tiner, Director at Louisiana Culinary Institute in Baton Rouge, tells Southern Living.

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.

Give stuffing a head start by heating it up before placing inside the turkey. Like the turkey, stuffing needs to reach the 165 degree mark. If the bird is done before the stuffing, remove stuffing from the cavities and continue to cook in a baking dish.

Stove Top is a stuffing that was introduced by General Foods in 1972.

It's commonly called stuffing if it's cooked inside the bird. It's usually referred to as dressing if baked separately in a meal. Nonetheless, the language employed can vary depending on personal and regional preferences. Regardless of the cooking technique, some individuals use the terms interchangeably.

African American Heritage

The earliest ancestor of cornbread dressing as we know it is a dish called “kush.” Food writer and historian Michael Twitty says the word hails from Islamic West Africa and is related to the term “couscous,” a popular dish made from tiny balls of grains like semolina wheat or millet.

What do the French call stuffing? ›

The word “stuffing” dates back to 14th Century English, when it was used synonymously with the more uncomfortable sounding forcemeat. Soon after, Anglos borrowed the slicker French word, farce (from the Latin verb facire or “to stuff”).

“Dressing,” says this august source, is “the seasoning substance used in cooking; stuffing; the sauce, etc., used in preparing a dish.” First use is given as 1504.

So stuffing is cooked inside the bird. Dressing is cooked outside the bird, usually in a casserole dish. Additionally, dressing, especially in the American South, is often made with cornbread instead of pieces of a baguette or plain ol' white bread.

Stuffing is a side dish consisting of dried bread, such as cornbread, croutons, or breadcrumbs, mixed with meat, onions, celery, and sage. The mixture is then inserted into the cavity of the turkey and roasted.

"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.

Well, experts aren't exactly sure, but the first official mention of it can be found in a Roman cookbook called “Apicius de re Coquinaria,” which dates back to the first century AD.

The primary difference between stuffing and dressing is that stuffing is cooked inside a bird and dressing is made on the side. As with many food traditions in the U.S., regional loyalties to stuffing vs dressing abound.