Classic Thanksgiving Dressing
Classic Thanksgiving dressing is made with simple ingredients, is easy to prepare (and can be prepped ahead) and will be your favorite side dish on the holiday table!
Yield: 8 -10 servings
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoon unsalted butter, divided
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1 cup diced celery
- ¼ cup diced red bell pepper
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 (12 oz.) package Pepperidge Farm dry stuffing mix (see notes)
- 6 cups stale bread, coarsely crumbled or roughly chopped (see notes)
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 3 ½ to 4 ½ cups turkey drippings or broth (see notes)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9x13 pan or a 3-quart casserole dish with cooking spray and set aside.
- Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large skillet. Add the onion, celery and red bell pepper and sauté for 4-5 minutes, until softened. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the stuffing mix and crumbled bread. Add the sautéed veggies and the eggs and stir to mix. Add the turkey drippings or broth, starting with 3 ½ cups and adding more as needed to get the mixture very moist.
- Transfer the dressing mixture to the prepared pan or casserole dish and smooth into a single layer. Dot the top of the casserole with the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter (cut or broken apart into smaller pieces).
- Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes, until golden brown and set.
- Let rest for 5-10 minutes before serving so it sets up completely.
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Notes
Broth: This recipe calls for turkey drippings or broth — or a combination of the two. I almost never have turkey drippings on hand when I go to make this recipe, so turkey broth is a good substitute. If you can’t find any of that, chicken broth will work as well. If you need this to be vegetarian, you could also use vegetable broth.
Dry stuffing mix: You can follow the recipe and use a bag of store-bought stuffing mix (classic or herb flavored are fine) or you can substitute additional fresh baked bread. I’ve made it both ways many times. You’ll want to substitute an equal amount (in this case, 6 cups) of crumbled, dry bread instead of the bagged mix. I have used a rosemary olive oil bread and a whole wheat loaf as the two types, using 6 cups of each to get the total of 12 cups of dry bread needed for this recipe. I’ve also made this with half of the bread from an Italian loaf bread and that worked great too.
How to get bread stale fast: Don't have any day-old or stale bread? No worries. Take your fresh loaf of bread and cut it up according to how you’ll use it in the recipe. (In this case, we need it cut down into small rough chunks.) Spread the bread out on 1-2 baking sheets so it’s all in an even, single layer.
If you have several hours or almost a full day, you can leave the bread sitting out in a warm, dry area. Toss it occasionally and let it dry out on its own. (Having it in smaller pieces helps as more surface area is exposed.)
If you don’t have much time, place the baking sheets of cubed bread into the oven and cook at 300 for 20 or so minutes. This will draw out the moisture and create more stale-like bread right away to use in your recipe. (You can even just stick it in the oven as it preheats for this recipe.
Make-ahead notes: Prepare the dressing as instructed, but use only 1 egg and 2 ½ cups of the turkey drippings or broth. Store, covered, in a large bowl or a large plastic container in the fridge for up to 2 days. You can even go ahead and put it in your prepared casserole dish. Remove from the fridge and let sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before baking. Add the remaining egg and up to 1 ½ cups of additional turkey drippings or broth to the dressing mixture. Stir well to get everything well combined. Transfer to the prepared casserole dish (if it's not already in there) and bake as instructed, adding an extra 5-10 minutes if needed to get everything warmed through.
Leftovers: Leftovers will keep in the fridge for 4-5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Reheat in the microwave or in a pan on the stove to get it warmed through again.
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Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 538kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 65g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 279mg | Sodium: 519mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g
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