How to make turkey dressing in oven

This stuffing recipe can be used to fill a 12-pound bird, as in our recipe for Classic Roast Turkey With Old-Fashioned Gravy, or it can be oven-baked in a casserole dish to serve alongside an unstuffed turkey.  It's also easily scaled up or down to fill a larger or smaller bird.

Any way you go, the beauty of this American classic is its adaptability, as it can be almost endlessly enhanced. The base recipe relies on store-bought stuffing cubes flavored with a flurry of dried and fresh herbs. But, if you wish, use the variations below (for Sausage and Sage, or Pecan and Dried Apricot) to give your homemade stuffing casserole extra dimension. Or click here for one of our most popular simple homemade stuffing recipes.

Ingredients

8 servings (about 9 cups, or enough to fill a 12-pound turkey, with extra for baking alongside)

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

2 medium onions, cut into ¼-inch dice (about 3 cups)

6 stalks celery with leaves, cut into ¼-inch dice (about 2½ cups)

1 (14-ounce) package seasoned bread stuffing cubes

⅓ cup fresh parsley, chopped

1 teaspoon celery salt

1 teaspoon dried sage, crumbled

1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed

½ teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1¼ cups hot Homemade Turkey Stock or canned turkey stock, plus 1/2 cup more if baking all of stuffing outside of turkey

Step 1

In 12-inch, heavy skillet over moderate heat, heat butter until hot but not smoking. Stir in onion and celery, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 15 to 20 minutes. (Vegetables can be prepared up to 1 day ahead and refrigerated. Reheat before continuing: In 12-inch, heavy skillet over moderately high heat, sauté, stirring often, until heated through, about 5 minutes.)

Step 2

Transfer to large bowl and add stuffing cubes, parsley, celery salt, sage, rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper. Stir in 1¼ cups hot stock.

If using to stuff turkey:

If baking in a casserole pan:

Step 4

Preheat oven to 350°F and butter 3-quart casserole or 9-by 13-inch baking dish. Transfer stuffing to dish and drizzle with ½ cup hot stock (stuffing baked outside of the turkey won't be soaked in the turkey's juices, so extra stock is drizzled on top to keep it moist). Cover with aluminum foil and bake until heated through, about 30 minutes. Uncover and bake until top is slightly crisp and golden, about 10 minutes longer. Serve immediately.

Variations:

Step 5

Sausage and Sage Stuffing:  

In large, heavy skillet over moderate heat, sauté 1 pound bulk pork sausage, breaking up pieces with spoon, until meat shows no sign of pink, about 10 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer to large bowl. Proceed with recipe, adding ingredients to bowl with sausage and substituting 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage for dried rosemary and sage.

Step 6

Dried Apricot and Pecan Stuffing:  

Dried fruit are better than fresh in stuffing because the latter get soggy with long baking. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spread 1½ cups (6 ounces) pecans on rimmed baking sheet and toast, stirring occasionally, until browned and fragrant, about 10 minutes. Cool and coarsely chop. In medium bowl, combine 1½ cups diced dried apricots and hot water to cover. Soak until apricots plump, about 30 minutes, then drain well. Proceed with recipe, tossing apricots and pecans with other ingredients in large bowl.

Step 7

Test-Kitchen Tips:  Warm, moist stuffing is an optimal environment for bacteria such as salmonella or E. coli to multiply, so it's important to follow safe procedures. Be sure to make the stuffing at the last minute so it can go into the bird warm. This helps it move above the "danger zone" (the optimal temperature range for bacteria growth) more quickly during roasting. Stuffing baked outside of the turkey can be spread in the baking dish and refrigerated for a few hours while the turkey roasts, but it should be prepared on the same day as baking.

How would you rate Farmhouse Herbed Stuffing?

Reviews (48)

• Ive tried for years to get Thanksgiving stuffing right and last year, nailed it with this recipe exactly as written. I doubled it and put as much as would fit in the turkey and the rest in a baking dish - both were excellent. Making it again tomorrow.

• This deserves five stars has been my go to for yeats!!!

• LOVE! This is my absolute go to stuffing recipe! It is just like my grandmothers and is an absolute classic! Just to preface I do not eat organ meat but I have used the giblets that come with the turkey (yes heart, liver, etc) to flavor the turkey stock and it has been a BIG hit with my very large family who has been eating gran's stuffing for decades! I dice the giblets, sauté in olive oil to brown, salt, add the turkey stock, simmer for 10 minutes and strain everything out. It provides a depth and richness to the broth without tasting strange. I read in another readers post that port wine was added - I might add a little red wine to this mix just to see what depth it provides.

• I was desperately trying each year to imitate my Nana's stuffing that I devoured every Thanksgiving and I failed...until this recipe! I made it a few weeks ago for Thanksgiving and I absolutely nailed it! In fact, I'm making it right now just to go with a regular chicken dinner. I couldn't wait another year. I doubled the recipe and added a little salt and poultry seasoning to go with the other spices. I think Nana would be proud. Thanks guys!

• I had a package of Arrowsmith Mills Organic Stuffing Mix with Sage and Rosemary that I needed to use so made this recipe, adding fresh herbs rather than the dried specified in the recipe. I sauteed the celery and onion and added it to the dry mix-herb overnight then in the morn added homemade broth and refrigerated the stuffing till time to bake so flavors could meld. This was flavorful and easy to prepare and is a great non-cornbread dressing. Next I want to try the sausage variation.

• I used fresh whole grain bread and toasted it. Faster than in the oven.

• Great basic recipe! I have made it several times - this year I made it with sausage and apples, added fresh herbs, bay leaves, pepper and Port wine. It is a great recipe to follow or to tweak. I make it in the bird because the juices of the bird just cant be beat for taste. If you make it outside of the bird I would like to know how long to cook. Can anyone tell me?

• Incredibly delicious! I made this for Thanksgiving and I'm making it again for Xmas. I used day old whole wheat rolls cut into large dice, fresh sage from garden, and I added the cooked giblets and neck meat. There's no reason to ever use another stuffing recipe again.

• I LOVE THIS STUFFING. This is the third year I've made it for Thanksgiving, and everyone loves it. I make it with loaves of fresh bread that I've cubed and dried in the oven (this year I'm using a brown seed bread) and with boullion cubes for the stock. As with most recipes, it's a good idea to taste throughout the process and to use your better judgement if things look like they might be too dry for your taste or ready to come out of the oven before the listed time. The celery leaves are what I find to be the nicest addition to the recipe, because they give an extra depth of flavor.

• For those of you who used a boxed stuffing mix as the seasoned bread cubes, what kind did you use?

• This stuffing is so delicious. I made it for my family last thanksgiving and it was a huge hit. It's classic and incredibly comforting without being boring. I made it in a baking dish as opposed to stuffed inside my turkey(I think it's better with a nice, golden crust). My only adjustments were using fresh herbs instead of dried(more flavor) and adding a little lemon zest to brighten it up a bit. This will definitely be on my Thanksgiving table again this year.

• Great basic stuffing recipe! I make a few adjustments (as I usually do with recipes): (1) I use 1 loaf of day-old sourdough and 1 loaf day-old wheat bread, (2) I add 1 lb sweet sausage and 1/2 lb spicy sausage/chorizo, preparing the sausage the way it is suggested in the "Variations" section at the bottom of the recipe, (2) I add 1 lightly beaten large egg as I mixing all the ingredients (to give the stuffing that slightly gooey consistency and guard against any potential drying out of the stuffing), (3) I add a carton of bella mushrooms (sauteeing them with the onions and celery), and (4) I double the amount of herbs suggested (doesn't hurt to add a dash of nutmeg either). The result is a very flavorful stuffing with a slight kick.

• A few years ago I made 3 different stuffings for Thanksgiving: a sausage/apple stuffing and a cornbread stuffing from this site, and Stove Top stuffing. Everyone agreed that the Stove Top was the best. Ever since then I've been begrudgingly making Stove Top but this year after reading the ingredient list on the box I just couldn't do it. I made this recipe instead and everyone liked it. I used olive oil instead of butter (and only 6T) and vegetable stock instead of turkey stock (and more of it) to make it vegan and it was really good.

• We used this for Thanksgiving dinner and found it to be very dry. The flavor is great, but it needs a lot more stock to make it better.

• Delicious! The classic stuffing recipe I have been searching for. I made my own croutons with day-old bread.