The BEST Traditional Stuffing recipe with classic ingredients made truly amazing by a couple special tricks from grandma’s kitchen!
Traditional Stuffing
My grandma makes the BEST stuffing. No joke. It’s amazing. Everyone that I’ve ever come across that has said, “I don’t like stuffing,” (myself included) has liked my grandma’s stuffing. And it’s literally the ONE thing that has to be at all of our family holidays. You can change the meat, you can change the dessert, but there has to be grandma’s stuffing.
So grandma’s stuffing is pretty much a traditional stuffing recipe, but she has two kind of strange techniques that apparently make all of the difference. I’ll tell you the tricks here, but they’re not down in the recipe, so pay attention!
For this traditional stuffing recipe, you’ll need stale bread. I’ve seen bags of stale bread at stores in the bakery section during the holidays, or you can just leave your bread out for at least 24 hours, flipping after 12 hours. OR if you forgot until the last minute like I usually do, you can cut a loaf of bread into small cubes, lay the cubes on a baking sheet and bake at 375° for about 10-15 minutes until crisp.
Once you have your crunchy bread, we’ll be doing one of grandma’s weird techniques. You’ll need 2 separate dishes for this. I usually use two 9″x 13″s. Put all your bread in one of the dishes. Then gently pour enough water on all the stuffing that it’s just a little over wet, but not totally soggy. Then, gently grab a handful of stuffing and squeeze the water out of it. Do this very gently so that it still kind of holds its shape. Place your squeezed stuffing into the other dry dish, and repeat for the remaining stuffing.
When all of your stuffing is drained, add your onion, celery, butter, poultry seasoning, and sage. Then, the next strange thing my grandma does is kind of combine all this together with her fingers to really work it in. You can take a small taste at this point and adjust the seasoning, and add salt and pepper to taste. When the stuffing has the right amount of seasoning, add your eggs and giblets and mix those in. Then just bake at 350° for about 40 minutes to an hour. I usually cover mine and then take the cover off halfway through. Your stuffing is done when it’s cooked through and the top is slightly golden.
Enjoy the best stuffing of your life!
Traditional Stuffing Recipe
- 2 large loafs of bread 1 pound
- 1-2 cup water or chicken broth
- 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
- 1/4 cup finely chopped celery
- 2 eggs beaten
- 4 tablespoons butter room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 1 teaspoon dried sage
- **Giblets from turkey finely chopped (optional)
- Cut your bread into 1/2 inch cubes. Allow to sit on your counter until firm (I usually leave mine out a full day. But if you're in a time crunch you can put the cubes in a buttered baking dish in the oven at 375° for 10-15 minutes until crisp.)
- In a large bowl or baking dish, pour the water or chicken broth over the bread. Stir to cover. You may need a little more or a little less, so add a little at a time. All your bread pieces should be damp but not sopping wet.
- Mix in onion, celery, poultry seasoning, giblets, and sage, if you're using it.
- Add butter (cut into teaspoon sized portions) and egg. I usually mix this part using my clean fingers because it's easiest to get it fully incorporated that way. You don't want to disrupt the bread structure too much so just mix until incorporated.
- If you're stuffing your turkey, you're all set. Just put it in and cook your turkey. If you're cooking in a separate dish, place your dressing in a greased baking dish and cook at 350° for about 40 minutes, until firm and golden.
Did you like this Traditional Stuffing Recipe? Find more on my Thanksgiving and Side Dishes boards on Pinterest!
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