Best Thanksgiving Dressing Recipe Ever

HOW TO MAKE THANKSGIVING DRESSING

Steps:

• Cut all the bread into 1-inch cubes and lay them out on sheet pans. Cover with a dish towel and let them dry out for 24-48 hours until they're dry and crisp.
• Melt the butter in a large skillet. Add the onions and celery and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the broth, parsley, rosemary, basil, thyme, salt, and pepper and stir.
• Put all the bread cubes in a large bowl and slowly ladle in the broth mixture, tossing as you go until the dressing has the moisture level you want. Taste and add more seasonings as needed.
• Pour the dressing into a large casserole pan and/or the turkey cavity. Bake the casserole for 20 to 30 minutes at 375 degrees until golden and crisp on top. Serve piping hot with a turkey and gravy!

THE BEST STUFFING

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
• Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon and breaking up any clumps, until browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer the sausage with a slotted spoon to a large bowl.
• Add the wine to the skillet and cook until almost all the liquid has evaporated, scraping up any browned bits, about 2 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon of the butter to the skillet, and then add the mushrooms. Season with 1 teaspoon salt and some pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms brown and have cooked down to about half their original volume, about 5 minutes. Transfer the mushrooms with a slotted spoon to the bowl with the sausage.
• Melt the remaining 7 tablespoons butter in the skillet. Then add the celery, onions, sage and thyme and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a simmer.
• Beat the eggs and parsley in another large bowl. Add the bread cubes and toss. Add the reserved sausage and mushrooms and toss together. Pour in the vegetables and broth and toss again until evenly coated. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish and cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes. Then uncover and continue to bake until golden, about 30 minutes more. Garnish with celery leaves if using.

OLD-FASHIONED DRESSING

Steps:

• In a large skillet, melt butter. Add the celery, mushrooms and onion; saute until tender. Stir in the seasonings. Place bread cubes in a large bowl. Stir in vegetable mixture. Add broth; toss to coat., Transfer to a 3-qt. slow cooker coated with cooking spray. Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours or until heated through.

ABSOLUTELY THE BEST STUFFING... EVER!

Steps:

• In a large bowl place the bread cubes; set aside. In large skillet, melt butter. Add bacon and sauté until bacon is cooked but not crisp.
• Add onion and celery, cook until the onions are almost translucent and bacon starts to crisp. Do not drain. Remove skillet from stove; allow 10 minutes or so to cool.
• Pour over bread cubes (with optional gizzards) and toss. It should be cool enough now to mix with hands (squishing like making a meatloaf). Stuff and tie turkey or chickens.
• Cook as directed for STUFFED turkey or chicken.

"SIMPLE IS BEST" DRESSING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 250°F. Butter a 13x9x2" baking dish and set aside. Scatter bread in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake, stirring occasionally, until dried out, about 1 hour. Let cool; transfer to a very large bowl.
• Meanwhile, melt 3/4 cup butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add onions and celery. Stir often until just beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Add to bowl with bread; stir in herbs, salt, and pepper. Drizzle in 1 1/4 cups broth and toss gently. Let cool.
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Whisk 1 1/4 cups broth and eggs in a small bowl. Add to bread mixture; fold gently until thoroughly combined. Transfer to prepared dish, cover with foil, and bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of dressing registers 160°F, about 40 minutes. (Note: Dressing can be made one day ahead up to this point. Uncover the dressing, let cool, then cover again and chill. The next day, proceed with the final bake as described below.)
• Bake dressing, uncovered, until set and top is browned and crisp, 40-45 minutes longer (if chilled, add 10-15 minutes).

BEST TURKEY DRESSING/STUFFING EVER.

Steps:

• If cooking a turkey, make the dressing after the bird is done, so you can use the drippings. Use a turkey baster to capture as much of the drippings as you can. Separate the fat. Substitute the drippings for the canned broth (ounce for ounce). The total broth mixture should be the same--approximately 60 ounces. You may want to save some of the drippings for gravy. Also, if stuffing the bird, stuff it first, then use the drippings in the remaining dressing or to make gravy.
• Brown hamburger and sausage (I use Jimmy Dean Hot) separately, seasoning the hamburger with salt and pepper. Drain and set aside.
• Saute onions and celery using one stick of the butter (1/4 lb) until onions are translucent and celery is soft.
• Add all remaining butter to the 4 cans of broth (or broth and turkey drippings), the poultry seasoning, and bring to a light simmer, then remove from heat.
• In a large mixing bowl, empty contents of all five boxes of stuffing mix, add celery/onion mixture, hamburger, and sausage. Gently toss.
• Gradually add in the chicken broth/butter mixture, stiring as you go until you get to the desired consistency. You may or may not use all the liquid. Do not add so much as to make the dressing wet and mushy. If you stuffed the bird, you should definitely have some liquid left--so be careful.
• Transfer to a baking dish and bake for 30 minutes, uncovered, at 350 F, and/or stuff your bird as usual. When I'm making this for a pot luck; I do it all the night before and put it all in a large crock pot. The dressing will warm quite nicely on High for about 2 hours (stirring once or twice) then reducing to Warm until the event begins. If I have any left over fluid, I take it along to add during the warming to keep the dressing moist. This is a large recipe designed to serve a crowd, but can be cut in half to make a smaller amount, but left-over dressing never goes to waist.