How to make delicious, traditional herbed dressing, baked in a pan.
When I began making my turkey in the method that I do, it meant no longer stuffing it with one of my favorite Thanksgiving side dishes. I spend the next several years trying to figure out just how to replicate the flavor and getting the technique just right. I finally have it zeroed in and have mastered it.
First of all, I am calling this “dressing.” Growing up, I always called this same exact dish, “stuffing.”
What is the difference? Easy.
Dressing is when it is baked in a dish. Stuffing is when it is stuffed in the turkey or chicken… stuffed. Simple, right?
When making this dish, it generally uses chicken broth for the moisture. However, if you make your own turkey stock, like I do, I highly recommend using the turkey stock instead of chicken broth. It perfectly replicates that flavor of being stuffed and baked inside the turkey.
Click Here to See how to make your own Turkey Stock.
Check out this Dressing Patty Recipe from Aunt Bee’s Recipes.
Did You Make This Recipe? I would love for you to rate it in the recipe card, and I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Traditional Herbed Dressing
Ingredients
- 8 cups bread, cubed (I use a mix of sour dough, wheat, and rye)
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 stalks celery, diced
- 1/4 c butter, unsalted
- 1 tsp dry thyme, or 1 Tb fresh thyme leaves, minced
- 1 tsp dry sage, or 1 Tb fresh sage leaves, minced
- 1 tsp dry parsley, or 1 Tb fresh parsley leaves, minced
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 2/3 c raisins, optional
- 3 1/2 cups chicken broth or turkey stock, divided (quantity may vary, see instructions)
Instructions
- To begin, your bread will need to be fairly dry. The day before you will be making your dressing, cube the bread and spread it out on 2 baking sheets in a single layer. Cover it with thin tea towels and let it sit overnight to air dry.
- The next day, heat your oven to 400 degrees.
- Bake the cubed bread for about 10-12 minutes or until they are just beginning to get toasted and a touch golden on the edges.
- Transfer the toasted bread to a large bowl.
- Combine the butter, diced onion and celery in a saucepan and simmer it together on low heat until the onions and celery are just tender, about 5 minutes.
- Pour the onion mixture all over the bread cubes.
- Sprinkle the seasonings all over the bread cubes.
- Add in the raisins.
- Gently stir or toss them all together.
- Add in about 2 1/2 cups of the broth, all over the dressing mixture. Gently fold the ingredients together to moisten the bread cubes. You want them to be moist, but not soggy. Only add the additional broth if it is needed. Do not over -stir the mixture.
- Spread the dressing in a greased 9x13 baking dish.
- Cover it tightly with foil and bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove the foil and bake another 15-20 minutes or until the dressing is golden brown and crispy around the edges.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutritional information is auto-generated and the accuracy is not guaranteed.
Hi Constance,
Thanks so much for all the lovely recipes. <3
In looking over your scrumptious looking Traditional Herbed Dressing, I'm not sure if it's my computer, or if your instructions are in fact incomplete. I can only read through step 3…I'm guessing that I can figure it out, but since the bread is toasted, I'm not sure how long the baking time is. I want to set a timer and forget it as Thanksgiving dinner is a hectic time for me!
Thanks for checking this out. I, too, roast an unstuffed bird and this recipe looks yummy! I'm looking for something different than my usual bread/cornbread dressing and would love to give yours a go!
Love what you do! Keep up the great job of combining recipes, life and faith!!
Thank you so much Lori!
It was not your computer. I have no idea what happened! The instructions were just gone. I’ve put them back in so it should be good to go now :)
Couldn’t see recipe past number 3.
Nancy, I am not sure what happened, but I have fixed the printable and replaced the instructions.
The recipe sounds amazing, but I don’t like all the spicy. I make my moms and she used green pepper in it too, water not broth to moisten the bread. Egg and butter to fry the veggies in. I still stuff a chicken or turkey. I don’t make turkey anymore too much. I don’t know why they tell you not to stuff it anymore, we have done for years and never had a problem. Thank you for your recipes.
Hi Donna! I stopped stuffing the turkey because it drastically increases the amount of time that the turkey has to bake. I can do an average turkey in about 2 1/2 hours.