Grandma’s Old Fashioned Bread Stuffing
This is the best stuffing recipe, very likely the same one your grandma used to make. Made with milk, turkey stock, onions, celery and herbs, this family recipe is the quintessential side dish for Thanksgiving.
“I have been searching for a recipe like this for years. Family members loved this! Thanks for your version which helped me figure out my grandmother’s.”
—Pat
“I ran across your Grandma Mary Ellen’s stuffing recipe last year and what a hit it was!! Thank you!! I too have been searching for a recipe similar to my Grandmother’s and your recipe is spot on!”
—Mary
This is the BEST Stuffing Recipe
You know how you hear about people taking recipes to their grave? My husband’s grandma seriously did that with her Thanksgiving bread stuffing. The only detail she ever gave us was “well, I just soak the bread in milk, really.”
It was the best turkey stuffing in the whole wide world, and I consider myself a stuffing aficionado. It had a simple, comforting flavor and was just perfect in every way.
So, ever since Mary Ellen passed, it’s been my mission to try to recreate this recipe. Using flavor memories and reader comment and e-mails since I first published this recipe in 2014, I’ve been able to get it super close to the original.
The recipe card below reflects ten years of work, and dozens of tests. The recipe in the card below will yield you a delicious old fashioned bread stuffing to serve alongside your Thanksgiving turkey, I guarantee it.
Why You Will Love Grandma’s Old Fashioned Dressing
- This is a treasured family recipe that is very similar to what many people in the Midwest grew up eating at their own grandma’s table.
- There’s an option to use those giblets that come with your turkey, for extra flavor – or not.
- Make this a day or two before the holiday and bake it before dinner. I do this every year!
What Is Stuffing?
Stuffing, also known as dressing, is a quintessential part of holiday feasts, specially where turkey is served. It’s a mixture of cubed bread, vegetables, and seasonings, and it produces a very comforting blend of flavors and textures.
Technically, it’s called “stuffing” when it gets stuffed into the bird, and “dressing” when its cooked in a separate baking dish.
But, since you tend to have to overcook the turkey to make sure the stuffing reaches a safe temperature, we just cook ours in a baking dish, but we’ve always still called it stuffing.
Homemade Stuffing Recipe Ingredients
- hearty white sliced bread – this is the sturdy bread base that will absorb all the flavors. I usually use Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse Hearty White sliced bread or something similar.
- unseasoned cubed stuffing (the dried cubes in a bag) – these add an additional textural element to the dish. I usually use Brownberry Premium Unseasoned Cubed Stuffing or something similar.
- whole milk – this adds a creamy richness (and moisture) to the bread stuffing.
- eggs – these act as a binding agent, ensuring that the stuffing holds together as it bakes.
- turkey stock – infuses the stuffing with the essence of roasted turkey. If you can’t find turkey stock, chicken stock works, too!
- butter – it’s not Grandma’s stuffing without plenty of butter to make it irresistible!
- onion, celery, garlic – these aromatic ingredients add layers of complexity and depth of flavor.
- poultry seasoning, dried sage, salt and pepper – these seasonings add the perfect balance of savory and herbal notes to every bite. Yes, there is sage in poultry seasoning, but we use extra sage, too!
- giblets from 1 turkey (OPTIONAL) – you can use everything exept the neck, if you want to. These are optional but add a ton of flavor to the stuffing.
Best bread for stuffing
The flavors of Mary Ellen’s stuffing were pretty easy to figure out (leaning on sage, butter, onion and celery). But figuring out the what type of bread to use has been much harder.
At one point, I believe Mary Ellen mentioned that she soaked white bread in milk, and then wrung it out. I’ve tried that several times, but the bread simply falls apart in my hands.
I’ve also tried making this turkey stuffing recipe with ALL toasted white bread, or ALL dried stuffing cubes. It’s fine both of those ways, but this BEST EVER version uses a combination of both.
The combination of fresh white bread (torn by hand, and then toasted in the oven), and a bag of dried stuffing cubes, creates the best flavor and texture for old fashioned bread stuffing.
How to Make Stuffing
- SOAK. If you’re using the optional giblets, put them in a bowl with some milk and let them soak at room temperature for 15 minutes or so. This mellows the intense flavor of the giblets a little bit.
- TOAST. Divide the torn white bread between 2 baking pans and bake it for 12 to 15 minutes or until it’s lightly toasted and crisp.
- COMBINE. Toss the cubed stuffing with beaten eggs, stock and milk.
- MELT. Melt one stick of butter, and spray a casserole dish with cooking spray.
- CHOP. If you’re using the giblets, remove them from the milk and chop them up.
- SAUTE. Start by sauteeing the giblets in butter, if you are using the giblets, or skip straight to sauteeing the onion, celery and garlic. Add the salt, pepper, poultry seasoning and sage.
- ADD. Put the toasted white bread, the melted butter, and the sauteed vegetables and/or giblets in the bowl with the cubed stuffing, and stir everything together.
- BAKE. Transfer the mixture to a baking dish and bake it 45 minutes (start covered and then uncover), until the top is golden brown.
How to dry out bread for stuffing
I take the quick route and dry my bread in the oven (350 degrees F for 12 to 15 minutes).
You can also allow the torn bread to air-dry for a few days by simply leaving it uncovered in your kitchen, but I think drying it in the oven really gives you the best texture in the end.
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How long to bake stuffing
Bake the stuffing at 350 degrees F for about 45 minutes or until the top of the stuffing is golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F.
Home Chef Tips for This Traditional Stuffing Recipe
- To enhance the homemade flavor, use homemade turkey stock made with lots of aromatic vegetables and herbs.
- For a vegetarian stuffing, use homemade vegetable stock, and omit the giblets, of course.
- Feel free to make additions! Sometimes I’ll add a chopped apple or some sausage to this stuffing for even more flavor.
How to Serve This Bread Stuffing Recipe
Serve this bread stuffing for Thanksgiving or Christmas alongside a showstopping main dish, lots of side dishes, and some beautiful desserts.
More Sides
Bread Stuffing Storage
- MAKE AHEAD. You can fully assemble this stuffing in advance, through the beginning of step 9 in the recipe card below. Cover and refrigerate up to 2 days. When you’re ready to bake the stuffing, remove it from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature for 1 hour before baking according to the directions below.
- LEFTOVERS. Any cooked, leftover stuffing can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Classic Stuffing Recipe FAQs
To achieve a crispy-topped stuffing, make sure you remove the foil from the baking dish for the final 15 minutes of baking time.
Stuffing should be covered for the majority of the baking time to ensure even cooking and a moist texture, but the foil should be removed for the final 15 minutes of the bake so that you can get a golden brown, crispy top.
To maintain moisture, make sure you use as much liquid as the recipe calls for below, and don’t skimp on the butter!
To avoid a mushy texture, make sure your white bread is dried and toasted enough before you add liquid to it. You want the torn bread to be baked nice and crisp before you use it for this homemade stuffing recipe.
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Does your family have a stuffing or dressing recipe similar to Mary Ellen’s? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!
Classic Stuffing Recipe
Ingredients
- Giblets from 1 turkey except the neck (optional)
- 1 ¼ cups whole milk plus 1 additional cup if using giblets divided
- 1 loaf hearty white sliced bread, torn into small pieces 24 ounces
- 2 eggs
- 1 bag unseasoned cubed stuffing (the dried cubes in a bag) 12 ounces
- 4 cups turkey stock
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter divided
- Nonstick cooking spray
- 1 medium white onion finely chopped
- 1 ½ cups finely chopped celery
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- Kosher salt and ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried sage
Instructions
- If using giblets, place giblets and 1 cup milk in medium bowl. Let stand at room temperature at least 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Divide torn white bread between 2 rimmed baking pans. Transfer to oven and bake 12 to 15 minutes or until crisp. Set toasted bread aside; leave oven on at 350 degrees F.
- Meanwhile, place eggs in large bowl and whisk until smooth. Add cubed stuffing, stock and remaining 1-1/4 cups milk; toss to combine.
- Melt 8 tablespoons butter in small pot or microwave-safe dish.
- Spray large casserole dish with cooking spray. If using giblets, proceed with Step 6 and then 8-9. If NOT using giblets, proceed with Steps 7-9.
- If using giblets, remove giblets from milk; discard milk. Finely chop giblets. Heat remaining 2 tablespoons butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add chopped giblets and cook 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add onion, celery and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook 5 to 7 minutes or until vegetables are softened, stirring occasionally. Add poultry seasoning and sage; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.
- If not using giblets, heat remaining 2 tablespoons butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, celery and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook 5 to 7 minutes or until vegetables are softened, stirring occasionally. Add poultry seasoning and sage; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.
- Add toasted white bread, melted butter and onion mixture to bowl with cubed stuffing and milk. Stir for 1 minute or until toasted bread is very well moistened.
- Transfer mixture to prepared baking dish and cover with foil. Transfer to oven and bake 30 minutes. Remove foil; bake 15 minutes longer or until the top of the stuffing is golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F.
Video
Notes
- To enhance the homemade flavor, use homemade turkey stock made with lots of aromatic vegetables and herbs.
- For a vegetarian stuffing, using homemade vegetable stock, and omit the giblets, of course.
- Feel free to make additions! Sometimes I’ll add a chopped apple or some sausage to this stuffing for even more flavor.
I consider this a dressing not a stuffing. A stuffing cooks inside the bird, a dressing cooks outside the bird in a casserole dish.
Absolutely right, and I do mention that in the post.
Hello Lori. I always look around to find different dressing recipes close to my ole family recipe. Quite close I don’t measure I eyeball it Yes white bread but also sage cornbread an seasoned bread crumbs ( have done a few boxes of stuffing lol) using my turkey juices to cook my celery onion giblet (neck & butt too) seasoning in every step. Watch your liquid don’t mince or finely chop your veggies or meat a good regular chop you don’t want it to disappear you wanna taste it. I butter my pan if I have sum bacon grease I use that. Trust me I sell pans of this on the holidays, it’s mouthwatering!! I am gonna try soaking my bread in milk this year I’ve heard about it, you’ve made me wanna try it!!! Thank you!!!
Hi LaDonna – I love all of these tips, thank you!
Dear Lori,
I ran across your Grandma Mary Ellen’s stuffing recipe last year and what a hit it was!! Thank you!! I too have been searching for a recipe similar to my Grandmother’s and your recipe is spot on! I did have a question, do you think I can do the veggies and giblets w/the spices the day before ? … I have a houseful if boys and anything to help streamline my Thanksgiving prep would be a blessing! ☺️
Hi Mary – I’m so glad this recipe was a hit for you last year! The answer is a big YES YOU CAN do the veggies and giblets the day before. I always do! I cook that mixture, refrigerate it, and then when I’m ready to assemble it on Thursday, I maybe microwave the veggie/giblet mixture for 30 seconds, just to loosen it up and take the chill off. Hope that helps!
Hi Lori, I love this post. Stuffing is an incredibly important part of Thanksgiving and our family culture. Where can I find your latest version of your “Grandma’s Stuffing” recipe? Thank you.
Hi Shirley. Yes! As you’ve read in my post, it’s really important in our family, too. The recipe in the box above is the current version (after tweaking it for about 6 years now). This is the exact recipe I served last Thanksgiving, and it was REALLY close to Mary Ellen’s 🙂
Thank you Lori, I am glad I have the latest and GREATEST version. 🙂 Yes, I could see & feel how important this ultimate comfort dish, stuffing, is to you & your family. That made this whole story so heartwarming. Your love for your family, passion for food and zest for life come through very clearly. You make the world a better place.
My mom makes a similiar dressing she
uses celery salt along with most of your other ingredients she never used the giblets though.
I’ve definitely thought about trying celery salt someday!
My grandmother and mom use canned milk instead of fresh…the recipes look the same other than that.
Interesting! Thanks for stopping by, Amy!
My Grandmothers secret ingredient was applesauce. Still soaked the bread in milk, celery, onion salt and pepper, eggs and about a cup of applesauce.
Oh, I love that. How original!
My grandmothers and mothers secret ingredient is applesauce. About 1 cup. Bread soaked in milk 6 eggs beaten. 3 loaves bread celery and onion
My grandmother and mother’s secret ingredient was apple sauce! About 2 cups for 3 loaves of bread. And yes used eggs and milk onions and celery
Just came across your post. If your grandmother-in-law was Eastern European, which is usually the case when garlic is added to stuffing, I have several suggestions based on my multiple and successful efforts to reproduce my Ukrainian grandmother’s recipe.
1. Sautée onion, celery and garlic in butter, butter/margarine combo, or just margarine (Grandma used only margarine) until they turn a warm brown. Low heat, and this can take up to one hour. Stir often to include brown frond from edges.
2. The bread crumbs have to be homemade from inexpensive Italian bread, torn into small chunks, dried out on the oven using low heat, and pulsed in food processor.
3. NO GIBLETS ADDED! My mother used them and they add an unpalatable iron flavor typical of organ meat.
4. Add cooked veggies to bread crumbs. Add several, depending on amount of bread crumbs, well whisked eggs. Add a small amount of ground pepper, but NO SALT. There’s sufficient salt in the bread crumbs.
5. Return sauté pan from veggies to stove on lowest heat and add milk, about 1 c. At a time just to warm, and add to bread crumbs. Mix well, and heat more milk as needed until stuffing is approx. the consistency of a loose cookie dough. The eggs will help bind the stuffing, so if it appears a little too wet, you’re good to go.
Now that most of us cook the stuffing outside the bird, the best way to get a cooked-in-the-bird taste is to top the stuffing in a casserole dish with browned chicken wings. Simply place finished stuffing in your desired dish(es) and cover with WHOLE chicken wings that have been nicely seared on both sides in a sauté pan. The browner the better. Bake at 325 for about 45 minutes. The wings are great for nibbling afterward.
Christine, thank you SO MUCH for your help with this. Especially noting that the stuffing should be approx. the consistency of a loose cookie dough. That’s one thing I’ve always struggled with – how much liquid to add and what the consistency should be. I’ll be sure to keep that in mind this year!
Hi!! I started going over to my mom’s every Thanksgiving Eve to help her with the stuffing because it was the best and she had stopped making it for years, so I asked her what do I need to do to get you to start making this again, she said come help!! So that was our tradition up until she passed away. I have been trying ever since to replicate that since I was always with her when she made it, thing is, she didn’t measure a thing, she went my smell (Hahaha sounds funny) So here is what we did, she would by a few loaves of bread and poke a hole in it so it would get stale, I would tear them into small pieces. She would boil the neck and gizzards, heart and liver to make her stock, then she would cut up the gizzards and set them aside, we would start off with the dry stuff until it smelled right, Onion flakes (cuz I hate onion) Celery seed (my brother hates celery) poultry seasoning, sage, salt and pepper. Once that is right, mix in 1 egg, then slowly add the stock until it is moist but not too moist because we stuff the bird still. Add the gizzards and stuff the bird. Needless to say I can never get it just like hers and I probably never will but it is close. Last year I made it in a pan because we did the Turkey in the oil less fryer. So everything I learned I had to learn again, it was dry dry dry. Hope this helps and good luck because I know exactly what you are feeling!
Thanks so much for sharing your story, Tracy! I know exactly what you mean about going by smell. It sounds so strange, but I think the perfect stuffing “recipe” really is a sight and smell thing. And it’s so hard to get it right until you’ve been doing it for decades. I’m also second guessing myself, especially on the amount of liquid.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, and enjoy the stuffing 🙂
Hi there! I have a few things to add from our old family recipe. We do use milk and stock (turkey or chicken, your choice). 1/3 milk to 2/3 stock ratio. Our other difference is we add marjoram. It has a more subtle flavor. And butter – you have to have butter. Melted with the stock/milk mixture and pats on top. I hope these help!!
Hi Denise – sorry for the late reply, but thank you so much for these notes. I did end up using about 1/3 milk to 2/3 stock this year, and I liked that flavor!
I have been searching for a recipe like this for years. It is very similar to my grandmother’s. She used only bread not stuffing mix. Milk was poured over the bread, allowed to soak and then “wrung out.”
Giblets, etc were cooked and the broth from that was used. Giblets, heart, liver and neck meat were put through a food grinder along with the celery and onion which had also been cooked with the innards. Some was cooked in the bird, more in a casserole. Then all were mixed together.
Family members loved this! Thanks for your version which helped me figure out my grandmother’s.
My Mom also knew this, butt he last time she made this she was suffering from cancer. I thought asking her for the recipe was an admission that I believed she wouldn’t make it again .
Thanks so much!
Hi Pat – thank you so much for sharing all of this. Glad to know that grandma’s stuffing is near and dear in a lot of families!
I haven’t had much luck soaking the bread in milk and then trying to wring it out. I’ve found that the bread just turns into mushy goo that way 🙁
I definitely think I need to try adding giblets this year. I’ll make attempt #5, or #6, or whatever I’m on now, and if it turns out well, I’ll come back and update the recipe. Have a great Thanksgiving!
My grandmother uses bread torn up add milk sugar butter salt pepper parsley onion celery carrots mixed together and bake
And chicken broth
Sounds amazing! Thank you so much, Jennifer!
I love hearing the stories of family receipes. My mother told me when she first got married she called her sister to ask how to make the stuffing for her first turkey dinner. My aunt gave her the simple bread stuffing that she continued to use for years. Both are gone now, but my family still insists that I make the dressing every year. Mom’s receipt is exactly like yours. The only exception is my father did not like celery, so she omitted it. She used white bread that she left out overnight. She soaked the bread in milk, squeezed out the excess. All the other ingredients are the same. But she did not use sugar.
Love this, Anna! I go back and forth on the sugar. When I do use, it’s just a pinch. You can’t really taste any sweetness in the final dish, though. Happy Thanksgiving!
Hi. I was reading all of your updates and comments and had planned to give my two cents. However a few towards the end covered a few of mine, being to dry out the bread overnight, and using the broth from cooked giblets, but discard giblets. They are in there for a reason. The bread is dried for the purpose of absorbing the flavors from the broth. Herbs and vegetables. These are old fashioned tips. And frugal. I.e. not using oven to dry out bread., making use of the giblets, etc. Yes and the butter is key unless you use the fat drippings from the turkey or a combination. Now my final frugal tip that may or may not fit into your grandmothers profile is whether or not she baked fresh biscuits and/or cornbread. Many old timers used one or both of these. I got this idea from the fact that it looked like two breads in it. As for the brad soaked in milk, I only know that for meatloaf some soak bread in a little milk and squeeze it. As for me I plan on using this delicious recipe from Epicurous. Hope all goes well
Thank you so much for all of these tips, Tina. After trying it with some melted butter added last year, that was DEFINITELY key to getting the flavor right. I love your tip about using the broth from cooked giblets but discarding the giblets. Very smart!