Old-Fashioned Bread Dressing – we just call it Dressing in our family and it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without it. Grandma Betty used to make it half with oysters and half without. My husband’s family did the same thing. Since we moved to Florida and have no family here, it’s up to me to make all of the traditional dishes our kids enjoyed at the big family dinner at our grandparents’ house up north. Of all the wonderful, iconic fare associated with the holiday, this is the one side Jimmie and I can’t live without. The boys love it, too, so I have to make a huge batch so there will be plenty of leftovers. 🙂
The secret to an awesome dressing is… Sage, broth from a turkey roasted with only butter, salt, and pepper, AND chicken stock. Cook the turkey in enamel or stainless steel roasting pan, and save every drop of liquid to split between the dressing and Old Fashioned Dumplings. Hopefully there will be at least 4 cups. I only use chicken broth as a back-up if I feel the bread isn’t moist enough with the stock I have on hand.
My mother-in-law taught me to microwave the onions and celery for 5 minutes before adding them to the bread. It ensures that they’ll be nice and tender when the dressing is done. Tear the bread up a day or two before Thanksgiving so it can dry out as much as possible. Or see my note in the recipe on how to dry it in the oven. I usually don’t remember to do it until Wednesday afternoon, the bread is rarely ever completely dried, but the dressing always tastes wonderful. Every time I walk by the table though, I give the bread pieces a quick toss/turn-over. That’s three whole loaves of bread spread out on the table in the pic below. Gram never used as much as I do, but she never had leftovers.
Old-Fashioned Bread Dressing
Ingredients
- 3 loaves organic white bread, torn into pieces & *dried for a day or two NOTE
- 2 cups or 1/2 the broth from a large roasted free-range turkey (hopefully about 2 cups)
- 2 – 32 oz organic chicken stock, more or less (+ part of 1 chicken broth, if necessary)
- 1 large onion, diced are on the "Clean 15" list
- 4-5 stalks organic celery, diced
- 2 tbsp organic dried sage
- 1 tsp Morton iodized sea salt, more or less to taste https://mamavation.com/food/sea-salt-himalayan-salt-heavy-metals-lead.html
- 1/2 tsp organic black pepper, more or less to taste
- 1-2 pints wild-caught raw oysters, cleaned, optional (more or less to suit your taste)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a large roasting pan with oil. Pile the bread in the pan.
- Microwave the onion and celery for about 3-5 minutes on high. Spread over the top of the bread.
- Mix the turkey broth and 2 cartons of chicken broth together with the sage, salt, and pepper. Pour evenly over the top of the bread. Stir the celery and onion in by turning over throughout with a large spoon, soaking all of the bread pieces in the broth. If it appears too dry, add broth until the the liquid is standing just beneath the top layer of bread. Press the back of the spoon into the bread to see if it’s just barely soppy.
- If using oysters, stir 1 pint into half the dressing at one end of the pan or 2 pints into the whole batch.
- Bake in oven for about an hour, give or take 10-15 minutes depending on the level of moistness/dryness you prefer.
Notes
Step by Step Old-Fashioned Bread Dressing
These pictures were taken before I started using as many organic ingredients as possible. If I can’t find organic chicken or turkey stock, I use organic Better Than Bouillon to make it.
Happy Thanksgiving and happy eating! 😊
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