Uncle Bill's Turkey Dressing

Submitted by William Uncle Bill

"An excellent vegetarian style dressing for poultry. I have been making this recipe for over 35 years."

 

• Ready In: 2hrs
• Ingredients: 18
• Serves: 12

ingredients

• 8 ounces homemade style bread
• 1⁄4 cup butter or 1/4 cup margarine
• 2 cups chopped small onion
• 1 medium sweet red pepper, seeded and diced
• 1 medium green pepper, seeded and diced
• 2 large celery ribs, chopped small include leaves, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon chicken soup base
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 2 tablespoons whole milk, homogenized
• 1 1⁄2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons dried parsley or 4 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh parsley
• 2 teaspoons dried dill weed
• 1 teaspoon granulated garlic powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 2 cups crushed soda cracker saltines

directions

1. Purchase an 8 ounce sliced loaf of day old bread, such as homemade, sour dough or Italian bread.
2. Cut into 1/2" cubes and place on cookie sheets to dry for at least 1 day or dry in a 250 F oven for about 30 minutes.
3. I prefer to buy bread rather than purchasing bread cubes or bread crumbs.
4. In a large frying pan, add butter or margarine, onions, green and red peppers, celery and saute' for about 10 minutes; DO NOT BROWN.
5. Add chicken soup base and stir well.
6. Saute' for 5 minutes longer on medium-high heat.
7. In a large mixing bowl, add beaten eggs and milk and mix well.
8. Add dried bread cubes and mix well to coat.
9. Add mushrooms and mix again.
10. In a small bowl, mix together poultry seasoning, ginger, salt, parsley, dill weed, granulated garlic powder, black pepper and mix well to combine.
11. Sprinkle mixture over dressing and mix well.
12. Add crushed soda crackers and mix well.
13. Dressing should be only slightly moist when squeezed and should just hold together.
14. If dressing is still too moist, add more crushed cracker crumbs until the desired texture is achieved.
15. Adjust spices to taste.
16. You may wish to add some dried sage if desired.
17. Line the cavity with cheese cloth leaving enough cloth so that it protrudes outside the cavity. Stuff dressing loosely, DO NOT PRESS TIGHTLY, as it will not cook properly.
18. You can also wrap the dressing in double aluminum foil and bake in the oven along with your turkey or separately at 400 F for about 1 1/2 hours.
19. When the turkey is cooked, pull out the cheese cloth with the dressing. Leaves the cavity clean and you do not need to dig the dressing out.
20. NOTE: I prefer to cook the dressing in double aluminum foil in the oven.

Reviews

[Roxygirl in Colorado]

I wanted to try out a new stuffing because I haven't been quite satisfied with the ones I've tried. I chose this one because the crackers sounded so good! I made Recipe #154576 (cut in small cubes and dried out in oven as recipe states) and omitted the peppers. I used a pinch of ginger and 1 tsp. of p. seasoning and followed the rest exactly. I used this with a roasted whole chicken (butterflied and baked on top of foil pan of stuffing-American Test Kitchen recipe). This stuffing was FIRST-RATE, with the right amount of spices and good texture. Thanks Uncle Bill, for a classic holiday stuffing that I will make a tradition in my house! Roxygirl

 

[sugarpea]

Made this exactly as written except for substituting sage for the dill. Dh thought it was the best non-cornbread dressing he'd ever had. He especially liked all the mushrooms.

 

[mewmew]

OK, Uncle Bill -- you have given me my new favorite dressing recipe!! I huge hit on Thanksgiving, and I will use it w/chicken also. Really because its vegetarian would go great with anything. I followed recipe exactly; I used some left-over homemade white bread I purchased in Spanish Wells, Eleuthera and added some whole wheat as well. I put everything in there (all the dry stuff but for cracker crumbs) the day before in a plastic bag and then mixed it up the day of. Spices/seasonings just right. I didn't add any salt, just pepper. I used a little more poultry seasoning in the end. Thanks to you, Uncle Bill for making my Thanksgiving special.

 

[Dotty2]

What can I say except that this the tastiest dressing I have ever eaten.The blend of spices is wonderful. I did cut back the pepper to 1/4 tsp (personal taste) I did use 16 oz loaf of bread and that was perfect. This will be the recipe I will be using from here on in . Thank you so much for this recipe.