Sage Turkey Dressing
Every year there are two dishes that I focus my attention on most. The first is of course the turkey. There are two days of preparation to make sure it is perfect and the second dish is my Sage Turkey Dressing. To get the best flavor I need a strong turkey stock and already cooked bits of turkey goodness to prepare this recipe. That means this dish also takes two days. One day to make the turkey stock then finishing it on Thanksgiving day. The nice thing is that most of it is passive cooking time so it leaves me to prep the other dishes while it simmers away on the stove. You can speed it up by making the stock in your Instapot and have it finished in 1 hour versus 3 hours on the stove top.
I always buy a combination of either raw turkey wings or legs and necks for the stock. You get the best flavor if season them with sage and salt before you roast them off then make your stock. Extra bay leaves and a sprig of sage are a must when seasoning the stock to give this dressing the most flavor.
If you need help pulling together your holiday menus, please read my Thanksgiving favorites menu. There is also a guide to taking the stress out of preparing that holiday menu in my How to make Thanksgiving Dinner without breaking a sweat article.
Sage Turkey Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 loaves of white bread
- 3 Carrots peeled and chopped
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 4 stalks of celery roughly chopped
- 4 eggs well-beaten
- 1 cup turkey meat bits and pieces from giblets and wings from making turkey stock
- 3 cups turkey stock
- 3 tbsp rubbed sage
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Tear bread into small chunks no bigger than a silver dollar. Mix bread with chopped vegetables, stock, eggs and turkey meat. Season with sage, salt and pepper. Pour into a greased baking dish.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes to an 1 hour. The middle will puff a bit when done.
