Easy Turkey Stuffing

Want to make great stuffing? Here are the basics for a delicious side you can vary to make your way. MORE+ LESS-

By Betty Crocker Kitchens

November 19, 2008

1/4

cup butter or margarine

medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)

medium stalks celery, chopped (1 cup)

medium carrots, chopped (1 cup)

cups dry bread cubes (about 11 slices bread)

tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley, if desired

tablespoons poultry seasoning or dried sage leaves

teaspoon salt

1/4

teaspoon pepper

About 1/2 cup Progresso™ chicken broth (from 32-oz carton)

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1

In 10-inch skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery and carrots; cook, stirring occasionally, until tender.
2

In large bowl, mix bread cubes, parsley, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Add broth and butter-onion mixture, stirring until desired moistness (stuffing will become a little more moist during roasting because it will absorb juices from turkey).
3

Use to stuff 1 (14- to 18-lb) turkey. After stuffing turkey, place any remaining stuffing in 1- or 2-quart casserole that has been sprayed with cooking spray; cover and refrigerate. Bake stuffing in casserole with turkey for last 35 to 40 minutes of roasting time or until thoroughly heated.

Day-old soft bread cubes can be substituted for the dry bread cubes. Decrease the broth to about 1/4 cup.
Poultry seasoning is a blend of herbs and spices such as thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, black pepper and nutmeg. Each of these seasonings goes well with poultry; mixed together, the combination provides a subtle, complex flavor the individual seasonings do not have on their own.
VARIATIONS: Cornbread Stuffing: Use crumbled baked cornbread for part or all of bread cubes. Decrease poultry seasoning to 1 teaspoon. Cornbread stuffing is also good with the sausage variation. Mushroom Stuffing: Cook 1 cup sliced or chopped fresh or drained canned mushrooms with onion and celery. Oyster Stuffing: Simmer 1/2 to 1 pint (1 to 2 cups) oysters with liquor for about 5 minutes or until oysters are set; drain. Chop oysters; add to stuffing. Sausage Stuffing: In 8-inch skillet, brown 1/2 lb pork sausage; drain, reserving drippings. Add sausage to bread cube mixture. Decrease poultry seasoning to 1 teaspoon and salt to 1/4 teaspoon (sausage is highly seasoned). Drippings can be substituted for part of butter used to cook onion and celery.