Until a few years ago, I didn’t know there was a difference between “stuffing” and “dressing”, so while it takes all my wherewithall not to call this stuffing, it really is dressing – the tastiest around, if I do say so myself!
A few weeks ago, when Ty’s Granny was up for a visit, I asked her if we could make this dressing so I could snap some photos and post the recipe on the blog. She said,
“Oh, I’ve been wanting to make dressing, but [Ty’s mom] keeps telling me I have to wait until Thanksgiving.”
Hee hee – I made her day! 😉
I grabbed the big stainless steel bowl she bought me (for making caramel corn) and a loaf of store-bought bread and we relived some memories.
You see, when I was new to the family, I remember going to her house for Thanksgiving and her handing me her bowl and a loaf of bread and telling me to tear the bread into pieces for the dressing. I had never made homemade dressing, so the whole process was fascinating to me.
Granny has a bunch of recipes in her head and not many of them have exact measurements. When we put the seasoning on the bread pieces, she humored me by guesstimating, eyeballing, and then measuring so I could give you something resembling a “real” recipe. Funny how not many people cook like that anymore.
While Granny was messing with the bread crumbs, I chopped up what looked like a crazy amount of onion. When I told Granny it looked like too many onions, she said,
“I don’t think you can ever have too many onions.”
You better believe I wrote that on the recipe card!
At one point, the whole thing looked like an unappetizing mush, but I knew good things were soon to come…
A little heat, a little time, a little flipping of the spatula, and that turned into this – glorious this!
I’m going to be perfectly honest with you:
That day, dressing WAS my meal. Every bite made me smile. THIS is Thanksgiving in a pan. You can have your turkey. I’ll just eat the dressing, thank you.
Granny’s Thanksgiving Dressing
Ingredients
- 2 medium onions
- 8 Tbsp butter, divided
- 1 lb sausage
- 1 loaf bread
- 1 Tbsp chicken bouillon
- 1 Tbsp poultry seasoning
- 3 cups hot water
- 3 eggs
Instructions
- In a large bowl, tear bread into small pieces and fluff with your hands to keep the pieces from sticking. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, in a large skillet, saute’ onions in 4 TBSP of butter over medium heat. Crumble the sausage into the onions and cook through.
- Add seasonings to the bread pieces and then pour the hot water over the bread. Toss the bread to wet thoroughly.
- When the sausage and onions are finished, add the mixture to the bread and stir to evenly distribute. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and add to bread mixture, stirring quickly and well to keep eggs from setting up.
- Melt the other 4 TBSP of butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat and add dressing. Evenly distribute in the skillet, cover, and cook 4 minutes, turn and cover. Do this until the dressing is browned all over. You could also finish this in a slow oven (300°) until browned (about 15 minutes) or even in a crock pot on high for about an hour (it just won’t be quite as pretty).
Notes
celery, apples, cranberries, nuts
Looking for other Thanksgiving recipes?
Rosemary Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Also check out…
Better than a Box by Katie at Kitchen Stewardship includes a bunch of resources perfect for a real food Thanksgiving. She even has some gluten-free stuffing recipes, plenty of “cream of” casseroles, plus a whole host of freebies!
Sarah says
This is exactly how we make my great grandmas recipe! We do however add sage,apple and celery but other then that just the same!!
Kristen H. says
Oh my goodness! That sounds heavenly! Stuffing (or dressing really because we don’t put it in the bird) is my favorite part of Thanksgiving too. And this seems fine as a main dish. It has meat in it 😉 I would make this in a heartbeat if my mother in law didn’t always bring the dressing (which I greatly appreciate).
Nicole says
Is the bread fresh bread or do you dry it out at all? I’ve used the bagged stuffing (unseasoned) bread cubes before. Just wondering the difference. Looks so good!
Amy says
Granny said you can leave it out to dry out a bit overnight, but we did not.
Abi Martin says
This looks amazing! Can I just ask if it’s sausage meat or actual sausages which you use? And do you cook them first before crumbling them? Thank you!
Amy says
This was just a pound of bulk sausage crumbled up and fried in the skillet. 🙂
Amy says
What kind of bread works best? Whole wheat? White? Thanks! Can’t wait to try this!
Amy says
Either one! 🙂
Mrs. B says
The above recipe is a simplified verison of the Jimmy Dean brand breakfast sausage stuffing. My grandma and mom have taught me that recipe semi-recently. My grandma has made the Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage stuffing (similar to the above with a couple ingredients added) since the late 1960s. My husband and I happily arge each year which stuffing we are to enjoy every year the JD or traditional cornbread. I win this year!
Jillian says
I just gotta say, Ty’s granny doesn’t look so much like a granny! She looks great! 🙂 Btw, my husband’s mom calls tomato sauce, gravy. (it’s an Italian thing) Even now, I have to be deliberate when calling it gravy as well. 🙂
Reggie says
I just adored the fact that you included a pic of Grandma! To this day, I love, love, love to sit at the feet of older, wiser individuals and just let them talk or demonstrate away! I have very fond memories of peeling potatoes with my own grandma while singing old hymns off-key. She lived to be 100 years old!
Nan says
I ‘learned to cook like that but then It’s granny too. I am now trying to learn these new ways, but I keep going back to my ways.