Roast Turkey with Stuffing and Gravy
Roast Turkey with Stuffing and Gravy is the meal my family looks forward to for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It starts with a whole stuffed turkey made with a simple bread stuffing, and homemade gravy made with the pan drippings.
Preparing a turkey with all the fixings can seem intimidating, but it is easier than you might think. With a bit of preparation and these easy step-by -step instructions you will be able prepare a stuffed roast turkey recipe just like Gramma made!
How much turkey do i need per person?
- Plan for about 1 – 1½ pounds per person. This takes into consideration that a whole turkey has a lot of bone, cartilage, neck, and shoulder parts that are not typically served.
- For this recipe, I use a 10–12-pound turkey which serves about 8 people.
- If you are serving a lot of side dishes, you may not need as much turkey per person. I like to have plenty of leftover turkey to make Turkey Noodle Soup and Turkey Enchilada Casserole, so I usually buy a bigger turkey.
Canadian Turkey has a great Whole Turkey Calculator you can use!
How to make Roast Turkey with stuffing and gravy
Prepare the Turkey
- Start with a completely thawed turkey. A partially frozen turkey will not cook evenly, and it will be hard to get an accurate temperature reading.
- Remove the giblets and neck from the thawed turkey. Pat the turkey dry with paper towels.
- Generously season the cavity of the turkey with salt and pepper.
Prepare the Roast Turkey Stuffing
- Cut day-old French bread (or any white bread) into cubes and toast on a baking sheet until lightly browned. Transfer to a large bowl. Save some time and toast the bread cubes the day before.
- Sauté the onion and celery in butter until softened. Add the onion and celery to the toasted bread cubes.
- Add the DRY Stove Top Stuffing mix and toss together.
- Season with poultry seasoning, ground sage, salt, and pepper. I like to sprinkle the seasonings over the mixture a little at a time, tossing as I go, to ensure all the bread is evenly seasoned.
- Gradually add the chicken broth, tossing the mixture as you go. You want the stuffing moist enough to hold together, but not wet or soggy. The amount of broth you need can vary depending on how dry your bread is.
- Spoon the prepared stuffing loosely into the main cavity of the turkey as well as the upper breast area (under the skin). Pull the skin over the stuffed cavities and secure with skewers. Tie the legs together with kitchen string or skewers. Secure the wings to the side of the turkey.
- Immediately place the turkey in the preheated oven to start roasting. You don’t want a stuffed turkey left sitting. Food-safety guidance recommends that stuffed poultry be cooked immediately after stuffing.
Here is my little secret for this stuffing: I add a box of Stove Top Stuffing Mix. I know it is not completely from scratch, but it adds a lot of seasoning and flavour. I still use the toasted bread, onions, celery, poultry seasoning and ground sage as the main ingredients.
My family loves this turkey stuffing recipe, but some variations could include adding shredded carrots, cranberries, dried fruits, sausage, chestnuts or other nuts. I also prefer to use my Homemade Chicken Stock instead of store-bought chicken broth.
Yes, this is a great way to make more stuffing for a larger gathering or if you have extra stuffing that won’t fit into the turkey.
Place the stuffing in a buttered casserole dish. Cover and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the center reaches a temperature of 165ºF (74ºC).
How to Roast a Stuffed Turkey
- Place the stuffed turkey breast-side up on the rack of a large roasting pan. Rub the outside with butter and generously season with salt and pepper.
- Place the neck and giblets in the bottom of the pan, this will add great flavor to the dripping.
- Pour some chicken stock into the bottom of the pan. (Enough to fully cover the bottom of the pan.
- Loosely tent the turkey with aluminum foil and place in a preheated 350°F (175ºC) oven.
- After the turkey has been cooking for 1 hour start basting the turkey with the pan drippings about every 45 minutes. Remove the foil for the last 30 minutes to allow the skin to brown. If the legs begin to brown too quickly, loosely cover them with foil.
- A 10–12-pound stuffed turkey generally takes about 3½ to 4 hours to roast, but cooking time can vary depending on the turkey, oven and how much stuffing is inside. The most reliable way to know when the turkey is done is to check the internal temperature with a meat thermometer. The thickest part of the breast and inner thigh, but not touching the bone, should reach the recommended safe temperature 180º F (82ºC) and the juices run clear. The center of the stuffing must reach 165°F (74°C).
- Once the turkey reaches the proper temperature, remove it from the oven and let it rest for about 20 minutes before carving.
Cooking time is only an estimate. The turkey and stuffing should be checked with an instant-read or digital meat thermometer.
Check:
the thickest part of the breast
the innermost part of the thigh
the center of the stuffing
The stuffed turkey is cooked when the meat thermometer reads 180ºF (82ºC) Any stuffing in the bird cavity must reach internal temperature of at least 165°F (74°C) before the turkey is removed from the oven.
This is particularly valuable because a stuffed turkey can reach the desired temperature at different rates in different parts of the bird.
How to make turkey gravy from pan drippings
Homemade turkey gravy is one of the best parts of a traditional roast turkey dinner. The flavorful pan drippings left behind after roasting provide the base for the gravy.
- Remove the turkey from the roasting pan and let it rest while you prepare the gravy.
- Transfer the pan drippings to a gravy fat separator and remove the excess fat. If you don’t have a fat separator, carefully skim the fat from the surface with a spoon.
- Return the roasting pan to the stovetop and add the chicken broth. The amount of broth you need will depend on how much liquid is left in the roasting pan. You want a total of about 5-6 cups of dripping.
- In a small jar, combine the flour and broth. Secure the lid and shake vigorously until smooth. This simple step helps prevent lumps in the gravy.
- Heat the drippings and broth, then gradually whisk in the flour mixture.
- Bring the gravy to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat and simmer.
- Season with sage, poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper.
- Continue simmering for 10–15 minutes until thickened.
Simply add more warm chicken broth a little at a time to reach the desired consistency.
Add a small amount of additional flour slurry, whisking it gradually into the gravy.
The amount of drippings varies depending on the turkey and roasting pan. Simply add more chicken broth to the roasting pan for more drippings.
What to serve with roast turkey
A turkey dinner is all about the side dishes. Serve it with roasted garlic mashed potatoes, roasted carrots and a classic green bean casserole. Here are a few of my favourite side dishes for a Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey dinner.
What to do with leftover turkey
A great thing about roasting a large turkey is having leftovers for another meal. Chopped turkey is great for casseroles, soups, and sandwiches and even appetizers like Turkey Cranberry Puffed Pastry Bites
This post was originally published February 28, 2013. Occasionally I update with fresh tips, content and photos.
Roast Turkey with Stuffing and Gravy
Ingredients
- 10-12 lb turkey thawed
- 1/3 cup butter
Turkey Stuffing
- 8-10 cups bread cubes lightly toasted I use day old French bread, but any white bread will work.
- 1 box Stove Top Stuffing optional, dry mix (not prepared)
- 1 cup celery diced
- 1 large onion diced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 1 teaspoon ground sage
- 1/2 – 1 cup chicken broth
Turkey Gravy
- pan drippings roasted turkey
- 2-4 cups chicken broth
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1/2 – 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 1/2 – 1 teaspoon ground sage
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
Prepare the turkey
- Start with a completely thawed turkey. A partially frozen turkey will not cook evenly, and it will be hard to get an accurate temperature reading.
- Remove the giblets and neck from the thawed turkey. Pat the turkey dry with paper towels.
- Generously season the cavity of the turkey with salt and pepper.
Prepare the Roast Turkey Stuffing
- Cube day old bread and place on a cookie sheet. Toast until lightly browned then transfer to a large bowl.
- In a skillet add a couple of tablespoons of butter and sauté the onions and celery until softened.
- Add the sautéed onion and celery to the bread cubes.
- Add the DRY Stove Top Stuffing mix, toss to combine.
- Season with poultry seasoning, ground sage, salt, and pepper. I like to sprinkle a bit of the seasonings, then toss, so the seasoning is evenly distributed.
- Gradually add the chicken broth, tossing the mixture as you go. You want the stuffing moist enough to hold together, but not wet or soggy. The amount of broth you need can vary depending on how dry your bread is.
- Spoon the prepared stuffing loosely into the main cavity of the turkey as well as the upper breast area (under the skin). Pull the skin over the stuffed cavities and secure with skewers. Tie the legs together with kitchen string or skewers. Secure the wings to the side of the turkey.
Roasting the Turkey
- Preheat oven to 350º F. (175ºC)
- Place the stuffed turkey breast-side up on the rack of a large roasting pan. Rub the outside with butter and generously season with salt and pepper.
- Place the neck and giblets in the bottom of the pan. This will add extra flavor to the drippings.
- Pour some chicken stock into the bottom of the pan. (Enough to fully cover the bottom of the pan.
- Loosely tent the turkey with aluminum foil and place in a preheated 350°F (175ºC) oven.
- Immediately place the stuffed turkey in the preheated oven to start roasting. Food-safety guidance recommends that stuffed poultry be cooked immediately.
- After the turkey has been cooking for an hour start basting the turkey with the pan drippings about every 30 minutes. Remove the foil for the last 30 minutes to allow the skin to brown. If the legs begin to brown too quickly, loosely cover them with foil.
- A 10–12-pound stuffed turkey generally takes about 3½ to 4 hours to roast, but cooking time can vary depending on the turkey, oven and how much stuffing is inside. Cooking time is an estimate. Use a meat thermometer to determine when the turkey reaches internal of 180ºF (82ºC) and stuffing has reached at least 165°F (74°C).
Preparing the Gravy
- Remove the turkey from the roasting pan and let it rest while you prepare the gravy.
- Transfer the pan drippings to a gravy fat separator to remove the excess fat. You can also skim off the extra fat with a large spoon.
- Return the roasting pan to the stovetop and add chicken broth. The amount of broth you need will depend on how much liquid is left in the roasting pan. You want a total of about 5-6 cups of dripping.
- In a small jar combine ⅓ cup flour with ½ cup of chicken broth. Shake vigorously until smooth to ensure there are no lumps.
- Heat the drippings and broth, gradually whisking in the flour mixture. Bring the gravy to a gentle boil, then reduce heat and simmer.
- Season with ground sage, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper.
- Continue to simmer for 10-15 minutes until the gravy thickens.
Notes
- The USDA specifically says a stuffed turkey is safe when both the turkey and center of the stuffing reach 165°F (74°C
- Health Canada, however, lists 180°F (82ºC) for whole poultry, while specifying 165°F (74ºC) for stuffing cooked inside poultry.
Just awesome. I bought an 8 lb chicken, as turkey was too expensive. I used about 2/3 of a baguette & a little more than 1/2 tsp of the spices for the stuffing…..I stuffed the chicken & put the rest in a glass dish & added more broth and baked with the chicken. Everything was soooo good and moist. My husband said, he couldn’t believe how moist the meat was.
Needless to say, I’ll be making this again+. Thanks for such a great recipe.
can I just use pepperidge farms bread cubes I already bought?
Hi Char, yes those bread cubes will work just fine.
Hi. Love all the recipes. I definitely will be making them. I bought the ingredients for the triple layer pumpkin pie.
Whenever I make the stuffing for the turkey, I always make too much. So, I put the remaining stuffing in a casserole dish and cook with the stuffing. But it doesn’t taste as good as the stuffing from the turkey. Any suggestions. Thanks again for the awesome recipes.
Looks wonderful, can’t wait for Thursday. I will be substituting Dirty Rice dressing for Bread.
Thank you for posting this recipe. This is the Turkey and dressing I grew up with but had lost my mother’s cookbook, which was a treasure trove of recipes handed down from her mother..I wanted to make it for my son’s family’s because they will ask for it for birthday dinners..Your presentation is beautiful and the ingredients and instructions are so easy and SPOT ON !!! THANK YOU AGAIN for making this a very Happy Thanksgiving and a from our house to yours, Happy early Thanksgiving and keep those delicious recipes coming ????????
Thank you Elaine for taking the time to comment and rate my recipe. Aren’t those old cookbooks a true treasure. Wishing you and your family a very special Thanksgiving.
This looks amazing! I wish I had the option to pin it. I did put it on my timeline.
turkey looks dry not a fan of stuffing in the bird to much chance for salmonella
My family, as well as many of my friends families all grew up on stuffing cooked in the Turkey. None of us ever got sick. The key is it being Cooke thoroughly. As far as the Turkey, it looks great to me. You can’t tell by a picture. I’m sure if you squeeze it, juices would flow. You seem like a very negative person
Gorgeous post!!! Your turkey looks totally amazing!!
Congratulations Laureen!! You articles are always so well written and I still think you are a professional photographer!! Any time you are bored you can come over to my place and cook some of your wonderful dishes!!