Today I’m sharing a family recipe I remember from my childhood all so well. My grandmother always made this absolutely delicious French Canadian turkey dressing for Christmas and Thanksgiving alongside our turkey dinner. Grandma’s French Turkey Dressing (also known as meat stuffing) is an easy and delicious twist to what we all think turkey stuffing should be!
Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to make this with my grandmother but over the years I have been able to replicate her recipe going from my fondest memories growing up. I love it when memory leaves you behind the tastes and smells to bring it to life.
Ingredients
2lb hamburger
10-12 potatoes
1 onion
2 stalks of celery
poultry seasoning
turkey broth
butter
sage
salt
pepper
How to make Grandma’s French Turkey Dressing – Stuffing the easy way
Fry hamburger with seasonings in a frying pan until browned.
Drain any grease from hamburger and return to the stove. Add 1 chopped onion and 2 stalks of chopped celery. Sprinkle poultry seasoning over top and continue to simmer until onions and celery are translucent.
While hamburger is frying, chop the potatoes. I leave the peels from my red potatoes on. Chop into smaller pieces to boil quickly.
Boil potatoes until done and mash with butter.
Add hamburger mix into mashed potatoes and continue to mash. Add poultry seasoning again as well as a bit of salt and pepper.
Add 1 cup of turkey broth to mix. Smooth mixture into a pyrex cooking pan. Make a few small holes and ladle some turkey broth on top. Sprinkle with poultry seasoning.
Grandma’s French Turkey Dressing (also known as Canadian meat stuffing) is an easy and delicious twist to what we all think turkey stuffing should be!
Ingredients
2lb hamburger
10-12 potatoes, cubed with peels on
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
poultry seasoning to taste
turkey broth
1 Tbsp butter
sage
salt
pepper
Instructions
Fry hamburger with seasonings in a frying pan until browned.
Drain any grease from hamburger and return to the stove. Add 1 chopped onion and 2 stalks of chopped celery. Sprinkle poultry seasoning over top and continue to simmer until onions and celery are translucent.
Boil potatoes until done and mash with butter.
Add hamburger mix into mashed potatoes and continue to mash. Add poultry seasoning again as well as a bit of salt and pepper.
Cover with aluminum foil.
Bake in the oven for 45 minutes. Remove aluminum foil and continue baking for 15-20 minutes or until a nice golden crust starts to form on top.
Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Top with gravy and enjoy!
Enjoying Grandma’s French Turkey Dressing
We love this turkey dressing so much that we no longer make mashed potatoes for turkey dinner but rather just extra french dressing. This has become a family tradition and a is recipe I will pass on to my children. It always gets raving reviews even by our sometimes skeptical guests.
I had no idea that this was such an obscure recipe until we started hosting turkey dinner in our home. Now it has become favorites for so many other families too!
Be sure to check out the rest of our holiday recipes, including Thanksgiving and Christmas! Whatever holiday you are celebrating, may it be filled with love, family, friends and great food!
Another great recipe inspired by another grandma is our Nanaimo Bar Recipe! If you need a way to use up your turkey dinner be sure to try our Turkey Pot Pie! Finish off your delicious meal with our nut-free lactose-free Pumpkin Pie!
MEET AMANDA
Amanda is a mom of 4 living a mostly crunchy lifestyle outside of Atlanta, GA with her husband, 2 dogs, and a cat. As a former special education teacher who also has her personal training certification — Amanda really enjoys teaching others how to do things!
When she’s not working, Amanda enjoys DIY projects, exercising, photography, hiking, and long walks through Target.
It's all about personal preference. If you want a sturdier dressing, eggs can help do that. I don't use eggs in this recipe, though, because I like a lighter, more crumbly texture in my dressing.
Broth: Chicken broth keeps the stuffing moist without making it soggy. Eggs: Two lightly beaten eggs help hold the dressing together and add moisture. Water: You can add a few tablespoons of water, if you'd like, to achieve your desired consistency.
Turkey stuffing was popularized in the early days of Thanksgiving, as it is written in many 16th-century Boston area documents. Stuffing most often uses dried bread, herbs, and vegetables that are reconstituted with liquid, stuffed into the turkey cavity, and baked until it is firm and finished cooking.
Give stuffing a head start by heating it up before placing inside the turkey. Like the turkey, stuffing needs to reach the 165 degree mark. If the bird is done before the stuffing, remove stuffing from the cavities and continue to cook in a baking dish.
The short answer to whether you can making stuffing ahead of time is yes. "Making stuffing ahead saves time, allows stove and oven space for other things, and making it ahead gives time for the flavor to fully develop," Chef David Tiner, Director at Louisiana Culinary Institute in Baton Rouge, tells Southern Living.
Unless you know someone who raises their own turkeys, turkey eggs are extremely difficult to find. The reason for that comes down to economics, which in turn is a function of the turkey's fertility cycle.
Alliums: Add quartered onions, shallots, leeks, or garlic cloves for a delicious, earthy aroma. Fruits: Insert quarters of apple, lemon, orange, lime, or even grapefruit to add moisture and brightness to the turkey. You can even go with dried fruit, like cranberries, to double down on the autumn vibes.
Second, using mayo makes the skin super crispy while keeping the inside of the turkey incredibly juicy, tender and flavorful. Third, this recipe couldn't be easier. Mayo adds moisture throughout the cooking process, keeping the meat moist so there's no need to brine it beforehand.
"Stuffing is cooked in the cavity of the turkey, so the juices soak into the ingredients, making it more flavorful.Dressing gets cooked on its own and needs extra liquid to make it flavorful." So stuffing is cooked inside the bird. Dressing is cooked outside the bird, usually in a casserole dish.
Breads such as sour dough, French bread or Italian loaves are for the best bread for stuffing. Their soft-but-sturdy interiors are the perfect texture for stuffing. The pieces retain their shape without crumbling.
We recommend starting the turkey in a 425 degree oven for 30-45 minutes before tenting the pan with foil and lowering the temperature to 350 degrees until a meat thermometer reads 165 degrees when inserted into the thickest part of the bird.
If you cook the stuffing outside the turkey, first of all, it's no longer "stuffing" — it's "dressing." Both it and the turkey will cook more reliably, and you can fill the inside of the turkey (loosely) with aromatics if you're going for that Thanksgiving-y turkey-cornucopia look.
Potatoes only take 4-6 minutes so I usually do them after the turkey is finished. But you CAN cook them right in with the turkey. Like this: put the potatoes in a steamer basket if it will fit in on top or beside the turkey. If not, make a tin foil boat to hold the potatoes and fit them in wherever you can.
Typically, baking the stuffing inside the bird helps keep the mixture moist. “I prefer stuffing (in the bird) to dressing (outside of the bird) because all those delicious drippings that come off the turkey gets absorbed right into the stuffing,” Bamford says.
You want your stuffing moist but not soggy and certainly not dry. The bread in the stuffing absorbs moisture, but if it's dry (as it should be, see above), it takes some time for the liquid to settle in. I suggest adding a little at a time, say 1 cup of broth for every 4 cups of dry mix.
Any attempts to make stuffing with soft, fresh baked bread will result in a bread soup with a soggy texture. Follow this tip: Stale, dried-out bread makes the best stuffing.
Introduction: My name is Van Hayes, I am a thankful, friendly, smiling, calm, powerful, fine, enthusiastic person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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