Top 10 Old Fashioned Thanksgiving Dressing Recipe

This dish is incredibly personal. Some Thanksgiving dressing recipes are light and airy and can be mixed almost with a spoon. Other toppings cook hard and firm and can be cut into nearly equal squares. Some people stuff the roast turkey with gravy, in which case the gravy is called stuffing. Others refuse to stuff the bird at all and choose to cook the stuffing in a roasting pan, which means it's called gravy. Some do a combination of the two. Some vinaigrettes are simple: a combination of dried bread, seasonings and dried herbs. Other loaded versions can include oysters, mushrooms, and even dried fruit and nuts.

I grew up with my mother's salad dressing and loved it. She never stuffed the bird and her sauce fell into the "a little thick" and "very flavorful" category. To serve, we scooped out the portions with a spoon and the filling remained practically together in one consistent piece. I still love it today.

But a few years ago I tried on my mother-in-law's clothes for the first time and everything turned out bright and beautiful. The larger pieces of dry bread partially disintegrate as the dish is mixed, but there are still large pieces, and that's what I like about this sauce. It's not trivial at all; Even after cooking it remains light, crumbly and well-structured. A true delight for the senses! This is my favorite Thanksgiving side dish and I make it every year! Put it on your Thanksgiving dinner menu. You'll thank yourself later!

Do You Want to Stuff the Turkey with Vinaigrette or Not?

I'm a big fan of cooking Thanksgiving gravy separately in a baking dish. This leaves less damage and provides a more textured dressing. When placed in the cavity of the turkey, the sauce tends to smoke, making it more tender. I love the crunchy seasoning on my gravy, and you can't tell when it's cooked on the turkey! You also run the risk of the turkey and gravy not cooking at the same rate if you stuff the bird, which encourages the creation of bacteria and other bad things you don't want in your Thanksgiving dinner. So I play it safe and cook them both separately.