Turkey Stuffing and Roasted Turkey

Updated October 21, 2026

Story

Canadian Thanksgiving was just a week ago, and, after several changes of plans, I ended up preparing turkey for the dinner. There was one condition from my grand-kids: that I prepare tons of stuffing. I obliged, making enough stuffing to fill the bird and two 4×12″ bread-baking pans that went into the oven for the last one hour of baking the turkey.

Everyone loves my version of the stuffing, and I must proudly and shamelessly say that so far I did not have a better one anywhere.
I believe it is a result of combining extra ingredients I add, and the seasoning that comes with the popular stuffing mix that I also use.

Recipe

Although this recipe’s focus is primarily on the stuffing, I will include some hints on how to prepare, stuff, and bake the turkey. So in the end it is a recipe for the roasted stuffed turkey,

I usually use Butterball frozen turkey of about 6-7 lb (3-3.5 kg). It needs to be defrosted in a refrigerator for about 3-4 days before preparation.
It comes packaged with the neck, gizzards, heart, and liver. If any of these are missing, you can buy turkey or chicken liver separately. For good stuffing you need some extra turkey meat, preferably of dark meat variety, like two turkey drumsticks. If you cannot get those, you can use chicken drumsticks or thighs in equivalent amounts.

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Ingredients

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1	turkey (you need to put the stuffing somewhere, although you could just bake the stuffing).
	turkey neck, gizzards, hearts, and liver that usually come packaged with the turkey. Liver is crucial, make sure it came in the package (see directions for more details).
2	turkey drumsticks bought separately.
4-6 boxes	Stove Top brand turkey stuffing.
8-12 tbsp 120-180 g	Butter (2 tbsp or 30 g per box of stuffing mix)
3-4	apples, sour variety like Granny Smith.
1-2 lb	pitted dried prunes (0.5-1 kg).

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The amounts given above are guidelines, adjust to your taste.

Directions

Thaw the turkey in a refrigerator for 3-4 days. You can also thaw it faster in a big bowl of room-temperature water or in a sink filled with room-temperature water. Change water frequently. Do not thaw the turkey just at room temperature as it will take too long and become not safe to eat.
On the afternoon the day before baking the turkey open the packaging and take out the neck, gizzards, hearts, and liver. That way you may run to the nearby store and get turkey or chicken liver if it is missing like it was in my package. On the holiday all stores are usually closed.
Put the drumsticks, neck, and other offal except liver in a pot and pour in enough water to just cover it. Bring it to boil and continue boiling on low heat for one hour,
Add liver, and continue boiling for 15 more minutes. Top up with boiling water if needed to cover the meat.
Allow the content of the pot to cool down.
Using a colander separate the broth.
Make sure to remove all bones from the meat, but try to get as much meat as possible, especially from the neck.
Using a food processor grind all meat and offal until you obtain a smooth mass. Add some of the broth if needed to make it smoother.
If roating the turkey the next day, keep the ground meat and the broth in a fridge overnight.
About 2 hours before putting turkey in the oven:
1. Measure the volume of the broth you made and use it instead of water specified in Stove Top recipe. For each box of stuffing mix, you will need 250 mL (~1 cup) of broth. If you don’t have enough broth, you can add some water.
2. Add butter and bring broth and butter mix to a boil.
3. Take off the heat and add the stuffing mix. Mix together and add the ground meat you prepared in step 8. Mix again and fluff with a fork. Let stand or 5 minutes.
4. Add dried prunes and distribute them evenly through the stuffing.
5. Wait until the stuffing is no longer too hot to touch.
Lightly salt the turkey inside and out.
Cut the apples in half, and with a melon baller remove the seeds. cut out the stem and flower residue from the apple halves, then cut each half into 3 or 4 pieces.
Stuff lightly the turkey neck cavity first, then the main cavity. During stuffing push in apple pieces to help distribute the stuffing in the cavity.
Make a turkey lifter by folding in half a 4 ft (120 cm) piece of cooking twine and tying the ends together. Next, tie two knots in the middle of the double-string about 6 inches (15 cm) apart.
Place a grill rack on the bottom of a turkey roasting pan.
Lay the lifter along the center of the roasting pan, and spread the end loops sideways. See picture below.
Move the turkey into the pan, breast up. Move the loops of the lifter towards the center of the pan and lay them across the breast.
Pour some water onto the bottom of the roasting pan, about half way to the level of the roasting rack. This will keep the air in the oven humid, which in turn will help preventing the turkey becoming dry.
Place the turkey in the oven preheated to 325°F (163°C).
Place remaining stuffing into one or two baking pans. Push remaining apple pieces into the stuffing, wedge side down, skin up.
About one hour before the expected end of baking the turkey, place the pan(s) with stuffing in the oven along the turkey. At this time, using a baster, baste all parts of the turkey with the juices from the bottom of the pan.
Repeat basting after about half an hour, but this time baste lightly also the stuffing in the baking pans. This will transfer some of the flavour that the stuffing inside the turkey would absorb, also to the stuffing in the pan(s)
It is best to monitor the readiness of the turkey and the stuffing using a meat thermometer. See my recommendation below¹. The turkey is ready when the meat and stuffing temperature reaches 165°F (74°C).
In my experience, the times specified on the turkey packages and based on the turkey weight are too long. This may depend on my oven as well as on my roasting pan, which is black, enamel coated². This past Thanksgiving, my turkey was ready after 3.5 hours vs. expected 4-4.5 hours.
Take the turkey out and move to a serving platter. Let it rest for 15-20 minutes.
Transfer hot juices from the roasting pan into a fat separator, wait until fat floats on the top, then pour the juice into a serving gravy boat or a measuring cup with a spout. I prefer to use just the juices with almost no fat to pour over the meat, stuffing, or potatoes, but if you wish you may use the juices to make denser gravy.
Carve the turkey³ and serve with potatoes, potato salad or other side dishes, as well as cranberry sauce.

Notes

I refer to Butterball and Stove Top brands that are available in Canadian and American markets. I have no information, whether they are available in Poland, Europe or anywhere else in the world. If someone has such information, please let me know by e-mail to [email protected] and I will update this post.

I use a ThermoPro TP20 Wireless Remote Digital Meat Thermometer Cooking Food Thermometer with Dual Probe for Smoker Grill BBQ Thermometer available on Amazon. You can use one of the probes for turkey meat, and the second for stuffing. You can set the alarm for the target temperature independently for each probe. The alarm will sound on the remote receiver, which you can carry with you while doing other preparations in another part of the house, or even outside.
Disclaimer: at this time I have no affiliation with Amazon, and do not benefit from suggesting any product from them or anybody else, it is just my opinion. ↩︎
If using shiny stainless steel or aluminum roasting pan, it may take longer to reach desired internal temperature of the meat, You can estimate when the meat will reach the target temperature by observing how fast the temperature rises; that way you can better synchronize baking the stuffing in the forms, as it needs only about one hour. Also, the stuffing is much more forgiving if slightly overcooked, while turkey may relatively quickly become dry. ↩︎
You may want to Google for “How to carve the turkey”. and watch a guide if you have no experience with this task. ↩︎