How to Stuff a Turkey

Learn how to stuff a turkey like a boss!

It's that time of year again, where we gather around the dinner table to give thanks to all that is great in life by stuffing ourselves with an unfathomable amount of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, ham, cranberry sauce, pie, pie, and more pie! I praise whoever decided giving thanks should be done by feasting on numerous delicious foods. They are SMART!

Now if you've never roasted a turkey before, you may be a little hesitant about the steps involved (namely stuffing the turkey), but have no fear, we are here to guide you on your Thanksgiving journey! The whole process is really quite simple.

First, make your stuffing! Generally, you will need about 3/4 of a cup of stuffing for each pound of turkey. Before stuffing the turkey, make sure everything is ready to go so you can start roasting it in the oven as soon as it's stuffed (and avoid any unhealthy bacteria growth). Once your oven is preheated, you can begin stuffing the turkey.

If your turkey came with giblets, you can start by removing those. Then remove the neck. Once everything is out of the turkey, let the stuffing begin! Start by stuffing the body cavity, placing the stuffing inside with a large spoon or your hand. You will want to fill the turkey, but not so much that you are jamming stuffing in. Overstuffing the turkey can result in the stuffing being undercooked – leading to potential bacteria growth – and we certainly don't want that!

Once you've stuffed the body cavity, if your turkey didn't come with one of the plastic trusses that you just insert the legs back into, you will need to truss it with some cooking string and possibly some skewers. If needed, pierce the turkey with a couple of skewers, then proceed to wrap string through the skewers and around each leg until you can pull everything together tightly, and tie it off.

Once you have trussed the legs, proceed to fill the neck cavity with stuffing, pulling the skin tightly over top of the stuffing and securing it in place with a skewer or two. 

That's it! Just place your turkey in the roasting pan and into the oven, cooking until the thigh reaches 180°F and your stuffing reaches 165°F. If you have leftover stuffing, just place it in a separate dish and cook it alongside the turkey.