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Grandma's & Grandpa's Amazing Christmas Turkey Dinner

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This recipe includes all the instructions to make a proper Christmas turkey (with stuffing). You will probably develop your own recipe in time and there are plenty of variations on the classic turkey dinner but this is the one I grew up with and I love it so I hope you will too!

Rate this recipe 2.2/5 (45 Votes)

Ingredients

  • Ingredients:
  • One great big thawed turkey (or whatever size you want but left overs are great)!
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Garlic powder
  • 2 tbsp poultry seasoning
  • 1 packet of OXO chicken broth mix powder
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1 cup of boiling hot water
  • 1-2 loaves of stale white bread
  • 1 large chopped onion (or 2 small)
  • 2 cups of chopped celery

Details

Level of difficulty Average
Preparation time 20mins
 Cooking time 90mins
 Cost Average budget

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 325-350 degrees and prepare tukey:

To prepare the turkey to be stuffed follow these steps:
1) pull the gizzard bag out of the bird and the neck out of the cavity (it is lying loose in there)
2) Hold the bird open under the faucet and use luke warm water to rinse out the inside of the bird and to loosen up any frozen bits.
3) put the turkey aside and go prepare your stuffing

Step 2

To prepare the stuffing: First prepare the dry bread mix part of the stuffing in a clean sink or a very large bowl following these steps:
1) Cut up or tear up the bread into bite size pieces
2) Cut up the onion and the celery (use the middle stalks of the celery first if you can as they have the best flavor)
3) Shake the spices over the broken up bread: use 3-4 good shakes of garlic powder, salt, pepper and 2 tbsp of poultry season (or until the bread is covered in green)
4) Using your hands mix all of these ingredients together well
5) Now put the butter in a measuring cup and pour the boiled water over the butter into the cup
6) Add the packet of OXO broth mix powder to the butter and water and mix it up.
7) Now pour 1/4 of this liquid mix over the dry bread mix (add a little at a time) and mix the liquid into your dry bread mix with your hands. Be gentle so as not to squish the bread too much
Now you are ready to stuff the turkey!

Step 3

To stuff the turkey:
1) Open the flap and stuff the neck first
2) lay the bird down in a roasting pan and stuff the back end of the bird (do not pack the stuffing in too tightly or it will be like cement so don't squish the bread too much either). You will have left over stuffing which will go around the outside of the bird later.
3) Now pour the remaining liquid mix over the bird and then place the left over stuffing around the outside of the bird (this will be the crunchy stuffing and the stuffing inside the bird will be the soft stuffing)
4) Salt and pepper the turkey, put the lid on the roaster and slide it into the oven on the middle rack.

Step 4

Roast the turkey for about 2 1/2-3 hours until golden brown (or check the tag on the turkey for precise cooking time)

Step 5

When done the skin will be a golden brown and have juices coming out of it.

If the time is almost up and the bird isn't browned then cook it with the lid off for the last 15 minutes

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Make any side dishes that you want. We always had mashed potatoes, mashed turnips, brussel sprouts and of course gravy and cranberry sauce! Making your side dishes ahead of time and tearing the bread for the stuffing up ahead of time will save you time the day of.

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Grandma's & Grandpa's Amazing Christmas Turkey Dinner Poultry Stuffing