Don't Stuff Your Turkey!

We all know the image: a perfect, golden-brown turkey coming to table, legs trussed, cavity brimming with herby, delicious stuffing. It seems so iconic, so homey, so … much like a bad idea. Yes, stuffing a turkey is a bad idea from just about every standpoint except aesthetics. It presents major concerns from both safety and culinary standpoints. Read on and learn why stuffing your turkey is such a bad idea. We’ll also include some recipes for stuffing (served on the side) from a few friends of ours that you can try out this season.

How did we get here? Why is a stuffed turkey so iconic if it’s such a bad idea?

I have a few ideas on this. First, there’s a little bit of a Mandela effect regarding the iconic Norman Rockwell painting “Freedom From Want.” You may not know you know this painting, but you do! It’s the one with grandmother setting a roasted turkey on the table in front of grandfather, carving implements waiting on the table, as the family beams in excited anticipation. Stuffing in the turkey, right? Nope. There’s no stuffing in the painting that defined American Thanksgiving expectations for the last 80 years—but we all remember it being there.

The second reason, I think, is pure vocabulary. We call it stuffing, which implies, well, stuffing. Words affect how we think of things, which is why I try to refer to this savory bread, onion, and herb side dish as dressing. It can go on, it can go around, it can go next to. Just don’t cook it in the bird.

So, origins and traditions aside, why shouldn’t you stuff that turkey? Let’s take a look.

Reasons for not stuffing your turkey

The culinary and safety reasons for leaving your bird hollow are intertwined, but we’ll start with safety.

Not stuffing for safety

Stuffing is made of bread, and bread is basically an edible sponge. If you put a heap of bread in the cavity of a turkey, it will absorb all the uncooked turkey juices that are already in the cavity, as well as undercooked juices that leak out of the meat as the bird cooks. Those who have cooked a whole bird know how much juice accumulates inside during cooking. Imagine all of that being sponged-up and redistributed throughout the stuffing. Yuck? Yuck.

Ok, so the juices get soaked up. But we’re cooking it anyhow, so does it matter? Here we enter into the culinary problems.

Why stuffing makes for dry turkey

First, let’s just think about what’s happening. All that bread—soaked to the max with juice—is going to get very soggy during the long cook. Do you love soggy, soggy bread? We don’t.

Second, there’s the turkey itself. In order to make that soggy bread safe to eat, it has to be as fully cooked as the turkey surrounding it. And, as an edible sponge, bread is also a great insulator. By the time the insulating stuffing finishes cooking all the way through, the breast meat will likely be well overcooked and dry.

Even if you’re using a good cooking thermometer—maybe something with multiple probes like Smoke X4^® or RFX™ MEAT so you can temp the meat and the stuffing—the meat will be overcooked. You’d better hope you made plenty of gravy, because you’ll need it.

Serve it on the side

As we said above, a much better and safer route for Thanksgiving Day bread-sides is to make a dressing and serve it on the side. Heck, make two, and let people have both! If you properly cook your bird and make the stuffing for the side, not the inside, you’re well on your way to an unforgettable feast.

And speaking of unforgettable sides, maybe try one of these recipes from our friends for your feast this year. Happy cooking!