Hello Mama's,
I am in charge of the stuffing this year for our Thanksgiving dinner. Is it ok to make it today ahead of time or will it get mushy or not be as good? I'm trying to cook as much today as possible so I can enjoy tomorrow with my family. Thank you in advance.
My mom mixes it all up and puts it in the dish in the icebox. Then tomorrow she will get it out and bake it. The flavors really gel together overnight. So so so good !
As someone that is thankful every year for StoveTop, I can't answer for sure.
However, I think stuffing cooks really well in a crock pot....
I chop the celery and onions and saute them with the giblets (optional) the night before. I mix it all with the croutons and refrigerate overnight, but I do NOT add the liquid and I do not stuff the turkey (food poisoning risk). I stuff the turkey first thing very early Thursday morning right before I put the turkey i n the roaster and put any stuffing that doesn't fit in the turkey in a crock pot. The crock pot needs more liquid than the stuffing in the turkey does.
If you do it the day before, you need to do it LATE in the afternoon, and be sure to really toast your bread cubes. I also wait to pour over any liquids (butter or broth) until right before I put it in the oven. That usually helps.
This is my go-to recipe: I usually use Jimmy Dean's Sage sausage.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe-Tools/Print/Recipe.aspx?reci...
I'm also doing stuffing. I make most of it tonight with a variety of toasted up bread cubes, plus a bag of the store bought ones (plain) and chopped up cornbread I will make from a mix (also tonight). I saute all the veggies and herbs and add ins tonight with a buncha butter, mix it with all my various bread cubes, add broth, couple eggs, milk and and then I put it in the fridge overnight and in the morning I will had more milk and egg white so it is the consistency I like, then bake it and there you go.
I see why one wouldn't want to add the liquids till am, but I think adding some the night before makes it really moist and yummy... it really soaks it up. As I said I use a ton of bread cubes though, like several loaves worth plus a bag, plus a loaf of cornbread.
I have had left over stuffing and it was just as good as the day before...but stuffing is kinda mushy anyway like a wet fluffy bread? if that makes any since...the bottom of the pan is usually mashed up together even on the first day. i say go for it!
My mom makes ours and I think she usually makes it the night before. Especially if it's not going to be eaten at her house.
My hubby makes it homemade and he normally makes it ON Thanksgiving. The only problem there is that it takes so long to bake, that we are always waiting on it and sometimes it gets forgotten :(. It's amazing so I hate that.
He is going to try to prep it today as much as possible, and then possibly even bake it tonight. I am baking a turkey, plus we have two other dishes that need baked, and all of the cookies and cake tonight, so it should be interesting!
I don't know about stuffing, but I make cornbread dressing.
I make my cornbread days ahead of time.
And then in the morning I add all the ingredients to turn it into dressing and it sits all day until time to pop it in the oven.
If you decide that it would be better to have a fresh stuffing instead of day old, you can always use a little help from a box stuffing like stove top. It only takes 5 minutes once the water is boiling. Then you can add in any ingredients that you like in your stuffing to the mix once it is moistened. You can chop all of your onions, celery, olives, apples (or whatever else yur family likes) the night before.
Stuffing is one of two things that needs to be made right before the meal, so it retains the fluff.
