Here's a Thanksgiving question for you: does your family make stuffing or dressing? Then again, if you're wondering whether there's even a difference between the two Thanksgiving sides, you wouldn't be alone! The confusion has been an age-old question that's left holiday tables divided year after year. So, to get to the bottom of it once and for all, we looked at everything you need to know about stuffing versus dressing. Even Ree Drummond weighed in on the matter!
According to The Pioneer Woman, "Some people stuff their roasted turkey with dressing, in which case the dressing is called stuffing. Others are dead set against stuffing the bird and opt for baking their stuffing in a baking dish, which means it's called dressing." In other words, "This dish is a wildly personal one," she says.
In fact, for many families, the words stuffing and dressing are used interchangeably, but there's more to it than you might think. The debate is also fueled by where you live. Read on to find out more about stuffing versus dressing, including the history of this Thanksgiving food.
What is Thanksgiving stuffing?
Just as the name implies, stuffing is a mixture of dried bread, herbs, and other flavorful mix-ins that's literally stuffed in your holiday bird. If you want to be precise, just take a look at the dictionary! According to Merriam-Webster, stuffing is "typically placed inside the cavity of a turkey." By placing the stuffing inside the turkey, the bread steams to help maintain moisture and also soaks up all that turkey flavor while it cooks.
What is Thanksgiving dressing?
Unlike stuffing, Thanksgiving dressing is a little harder to define. The dish is made of similar ingredients but is often baked in a casserole dish instead of inside the turkey. It also happens to be Ree's preferred method, too. "It's less complicated, and produces a better textured dressing," she says," I love a crunchy topping on my dressing, and you just don't get it when it bakes inside the turkey!"
Why is it called stuffing vs. dressing?
This has a bit to do with the history of stuffing. These days, most families enjoy some kind of mixture consisting of drying bread (whether it be cornbread, sourdough, or white bread), herbs, veggies, and sometimes meat. But there's no evidence that suggests it was actually served at the original Thanksgiving dinner. According to History.com, the Pilgrims most likely added "herbs, onions, or nuts" to their Thanksgiving turkey and as the years went on, ingredients like oysters, chestnuts, and—yes—bread were added to stuffing recipes.
The term "dressing" didn't appear until the 1850s, when Victorian nobles took offense at the vulgar word "stuffing." So, it’s easy to see why many dressing and stuffing recipes consist of the same ingredients. To understand the difference between the two, all you have to do is look at the cooking method. Stuffing is stuffed (literally) inside the cavity of the turkey, while dressing is roasted in a separate casserole dish.
Who says 'dressing' and who says 'stuffing'?
Despite cooking techniques, the name game usually splits along regional lines, with cooks from the Northeast and Pacific Northwest sticking to stuffing, while the South and Midwest prefer the more proper dressing (and, to make matters even more confusing, our Pennsylvania friends use the term "filling"—not to be confused with the stuff that goes in pies!).
This is down to a science: A 2015 survey conducted on behalf of the poultry company Butterball revealed that, regardless of how the dish was cooked, most of the country—including 100 percent of New Englanders—refers to the side as stuffing, while Southerners are devoted dressing fans.
Whether you're a die-hard Thanksgiving dressing fan or a staunch stuffing supporter, we can all agree on one thing in the stuffing vs. dressing debate: It's incredibly delicious!
FAQs
Southern-cuisine expert and cookbook author Diana Rattray has created more than 5,000 recipes and articles in her 20 years as a food writer. The classic Thanksgiving dinner includes old-time favorites that never change: turkey, gravy, stuffing, potatoes, veggies, and pie.
What was on the menu at the first Thanksgiving answer key? ›
Although turkeys were indigenous, there's no record of a big, roasted bird at the feast. The Wampanoag brought deer and there would have been lots of local seafood (mussels, lobster, bass) plus the fruits of the first pilgrim harvest, including pumpkin. No mashed potatoes, though.
What was the main dish at the first Thanksgiving? ›
There are only two surviving documents that reference the original Thanksgiving harvest meal. They describe a feast of freshly killed deer, assorted wildfowl, a bounty of cod and bass, and flint, a native variety of corn harvested by the Native Americans, which was eaten as corn bread and porridge.
What were 2 types of food at the first Thanksgiving? ›
So, to the question “What did the Pilgrims eat for Thanksgiving,” the answer is both surprising and expected. Turkey (probably), venison, seafood, and all of the vegetables that they had planted and harvested that year—onions, carrots, beans, spinach, lettuce, and other greens.
What is the famous meal of Thanksgiving? ›
At Thanksgiving dinner, turkey is served with a variety of side dishes which can vary from traditional, such as mashed potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry sauce, to ones that reflect regional or cultural heritage.
What are the traditional foods for Thanksgiving? ›
THE FEAST. Traditional foods are a large part of Thanksgiving celebrations. Many families include the entire family in the food preparation. Traditional foods include turkey, stuffing, gravy, sweet potatoes, cornbread, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce.
What was the original Thanksgiving? ›
In 1621, the Plymouth colonists from England and the Native American Wampanoag people shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states.
How much did Thanksgiving cost in 1950? ›
Here's what a Thanksgiving meal cost the year you were born
| Year | Total meal cost: | Inflation adjusted cost: |
|---|
| 1949 | $5.62 | $45.43 |
| 1950 | $5.91 | $47.25 |
| 1951 | $6.48 | $48.49 |
| 1952 | $6.52 | $47.82 |
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If the Pilgrims had managed to brew and age any beer with the barley they had grown, it wasn't much. They most likely just drank water.
Did the Pilgrims eat lobster? ›
The First Thanksgiving meal eaten by pilgrims in November 1621 included lobster. They also ate fruits and vegetables brought by Native Americans, mussels, bass, clams, and oysters. Back in 1621, lobsters were so plentiful that you could grab them by the hand straight out of the ocean at low tide.
The first Thanksgiving banquet consisted of foods like venison, bean stew and hard biscuits. And while corn and pumpkin had their place on the table, they hardly resembled the cornbread stuffing and pumpkin pie we feast on today.
What were three foods eaten at Thanksgiving? ›
The traditional roasted turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, candied yams, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie are on almost every modern Thanksgiving menu, in some form or variation. This menu has evolved over time and continues to evolve today.
What food was not served in the first Thanksgiving? ›
Oddly enough, a few contemporary Thanksgiving powerhouses didn't make an appearance at the original holiday table. Neither white potatoes nor sweet potatoes had yet been brought to North America from South and Central America, respectively.
What are the 3 traditional foods Americans eat during Thanksgiving? ›
Millions of people across the United States will sit down to a traditional Thanksgiving meal, including turkey, potatoes, squash, corn, and cranberries. These foods have become synonymous with Thanksgiving, but how did they end up on tables from Maine to California?
What is a traditional Black Thanksgiving dinner? ›
You will likely be eating roast turkey, barbecued turkey, deep fried turkey, glazed country ham, collard greens, macaroni and cheese, green beans, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes mashed and covered with marshmallows, corn, cornbread, yeast/potato rolls, black eyed peas, rice, gravy, potato salad, cranberry sauce from ...
