How to Stuff a Turkey for Thanksgiving

Preparing the Turkey for Stuffing

Remove your turkey from its packaging. Look it over for any small pinfeathers that may have been left behind when the turkey was plucked, and remove them.Warning: Don’t rinse your turkey after taking it out of its packaging. Rinsing a raw turkey will only splash harmful bacteria around your sink and workspace, increasing your chances of getting sick.

Take the giblets out of the cavity. Under your turkey's tail, you will see an empty cavity. You'll eventually stuff this cavity with stuffing. Reach into the cavity and remove the giblets, if there are any (they are most likely inside of a paper package). The neck may also be inside the cavity; remove it as well. Sometimes, the package containing the giblets is in the turkey’s neck cavity instead of the main body cavity. Set the giblets in a dish or resealable plastic bag and refrigerate them if you plan to make giblet gravy later. You can also boil the giblets and chop them up to add to your stuffing. Otherwise, just discard them.

Sprinkle your turkey liberally with salt and pepper. Make sure to cover both the outside of the turkey and the cavity with your seasonings.

Stuffing the Turkey

Prepare your stuffing recipe. Make sure that your stuffing uses only cooked ingredients, including cooked vegetables, meat, and seafood. If you use eggs, then you'll need to use pasteurized eggs.

Preheat your oven to 325 °F (163 °C). Position your oven rack so that you can fit your stuffed turkey into the oven after it's prepared.

Stuff the neck cavity of your turkey with prepared stuffing. Fold the neck flap down and lift the wings up and over the closed flap. The wings will hold the flap in place without requiring trussing.

Fill the body cavity with stuffing. Make sure that you don't pack stuffing into the cavity too tightly, because it may not cook completely.

Tuck the turkey legs inside the skin flap for a neat appearance. Take the flap of skin at the bottom of the body cavity and pull it up so that you can tuck the ends of the drumsticks inside. This will also help hold the stuffing inside the cavity while it cooks. Alternatively, you can truss the legs together during cooking with kitchen twine.

Cook the turkey until it reaches an internal temperature of 180 °F (82 °C). Put the turkey in the oven on the lowest rack and let it cook for 3-5 hours, depending on its weight. The stuffing inside should be 165 °F (74 °C). To test the temperature of the turkey when you think it’s done, put a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh. You can also use the thermometer to test the temperature of the stuffing.

Remove the turkey from the oven and let it rest. Place a tent of aluminum foil over the bird and allow it to rest for 20 minutes.

Scoop the stuffing out of the turkey. Put the cooked stuffing in a clean bowl or dish so you can serve it alongside the turkey. It should be nice and moist from soaking up the turkey’s juices during the cooking process.

Present your perfectly roasted turkey to your guests. Carve it and serve it with the dish of stuffing.