Oyster Dressing

Have you ever had or heard of oyster dressing? I feel like this may be a New Orleans thing and may not really be known all over the country. It is a tradition in our family and my Mom has always been in charge of making the oyster dressing for Thanksgiving and I love it! It is something that I want to continue and teach my kids as they get older. We also do a sausage and cornbread dressing for the people that prefer a more traditional dressing. If you want to try something new, I highly recommend this recipe.

Print Recipe

Ingredients

3 loaves French bread for crumbs 8 ounces each, stale, let the bread sit for a couple of days
1½ cups finely chopped green onions
1½ cups finely chopped white onions
4 cups finely chopped green pepper
3 teaspoons minced garlic
1½ sticks butter
5 cups finely chopped celery
2 pounds ground meat
3 or 4 dozen oysters drained, reserving liquor
1 cup chopped pecans optional, we omit this
1 cup chopped parsley
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Cayenne pepper to taste
1 bay leaf
½ teaspoon thyme
2 eggs beaten

Instructions

.Preheat the oven to 250°F. Dry French bread in the oven and roll into fine crumbs.
2.Sauté green onions, white onions, green pepper, and garlic in 1 stick of butter until transparent.
3.Add celery and sauté for 2 additional minutes.
4.In a separate skillet, fry ground meat until done, then drain.
5.Chop oysters, if large.
6.Mix the ground meat, oysters, and sautéed vegetables together. Add bread crumbs.
7.Gradually add oyster liquor by the spoonful until the stuffing reaches the desired consistency.
8.Add pecans, parsley, salt, pepper, cayenne, bay leaf, and thyme.
9.Combine eggs with ½ stick softened butter and mix into stuffing.

Notes

I hope you enjoy this as much as my family. We bake this in a casserole dish and d0 not stuff the turkey. You can do it that way too if you want.

You can find more of our favorite Thanksgiving recipes here as well as my tips for hosting Thanksgiving every year.