Stuffing Your Turkey Could Make You Sick—Here's What Our Editors Do Instead

Cooking is full of small philosophical battles—rinse the rice or don't, rest the cookie dough or bake it right away, and, come Thanksgiving, stuff the turkey or keep the stuffing on the side. Proponents of stuffing the turkey will tell you it's the only way to get truly flavorful stuffing from the bread soaking up fat, drippings, and all those pan juices. And sure, in theory, that sounds great. In practice, it means flirting with a minefield of timing issues and food safety risks that most home cooks (and plenty of professionals) would rather avoid.

I want to make it clear now that I recognize that technically what's baked inside the bird is "stuffing" and what's cooked separately is "dressing," but for simplicity—and because most people call it stuffing either way—I'll stick with stuffing here.

The truth is, stuffing your turkey creates more problems than it solves. Below, we'll unpack why this old-school move rarely works out, what it takes to do it safely, and how to make a better, more flavorful stuffing entirely on its own.

Why You Shouldn't Stuff Your Turkey

The problem with stuffing a turkey comes down to food safety and its direct connection to timing. To be safe to eat, the stuffing needs to reach 165°F (75°C), the temperature at which dangerous bacteria like Salmonella and Campylobacter are immediately destroyed. But because it's packed inside the turkey's cavity, surrounded by dense meat and soaked with raw poultry juices, it takes much longer to heat through than it does when cooked in a pan. Bread is also thick and slow to heat, and by the time the center of the stuffing reaches a safe eating temperature, the turkey itself—especially the breast meat—has long since overcooked and will be well past juicy.

James E. Rogers, PhD, Director of Product and Food Safety Research and Testing at Consumer Reports, agrees. "Turkey and stuffing cook unevenly, and by the time the stuffing reaches 165°F, the turkey will likely be overcooked," he told me.

And while there are precautions one can take to stuff a turkey safely, our associate editorial director Megan puts it bluntly: "Not worth it." Beyond the safety risk, she says, "I don't like the mushy texture of stuffing cooked in the turkey. I prefer the contrast of a crispy baked top with a tender interior." She also points out that the turkey cavity has a more important job: holding aromatics that make for better gravy.

Our senior culinary editor Leah agrees, calling it "the least foolproof, least reliable way to make stuffing." To her, the food-safety risks and uneven results just aren't worth it when you can make a more controlled, better-tasting version in its own dish.

If You Must Stuff Your Turkey, Here's How to Do It Safely

If you're a stuffed-turkey truther, not all hope is lost. Our editorial director, Daniel, puts it this way: "It can be done, and it can be done well, but it's risky and probably not worth it to jump through all the necessary hoops to do it right."

Our senior editor, Genevieve, mirrors that sentiment, though for her, stuffing a turkey is just one more thing to stress out about on Thanksgiving. "I know it can be done well and without food poisoning people," she says, "but there's already so much to think about on Thanksgiving Day—why give yourself one more thing?"

Still, if you're determined to go this route, there are ways to lower the risk—and yes, they do involve a fair amount of hoop-jumping.

The USDA doesn't recommend stuffing a whole turkey at all, citing a higher risk of cross-contamination and longer cooking times. But if you decide to stuff anyway, here's what the USDA says to do:

• Don't prep it ahead. Never stuff a turkey the night before—bacteria can multiply quickly, even in the fridge.
• Keep ingredients cold until the last minute. Store your wet and dry components separately and refrigerate them until you're ready to cook.
• Start with fully cooked mix-ins. If your stuffing recipe includes meat such as sausage, poultry, or seafood, cook those ingredients fully before adding to the stuffing.
• Stuff loosely, right before roasting. Overpacking slows heat transfer, so proper air circulation matters.
• Use a thermometer. The stuffing's center must reach 165°F (75°C), even if the turkey itself is already done. Once it hits that internal temperature, it's safe to eat. 

According to the USDA, a 12- to 14-pound unstuffed turkey takes about 3 to 3¾ hours to roast at 325°F (165°C), while a stuffed one needs closer to 3½ to 4 hours—in other words, the process only gets longer and trickier once stuffing is included.

Even if you follow every step perfectly, there's still the issue of texture. The bread will steam inside the cavity, soaking up turkey drippings until it's oversaturated and soggy.

The Ideal Stuffing

To make what we consider the ideal stuffing (or dressing), bake it in its own casserole dish.

As former Serious Eats culinary director Kenji explains in his classic sage and sausage stuffing recipe, great stuffing is really a savory bread pudding: cubes of oven-dried bread that soak up flavorful stock without turning soggy. The key is starting with dry, not stale bread—stale bread has undergone starch retrogradation, which makes it leathery and less absorbent, while gently oven-dried bread stays crisp and porous, ready to soak up butter, broth, and seasoning.

Kenji's recipe builds a classic Thanksgiving flavor profile with butter, sage, onion, garlic, celery, and sausage, but you can also make a meatless version that's just as flavorful. Try mix-ins like sautéed mushrooms, roasted chestnuts, diced apples, dried cranberries, or fennel for extra depth and texture. 

Bake it covered to let the bread steam and set into a custardy interior texture, then uncover it at the end to crisp the top. That contrast—soft and rich beneath, golden and crunchy on top—is what makes stuffing baked in its own separate dish so satisfying. 

And for those who really want that rich turkey flavor in their stuffing, Rogers suggests a simple fix: "Once the bird is fully cooked, spoon some drippings from the roasting pan into the stuffing instead."

The Takeaway

In the end, every editor and food safety expert I talked to agrees: This Thanksgiving, skip the cavity and bake your stuffing separately. The stuffing never needed the turkey anyway—they're both better off on their own.