Our family’s traditional stuffing recipe contains giblets, which are the organs of the bird. I highly approve of this method because there is so much nutrition in the organ meats of an animal.
The other family tradition we have with stuffing is to cook part of the stuffing inside the bird and part of the stuffing outside the bird in a separate casserole dish. Some people prefer their stuffing crisper than others.
Because turkey generally feeds a lot of people, we’re going to make a large batch of stuffing today. However, you could make a smaller batch to use as a side dish if you prefer.
Wild rice is not actually a grain. It’s actually the seed of a marsh growing plant. It’s pretty low in fat so it should be eaten with lots of fat. Because it falls into the seed family, wild rice can be eaten on the GAPS Diet. Of course, you should properly prepare it before eating it. Learn more about properly preparing grains.
You can make rice before hand and have it frozen in your freezer to easily add to this recipe. Or if you have leftover rice, you can add it easily to the mixture!
Ingredients for Wild Rice:
2 cups Dry Wild Rice
4 ½ - 5 ½ cups Chicken or Turkey Stock
Giblets
3 Celery Stalks (I include the leaves but you don’t have to.)
½ Onion
6 Cloves of Garlic
2-3 tbsp Raw Turkey Fat
2 tbsp Butter
1 tbsp Dried Sage
1 tsp Tarragon
2 tsp Dried Parsley
1 tsp Dried Rosemary
1 tsp Marjoram
Freshly Ground Black Pepper to Taste
Salt to Taste
Directions for Wild Rice Stuffing:
The night before, cover your rice with water, with enough water to double in size. Allow to soak on the counter for at least 8 hours until doubled in size.
Once rice has doubled in size, drain and rinse. Add 4 ½ - 5 cups of stock to a pot. Bring stock to a boil then immediately lower the heat and add the prepared rice. Cook for 45 minutes at a simmer.
Around 30 minutes into the rice cooking, preheat oven to 325.
Roughly chop celery, onion, and garlic.
Cut up the giblets. The heart and the gizzard are muscles so they don’t have any stronger of a taste than just of turkey. If you are serving this to people who you feel may not appreciate organ meats, you could leave out the liver but the others should be largely unnoticeable.
Slice up the turkey fat. Add ½ the turkey fat and butter to a cast iron pan.
Add celery and onions and cook for 2-5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until soft.
Add all dried herbs, the rest of the turkey fat and the giblets. Cook for 3-5 minutes until flavors are well combined. It doesn’t need to be fully cooked and softened as it will continue to cook in the oven.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together rice and celery mixture.
Set aside half to be stuffed into your turkey and place half into a glass baking dish that can be covered. Add an additional ¼ cup meat stock to make sure you have enough liquid. You can also use water.
Place the covered dish in the oven and cook for an hour.
Serve & enjoy!
Wild Rice Stuffing
Ingredients
- 2 cups Dry Wild Rice
- 4 ½ - 5 ½ cups Chicken or Turkey Stock
- Giblets
- 3 Celery Stalks (I include the leaves but you don’t have to.)
- ½ Onion
- 6 Cloves of Garlic
- 3 tbsp Raw Turkey Fat
- 2 tbsp Butter
- 1 tbsp Dried Sage
- 1 tsp Tarragon
- 2 tsp Dried Parsley
- 1 tsp Dried Rosemary
- 1 tsp Marjoram
- Freshly Ground Black Pepper to Taste
- Salt to Taste
Instructions
- The night before, cover your rice with water, with enough water to double in size. Allow to soak on the counter for at least 8 hours until doubled in size.
- Add 4 ½ - 5 cups of stock to a pot. Bring stock to a boil then immediately lower the heat and add the prepared rice. Cook for 45 minutes at a simmer.
- Preheat oven to 325.
- Roughly chop celery, onion, and garlic.
- Cut up the giblets. The heart and the gizzard are muscles so they don’t have any stronger of a taste than just of turkey. If you are serving this to people who you feel may not appreciate organ meats, you could leave out the liver but the others should be largely unnoticeable.
- Slice up the turkey fat. Add ½ the turkey fat and butter to a cast iron pan.
- Add celery and onions and cook for 2-5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until soft.
- Add all dried herbs, the rest of the turkey fat and the giblets. Cook for 3-5 minutes until flavors are well combined. It doesn’t need to be fully cooked and softened as it will continue to cook in the oven.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together rice and celery mixture.
- Set aside half to be stuffed into your turkey and place half into a glass baking dish that can be covered. Add an additional ¼ cup meat stock to make sure you have enough liquid. You can also use water.
- Place the covered dish in the oven and cook for an hour.
- Serve & enjoy!