French Canadian Meat Dressing Recipe is Grandpa’s SECRET Thanksgiving turkey stuffing made with ground beef, gluten-free bread, aromatics, lots of fresh ground pepper.
Can You Guess What the SECRET Dressing Ingredient Is?
We bet if you look in your spice cabinet right now, you have it. This special ingredient makes regular Thanksgiving dressing go from ho hum boring to Oh my goodness, please give me seconds or maybe thirds. Are you ready?
Drum roll please…
Fresh Ground Black Pepper and LOTS of it!
When I say a lot of freshly ground pepper, I mean a really BIG punch! This old fashion meat stuffing (dressing) has 3 full teaspoons of pepper in it. You heard me right “3 teaspoons of black pepper”.
Of course, you don’t have to put the full 3 teaspoons of pepper in it if you don’t want to. However, then is would not be Grandpa’s Secret Stuffing, it would be just plain old boring run of the mill ground beef dressing. What sets this stuffing apart from many others is that it comes with a big pack of flavor from the aromatics and a big punch from the freshly ground pepper.
10 Reasons to Love Our French Canadian Meat Dressing Recipe
- This meat stuffing gets a little crispy on the outside and is tender and delicious on the inside, especially when prepared in muffin tins. (AKA MEAT MUFFINS – Perfect individual servings for any holiday dinner gathering)
- Recipe can be prepared in advance of guest’s arrival or even baked in advance and then reheated. It keeps it’s texture and flavor.
- Can be served as stuffing inside a turkey or outside as a side of dressing.
- Dressing can be baked in a single baking dish for easy transport or in muffin tins to allow for more crispy bits on the ends. The little browned crispy bits are our favorite part of this simple oven baked dressing.
- The BEST darn dressing ever! Tried and true family recipe that has been passed on from generation to generation.
- Hearty enough to be served as a main dish with a side salad and vegetable.
- Gluten free, dairy free and egg free. However, you can use plain regular bread if no issues with gluten.
- Easy on the wallet (budget friendly) with just a handful of easy to find ingredients.
- Super flavorful with a big punch of freshly ground pepper to warm you up.
- Perfect side dish along with our Spicy Rosemary Butternut Squash, Balsamic Roasted Fennel and Carrots and our Autumn Kale Salad for Thanksgiving dinner or any autumn meal.
Why Do We Call This Grandpa’s Secret Stuffing?
We call it “Grandpa’s” stuffing as all the grandkids, just love this recipe – and grandpa was the only one who made this each holiday. My father (a descendant of immigrants from Quebec) had never shared this recipe and it had never been written down until 2011 [when we first posted this recipe]. However, over a cup of coffee and some persuasion he started to share his secret stuffing recipe with me. This French-Canadian meat dressing recipe was passed on to him by watching his mother and grandmother in the kitchen. If you love traditional French-Canadian recipes, be sure to try Grandma’s Chicken and Sliders.
We are certain grandpa (dad) is smiling down at us from heaven. He would be proud to share a little of his French-Canadian family tradition on to the world. His rich family history and stories will always be dear to our hearts.
Grandpa’s stuffing has been a celebrated family tradition in our family for many years. Thanksgiving would simply not be Thanksgiving, unless there was Grandpa’s ground beef Thanksgiving stuffing was on the dinner table.
What’s the Difference Between Turkey Dressing and Stuffing?
According to Food and Wine, the main difference is in the method that they are cooked.
Stuffing is usually made with bread and assortment of ingredients and aromatics that is actually stuffed into the cavity of the turkey and then baked inside the turkey.
Dressing is a side dish. It is also made with bread and other ingredients that is baked in a separate dish outside the turkey or other poultry cavity.
The best part of this French-Canadian meat dressing recipe is that it can be made as a traditional old fashion meat stuffing for inside the bird or as a side dish as a dressing. This dressing is also fantastic as a side dish for our Savory Herb Roasted Whole Chicken or stuffed inside a duck or pheasant.
Don’t Forget the Giblets!
Where are all of our French-Canadian friends? You already know that this ground beef Thanksgiving dressing or stuffing usually is made with the chopped up fried turkey giblets along with the ground beef. Turkey giblets are those parts is parts bag that is usually found inside the cavity of the bird when you get it from the store. The giblet package usually has the heart, liver, gizzard and neck of the bird. Waste not want not is the motto of our ancestors.
Will you be making this dressing recipe for children? If so, hold the giblets. As the years went by and more and more grandchildren filled grandpa’s home, he left out these little ingredients to make the kids happy.
Recipe Exchanges and Substitutions
- We like to use lean beef with 90% to 92% lean beef and 8% to 10% fat as we do not like all that extra fat. In addition, if it is lean, you can save a step of draining the beef after it is cooked. A little fat left in is a good thing as it makes it moist and gives it the crispy edges that everyone craves.
- Feel free to use regular bread instead of gluten-free, if no gluten intolerances. It’s a great way to use up that day-old bread.
Meat Stuffing Ingredients
- Ground beef (90-92%. Lean and 8-10% fat). You may also choose to cook up the turkey giblets. They are quite good. However, if you have small children, you may want to skip the giblets.
- Aromatics – celery, onion and garlic. Well, of course garlic!!!
- Freshly ground black pepper and lots of it! If you are making this for small children, you may want to scale back a little on the black pepper, so it is not too spicy for them. Season along the way. Be sure to check out our video below and watch us season throughout the cooking process.
- Olive oil
- Chicken broth
- Bread- gluten free or regular. We used white but use whatever you have on hand.
How to Make Homemade Turkey Dressing?
Here is an overview:
(See recipe card below for full instructions)
Sauté the aromatics until translucent and then add the ground beef and cook until brown. Season with salt and ground pepper. Lots of pepper!
Soak bread in chicken broth and then squeeze out excess and break into pieces. Mix the cooked meat mixture and bread mixture and place in a greased casserole pan or muffin tins. We love using the muffin tins as it gives you more crispy edges to our French Canadian Meat Dressing Recipe.
Drizzle with a little olive oil to help with the browning and bake between 40 – 50 minutes depending on the mode of cooking process.
If you want to make stuffing do all the steps above, except instead of placing the stuffing in a separate dish to bake, place in the cavity of the turkey or bird of choice and bake. The baking time for a stuffed bird, will depend on weight of the turkey.
Frequent Asked Questions (FAQ’s)
You do not need to put eggs in your dressing or stuffing. The extra moisture from the chicken broth is all that is needed to bind the Thanksgiving turkey dressing.
Do not cover the dressing while it is baking, or it will prevent the dressing from getting the little crispy browned edges that we all love.
The ground beef, giblets, vegetables and aromatics should all be fully cooked before stuffing the cavity of the turkey or other poultry. This is to prevent any illness. A stuffed turkey takes longer to cook than an unstuffed turkey. A stuffed turkey takes too much time to cook the internal stuffing to the temperature required for safe consumption. If you baked your turkey long enough to cook the stuffing to the proper safe temperature if would be dry. No one likes dry turkey.
More Thanksgiving Recipe Ideas
Roasted Turmeric Spiced Turkey
Spicy Rosemary Butternut Squash
Roasted Butternut and Carrot Ginger Soup
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French Canadian Meat Dressing Recipe
Equipment
- Muffin Tin or Casserole Dish
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
(reserve 1 tablespoon for drizzling on top before baking) - 1 onion chopped
- 3 stalks celery
chopped - 4 cloves garlic peeled and minced
- 1.5 pounds ground beef
we like to use 90 - 92% lean and 8-10% fat - 3 teaspoon pepper
- 2 cups chicken broth
gluten free - 10 slices bread
gluten free (or regular bread if no gluten allergies) - salt to taste
Garnishes
- parsley to garnish (optional)
- carrot julienned slices to garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F ( 176 degrees Celsius)
- Place 1 tablespoon of olive oil in sauce pan and add chopped onions, celery and garlic until slightly translucent- add a little salt and pepper. (Reserve the other 1 tablespoon of olive oil right before baking)
- Add ground beef and add some more salt and pepper and cook until beef is browned. Take off burner and set aside to cool.
- In the meantime in a separate bowl place about 2 cups of chicken broth. Place the slices of bread into the chicken broth and squeeze water out. Place squeezed out bread into a clean bowl and pull apart bread into small pieces.
- Add cooled ground beef mixture to bread. Salt and add the rest of the pepper and mix.
- Grease an oven proof muffin tin or casserole dish and place stuffing mixture inside. Drizzle a small amount of olive oil on top. Bake UNCOVERED in the oven!If you like crispy edges, place your dressing in a greased muffin pan and bake for about 40 to 45 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and slightly crispy. If you prefer to bake your dressing in a casserole dish, bake in the oven for about 50 - 60 minutes or until the top is slightly golden brown.You can also stuff a turkey (or other poultry of choice) with our prepared French Canadian Meat Dressing Recipe. Just prepare your poultry and stuff the dressing in the inner cavity. Bake according to the required time needed for the weight of the turkey, goose, duck, chicken or pheasant.
- If desired, garnish with parsley and little julienned carrot slices before serving.
- Serve hot and bring on the holiday cheer!
Video
Notes
- We like to use lean beef with 90% to 92% lean beef and 8% to 10% fat as we do not like all that extra fat. In addition, if it is lean, you can save a step of draining the beef after it is cooked. A little fat left in is a good thing as it makes it moist and gives it the crispy edges that everyone craves.
- Feel free to use regular bread instead of gluten-free, if no gluten intolerances. It’s a great way to use up that day-old bread.
- This dressing recipe is very black pepper forward. Reduce amount as needed for your spice and heat level.
- If you want to make this recipe vegan, exchange the ground beef with chopped mushrooms and vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. Chanterelle mushrooms are so delicious.
D. C. H. says
What do you do with the leftover chicken broth once the bread is squeezed out from it? Will it be somehow included into the same recipe, or does it get put aside for other recipes, or will it be discarded?
HWC Magazine says
Feel free to make a pot of our Immune Boosting Turkey and Rice Soup with your leftover turkey and chicken broth.
C Driscoll says
Thanks for sharing.This is very similar to my French grandmothers dressing/stuffing. It has been a family tradition forever. Handed down from 4 generations. Very few people have ever experienced this. I make it every year in the same pyrex my mother used.
Whether I am hosting Thanksgiving or not I make it. I just put extras in the freezer.
HWC Magazine says
So delighted to hear that your French grandmother's dressing/stuffing is so similar to ours. Don't you just love those family cherished recipes. Be sure to pass the recipe down to your family and the pyrex dish too! The recipe is a precious heirloom. Wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours. Stay well and Take Care
MaryAnn Coy says
This is similar to My French Canadian Mother’s, that she learned from her Mother. Her differences were using saltines instead of bread, and she added Bell’s Seasoning to the mixture, too. Over the years, I’ve tried sourdough bread, and minced mushrooms (baby Bella’s). Fresh herbs and dried. We tend to use more onions, because we all love them. My Mother used to simmer the giblets then chop them into her stuffing. Then she would use that stock in the stuffing. We learned to love giblets from our earliest days. This dressing is very similar to French Canadian Christmas Pie. Although the pie filling uses potatoes rather than bread. Both recipes differ considerably depending on what part of Canada your family comes from.
HWC Magazine says
Hi there MaryAnn! Family recipes are the best aren't they. Grandpa used to always make his stuffing with giblets too. Very traditional way. However, the grandkids were not so partial to the flavor of giblets so he adjusted his recipe over the years. It really is fascinating how recipes transform over the years to make them the way each family likes it. Love your idea of adding mushrooms and Bell's Seasoning mix too. Wishing you a very safe and happy holiday season. Take Care
Dana Brown says
My grandmother had a similar recipe. She also lived in Montreal as a teenager. I think this is very typical from that area.
HWC Magazine says
Hi there Dana. Our family loves this French Canadian Meat Dressing Recipe and always a family favorite over the holidays.
Carla says
Thanks for sharing this recipe -- I know we will make this for New Years Day.
HWC Magazine says
Thank you Carla. How did it go? I bet your family loved it!
Larry says
What a creative take on stuffing?
Never in a million years would I think to use it this way.
You must be the envy at the cocktail parties.
HWC Magazine says
Hiya Larry, never thought about serving these little meat muffins at a cocktail party, but why not, right? Great idea.
Chef Mimi says
I remember coming across this before. The muffins are so cute. I love everything about the recipe. And, I never knew there was a difference between stuffing and dressing! Live and learn. And follow blogs. All I ever wanted for Thanksgiving was the traditional set of dishes, because I grew up with my mother claiming she hated turkey, but really, she hated American holidays. But after a few of my own Thanksgiving, I couldn’t help myself.... one was all Southwestern, with a blue corn chorizo stuffing, sweet potato enchiladas with tomatillo sauce, and so forth. this was before the kids were old enough to join in on T-day. It would have been too spicy for them. I guess my point is, I’m not always traditional, but there’s always a turkey. This year i ordered one without knowing who would be here. No one. We’ll have lots of leftovers!
HWC Magazine says
Hiya Mimi! Thanks so much. Leftovers rock! I am certain we will also have many too. However, that is something we always look forward to. I know it is so difficult as one does not really know how to prepare and how much of everything you will need with our plans all shook up. I am certain, whatever you make will be absolutely delicious and your kids will be sad to have missed such a wonderful meal. If you do decide to make this French Canadian Meat Dressing, it freezes great. We reheat in the oven to get the edges crisp again. Take Care
Chef Mimi says
Wow. I was so confused. I couldn’t figure out what a salad dressing was with meat in it! 🤣🤣🤣 Anyway, I get it now,. I guess I call it stuffing by habit. Yours really look good. I’m quite intrigued by it and the pepper!
HWC Magazine says
Thank you Mimi. We have been learning whether you call it stuffing or dressing has more to do with your personal physical location (or where you grew up) rather than if it is inside the bird or outside the bird. So funny, right?! Oh yes, pepper and lots of it is the key to this delicious recipe. Hope you give it a try. Stay well and take care
Aarthi | Prepbowls says
By looking at the picture, it is so tempting! love the amount of pepper spice in the stuffing , perfect single sized portion, like the texture too, overall an mouth watering dish to try for the upcoming holidays. Thanks for sharing!
HWC Magazine says
Thanks so much Aarthi! We would say this recipe is very "pepper forward". If you like a little warming spice, we are certain you would love it. Wishing you a super weekend ahead.
Abbe@This is How I Cook says
Family recipes are the best! And Grandpa had the right idea. Those crispy brown edges are the best. Can't wait to try this!
HWC Magazine says
Thanks Abbe! The crispy edges are our favorite part. The boys were eating them as a snack the other day. Yep, they are that good.
Raymund says
Ohhh never had I thought of using celery on my meat patties and if this is a stuffing then definitely I will eat this first before the chicken or turkey
HWC Magazine says
Thank you Raymund. If you are a meat lover, we are certain you are going to love these little stuffing meat patties for sure. Thanksgiving is right around the corner!
John / Kitchen Riffs says
This is so wonderful! Really, really neat recipe. We make just a plain bread stuffing these days (with lots of celery and onion) and our own poultry seasoning. AND plenty of black pepper! That's such a great in stuffing or dressing, isn't it? We usually actually making dressing -- we bake it outside the bird -- but typically call it stuff. 🙂 Anyway, good stuff -- thanks.
HWC Magazine says
Hi there John and thank you very much. Lots of black pepper is the key... We were just talking about the concept of why people call it stuffing or dressing. My family always called it stuffing too, even though it was never stuffed in a bird. Across the US, we have found that the terminology used has somewhat to do with where people live and the terminology used All very fascinating. Take Care
Kelly | Foodtasia says
Bobbi, this stuffing looks so good, I don't want to wait til Thanksgiving to give it a try! Yum!
HWC Magazine says
Thank you Kelly! That is the beauty of this recipe. You can eat it any time of the year but best in autumn and winter when you are more apt to turn on the oven. Hope you give it a try soon.
Juliana says
I usually do not care for turkey stuffing, but will definitely go for this...love the muffin size serving, super fun and perfect for gathering. Thanks for the recipe Bobbi...have a wonderful rest of the week!
HWC Magazine says
Thank you Juliana. We love the cute little muffin portions too. Great for portion control. LOL... Take Care
Cindy says
Always a favorite at Thanksgiving. I usually make a double batch because it’s the first dish pulled out of the refrigerator for late night snacks and next day lunches. Simple and delicious recipe with a kick of garlic and pepper !
HWC Magazine says
Thanks so much Cindy! We could not agree more. Even better the next day or a late night snack. Family favorite, for sure, along with your green beans and awesome pies. Wishing you a super week ahead.