- 1 fresh or frozen turkey (approximately 20 lbs.), thawed
- 8 to 10 onions, chopped
- 2 whole stalks of celery, chopped
- Minced parsley
- 1 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 teaspoon pepper
- 1 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3 eggs
- Chicken broth (4 1/2 teaspoon bouillon added to 2 1/2 cups water)
- 3 bags (10 oz. each) of seasoned bread crumbs (21 cups total)
The first step is to cook the onions and celery. There are two ways you can soften/cook down the onions and celery. The first is to cook them in a large frying pan with butter or oil until they are soft.
The second is to put the chopped onions and celery in a roasting pan with butter or oil and bake, stirring occasionally, until soft. The advantage of the second option is that you can do something else while they are cooking in the oven, and your house does not smell of fried onions and celery.
After the onions and celery are cooked, combine them with the rest of the ingredients in a very large mixing bowl. Mix all of the ingredients together with your hands until thoroughly mixed. You can do up to this step the night before. If you do, once you reach this point, cover the stuffing and refrigerate until you are ready to stuff the turkey the next day.
When you are ready to stuff the turkey, make sure you remove anything that may be inside the turkey and wash the turkey both inside and out. Salt the inside of the cleaned turkey. Stuff the turkey with stuffing lightly until full. Place any extra stuffing in a casserole dish to heat later, which you can then mix with the stuffing that was cooked inside of the turkey.
Place the turkey in a roasting pan. Liberally sprinkle the outside of the turkey with seasoned salt or the seasoning of your choice. Cover the turkey with either the roaster lid or aluminum foil. For the first 20 minutes of baking, set the temperature to 400°F. After that turn the temperature down to 325°F and bake the turkey, covered, until close to the end of the cooking time. At that point, uncover the turkey so that it can brown nicely without burning or drying out. While the turkey is baking, baste it every 30 minutes or so. You only need to start the basting when you are about two hours into the baking process. A 21 lb. turkey can take approximately 5-6 hours to cook.
How to Know When it is Done: The temperature of the stuffing inside the turkey should reach a temperature of approximately 165°F. The temperature of the thigh (try to avoid the bone) should be 180°F (some guidelines say to cook it to 165°F, but I prefer to get it to 180°F) when done.