One of my favorite Thanksgiving side dishes is stuffing. While I know there are many varieties of turkey stuffing – from classic herbed stuffing to cornbread stuffing – the Thanksgiving stuffing I ate growing up was nothing like those. My mami’s turkey stuffing recipe was taught to her by a friend of the family many years ago, before I was born. Where it originally came from or if it’s a “traditional” Puerto Rican turkey stuffing, I don’t know. However, it does infuse traditional Puerto Rican flavors to create a delicious Puerto Rican style turkey stuffing for Thanksgiving or any other special occasion! I hope you enjoy this flavorful Thanksgiving turkey stuffing that has been a favorite of mine since I was a child and is now a favorite of my husband as well! (I’m still working on the kids – ha!)
Puerto Rican Style Turkey Stuffing for Thanksgiving
Ingredients for carne molida (ground beef):
- 3 lbs ground beef
- 1 Tbsp adobo
- 3/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 Tbsp meat tenderizer
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- Sazón, 1 packet
- 1 1/2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 2 1/2 Tbsp tomato sauce
- 2 Tbsp sofrito (or recaito)
- 10-11 green olives (Spanish salad olives) + 1-2 tsp of olive liquid
- 2-3 small potatoes, peeled, rinsed, and cubed
- about 10 baby carrots, rinsed and chopped
Additional ingredients for turkey stuffing:
- Turkey neck & gizzards
- Water
- Salt
- Meat tenderizer
- 3 1/2 cups Pepperidge Farm Herb Seasoned Stuffing
Directions:
- The night before Thanksgiving, prepare ground beef according to our carne molida recipe.
- Remove meat from turkey neck and cut turkey gizzards into small pieces. Boil in medium pot, adding salt and meat tenderizer to water.
- Mix tenderized turkey neck and gizzards with carne molida. Store and refrigerate.
- On Thanksgiving morning, heat your refrigerated meat mixture.
- Mix dry stuffing crumbs with 5 cups of meat mixture.
- Stuff turkey and roast!
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Would this Puerto Rican style turkey stuffing be a hit at your Thanksgiving dinner?
All photos © Melanie Edwards/modernmami™
Hi, can this be made as a stand alone side dish? My husband doesn’t want to put it in the turkey and his Puerto Rican mother used to make it separately so I’m wondering if you’ve ever tried it this way. Thanks!
Yes, absolutely. I’ve made it that way and baked it in a baking dish by itself.
Oh wonderful! Can you provide the directions for baking on its own?
Whatever temperature you use for your turkey (I think I use 350°F) and bake just until the stuffing is heated all the way through. If you don’t want a crispy top-layer, cover it with some foil.
Thank you! Made the dish and it came out quite good. It was a little mushy in the middle, probably because I used a deep tray so I mixed it up and put back in the oven without the foil on top and that helped a little. I also added an extra cup of tomato sauce so might try it without that next time. I cooked it for about 1-1.5 hours total in the oven. It really complimented your arroz con gandules recipe made in the rice cooker – so easy!
I’m so glad it worked out and that you liked it, along with the arroz con gandules!
Was there a time and temp to bake this?
Since it’s for stuffing the turkey, you would bake it at the turkey’s temperature and time.