Chicken and Herb Dressing
Chicken and dressing made with a whole cooked chicken, a homemade herb dressing and homemade gravy.
Ingredients
- 1whole chicken, or equal white, dark or mixed pieces (about 4 cups of shredded cooked chicken)
- ½onion, cut into chunks
- 1carrot, cut into chunks
- 1celery rib, with leaves, cut into chunks
- 2 largepinches of kosher salt for the pot
- 4 cupstoasted and torn bread
- 1sleeve saltine crackers, crushed
- 2 tablespoonsunsalted butter
- 1 cupchopped sweet or yellow onion
- 1rib celery, chopped
- 2 teaspoonsbell's seasoning 4-1/2 t. dried rosemary 4 t. dried oregano 3-3/4 t. dried sage 3-1/2 t. ground dried ginger 3 t. dried marjoram 2-3/4 t. dried thyme 3/4 t. ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoonpoultry seasoning
- ½ teaspoonkosher salt
- ¼ teaspoonfreshly cracked black pepper
- 4 largeeggs, divided
- about 6 cups of the reserved broth or commercial chicken broth, divided
- ½ cupunsalted butter
- ½ cupall-purpose flour
- additional salt and pepper, for the roux, to taste
- 2 largeeggs
Directions
- 1
Completely cover chicken with water, add the onion, carrot and celery and generously salt; bring to a boil and simmer just until cooked through, without overcooking.
- 2
Remove the chicken, reserving the broth; set both aside to cool. Once chicken has cooled, shred.
- 3
Butter an oblong, 9 x 13-inch baking dish or spray with non-stick spray; set aside.
- 4
Add the toasted, torn bread and crushed saltines to a large bowl; set aside.
- 5
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- 6
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet and sauté the one cup of chopped onion and the stalk of chopped celery until softened, but not browned.
- 7
Add the seasoning mix, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Transfer contents to the shredded bread.
- 8
Beat 2 of the eggs with 2 cups of the cooled broth and add to the bread mixture, tossing to coat. Use additional broth if more moisture is needed.
- 9
In a large skillet, make a roux with the butter and flour, cooking and stirring for about 4 minutes.
- 10
Slowly add in the remaining broth, a little at a time, until fully incorporated and a gravy is formed. Add salt and pepper, taste and adjust.
- 11
Beat the remaining two eggs in a small bowl. Remove about 1/2 cup of the gravy from the skillet and slowly beat it into the eggs, adding additional gravy until eggs are tempered in. Stir the egg mixture into the gravy mixture until blended, remove from the heat.
- 12
To the buttered baking dish add 1/2 of the dressing mixture.
- 13
Top that with all of the chicken and then sprinkle the remaining dressing on top of the chicken. Pour the gravy mixture all over the top.
- 14
Bake at 325 degrees F for about 45 minutes. Let settle for 5 minutes before serving.