Check out 14 classic New Orleans dressing recipes for Thanksgiving (2024)

Thanksgiving in New Orleans isn't complete without dressing. The hardest part is deciding what kind will grace your table.

Do you go with a classic oyster dressing or giblet rice dressing? Maybe you want mirliton dressing with seafood. Or how about andouille and cornbread?

We have you covered. We've dug through the archives of The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate and pulled together the recipes for the most popular classic New Orleans dressings and stuffings.

Happy cooking!

OYSTER DRESSING RECIPES

Voivedich Family Oyster Dressing

This recipe comes from the former owners of Middendorf's Restaurant in Manchac.

Uncle Frank's oyster dressing

This recipe freezes well and improves in flavor when made a couple of days ahead.

The recipe includes oysters as well as lots of giblets, Italian-flavored bread crumbs plus French bread, and grated Romano cheese.

Marcelle Bienvenu's cornbread oyster dressing

This story features three oyster dressing recipes, including a cornbread one.

RICE DRESSING RECIPES

Rice dressing is a great make-ahead dish for the holidays, as the base of trinity-and-meat, well seasoned and cooked down, can be frozen. When ready to serve, it's reheated and folded together with cooked rice, scallion tops and a little butter.

Chef Isaac Toups' dirty rice

He uses lots of garlic in the dish, and Toups likes to get his roux dark -- "Hershey's bar dark," he says.

Giblet rice dressing

This is a classic Cajun version of rice dressing from an Opelousas reader. Well-cooked chicken gizzards are the key to its special flavor.

Marcelle Bienvenu's family rice dressing

This rice dressing would be a great addition to any holiday table, any time of the year.

Eggplant dressing

Beef, pork and eggplant combine with rice in this stunner from Marcelle Bienvenu.

CORNBREAD DRESSING RECIPES

Marcelle Bienvenu's cornbread oyster dressing

This story features three oyster dressing recipes, including a cornbread one.

Shrimp and andouille cornbread dressing

This recipe was originally shared with The Times-Picayune in 1989. It was from The Sazerac at The Fairmont Hotel.

Andouille sausage and cornbread dressing

If you can't find andouille, use a local smoked sausage, kielbasa or your favorite smoked sausage.

Cornbread stuffing with oysters and andouille

This twist on the oyster dressing tradition comes from Food Network stars Patrick and Gina Neely.

Chef John Currence’s chicken skin cornbread recipe

From Currence: "This recipe flies in the face of everything Southern. Flour makes the bread a little less coarse and sugar masks the bitterness cornmeal can have, or maybe it is acid reacting with the cast iron. Whatever the case, a little sugar helps."

LAGNIAPPE

Grandma Leslie's Shrimp Stuffing

The shrimp dressing "was so good that when my parents got divorced, one 'unofficial' provision was that my dad would still get his mother-in-law's shrimp stuffing. He would usually eat this in the car in front of HIS Mom's house every Thanksgiving so he wouldn't have to share with anyone."

Mirliton casserole with crab, crawfish and shrimp

Make sure you boil the mirlitons whole until they are fork-tender before peeling them.

See our full guide to classic New Orleans recipes for Thanksgiving.

This round-up was inspired by stories from Judy Walker and Ann Maloney.