Skip to Content

Newfoundland Dressing a.k.a Summer Savoury Stuffing

Newfoundland Dressing. A traditional savoury stuffing for poultry and game birds made with breadcrumbs, onions and summer savoury, a delicious, fragrant herb.

Newfoundland Dressing stuffed chicken breasts

Newfoundland Dressing stuffed chicken breasts

Newfoundland savoury dressing as a stuffing for poultry is about as Newfoundland as it gets. The scent of savoury stuffing or “dressing” as it is more commonly called, wafting from a Sunday morning Newfoundland kitchen is a universal experience for every born and bred Newfoundlander.

For many people there is no other kind of stuffing; it is that pervasive in our food culture.

Newfoundland Dressing in a white bowl with turkey in background

It just wouldn’t be Christmas for us without Newfoundland Dressing

Summer savoury is the annual herb that gives this stuffing it’s unique aroma and flavour. This herb is not nearly as commonly found in other parts of the country, or in North America.

However, it has been grown by Mt. Scio Farm in St. John’s for longer than most, if not all, can remember.

photo of a container of Mt. Scio Farm Savoury

Mt Scio Savoury

Try the recipe in roast chicken or turkey or as shown here, in stuffed chicken breasts.

You will notice small flecks of carrot in the dressing in this photo. While I like to add a little garlic for flavour in my dressing, my mom and dad have used a little grated carrot for years both for sweetness and moisture.

You can still make the dressing without either ingredient to be purely traditional. I also like to mix up the onions for other versions. In this one I’ve used red onions instead of the traditional yellow but thy sweet onions or shallots to keep this simple recipe interesting.

NEW! I’ve used the basic Newfoundland Dressing recipe as a base to create this new flavourful Herb Cranberry Stuffing.

Herb Cranberry Stuffing overhead close up photo with title text added for Pinterest

UPDATE Newfoundland Dressing:

I very rarely cook this dressing inside the bird nowadays, especially with chicken where now I prefer to use this 1 hour method for juicy roast chicken. Instead I now make it in a small casserole dish in a low oven.

The warming drawer in our stove is also hot enough on high to do this. You just need to ensure that it hits 175 – 185 degrees F on a meat thermometer if you are adding chicken stock as we do.

I increase the chicken stock to about 3/4 cup in this instance and cover the casserole dish with aluminum foil before adding the lid. This is in order to help keep the moisture in. Give the dressing a toss, once or twice during the cooking time.

Pre-cooking the onions and/or garlic is also essential in this method. Nobody wants to bite into raw onion in dressing. I sure don’t.

Newfoundland Dressing Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Newfoundland Dressing Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Making Newfoundland Dressing Stuffed Chicken Breasts.

When using the stuffing inside chicken breasts as pictured, I like to use the largest breasts I can find and preserve as much of the skin as possible.

Usually, I debone the breasts myself, then I butterfly cut the breasts in order to open them up into as close a rectangular shape as possible. Then, I add the stuffing, fold it all together and use 3 pieces of butcher string to hold it all in place.

I rub the outside with a little olive oil, season with salt and pepper and open roast at 400 degrees F for about 40 – 45 minutes depending upon the size of the breasts. Always use a meat thermometer to ensure the inside middle temperature is 175 to 185 degrees F.

Deboned chicken breasts for Chicken Parmesan Lasagna.

Deboned chicken breasts for Oven Fried Chicken Nuggets.

The reason I like to debone my own chicken breasts is so that I can roast the bones and skins for stock later. I freeze them until I have enough to cover a baking sheet then use the instructions in my post on making Chicken Stock here.

Looking for more Newfoundland-inspired recipes?

If you’d like to see more traditionally inspired recipes from our province, please check out this collection on some of our Most Popular Newfoundland recipes.

Top Ten Newfoundland Recipes photo collage for Pinterest

 
Like this Newfoundland Dressing recipe?

You’ll find lots of locally inspired cooking and baking recipes in our Newfoundland Inspired Recipes Category.

It’s easy to keep up with the latest home style cooking & baking ideas from Rock Recipes. Be sure to follow Rock Recipes Facebook Page and follow us on Instagram

Plus you’ll see daily recipe suggestions from decadent desserts to quick delicious weekday meals too. 

Newfoundland Dressing

Newfoundland Dressing

You can also sign up for our FREE newsletter to know immediately when we add new recipes. You’ll also get weekly suggestions for great family friendly  meals and desserts too!


Rock Recipes a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Our product recommendations are almost exclusively for those we currently use or have used in the past.
Visit my Amazon Store for my favourite kitchen gadgets and appliances, plus recommendations from my personal cookbook collection.
Newfoundland Dressing stuffed chicken breasts
Yield: 8 servings (1/2 cup each aprox.)

Newfoundland Dressing

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes

Newfoundland Dressing. A very simple to prepare, traditional Newfoundland savoury and onion dressing (stuffing) for poultry.

Ingredients

  • 4 cups coarse bread crumbs
  • 2-4 tbsp dried savoury
  • ½ small onion chopped
  • 1 clove minced garlic, optional
  • 4 tablespoons melted butter
  • ½ cup chicken stock
  • Salt and pepper to season

Instructions

  1. In a small skillet, slowly sauté the chopped onion (and garlic if desired) in the butter over low heat until the onions are soft. Meanwhile combine the bread crumbs, savoury, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add the cooked onions and chicken stock and toss well to combine all the ingredients.
  2. Use as a stuffing for any poultry including game birds.
  3. To cook in the oven just place in a small covered casserole dish and bake in a low oven 250-300 degrees F for about ½ hour. You may want to add a little more stock when using this method.
  4. The photo shows the dressing used to stuff chicken breasts but you will notice that I have added a little finely grated carrot to the mix...one of my Mom's ideas.

Notes

I very rarely cook this dressing inside the bird nowadays, especially with chicken where now I prefer to use this 1 hour method for juicy roast chicken. Instead I now make it in a small casserole dish in a low oven. The warming drawer in our stove is also hot enough on high to do this, You just need to ensure that it hits 175 - 185 degrees F on a meat thermometer if you are adding chicken stock as we do.

I increase the chicken stock to about 3/4 cup in this instance and cover the casserole dish with aluminum foil before adding the lid in order to help keep the moisture it. Give the dressing a toss, once or twice during the cooking time.

Making Newfoundland Dressing Stuffed Chicken Breasts.

When using the stuffing inside chicken breasts as pictured, I like to use the largest breasts I can find and preserve as much of the skin as possible. Usually, I debone the breasts myself, then I butterfly cut the breasts in order to open them up into as close a rectangular shape as possible. Then, I add the stuffing, fold it all together and use 3 pieces of butcher string to hold it all in place.

I rub the outside with a little olive oil, season with salt and pepper and open roast at 400 degrees F for about 40 - 45 minutes depending upon the size of the breasts. Always use a meat thermometer to ensure the inside middle temperature is 175 to 185 degrees F.

Recommended Products

Rock Recipes a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Our product recommendations are almost exclusively for those we currently use or have used in the past.

Nutrition Information

Yield

8

Serving Size

1/2 cup approximately

Amount Per Serving Calories 273Total Fat 9gSaturated Fat 4gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 4gCholesterol 16mgSodium 500mgCarbohydrates 40gFiber 3gSugar 4gProtein 8g

The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.

Did you like this recipe?

Do you love our "Real food recipes for real people'? Share the recipe on Facebook to let your friends know about us. They'll thank you for it.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Paulette Balda

Monday 20th of March 2023

I was born in 1945 and canning vegetables from our garden has been my special event each summer. However, we are no longer able to plant a garden ... but the farmers markets located close to our location still offer me the opportunity to do a small amount of canning. Thank you

Paulette Balda

Monday 20th of March 2023

My mouth is watering after looking at the pickled beet salad you pictured the cold plate article. As hard and long as I hunted your sites I wasn't able to locate the recipe even though the sentence below the picture said the recipe was below in the box. I LOVE picked beets because I grew up with parents who canned and made pickled beets. This salad interested me....Kindly reply when you find time...

Karen S

Wednesday 11th of January 2023

My Mom always used the heel of the bread to cover the opening where the dressing was in the chicken. It kept the dressing moist while the chicken was baking.

Patricia Chartier

Wednesday 23rd of November 2022

We had an ancestor from Wales who emigrated to NFLD in the mid 1800s and perhaps that’s why we use summer savoury in our turkey dressing to this day, although she is the only one who went to NFLD and all her descendants ended up in Quebec and ON. We grow our own summer savoury and dry and “rub it” off the stocks. We do add potato and sausage to our dressing so I guess the family recipe evolved over time.

Deanna Oates

Monday 14th of December 2020

I am 60 years old!! Been cooking turkey and chicken Sunday dinners for 35 years. I just started to use your recipes for dressing, gravy, turkey and chicken recipes!! Unbelieveable!!! I can finally cook!!! Lol. Can’t wait for my children to be able to come to the province to visit so I can give them the best Turkey dinner ever!!! You are amazing. Thank you also so I have a gray Neal to look forward to!!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Skip to Recipe

Sharing is Caring

Help spread the word. You're awesome for doing it!