Fans Say Marilyn Monroe’s Stuffing Is 'Easily One of the Greatest Dressing Recipes I’ve Ever Made'—So I Tried Her Recipe Myself

Fashion designer Coco Chanel reportedly once said, “Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off.” If Marilyn Monroe’s signature stuffing recipe is any indication, the Hollywood star was a proponent of the exact opposite. Her stuffing/dressing is quite possibly the most “extra” version of this classic Thanksgiving side dish I’ve ever stumbled upon—which intrigued me and inspired me to try it.

How to Make Marilyn Monroe’s Stuffing

Monroe’s stuffing recipe, which was originally handwritten by the celeb herself on stationary and later shared in the 2012 book Fragments and in The New York Times, has a lengthy ingredient list. I don’t know about your family heirloom stuffing recipes, but hard-boiled eggs, Parmesan cheese, raisins, and ground beef are not typically on my Bingo card for bread bakes like this. At the same time, Monroe’s dressing is missing some common cast members; namely garlic, butter, and stock.

According to food writers Matt and Ted Lee, who helped share this recipe with the Times, “It bears the mark of the Bay Area and influences of Italian cooking, possibly picked up from her marriage to Joe DiMaggio at San Francisco City Hall in 1954,” they say. DiMaggio’s distaste for garlic might be why Monroe’s handwritten recipe card bluntly states “no garlic” at the top.

Here’s how to make Monroe’s holiday stuffing.

1. Soak the bread. Cut a loaf of sourdough bread in half, and place both pieces in a large bowl of cold water. Allow the bread to soak for 15 minutes. Using clean hands and working over a colander, wring out the extra water and tear the soaked bread into pieces.
2. Cook the meat. In a pot of salted water, boil chicken or turkey livers or hearts for 8 minutes. Chop into coffee bean-sized pieces. In a skillet over medium-high heat, add oil and ground beef. Cook the beef until brown, stirring occasionally to break up the meat into pistachio-sized bites.
3. Mix it all together. In a large mixing bowl, use clean hands to toss together the soaked sourdough, boiled livers, brown ground beef, plus chopped celery, chopped onion, chopped curly parsley, chopped hard-boiled eggs, raisins, grated Parmesan, and chopped walnuts, pine nuts and/or roasted chestnuts. In a small bowl, combine dried crushed rosemary, dried crushed oregano, dried crushed thyme, bay leaves, black pepper, and salt-free, garlic-free poultry seasoning. Sprinkle these dried seasonings over the stuffing and toss well. 
4. Cook until golden. Separate this mixture between two 9-inch square baking dishes or three 10-inch cast-iron skillets. Bake at 350°F for 40 minutes (the skillets) to 1 hour (the square baking dishes), or until the top is brown from edge to edge and an instant-read thermometer in the center of the dressing reads 165°F.

Tips For Making Stuffing

I host or attend very few occasions that would require 20 servings of stuffing, so I trimmed all of the quantities in half and tested this in a single baking dish. As it cooked, I scoured home cook comments on the Times and called up my pals at the BHG Test Kitchen to score more tips for next time—and for you, if you decide to give Monroe’s over-the-top side dish a try.

• Don’t feel handcuffed to the ingredients. Others who have tried this at home report success using bacon instead of liver, golden raisins or dried cranberries in place of the purple raisins, and Italian sausage rather than ground beef. Feel free to customize as desired.
• Amp up the flavor. Soaking the bread, rather than starting with dried bread cubes, is certainly a unique strategy. Next time, since it takes zero additional time and only a couple extra dollars, I plan to follow the lead of another home cook and use stock or broth instead of H2O to layer on more savory flavor.
• Sauté your aromatics. Monroe’s directions call for mixing in the onions and celery raw. In the future, since the skillet is already out and warm for the ground beef, I’ll plan to sauté the onions and celery alongside the meat. This will soften up the sturdy veggies while enhancing their natural sugars.
• Make your own spice blend. If you can’t find salt-free, garlic-free poultry seasoning, the Lees confirm it’s easy to DIY the quantity you’ll need for the 20-serving recipe with 1 teaspoon dried sage, 1 teaspoon marjoram, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, and ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg.
• Stuff it. Since it takes about 45 minutes longer to cook through—and can present a food safety challenge to bring the stuffing to temp without overcooking the meat—our Test Kitchen generally recommends baking the bread mixture in a pan (dressing-style). Still, it is possible to safely stuff and cook turkey—here’s how. Times recipe tester Matt Lee confirms that this recipe “is designed to stuff a large turkey and then have extra to bake alongside as dressing.” Divvy it up as desired.
• Put it on ice. If you end up with extra of this serves-a-crowd side dish, our Test Kitchen says it’s A-OK to freeze cooked stuffing. Allow it to cool to room temp, then transfer small portions into the cups of a silicone muffin pan. Brekke recommends dividing stuffing into portions no larger than two servings each. Once the cups are frozen solid, pop them out and place them in a resealable freezer bag. Label with the name and date, and freeze for up to 3 months.

The Verdict on Marilyn Monroe’s Stuffing

One fan declares this “easily one of the greatest stuffing/dressing recipes I’ve ever made or had.” It certainly smelled incredible as it baked; the herbs in particular created a natural “scented candle,” wafting cozy aromas throughout my home.

Although I respect the fully-loaded nature of this side dish and appreciated the textural variety in every bite, I found myself wishing for more balance flavor-wise. I was skeptical that sweet raisins, gamey liver, savory beef and eggs, and sharp Parmesan cheese would play nicely together—and I can’t say that I would give a standing ovation to the results. 

That said, this is probably because I was raised on my Mom’s Old-Fashioned Bread Stuffing that might veer too basic for some. So much of our personal preferences are shaped by what feels familiar, and my ideal stuffing always includes stock, butter, and plenty of garlic.

If the concept of Monroe’s riff sounds appealing at all, I still recommend giving it a go. Perhaps you might think that the icon’s recipe has just enough accessories, and is worthy of rolling out the red carpet for come Turkey Day.