Southern Cornbread Dressing Video
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Why You’ll Love This
We look forward to this side dish every year. My southern grandmother made the most incredible dressing ever! This is my version; unfortunately, I never received her recipe. A classic side dish that is always on the Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner table. Serve it alongside dry brined roasted turkey, fresh green bean casserole, and cranberry sauce slices.
Key Ingredients
Bread – Our recipe uses savory cornbread and dry breadcrumbs or stale bread crumbled. Do not use sweet cornbread like Jiffy.Seasonings – Onions, celery, sage, poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper.Moisture – Homemade turkey stock or chicken stock is best, and eggs help bind and adds moisture.
How To Make Southern Cornbread Dressing
Prepare the cornbread recipe according to the package instructions. Or try our Homemade Cornbread. I always use buttermilk in the mix, even if it calls for milk. No self-respecting southerner would ever use just plain milk. Once the cornbread is cool enough to touch, break it into crumbles in a large bowl. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a 9×13 baking pan with cooking spray. Melt the stick of butter in a large skillet over medium heat, add the onions and celery, and saute until onions are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the dry breadcrumbs, spices, celery, and onions to the crumbled cornbread. Pour the broth and beaten eggs into the bread mixture and stir to combine thoroughly. It should be fairly soupy, you don’t want it to dry out. Spread into the prepared baking dish, cover with foil, and bake for 35 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until golden brown. I have made this the day before and refrigerated it until ready to bake. When I do this, I usually have to add additional turkey or chicken broth before baking, but it works great. Just one less thing I have to do Thanksgiving morning. Serve and enjoy! Moist, tender inside and crispy, crunchy outside Southern Cornbread Dressing.
Tips
If you are using white bread, you will need to dry it out in the oven (for a bit) or plan ahead and leave it out overnight.You can prepare the cornbread up to 2 days ahead. Let it cool, crumble it, then store it at room temperature, covered with a kitchen towel to allow it to dry out some.Homemade stock or broth will yield the most flavor, but you can use store-bought stock.The dressing should be quite soupy. Don’t be afraid the bread will soak all the stock up and make a fabulous moist dressing.
Variations
Because my daughter is vegetarian, we have started making the dressing by adding all the spices. I then divide it in half. Her vegetarian-style cornbread dressing receives about 1 1/2 – 2 cups of vegetable stock. Our traditional cornbread dressing receives about 1 1/2 – 2 cups of turkey stock. She loves it, but I find it lacking in flavor using vegetable stock.
