Southern Cornbread Dressing Recipe (2024)

ByLeigh Harris Published: November 9, 2022November 15, 2022 Updated onNovember 15, 2022

Southern cornbread dressing scrumptiously seasoned with onions, celery, sage, and chicken stock! It’s moist, savory, tender inside, has a crispy crust and is hard to resist.

Southern Cornbread Dressing Video

^{Don’t see the video, disable your ad blocker.}

Why You’ll Love This

We look forward to this side dish every year. My southern grandmother made themost 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-respectingsoutherner 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 refrigeratedit until ready to bake. When I do this, I usually have to add additional turkey or chicken broth before baking, but it works great.

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.

FAQ

What’s the difference between stuffing and dressing?

Traditionally stuffing is bread cubes mixed with spices stuffed into the cavity of a turkey. The dressing is mostly cornbread crumbs mixed with spices and lots of stock cooked in a pan, not in the turkey.

Can cornbread dressing be made ahead?

I have made it unbaked, covered it, refrigerated it and then baked it the next day. You will need to add more chicken stock and bring it to room temperature for about 30 minutes before baking.

I have also baked it ahead and reheated it when ready to serve. I still needed to add a little extra stock. Cornbread tends to be really absorbent.

I recommend preparing the cornbread and sauteed onions and celery up to 2 days ahead. It will only take a few minutes to combine all the ingredients and bake for Thanksgiving dinner.

Storing

Let it cool to room temperature, store it in an air-tight container, and refrigerate for up to 4 days. Reheat single portions in the microwave, or cover the pan with aluminum foil, and reheat in a 325-degree F oven for 20 minutes or until heated through.

Freezing

Let the cornbread dressing cool to room temperature, place it in a freezer safe container, and freeze for up to 3 months.

More Thanksgiving And Christmas Recipe Ideas

Easy Pecan Roasted Sweet Potato Casserole

Soft and Fluffy One Hour Dinner Rolls

Decadent Whipped Potatoes (Dutchess Potatoes)

Are you on Pinterest? Click the button below to add this recipe to one of your boards!

Southern Cornbread Dressing Recipe

Traditional Southern Cornbread Dressing is perfect for the holiday dinner table. Moist and tender inside with a crispy, crunchy outside.

4.53 from 21 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: casserole, Side Dish

Cuisine: American, Southern

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 8

Calories: 287kcal

Author: Leigh Harris

Ingredients

1 recipe of cornbread (at least 6 cups)
2 cups chopped celery
2 large onions chopped
1/2 cup butter
2 cups dry bread crumbs
2-3 cups turkey or chicken stock* or more
2 large eggs beaten
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
2 teaspoons sage
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

Prepare cornbread according to package instructions.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a 9×13 baking pan with cooking spray.
Crumble cornbread in a large mixing bowl and dry breadcrumbs.
1 recipe of cornbread
Melt the stick of butter in a large skillet, add celery and onions, and saute until onions are soft, about 10 minutes.
2 cups chopped celery, 1/2 cup butter, 2 large onions
Combine celery and onion mixture, beaten eggs with cornbread, bread crumbs, chicken/turkey stock, poultry seasoning, sage, salt and pepper. The dressing should be pretty soupy so it doesn’t dry out during baking. You may need to add more stock*.
2 cups dry bread crumbs, 2-3 cups turkey or chicken stock*, 2 large eggs, 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning, 2 teaspoons sage, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
Cover, bake, for 35 minutes and uncovered for 10 minutes until browned or until well set and cooked through.

Notes

You made need more than 2 cups of stock to make it a little soupy. Homemade turkey stock is the WAY TO GO with this recipe.

Make Ahead – I have made it assembled and unbaked. Then baked the next day, but you will need to add more chicken stock. I have also baked it ahead and reheated it when ready to serve. I still needed to add a little extra stock. Cornbread tends to be really absorbent.
I recommend preparing the cornbread and sauteed onions and celery up to 2 days ahead. It will only take a few minutes to combine all the ingredients and bake.

Storing – Let it cool to room temperature, store it in an air-tight container, and refrigerate for up to 4 days. Reheat single portions in the microwave, or cover it with aluminum foil, and reheat in a 325 degree F oven for 20 minutes or until heated through.

Freezing – Let the cornbread dressing cool to room temperature, place it in a freezer safe container, and freeze for up to 3 months.

Nutrition