Southern Cornbread Dressing is deliciously moist and wonderfully seasoned with sage, onions, and celery. It’s a classic that makes it to the Thanksgiving table year after year.
Thanksgiving is quickly approaching and it’s time to start planning that Thanksgiving menu. This year I want the food to be extra good and special since this is the first year my son has been away at college. I miss him dearly and I know he misses my home cooking. (Note: This post was originally published November 10, 2015. But my son is still coming home for Thanksgiving 😊)
You cook for your boys mamas, and they’ll always want to come home to see you. 🙂
The Thanksgiving side dish that my kids look forward to the most is the dressing.
What Is Dressing?
Dressing is what southerners call stuffing. Typically dressing is made with cornbread. Variations on cornbread dressing are many and varied. Depending on the region of the south, ingredients like pecans, sausage, crawfish, or oysters can be added.
Thanksgiving Dressing Recipe
Probably the most looked forward to part of Thanksgiving dinner, besides dessert, is the dressing and it’s not uncommon for us to have more than one kind. I personally really love this Andouille Sausage and Cornbread Stuffing.
This Southern Cornbread Dressing is a more traditional southern dressing made with crumbled cornbread along with lots of onion, celery, and sage. It’s savory, moist, and delicious.
How Far In Advance To Make The Cornbread
You should make the cornbread a day or two in advance. You want the conrbread to be somewhat dry and stale. This will allow it to absorb more liquid and flavor.
Recipe Tip
Since we typically fry our Thanksgiving turkey, I solely use canned broth to make dressing, but if you have turkey drippings, you could add them to the dressing and it will taste even better.
Along with cornbread dressing we love to have Cheesy Green Bean Casserole, mashed potatoes, and Broccoli Casserole for Thanksgiving dinner. And this year I think I’ll add Savory Sweet Potato Casserole to the list. You can never have too many casseroles! I also always make these Yeast Rolls and Southern Sweet Potato Pie.
Equipment Needed
- Cast Iron Pan– You will need a 9 to 10-inch cast iron pan for baking the cornbread. A 9-inch cake pan or baking dish can be used instead.
- Baking Dish– a 9×13-inch baking dish is a good size.
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Watch the video below to see how easy it is to make Southern Cornbread Dressing.
Southern Cornbread Dressing
Equipment
- 9 to 10-inch cast iron pan
Ingredients
Cornbread
- 1 cup self-rising cornmeal, I use Martha White
- 1/2 cup self-rising flour, I use White Lily
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons Vegetable oil
Dressing
- 8 tablespoons butter, (1 stick)
- 3 medium onion, chopped
- 4 stalks celery, chopped
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried sage
- 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 3 pieces toast, crumbled
- 1/2 cup milk
- 3 eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 to 2 1/2 cups chicken stock or broth
- 2 tablespoons butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- In a medium bowl, stir together all ingredients for cornbread. Pour into a lightly greased 9-inch cast iron pan or a 9-inch baking pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Before using, crumble into small pieces.
- Heat butter over medium heat in a large pan. Add celery and onion and cook until soft.
- Add sage, poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper to onion mixture.
- In a large bowl combine crumbled cornbread and toast.
- Whisk together milk and eggs and add to bowl. Stir in 2 cups of chicken broth.
- Stir in onion mixture. Mixture should be very moist. Add more broth if necessary.
- Transfer to a greased baking dish. Cut butter into small slivers and scatter on top of dressing.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until it turns light brown on top.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I decided to make this recipe but my cornbread came out thinner than I expected. Like 1/2 an inch high. I prepared it according to your instructions in a 9in square baking pan. Can you help me understand why that may be happened? I was expecting a thicker cornbread.
Do you mean 3 onions or is that a typo? Thank you!
Three seems a bit excessive to me. I used 1 large onion. 🙂
I downloaded this recipe 3 years ago. She appears to have made a couple of changes. The one I downloaded called for 2 1/2 – 3 CUPS of chopped onion.
Also, she now gives scratch cornbread recipe. The original called for 2 pkgs. of sweet cornbread mix. (6 oz. pkgs). Bake, crumble, and then spread on a cookie sheet and put in oven set to 250 degrees until the crumbles are not too moist. Recommends making the cornbread a day ahead.
Simple but Old
Of COURSE I varied my dressing from this recipe. Duh! lol I added sage but I also added 1/2 roll of Jimmy Dean Sage sausage. I also baked some boneless, skinless chicken thighs, shredded them and added those too. I don’t have poultry seasoning but I used garlic salt (how much?), the sage I mentioned (how much?), white pepper (how much?), onion powder (?), garlic powder (?), thyme (?). I also used the Pepperidge Farms cornbread stuffing instead of making my own cornbread. We shall see, but I have zero doubt as to how it’s going to turn out. 4 minutes left in the oven. My next batch, I’m going to try using cream of chicken, but also the same re: chicken thighs, sausage, etc.
John, this is how my dad,( who’s name is also john) made it since I was a little girl. He passed from covid last year, so seeing your name and the way he made it brings joy to my heart. Happy Holidays!!!
I made it Sooo Delicious❤
This is very similar to my mom’s recipe from 80+ years ago. No milk and more broth – homemade broth is best (I freeze some when I boil chicken for other dishes). We always use extra sage also. Sometimes shredded chicken in it and sometimes not. It’s the best, in my opinion. My mouth is watering!
Do you saute the onions and celery in 8T of butter and add the 2T to the top or saute in 2T and add 8T to the top?
the 2 T. of butter goes on the top. You need the 8 T. to saute the veggies in
I sauteed my onion and celery in 4 Tbs butter and it was a lot of butter.
I double this recipe, do I need to make more cornbread. I hit the 2x but the cornbread didn’t increase.
Thank you,
Lora
Yes. You double everything
How much cornbread is needed for this recipe if I use Martha White buttermilk cornbread packets. I added buttermilk and 1 egg instead of just water. Please let me know asap. Thanks so much.
Easy to make. Tastes great! Will make again!
1st time making dressing and it turned out great the whole family loved it
This was a very delicious dressing. I love this recipe!