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.
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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.
You cook for your boys mamas, and they’ll always want to come home to see you. 🙂
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.
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!
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
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My mother in law always makes the dressing for our holiday dinners and this is just how she makes it. So dang good! I don’t know why we don’t make it all year long.
Can this be made in individual muffins in a muffin pan? My friend made hers that way. She has passed on and no one has her recipe.
I haven’t tried it in a muffin pan, but that sounds like a great idea to me!
I use a muffin pan. Keeps the dressing from being “gummy”.
I was looking for a southern dressing recipe and found yours Christin. I also found your recipe for Pineapple Casserole. I decided to try it and it was fabulous!!! I have made it twice already. It is a keeper!!! It tastes like a dessert. I will try the dressing recipe next.
Hmmmm. Was very easy to make and smells yumm. Now to the taste. Far to salty for my taste. Even my husband said the same thing. I think in the future I will only use half chicken stock half water and add no salt at all.
I only use unsalted chicken stock.
Used unsalted stock and season to your taste…
I boil chicken parts to add meat and I use the broth from that so it’s to my preference of taste
This recipe reminds me of my grandmother’s dressing. It’s a keeper!
This has become my go to recipe for Thanksgiving.
Can hot water cornbread be used as well as the regular cornbread.? Also, I’m a little confused on the egg thing. Use boiled eggs or uncooked or both? This seems alot like my dad’s , He made the best dressing when he was alive. I remember sitting and talking to him when making. Seems like alot of same ingredients.. Do you put all this in food processor to cut up and make smaller- the bread part? Thank you for sharing. Merry Christmas!
I use uncooked, but many people add chopped hard-boiled eggs so you could do both. I think I would just use the regular cornbread.
I just got done making a pan. I used 2 packs of Martha White cornbread mix. I made it, let it cool then crumbled it into a bowl. (My Mom makes her cornbread homemade Nd cooks it the day before, but I don’t have time for that!) I added 2 boiled eggs, chopped. 2 raw eggs, an onion I had diced and sautéed in butter until tender, salt, pepper, sage to taste. Mix it all up with canned chicken broth (I used 1 regular size can) and put in baking dish. (The darker baking pans seem to do better). Let cook at 350 for about 45-50 minutes (or until set). It is wonderful!
You want to cut down on the liquids because the oysters will release all of their liquid and make it soupy.
I use basically the same recipe but I use raw eggs and boiled eggs. So yummy
2 dense
The uncooked eggs make it all come back together. I also you boiled eggs that have my mom made it and that the way I like it. It’s up to you the way you look it.
What if I want to add oysters? Do I change anything?
I came across this recipe trying to figure out what kind of dressing to make. I have never made dressing before but it sounded pretty good. This is probably the best dressing I have ever eaten! It was easy to make and the directions are dead on. I will definitely be making this again! We use the Paul Harvey cornbread recipe and it is great also. The only thing different I did was instead of three medium onions (my wife doesn’t like onions) I used one large onion. I also cooked the onion and celery in butter but I added about one tablespoon of bacon fat to it for some extra savory flavor.
Can you make this ahead of time and put in refrigerator?
Yes. you can get it all prepped and refrigerate it. Then you might want to add a few minutes on to the cooking time or let it sit at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes before you pop it in the oven. Happy Thanksgiving!
I know this is a stupid question but this is my first time making dressing and I’m making it for at least 15-20 people, so I’m a little terrified. The stick of butter is to sauté the onions and celery and the rest of the butter in the recipe is to put on top of the dressing. Correct?
Yes, you are correct…remember before you do the final bake taste it to make sure it tastes like you want. You can adjust your seasonings at this time. As a side note make don’t over/under cook it. Check it after 30 minutes…and make sure it’s not dry. If it is add more broth and stir it in. Good luck.
That is correct !
So the whole stick of butter is to sauté the onions and celery and the 2 tablespoons is to put on top of dressing? That part is confusing me!
That’s where Im confused a whole stick? and 2 tablespoons on the top? I thought it should be opposite.
Hi! I’m going to try this recipe because the pic looks perfect. I have a dumb question. My husband says one package of celery is a stalk, but I always thought a stalk was the one “stick” in the group. If this calls for 4 stalks, is that really 4 large packages of celery? I’m doubling it so that would be 8. That seems like a lot. Help! 🙂
A stalk is one stick… A package is multiple stalks..
Noooo, a stalk is one piece♡♡♡
Oh no no…it’s not a package equals 1 stalk. Each stick of celery is a stalk. There is usually 10 or 12 stalks in a package if the celery doesn’t have all the leafy tops. Hope this helps.
No, the individual pieces are RIBS, the STALK is the whole of celery
The ribs are just the ridges on the stalk. A celery plant is made of 10-12 stalks.
Each stick of celery is a stalk. The ribs are the lines on the celery.
My grandmother’s recipe calls for white bread, not toast. She said that it was better if the bread was slightly stale and that buns worked as well or better than sliced bread. She said to use an equal amount of bread as cornbread. I make her dish fairly well, but hers was sublime. RIP Nana.
And for all you novices, it is DRESSING, not stuffing. There’s no such thing as cornbread stuffing.
Day old biscuits are a good alternative to toast.
Yes, yes, yes, someone said it correctly…this is dressing! Stuffing is that God-awful mess they sell in cubes that people buy thinking it makes dressing. And for our dressing, we started saving our bread ends and stale bread for a couple of months before the big day. My daddy would get so aggravated by all the bits & pieces of bread loaves thrown into the deep freezer, but he bit his tongue since he knew what it was for. One year, we made some early to freeze and actually ended up using some leftover homemade biscuits. But I’ve never liked the recipes that don’t use anything but cornbread…it’s too dry and crumbly without the white bread!
Had this discussion (argument) two years ago. Dressing and stuffing can be the same thing, depending on where you live. My mom and grandma are from the south and made this same recipe but called it stuffing because they stuffed it into the turkey.!
Do I make it the same way if I stuff it in the turkey?
You can use red, white, or yellow, but a sweet yellow onion would be best.
Yes
3 medium yellow onions? red onions? a mixture? I’m no chef. I have no idea! Thank you for your recipe- I can’t wait to try it! I have made the cornbread portion in advance as recommended. It’s taking all of my disciple not to eat it!
You can use red, white, or yellow, but a sweet yellow onion would be best.
I make my mother’s recipe. Close to this one. I add a pound of browned sage sausage, a cooked and chopped chicken breast, boiled eggs, and green onions. It’s always a hit.
We always make the cornbread dressing using celery onion and sage. Lots of black pepper and while mixing pour in al least a pint of raw oysters along with the liquid. This is just our tradition and my children would rather have dressing than the turkey”
On reference to the cornbread ingredient are is it Martha white’s yellow or white cornbread or is it her buttermilk cornbread ??
I use the buttermilk variety.
I use saltines in place of white bread. Boiled eggs are a must. Take it easy with the sage. You can add but can subtract. It is one of the stronger herbs. I do not beat the raw eggs before adding. A hand mixer does the trick to incorporate everything if you’re like me and leave the bread in chunks. Don’t overdo it and lose all texture. Buy more broth than you think you’ll need. It should almost slosh around in the bowl before pouring to baking dish. 30 minutes is not enough time. Happy Dressing!
How many people will this dressing feed.
I would say 8-10 depending on how much other food there is.