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 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.