Whenever I think about Thanksgiving the one dish that epitomizes the South is Southern cornbread dressing (or cornbread stuffing). I never really knew that any other kind of stuffing existed….except that stuff in the box that no one I knew had ever purchased.
We never put the dressing in the actual turkey though I saw people do that on TV. It never bothered me though because I never really understood cooking inside a bird (later I learned to love white bread stuffing made in a turkey from my Mother in Law).
Oh, and cornbread dressing isn’t just for Thanksgiving. We also had it for Christmas and occasionally as an everyday main dish with chicken or ham chopped up in it.
Before you make cornbread dressing ….you have to make cornbread. My skillet cornbread recipe is perfect for making Southern cornbread dressing but you can also use your favourite cornbread recipe. The key is to make sure whatever recipe you use has NO SUGAR! Stuffing is supposed to be savory, not sweet. You can use either yellow or white cornmeal to make your cornbread.
Now for the Cornbread Stuffing! You won’t regret adding it to your Thanksgiving or Christmas menu!
Looking for more great ideas? Try out our 39 Thanksgiving Dinner Side Dishes and make your turkey on the grill this year. And if you prefer white bread stuffing, try out my Cranberry Stuffing made in the Instant Pot. And last but not least, don’t forget the pumpkin pie!
Southern Cornbread Dressing Recipe:
Southern Cornbread Dressing
Ingredients
- 2 skillets cornbread 9 inch, cooled & crumbled
- 1 medium onion chopped fine
- 4 stalks celery chopped fine
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 2 cans condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
- 2 eggs
- 1 liter Chicken Broth or quart
- 2-3 Tbsp sage to taste
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Melt butter in a frying pan. Cook onions and celery until soft and starting to brown.
- Crumble cornbread into a large bowl. Add cooked onions & celery. Add condensed soup and eggs. Stir. Add enough chicken broth to moisten it to a mud-like consistency (I know, I know....I'm trying to be descriptive but it totally depends on how dry your cornbread is).
- Add seasonings to taste.
- Pour into a buttered 9X13 baking dish.
- Bake for 45 minutes or until middle is set and top is starting to brown. Serve with turkey, gravy and cranberry sauce. Yum!
Nutrition
What recipe really stands out when you remember holidays from your childhood? Do you cook it for you and your family today?
LittleRed says
I will have to try this sometime. I love dressing…it's the best part of a turkey dinner IMHO. I'm intrigued to see if I will like this kind too. Thanks for sharing:)
KYM BROWN says
This is the closest recipe to the way I was raised making dressing that I’ve found but I’ve never used cream of chicken in mine. And I have to raise a bone of contention here…none of us in the south call it stuffing, or at least no one that I’ve ever known! It’s always called dressing…in fact, I almost didn’t even look at this because I saw it called ‘stuffing’. As I was raised, ‘stuffing’ was what they made up north and not the same thing. I don’t know if that’s true or not but I’m nearly fifty so I’m set in my ways, lol!
Merry Kuchle says
I call it dressing too. When I wrote this recipe up originally, I picked the word stuffing b/c I thought more people would search for that. I’ve since changed it back to say dressing because it is TOTALLY dressing. 🙂