Southern Cornbread Dressing

Southern Cornbread Dressing is one of the quintessential dishes to learn how to make for any Southern Belle. Southerners have a deep love for Traditional Cornbread Dressing. Everyone has their spin on it, but the main ingredients will traditionally always be somewhat the same.

The recipe that I am sharing with Y’all is a spin-off of my Grannie’s (Nettie Viola). I love that sweet name, by the way. She made the best Corn Bread Dressing; I ever had, it was simple and to the point. She lovingly made it with leftover white cornbread, homemade chicken broth, chunks of dark chicken meat, onions, a few herbs, and seasonings.

The recipe Southern Cornbread Dressing shown here uses a day-old white cornbread, a few leftover homemade biscuits, chunks of dark meat chicken, celery, onions, butter, homemade chicken broth, egg, poultry seasoning, sage, Cajun Seasoning, salt, and freshly ground black pepper.

Some of the recipes I have noticed on the internet call for a can of gravy or condensed soup to flavor them. I have never had it made this way because our family recipe is so darn good and so flavorful I can’t see adding anything more to it. Have you ever had it made that way? If so, let me know in the comment section what you think about it. I always love hearing from you.

Traditional Cornbread Dressing may also contain some other ingredients such as chopped hardboiled eggs, Oysters, chicken gizzards, sage sausage, or even andouille sausage depending on the family’s handed down recipe.

There are multiple recipes on Pinterest for what they call “Authentic Southern Cornbread Dressing,” If you are from the South, you can generally pick out the real deal recipes versus the Faux Southern Bandwagon recipes. There are certain things we are not going to add to our Cornbread Dressing. 

You usually won’t find the more traditional Southern cornbread dressings made with white bread or any other slices of bread, such as wheat or rye. You may see a mixture of cornbread, biscuits, or even cornbread, and saltines at times, but the addition of other types of bread is usually a modern or non-Southern addition.

Some of you may be asking, What is the difference between Dressing and Stuffing? A dressing is traditionally made in a casserole dish and not “stuffed” in the bird. While stuffing is just that, stuffed in a bird. Usually, they are made a little differently, as well. Filling tends to be primarily from real bread instead of cornbread.

Tips for Southern Cornbread Dressing

1. Make the White cornbread a day ahead of time.

2. Do not use yellow cornbread or a yellow cornbread mix such as Jiffy to make the cornbread. The taste is completely off and not at all what you are looking for when making this recipe.

3. Use either Homemade Chicken broth or a quality brand of broth, not stock.

4. Use dark meat in the Cornbread Dressing instead of chicken breasts for optimal flavor. 

5. Taste your dressing before adding eggs to see if the seasoning is on point.

Ingredients List

• Unsalted butter

• Yellow onion

• Celery

• Poultry seasoning

• Sage

• Cajun Seasoning

• Kosher salt

• Freshly ground black pepper

• Stale biscuits

• Day-old white cornbread

• Chicken thighs

• Chicken broth

• Eggs

• Cooking spray

Southern Cornbread Dressing

Heidy McCallum

Southern Cornbread Dressing is one of the quintessential dishes to learn how to make for any Southern Belle. Southerners have a deep love for a Traditional Cornbread Dressing. Everyone has their own spin on it but the main ingredients will traditionally always be fairly the same.

5 from 10 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 25 minutes mins

Cook Time 45 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Southern

Servings 16 People

Calories 581 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 ½ sticks Unsalted butter
• 1 large Yellow onion chopped
• 4 ribs Sliced celery
• 1 teaspoon Poultry seasoning
• 1 teaspoon Sage
• 1 teaspoon Cajun Seasoning
• ½ teaspoon Kosher salt, to own taste
• ½ teaspoon Freshly cracked black pepper, to own taste
• 5 Dry crumbled homemade biscuits
• 8 cups Stale white cornbread, crumbled
• 2 cups Chopped dark chicken meat
• 5 cups Chicken broth + more if needed
• 2 large Eggs beaten
• Cooking spray

Instructions

 

• Heat a cast iron skillet on medium heat, add unsalted butter, let the butter melt before adding onions, celery, poultry seasoning, sage, Cajun seasoning, kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper. Cook until slightly softened. About 5 minutes
• In a large bowl add the dry crumbled biscuits, white cornbread, chopped chicken, sauteed veggies, and the butter from the veggies. Mix thoroughly before adding chicken broth and beaten eggs. Mix again until all ingredients are combined
• Place in a pretreated glass casserole dish large enough to hold the mixture. Bake in a preheated 350 Degree F oven 45 minutes covered.

Nutrition

Serving: 01Calories: 581kcalCarbohydrates: 70gProtein: 15gFat: 27gSaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 143mgSodium: 1171mgPotassium: 349mgFiber: 3gSugar: 20gVitamin A: 628IUVitamin C: 6mgCalcium: 184mgIron: 3mg

Keyword Cornbread, Cornbread Dressing, Dressing, Stuffing

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