Homemade Southern Cornbread Dressing Recipe ~Soul Food Style~
You are viewing the original dressing recipe posted in 2009. I have since updated the recipe (photo below) and you can find it HERE. If you prefer this recipe then just keep reading. I decided to leave it up just in case.
Watch me make this southern cornbread dressing recipe from start to finish!
Original Post
If you’ve ever wondered how to make a flavorful, homemade Southern Cornbread dressing, then let me share with you my grandmother’s recipe. This dressing is usually the ONLY dressing I will eat. It is moist, full of that soul food flavor, and as southern as it gets! I’m talking Elberton, Georgia southern!!
My grandmother has been making this dressing for EVERYBODY’S Thanksgiving since I was a baby. People put in their requests for her to make them a pan for their Thanksgiving dinner months ahead of time.
When she gave me this recipe I was surprised to discover how easy it was. All this time I thought it was some complicated process. Now if you want this dressing to be darker then you can put in more seasonings. My grandmother puts in a crapload, but I find it tastes delish with just a teaspoon of each, especially if I’m going to be serving it with some flavorful gravy.
If you have a favorite southern cornbread recipe (not the sweet kind) then use that. If not I’ve listed a basic, easy one below.
Get the Recipe: Homemade Southern Cornbread Dressing Recipe ~Soul Food Style~
Ingredients
BASIC CORNBREAD RECIPE
- 1 cup self-rising cornmeal
- 1/2 cup self-rising flour
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
DRESSING RECIPE
- Cornbread, 9x9 inch pan (my grandmother always uses day old cornbread)
- 3 pieced of toast, crumbled (or stale bread)
- 1 cup onions, diced (about half of a large onion)
- 1 cup celery, diced (about 3 stalks)
- 1 cup green bell peppers, diced, (about 1 medium green bell pepper. You could also add in some red bell pepper as well if you'd like)
- 1 cooked chicken breast or cooked chicken thighs, shredded
- 2 eggs
- 3-4 cups chicken or turkey broth
- 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 1 teaspoon sage
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- To make the cornbread, in a bowl,whisk together the cornmeal & flour.
- Add in the buttermilk, eggs & oil.
- Stir just until combined. Do not over work the batter.
- Pour into a greased, 9 x9 baking dish.
- Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until done.
- Let cool.
- Once cooled break up the cornbread and toast it in the oven to dry it out. *See note*
- Set aside.
- To make the dressing, add the dried cornbread and crumbled toast into a large bowl. Set aside.
- In a saucepan, sauté onions, celery and green bell peppers in a little bit of butter or olive oil until tender.
- Add the sautéed veggies into the cornbread mixture.
- Add shredded chicken into the cornbread mixture.
- Stir together to combine.
- Add in the broth a little at a time. (Add in just enough to make everything thick & a little soupy.)
- Stir in poultry seasoning, sage, and black pepper.
- Give it a taste and add more seasonings if desired. It should taste exactly the way you want your dressing to taste like.
- When you are content with the taste, go ahead and stir in the eggs.
- Pour into a buttered 9 X 13 casserole pan.
- Bake for 45 minutes or until set.
Video
Notes
Be sure to taste it before adding the eggs and adjust the seasonings to your liking. You can also use chicken thighs for more flavor.
My grandmother uses red bell pepper as well sometimes.
Girrrrrrllllll!!! I say girl!! Ms. Diva, this dressing is gooooood! I followed the directions exactly with a few extras. I added cream of chicken soup to kick up the flavor just a bit and, since I like spicy food, I added about 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes. Superb! I have the sweet potato pie in the oven now and I’ll let you know how that turns out! Thanks lady!
well I got my cornbread made today to be ready for my dressing!! I’m excited to try this recipe!! I’ve never made dressing before. I have always “cheated” cause I was nervous thinking it would be too hard!! BUT with the video and the recipe I’m looking forward to the outcome, and not nervous!! Wish me luck!!
When I read the part about you being from Georgia, I knew that I had to take your dressing recipe into consideration 🙂 (I’m from Thomasville, Ga.). Anywho, this will be my second time trying to cook cornbread dressing, I think the turnout will be superb, but pray for me. I’ll write an updated post after I finish cooking it and after my family has a taste. Thanks for sharing.
I can not eat chicken at all, I am allergice this will be the first year cookiing dinner for my family. How could I make this work for me as well?
I don’t use eggs and I use sausage instead of chicken. You could try and substitute vegetable broth for chicken broth if you can’t have that either.
Mimi you can use turkey if you’re not allergic. I actually normally use turkey drumsticks!
Try using turkey instead of chicken. That’s what I use
use turkey instead
Just substitute Turkey for the chicken.
I haven’t tried this myself but I would try using turkey breast instead of chicken and vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. Just my 2 cents.
My grandmother always used chicken in her dressing, but if you can eat turkey you might try that. Otherwise I suppose you could leave the meat out. That being said the recipe also calls for chicken broth, and if you are allergic to chicken then you might want to consider using vegetable stock instead and season to taste. I don’t see why this can’t be made vegetarian, but I guess I’d have to make it sometime as a veggie dish to see what needs to be changed to make it taste best…
U CAN USE SAUSAGE AS WELL
Wow, my husband was allergic to chicken, so I boiled neck bones and made his very own special pan of dressing.
This is very similar to my recipe. I prefer mine without chicken in it, so you could make yours without it. Also, I would guess you could use vegetable broth instead. I use cream of chicken and cream of celery in addition to chicken broth. Cream of mushroom would probably work well, too.
HI I think I will use smoked turkey breast instead of chicken.
You can use turkey necks. That’s the way my MOM has always used. Good Luck!!!
You can leave out the chicken, it’s mostly there as a flavoring technique but I live in the south and I’ve known people who leave out the meat and still have delicious dressing. Also, since you’re allergic to chicken, you could add in some shredded turkey if you are making turkey, if not you can buy the carved meat that’s usually sold in the sandwich meat section and shred it up.
You can just leave the chicken out. It will still be a delicious dressing. You can also use vegetable broth if you are allergic to chic broth.
can you eat turkey?
i loved ur recipe for the thanksgiving dressing…sounds easy looks great..how many people does it feed?
Can I leave out the green and red peppers?
No!! That’s not allowed.
My grandmother from Jackson,MS always made her cornbread dressing with green bell peppers; you don’t see recipes with the bell pepper often, but they make all the difference in the world taste-wise in my opinion. It adds a whole new element of taste to the cornbread, which I love and remember from my childhood. My wife grew up in Louisiana and her family recipe for cornbread dressing includes rice and green onions. There is no right or wrong way to make dressing per se, but I’d encourage you to try the recipe with the peppers at least once, they make for a wonderful added taste. Good luck and happy eating
I know what you are talking about. My mother always used bell peppers also.
I am making a batch right now, that’s how we did it in Arkansas. I am looking to see how others make theirs.
It seems like a lot of cornbread dressing receipes leave out bell pepper, so if you don’t like it, absolutely you can leave it out. I myself, will not make it without bell pepper–love to use both red and green. You might try using red bell peppers only because they are very mild in flavor compared to the green ones. Also, if it’s a texture thing, I put all my vegetables–onion, celery, and bell pepper– in the food processor and then either sautee them or cook them in the microwave before adding then to the dressing mixture. If you don’t like the texture, but like the flavor, that’s the way to go.
yes, you can leave out the peppers
My grandmother always put sweet pickles in her dressing, which of course has been passed down to me through my mom. I haven’t ever met anyone else who does that! She also put sausage in it, but I tend to leave that out.