Southern Cornbread Dressing

If you are longing for a "down home" family feeling, a pan of golden Southern Cornbread Dressing will take you there. The holidays wouldn't be complete without this surefire crowd-pleaser, but don't wait for the holidays—make it anytime you need a little comfort.

A piping hot pan full of tender, savory cornbread dressing that fills the house with the scent of sage and good memories is always a welcome idea. Make a batch of your favorite cornbread, or use our recipe for Cornbread Crumbles for a classic Southern dish.

A Southern Favorite: Cornbread Dressing

Cornbread dressing is a must at most Southern Thanksgiving dinner tables. Not ones to eat bread stuffing, we revel in using classic cornbread (our recipe or someone else's) to make a sweet, nutty stuffing that is studded with tender vegetables and loads of warming herbs.

But don't let us tell you that cornbread dressing is a Thanksgiving-only dish. If you're trying to be thrifty, nothing is as satisfying and inexpensive as your own home-baked cornbread—or making the leftovers into a casserole enriched with a few eggs and sautéed vegetables, more inexpensive ingredients. Perhaps that's why Southerners came to prefer the cornbread dressing over bread stuffing anyway.

There are as many versions of cornbread dressing as there are cooks:

• Cornbread Dressing
• Best Cornbread Dressing
• Spicy Cornbread Dressing with Chorizo
• Cornbread Dressing with Sausage and Fennel
• Gluten-Free Cornbread Dressing

Ingredients for Southern Cornbread Dressing

For your Cornbread Crumbles, you'll need:

• Self-rising white cornmeal mix: This will save time and give you that familiar cornbread flavor.
• Eggs, buttermilk, and melted butter: They give the cornbread great texture and flavor.

Once your cornbread is baked, cooled, and crumbled, you'll make the dressing. Here's what you'll need for that:

• Butter: Used for its richness and to help sauté the vegetables.
• Celery and sweet onions: They give the dish more texture and vegetal flavors.
• Fresh sage: This is the main flavor component; it might seem like too much, but it's not.
• Soft bread crumbs: Make these from fresh white bread, pulsed in the food processor.
• Fresh eggs: They bind the casserole.
• Chicken stock: Gives the cornbread dressing the poultry flavor without having to put it in a turkey.

How To Make Southern Cornbread Dressing

With so many other dishes to make on Thanksgiving, you'll be glad to know cornbread dressing will be among the easiest. You can make the cornbread ahead of time. In fact, drier cornbread is great for this recipe. The rest comes together quickly and bakes while you're working on other sides.

Here's a brief outline of how cornbread dressing is made. The full recipe is further below with step-by-step instructions.

• Step 1. Make your Cornbread Crumbles. Cool completely, then crumble the bread, and let it dry out a bit while you assemble the rest of the dish. (If you use your own cornbread recipe, make sure you have 12 cups of crumbles. Otherwise, the ratios for this recipe will be off.)
• Step 2. Lightly grease a 9- by 13- inch casserole dish and an 8-inch square baking dish to bake your dressing.
• Step 3. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
• Step 4. In a large sauté pan, melt the butter, and sauté the celery and onions. Let them get soft and sweet before stirring in the fresh sage, and sauté that for a minute to release the flavorful oils in the leaves.
• Step 5. In a large bowl, combine the cornbread crumbles, fresh bread crumbs, and eggs, and stir to combine before mixing in the chicken stock and pepper, then adding the sautéed celery mixture.
• Step 6. Spread the mixture in the prepared pans.
• Step 7. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until set and golden. Then, serve and enjoy your Southern Cornbread Dressing, and collect compliments.

What's the Difference Between Dressing and Stuffing?

Dressing is a Southern thing. Dressing is baked in a casserole dish, while stuffing, as the name implies, is meant to be stuffed inside a turkey.

Food safety experts have recommended that people stop baking the stuffing inside the bird, especially if said stuffing contains raw eggs. A large bird often reaches 165°F in the breast and thighs while the stuffing inside is still raw, making it a risk for food poisoning.

Better to bake your Southern Cornbread Dressing in a dish, so you can give it the attention it deserves. As soon as it's set and golden brown, the texture will be perfect.

Make-Ahead Cornbread Dressing

If you want to get a head start, you can make the dressing up through Step 5. Then, wrap the baking dishes with storage wrap, and keep in the fridge overnight. The bread and cornbread will continue to absorb moisture while the dressing sits, so the dressing may end up a little thicker than normal. But it will still be plenty delicious.

Let the dressing sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes, before you bake it according to directions.

Alternatively, you can freeze the dressing after Step 5, and store it in the freezer up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge, and let the dish sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking.

How To Store Cornbread Dressing

Cover the baking dish with storage wrap, and keep the leftover dressing in the fridge up to 5 days. Reheat in the oven or microwave.

This recipe makes two pans of dressing. Unless you have a big crowd at your dinner table, odds are you'll have some leftovers. They're great the next day, of course, but you can also turn the dressing into fun dishes like fried hushpuppy-style balls or patty the dressing and pan fry it with an egg on top.

Editorial contributions by Robin Asbell.