Southern Cornbread Dressing Recipe
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Southern Cornbread Dressing makes a comforting, classic dish for the holidays! This cornbread dressing recipe is moist, delicious and so easy! An heirloom family favorite recipe that makes the perfect side dish!
Cornbread dressing could easily take center stage at my family’s table during the holidays, especially at Thanksgiving. On that special day, the cornbread dressing really rivals the turkey for attention.
There’s just one rule.
No stuffing in this house, and no funny stuff in our dressing. I think I’d no longer be allowed to make it for my family if I “messed” with this traditional family cornbread dressing recipe.
But you know, every family makes their recipes a little bit differently, and that’s what makes family recipes so special, I think! The special touches to suit your family’s taste preferences help you know that those recipes were made with tons of love and care for each person who would gather at the table to enjoy them.
This recipe makes enough for two 9×13 dishes. You can easily half the recipe to make just one or use the freezer-friendly instructions to prepare one to bake now and one to freeze and bake later.
Table of Contents
Southern Cornbread Dressing Recipe
For our cornbread dressing, we use my Grandmother Verdie’s recipe that she got from her own mother. It is a definite heirloom family recipe that my family treasures! It is so incredibly moist and tender and so delicious! Once you taste it, you’ll understand why it is a must-have family favorite recipe.
Southern Cornbread Dressing Ingredients
Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full listing of ingredients, instructions, notes, and estimated nutritional information.
To make it, you’ll need the following ingredients.
- Cornbread – It starts with a skillet of southern buttermilk cornbread. While it only takes 30 minutes to make, you can also easily make it ahead if you’d like. You can prepare it up to two days ahead and keep it covered tightly on the kitchen counter until ready to make your dressing.
- Biscuits or Bread – Likewise, we use leftover biscuits from the day before, but you can also use sliced white bread, as my Grandmother showed me one day when Granddaddy had grabbed the last couple of biscuits she’d stashed away for her dressing as a “snack.” The bread works perfectly, too!
- Seasonings – Salt and pepper add so much flavor to this dressing. If you like the flavor of sage in your dressing, include it as well.
- Eggs – You’ll need three large eggs for the full recipe. If you are making a half recipe, use two eggs.
- Onion – You’ll need one medium-diced onion. The onion adds so much flavor to the recipe. If you do not care for onions, you can omit them or do as I do and have one pan with onions and one without.
- Celery – Two diced stalks of celery are perfect in this recipe.
- Butter – The butter not only adds flavor, but it adds moisture to this cornbread dressing as well. You will slice the butter so that it mixes more easily into the dressing.
- Cream of Chicken Soup – I prefer to use my homemade Cream of Chicken Soup recipe, but you can absolutely use store-bought if you like.
- Chicken Stock or Broth – You will need a good bit of chicken stock or broth. It adds so much moisture to the dressing! If you do not have enough in your dressing, it will make for a dry dressing. Here, again, you can use homemade or store-bought chicken stock or broth, whichever you prefer.
How to Make Southern Cornbread Dressing Recipe
- Crumble. Crumble your cornbread and biscuits or bread into small pieces in a large bowl. You’ll want to use the largest bowl you have so that you can really mix this up well. A large stockpot also works well if you do not have a large enough mixing bowl. As a child, this was the part Grandmother let me help her with in making the dressing. It is one of my fondest memories in the kitchen.
- Mix. Now add in the salt, pepper, sage (optional), onion, butter, cream of chicken soup, and chicken stock or broth. Mix well until all of the ingredients are well combined and the mixture is smooth.
- Bake. Pour the mixture into two 9×13 baking dishes and bake until the cornbread dressing is browned and is set, about 30 – 45 minutes.
Recipe Variations
Southern Chicken and Dressing Recipe – Mix about 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken into the dressing mixture and bake as directed for a delicious cornbread dressing with chicken recipe.
Southern Turkey and Dressing Recipe – Stir about 2 cups of cooked, shredded turkey into the dressing mixture and bake as directed.
Storage Tips
To store leftovers: Wrap 9×13 pan(s) with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Make ahead cornbread dressing: Prepare the dressing without baking and store it in the refrigerator two days ahead or the freezer up to 3 months in advance. If frozen, thaw in the refrigerator two days before you are ready to serve to ensure that it is fully thawed. Bake as directed.
To freeze unbaked cornbread dressing: Wrap 9×13 pan(s) with plastic wrap and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. To bake, remove from the freezer and thaw in the refrigerator. Then, bake the dressing as directed.
To freeze baked cornbread dressing: Allow it to cool completely, then cover the 9×13 pan(s) with plastic wrap and foil (or store in an airtight, freezer-safe container) and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. To serve, thaw in the refrigerator and then reheat.
Expert Tip!
Oven space is at a premium on holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas! Here are a few tips that may help with your cornbread dressing:
- Bake your dressing early in the morning. When done, wrap it well and store it in the refrigerator as your turkey roasts.
- While the turkey rests from roasting, place your dressing back into the oven to reheat thoroughly.
More Favorite Holiday Side Dishes
Frequently Asked Questions
Cornbread dressing is cooked in a baking dish, while stuffing is traditionally “stuffed” or cooked inside the cavity of the turkey.
Making sure your cornbread dressing is done is essential. To test doneness, shake the casserole dish lightly. If the center of the dressing moves, then the dressing is not cooked through in the center. Continue baking in 5-minute intervals until the cornbread is cooked through.
Yes! Adding cooked chicken or turkey to your dressing is another family-favorite recipe! See how to make Chicken and Dressing or Turkey and Dressing in my Recipe Variations above.
Here’s the recipe for my family’s Southern Cornbread Dressing. I sure hope you love it as much as we do. We always like to finish it off with a drizzle of giblet gravy or turkey gravy!
Southern Cornbread Dressing
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 full recipe Southern Buttermilk Cornbread
- 3 buttermilk biscuits, or 3 slices of sandwich bread or other soft leftover bread
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon rubbed sage, optional
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 1/2 cup butter, sliced
- 4 cups cream of chicken soup
- 6 cups chicken stock or broth
Instructions
- Prep. Preheat oven to 350º F.
- Mix. Crumble all of the cornbread and biscuits (or white bread slices) into a very large bowl. Add salt, pepper, eggs, onion, celery, butter, cream of chicken soup, and chicken stock. Stir until well-combined.
- Bake. Pour dressing into two 9×13 baking dishes and bake until lightly browned, about 30 – 45 minutes. To test doneness, shake casserole dish lightly. If the center of the dressing moves, then the dressing is not cooked through in the center. Continue to bake until the dressing is set throughout.
Notes
Recipe Variations
Southern Chicken and Dressing Recipe – Mix about 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken into the dressing mixture and bake as directed for a delicious chicken dressing recipe. Southern Turkey and Dressing Recipe – Stir about 2 cups cooked, shredded turkey into the dressing mixture and bake as directed.Storage Tips
To store leftovers. Wrap 9×13 pan(s) with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to a week. To make ahead cornbread dressing: Prepare the dressing without baking and store it in the refrigerator two days ahead or the freezer up to 3 months in advance. If frozen, thaw in the refrigerator two days before you are ready to serve to ensure that it is fully thawed. Bake as directed. To freeze unbaked cornbread dressing: Wrap 9×13 pan(s) with plastic wrap and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. To bake, remove from the freezer and thaw in the refrigerator. Then, bake the dressing as directed. To freeze baked cornbread dressing: Allow it to cool completely, then cover the 9×13 pan(s) with plastic wrap and foil (or store in an airtight, freezer-safe container) and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. To serve, thaw in the refrigerator and then reheat.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
Is a serving one cup or half a cup? I eat low carb so this info is important to me. Thank you very much!!
I am making cornbread dressing for the first time and excited to try your family recipe. Can this recipe be baked the day before, stored in the refrigerator overnight and reheated on Thanksgiving with good results? Thanks!
Hi Barbara,
I’m glad you are giving the dressing a try! I have written tips for Make Ahead Thanksgiving Tips where I discuss how to prepare many of the dishes ahead – and the Southern Cornbread Dressing is one of the ones I discuss. Hope this helps you with your Thanksgiving meal! xo
First I am in no way a cook or anything good in the kitchen except a participant in food consumption. But I have been lately trying to become a better cook due to I’m home and wife works.
My wife asked If I would try my hand a making dressing for her countys Thansgiving lunch
I told her that I’d give it a try and found this recipe and decided to make this one because it looked as tho it was easy and something a novice might be able to do. Plus the reviews were great.
I went to the store got all of the ingredients needed and sat down and chopped onions and celery into small pieces.and started to combine the ingredients as well as cooking my own form of cornbread with 3 pieces of bread
I found the recipe to be pretty simple except for the part for the Chicken soup If i had not read the highlighted 4cups of cream of chicken soup I would have certainly put too much soup in the mix which would have increased the salt greatly.
When I got it mixed and started to pour the ingredients into an aluminum pan 9×13 I realized for the first time that I would need 2 of those pans and that the recipe was for 2 full 9×13 pans.
So got that portion settled and cooked only one at a time due to the size of our oven.
WELL the recipe called for 45 minutes BUT I can say that without a doubt that 45 minutes for this rookie chef was way to little because the jiggle method was the way I tested the doneness of the dressing.
WELL 1 hr and a half the dressing came out of the oven and looked and smelled amazing.
Then the other pan but this time 2 hr and a half later they were complete and when I spooned in one of those pans the dressing was not at all dry and looked very good but I always worry about salt because to me if a little is good then alot is even better SO I use little salt when I cook if any at all.
Well the AM I put the dressing in my wifes car praying for a good report from her co workers
And MY PHONE RANG ABOUT 1 O’CLOCK and was amazed that she stated that the dressing was a hit and many people inquired about the recipe.
So thank you for this absolutely fantastic recipe and to others concerned about making this I assure you IF I CAN DO THIS ANYONE CAN. it was a big HIT. THANKS AGAIN
JUST CALL ME THE CHEF WITHOUT ANY EXPERIENCE! LOL! GOD BLESS!!
I am so happy to see that you gave this a try, Donny! And that you enjoyed it! This has been a part of our family holidays for generations – so delicious!
Thanks so much for sharing this with me! I’m glad to have you here!
so,is it 4 cups condensed soup,or 4 cups prepared soup?
Hi Douglas,
If you are using canned soup, just use it straight from the can – don’t dilute. Hope you enjoy it! Thanks!
Or is it 12 servings per pan?
Hello, I would like to try your dressing recipe but I’m wondering- how can 2 pans only serve 12 people? Only 6 servings per pan???
Can a can of mushroom soup be added to the recipe?
I’ve never made it that way, Diana. This is how we’ve made it in my family for so many years. Hope you enjoy it! xo
Can bell pepper be used along with the onion and celery?
I’ve not added that to it, Diana. Hope you enjoy it. Thanks
Yes! You can add bell pepper and it’s delicious! This is exactly my granny’s recipe from generations except add bell pepper and I use fresh sage. Enjoy!Â
I’m doing this for Thanksgiving and cannot wait to share it with my big family meal!!!  Thank you for sharing your grandmothers special dish…they are always the best🤗
Aww, what a sweet comment, Lori! Have a special time with your family and I hope you enjoy the dressing! xo
Hi, If I was to use Jiffy cornbread mix do you know how many boxes it would take to equal your Southern Buttermilk Cornbread recipe? This substitution would really help me. Thank you!!
Hi Jules,
I’ve never used that mix Jules so I can’t say. Thanks.
Jules, Did you figure out the Jiffy cornbread mix ? I was thinking of using the same.
Thanks
Jules and J, I was wondering the same so I did a google search on making jiffy cornbread in a standard skillet and it called for 2 boxes so I think it’s safe to say that 2 1/2 boxes would equate to the larger skillet.. at least that’s what I’m trying tomorrow!
Please don’t use Jiffymix! It makes dressing too sweet and consistency is off! If you want to take shortcut I recommend the package of cornbread mix called cotton picking cornbread mix and follow the rest of this recipe which is really good
I used 3 boxes of Jiffy cornbread mix and it turned good.
Looks good can’t wait for thanksgiving
It is truly a family tradition to have Grandmother Cornbread Dressing for Thanksgiving. xo
The recipe calls for 1/2 c butter sliced. Is that unmelted?
Yes, it is not melted. Hope you enjoy it, Judy! Thanks!