Southern-Style Cornbread Dressing
A classic Southern-Style Cornbread Dressing, this dressing has a smoother texture and is baked in its own dish. This is not a stuffing. :)
Servings: 12 servings
Ingredients
- 1 8- x 8-inch pan of baked cornbread see "Notes"
- 6 slices white bread, toasted (toss them in the toaster and get them nice and golden)
- 1 medium onion, small dice
- 3 stalks celery, small dice
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage or 1 teaspoon dry sage
- 1 tablespoon ground poultry seasoning, or to taste
- salt and pepper, to taste see Notes
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten
- 4 cups (approximately) chicken broth depending on the dryness of the cornbread, it may take up to 5 cups of broth.
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter, well, a 9- x 13-inch baking dish; set aside.
- Tear the toast into small bite-sized pieces and put them in the bowl with the cornbread.
- Please note: The vegetables in this dressing will only soften a little bit while baking in the dressing. If you do not like softly crunchy vegetables in your dressing, precook the onions and celery in a little butter over low heat until the onions are translucent.
- Add the chopped onions, celery, herbs and salt and pepper into the bread mixture. It is best to toss these ingredients lightly together with your hands before adding the chicken broth. The photo tutorial in the blog post does not address this, but in the long run it is an easier way to go.
- Mix the broth, eggs, and melted butter together. Pour the chicken broth mixture over the cornbread mixture. Toss together with a large mixing spoon just until all of the mixture is wet. Fresh, just cooled cornbread will probably not require as much liquid as does a drier recipe or day old cornbread. The dressing at this point should be very, very moist, just short of soupy. It should not look like the more traditional dressings/stuffings you may be used to seeing. If it is too dry, add more chicken broth, up to 1 cup.
- Pour into prepared baking dish. Bake, uncovered, for about 45 minutes until the dressing is set. It may require additional baking time, if the dressing is not quite set. A little bit of "jiggling" is normal when the dressing is moved. However, it should hold its shape and look "dry" on top and a rich golden brown. The internal temperature of the dressing should be at least 165-degrees F. It is fine if the internal dressing temp goes up into the 180's.
Notes
For the Cornbread. See this link for homemade cornbread. You can also use two boxes of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix prepared per package instructions and baked together in an 8- x 8-inch baking dish. Just because the box says "muffin mix", does not mean that you must make it into muffins.
Salt and Pepper. If the broth is salty, start with 3/4 teaspoon salt. If the broth is low salt or salt-free, use 1 - 1 1/4 teaspoons. You can take a little taste of the wet dressing before the eggs are added. For the pepper, use 1/8-1/4 teaspoon; more if you enjoy pepper.
Texture. The texture of this dressing, when done, is dense and almost creamy. It is not meant to be fluffy or loose. It can be cut into serving pieces or served family style with each person dishing out their own portion.
Giblets. Turkey giblets work well with this dressing. Precook them, then cut them into small pieces and add them in with the other dry ingredients. The broth from cooking the giblets can be used in place of all or some of the chicken broth.
Recipe from Terri @ that's some good cookin'