Southern cornbread dressing
95 min · 7 g protein · 214 cals / serving
The Thanksgiving side most Southern families would not trade for any stuffing: crumbled day-old cornbread and a few slices of toasted bread soaked with broth, onion, celery and plenty of sage, bound with eggs and baked until the middle is soft and spoonable and the top is crisp and golden. Broth carries the moisture where many versions pour in cream.
Ingredients
- about 5 1/2 cups crumbled (roughly two thirds of a 9-inch skillet cornbread) cornbread, a day old, crumbled
- 5 slices white bread, toasted and cubed
- 3 tbsp butter
- 2 large onions, diced
- 6 stalks celery, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp dried sage, rubbed
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth, warm
- 4 large eggs, beaten
Steps
- Heat the oven to 375°F and grease a 9 × 13-inch (23 × 33 cm) baking dish. Crumble 480 g (about 5 1/2 cups) of the cornbread into a very large bowl and add the toasted bread cubes. The cornbread should be a day old and a little dry; fresh cornbread turns to mush.
- Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the onion and celery 10–12 minutes, until soft and translucent but not browned, adding the garlic, sage, thyme, pepper and salt for the last minute. Scrape everything over the cornbread.
- Pour in 3 1/4 cups of the warm broth and stir gently, then stir in the beaten eggs. The mixture should look like a wet, loose porridge, wetter than you expect; add the last half cup of broth if it looks at all dry. Taste a little before the eggs go in if you want to check the seasoning.
- Spread into the dish without packing it down. Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes, then uncover and bake 20–25 minutes more, until set, puffed and golden and crisp on top, and the centre reads 165°F. Rest 10 minutes before serving.
Good to know
Dressing or stuffing?
In the South it is called dressing, and it is always baked in its own dish, never inside the bird. That is what gives it the crisp top and the soft, custardy middle.
Can I make it ahead?
Assemble it up to a day ahead, cover and refrigerate, then add 10–15 minutes to the covered bake. Bake the cornbread itself two days ahead so it has time to dry.
Can I add sausage?
Brown 12 oz of turkey sausage, crumbled, and fold it in with the vegetables. It makes a heartier dressing that holds its own as half a meal.
Alternatives
Per
- Calories
- 130
- Protein
- (13%)
- 4 g
- Fat
- (38%)
- 5 g
- Carbohydrates
- (49%)
- 16 g
- of which sugar
- 3 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 353 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 2569 kcal goes into the pot and 2411 g of ingredients comes out as about 1975 g of food: 130 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.