Southern Cornbread Dressing Recipe

A spoon dipping into cornbread dressing in a white casserole dish.

4.19 from 105 votes

Southern Cornbread Dressing Recipe

My Auntie Rose’s Famous Southern Cornbread Dressing recipe combines moist skillet cornbread with homemade chicken stock, celery, onion, chicken pieces, spices and flavor galore.

Prep Time2

Cook Time1 20

Total Time3 20

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American, soul food, south, Southern

Servings: servings

Calories: 449.57kcal

Author: Jocelyn Delk Adams

Ingredients

For the Chicken and Chicken Stock

1 5-6 pound chicken thawed
3 large celery stalks
1 large sweet onion peeled
¾ cup salted butter
1 tbsp minced garlic heaping
8 chicken bouillon cubes
1 tbsp black pepper plus 1 teaspoon

For the Cornbread

5 cups self rising cornmeal mix I use Pearl Milling Co.
5 tbsp all purpose flour
5 tsp granulated sugar
2½ cups whole milk room temperature
6 large eggs room temperature and beaten
8 oz sour cream room temperature
½ cup salted butter melted
⅓ cup vegetable oil

For the Cornbread Dressing

2 cups finely chopped onions
2 cups finely chopped celery
½ cup finely chopped green pepper
14 oz herb seasoned stuffing Pepperidge farms is what we use
2 (10.5 ounce) cans cream of mushroom soup
2 (10.5 ounce) cans cream of chicken soup
8 white sandwich bread slices (include the 2 ends)
1 tbsp ground sage
1 tbsp poultry seasoning
1½ tsp black pepper

Instructions

For the Chicken and Chicken Stock

Follow full instructions for making chicken stock in this recipe.

For the Cornbread

Follow full instructions to make southern cornbread.

For the Cornbread Dressing

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Crumble cornbread by hand into super small pieces and fine crumbs in a large roasting pan.
Add the onions, celery, green pepper and stuffing mix to crumbled cornbread. Completely mix everything together until thoroughly mixed.
Next add cream of mushroom soups, cream of chicken soups and 6 cups of the homemade stock and combine thoroughly. Make sure you are mixing every single thing in as well as possible so flavor gets throughout.
Next place slices of bread to the top of dressing mixture. Pour remaining 2 cups of chicken stock over the bread and dressing soaking the bread then mix thoroughly into the dressing mixture.
Finally add ground sage, poultry seasoning and pepper and mix in until well seasoned.

To Assemble

Begin by adding a layer of dressing mixture to bottom of 9x13 pan about a ¾ to an inch high to cover the bottom of the pan. Line the layer with shredded chicken then repeat with another large layer of dressing then chicken and repeat ending with dressing at the top of the pan. Repeat for the other 9x13 pan.
Cover both pans with foil and bake for 45 minutes (ADD TENT OF STOCK NOTED IN NOTES BELOW AS IT BAKES) then remove foil and bake for 25-35 minutes or until a thermometer reaches 180. (DON'T OVERBAKE!- ALSO SEE NOTES BELOW)

Notes

Make the cornbread and chicken stock ahead of time. It will save you time but also the cornbread works better in the dressing after it sits overnight and the chicken and stock will have more intense flavors. However, if you don’t have time, make sure that you cool your chicken to room temperature.

Taste and adjust the seasoning to your tastes. Just be careful adding salt as there is actually plenty in the ingredients you are using and likely won't need it.

Don't over bake dressing. You want it to be moist and it will dry out if it cooks too long.

Add more broth to the top if it starts to look dry as it cooks.

Don't skip the homemade chicken stock! It simply won't taste as good!

Nutrition