Cornbread Dressing
This easy Cornbread Dressing Recipe mixes Cornbread and French bread for a great texture and flavor. Serve this comforting side at your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner table or as a weeknight side with any protein dish.
The holiday season is obviously our favorite time of the year. Cooking comfort food recipes is something we really enjoy and that includes desserts, proteins, and holiday sides.
One of the best holiday side dishes is dressing. The flavors of herb, butter, and bread make a great combination and there are so many ways to make a dressing or stuffing dish. We’ll always make a batch of Sage Stuffing or Sausage Stuffing to complete a meal, but we also love a good cornbread dressing.
This recipe is made with both French bread and cornbread for great consistency and a naturally sweet flavor from the cornbread. It gets flavored with butter, herbs, veggies, and chicken stock for even more richness.
Bake it until golden brown for the perfect holiday side to go with a Roast Turkey or a Sirloin Steak.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It combines cornbread and French bread which makes a perfectly textured dressing.
- This easy side dish uses simple ingredients you can find in any grocery store.
- Perfect to serve at a holiday meal, or for a weeknight dinner with your favorite protein.
- Drying out bread gives it a fresh homemade taste that everyone will enjoy.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- French Bread – Blends well with pieces of cornbread to make a perfectly textured dressing.
- Cornbread – Adds a classic corn flavor to the dressing that is slightly nutty and naturally sweet.
- Unsalted Butter – Used to cook the veggies and offers a rich buttery flavor to the dish.
- White Onion & Celery – These aromatic vegetables give the dressing a classic vegetable flavor that pairs well with the bread.
- Herbs – A mix of sage and thyme are the perfect combination to give this dressing a fresh herb flavor.
- Chicken Broth – Helps soak the bread to give it a dressing texture while adding a rich chicken flavor.
- Salt & Pepper – Balances and enhances all of the flavors in the dressing dish.
How To Make Homemade Cornbread Dressing
- Prepare the dish: Grease a 9×13 baking dish. Set aside.
- Dry out the bread: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Add the French bread and cornbread pieces to a large baking sheet in a single layer. Add to the oven and cook for 20-30 minutes, toss every 10 minutes or so to ensure they dry out evenly. Once dried, remove from the oven and set aside to cool and dry out completely. Do not turn off the oven.
- Cook the vegetables: To a large skillet, add the butter over medium-low heat until melted. Then, add the chopped celery and onion along with the spices, salt, and pepper. Saute until the onion and celery begin to soften.
- Simmer the broth: To the softened vegetables, add the chicken broth. Bring the heat up to medium and bring the broth to a simmer for 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat and let it cool for at least 5 minutes.
- Assemble the dressing: To a large bowl, add the dried bread pieces. Pour the broth and vegetable mixture over the bread and toss until everything is coated and moist. You may need to add more broth a little at a time so the bread is moist and not soggy.
- Bake the stuffing: Taste the bread before baking to adjust any seasonings, then pour the mixture into the greased baking dish. Bake uncovered for 25-35 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Serve warm with your favorite side dishes.
Recipe Tips
- When chopping the celery and onion, make sure the pieces are bite-sized and not too large to even out the consistency of the dressing.
- The amount of cornbread we used was equivalent to the amount found in a recipe for an eight by eight-inch baking dish.
- The bread and cornbread pieces can be dried out ahead of time by cutting them into pieces and leaving them out to air dry. This usually takes 2 to 3 days to become stale.
- After toasting the bread, leave the oven on so it can easily come up to temperature when you’re about to bake the dressing.
Variations
- Vegan Cornbread Dressing: To make this recipe suitable for a vegan lifestyle, simply swap out the butter for a vegan butter substitute and use vegetable stock to replace the chicken stock.
- Gluten-free Cornbread Dressing: Use gluten-free bread and cornbread in this recipe to make it suitable for a gluten-free lifestyle.
- You can use either dry or fresh herbs to add into the stuffing or add a mix of both.
- Add additional vegetables by sauteing some chopped mushrooms and garlic along with the onion and celery.
- Add a hint of natural sweetness by tossing in some raisins or dried cranberries to the stuffing mixture before baking.
- Cook one pound of ground sausage and add it to the mixture for a sausage cornbread stuffing.
What’s the difference between cornbread stuffing and dressing?
Traditionally, a stuffing is usually a mixture that gets stuffed into a poultry bird and cooked along with the meat. A dressing is cooked outside of the meat. Over time, these two terms have become interchangeable.
Should cornbread be dry for stuffing?
Yes! If your cornbread is still soft, it will create a soggy wet texture in the dressing that is undesirable.
Should there be eggs in stuffing?
While eggs are a great binder for a stuffing or dressing recipe, it’s not needed in every recipe. This egg-free cornbread dressing has a great texture without the use of eggs.
Storing and Freezing
Storing: Cooked and cooled leftover dressing can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days before reheating and serving.
Freezing: If you’d like to make this recipe ahead of time. Follow the instructions to cook the stuffing and allow it to cool completely. Then, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and then in a layer of aluminum foil and freeze for up to 3 months. Remove from the freezer and bake at 350°F for one hour or until completely warmed through and cooked.
More Comfort Food Side Dishes
Don’t forget to check out our Cornbread Dressing web story!
Ingredients
- 8 cups cornbread, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 5 cups French bread, cut into 1-inch pieces
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 2 cups celery, finely diced
- 1 cup onion, finely diced
- ½ teaspoon ground sage
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish, and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and arrange the cornbread and French bread pieces in an even layer on a large sheet pan. Bake for 20-30 minutes until dried out.8 cups cornbread5 cups French bread
- While the bread pieces dry, make the broth mixture. Using a large skillet or saucepan, melt the butter over low-medium heat. Add the onion, celery, sage, thyme, salt, and pepper. Cook until the onion and celery start to soften.½ cup unsalted butter2 cups celery1 cup onion½ teaspoon ground sage½ teaspoon dried thyme
- Carefully pour the chicken broth into the pan, and stir to combine. Adjust heat to medium, and bring the broth to a simmer. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes, then remove from heat and allow to cool for several minutes.4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- Transfer the dried bread pieces into a large bowl. Pour the warm broth mixture over the bread pieces a little at a time. Use a large, wooden spoon to toss the ingredients and ensure the bread is evenly moistened. Add additional broth a little as a time as needed. You want the bread to be moist without being soggy. Taste and adjust any spices before baking.
- Pour the dressing into the prepared baking dish. Bake uncovered for 25-35 minutes or until the top is golden brown. The dressing is done when a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Serve warm with your favorite entree.
I’m trying this, Kim!!!
Hi Susan! 🙂 It’s great with some mashed potatoes and gravy, and turkey, of course!