Call me crazy, but during the holiday crush, I can easily be content with a bowl of this classic corn bread dressing, and nothing more, for dinner. It's just that satisfying. Crusty and soft, savory and sweet, and somehow dense and light at the same time, I crave it both day and night. And I have to credit my grandmother for this one. Although she had Southern roots, she spent most of her life in the far Northern reaches of Alaska. So it's little wonder that the kind of corn bread dressing she ultimately came to love had a rich, and rather more Northern leaning flavor, with a tender crumb and just a little bit of sweetness to help chase away all that cold. Still works like a charm!
You will, or course, need some corn bread in order to prepare this classic corn bread dressing...and thankfully, whipping up a delicious batch of homemade corn bread is incredibly quick and easy.
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Ingredients for Corn Bread Dressing
- corn bread
- white bread
- unsalted butter
- yellow onion
- celery
- fresh sage
- fresh thyme
- dried sage
- kosher salt
- fresh ground black pepper
- eggs
- pecans
- chicken (or turkey) broth or stock
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions for Corn Bread Dressing
Heat the oven to 400℉ and grease a 13x9x2 inch baking dish or pan with butter.
Prepare the onion, celery, fresh thyme, and fresh sage. (If using better than bouillon, prepare the broth as well.)
In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and celery.
Cook, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.
Stir in the herbs, salt, and pepper. Cook for another few minutes, or until the onion and celery are completely tender. Remove from heat and allow the vegetable mixture to cool slightly.
In a very large bowl, toss the corn bread and the white bread together.
Spoon the cooled vegetable mixture over the bread mixture and toss everything together.
Add the chopped pecans and toss again to evenly distribute.
Pour about 2 cups of chicken (or turkey) broth over the mixture and toss to coat. Be sure to check for seasoning at this point, adding salt and pepper to taste (and perhaps more herbs, if you like).
Add the beaten egg and gently toss the whole mixture one last time to thoroughly combine. The texture you are looking for here is clumpy, not doughy, so try not to overwork the mixture. You can add more broth, if necessary, to achieve clumping.
Transfer the dressing to the greased baking dish.
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until golden on top.
Hint: When it comes to the corn bread that goes in your dressing, I recommend baking it in advance...at least a day (or two) before you plan to prepare this recipe. Not only does this give you more time to take care of other kitchen tasks (particularly if you are preparing this dish as part of an extensive holiday meal), but it also results in a far more flavorful dressing. Allowing the corn bread to dry out a little bit enables it to more easily soak up all that depth of flavor from the other ingredients when combined.
Variations
Corn bread stuffing is a classic holiday must-have, but it's also a pretty versatile dish. There are all sorts of ways you can adjust this recipe to suit personal tastes. Here are just a few...
- The "White" Bread - There is a ton of room for variation when it comes to the other bread element in corn bread dressing...you could use basic French bread, a rustic Italian loaf, some crusty sourdough, or even just plain sandwich bread. Suit yourself!
- The Herbs - Sage is the classic choice here (and I also like to add a little bit of fresh thyme), but rosemary and/or parsley are lovely additions as well.
- The Pecans - A few other good options include walnuts, hazelnuts, or roasted chestnuts. On the other hand, if you would prefer not to have nuts in your dressing for any reason, they can also be entirely omitted.
Equipment
I recommend choosing a very large bowl for tossing all of your corn bread dressing ingredients together...that is if you want to avoid ending up with various bits of "raw" dressing strewn across your counter or floor. I typically opt for one that has a minimum capacity of 8 quarts.
When it's time to put your dressing in the oven, almost any sort of baking dish or pan will do...be it porcelain, ceramic, stoneware, glass, or metal...as long as it is well greased with butter!
Storage
Leftover corn bread dressing will keep in the refrigerator, stored in an airtight container, for about 3 to 4 days.
Top tip
If you plan to stuff this corn bread dressing into a turkey (instead of spreading it into a baking dish), thereby turning it into stuffing, just keep in mind that all those juices from the bird will add some additional moisture to the mix as the turkey roasts. In other words, you won't need to add as much broth in that case. (Although food safety experts often advise against stuffing your turkey these days, this always seemed to be the standard practice when I was growing up...of course the turkey then has to be roasted until very well done, but the end stuffing result is indisputably scrumptious.)
Related
Here are some other favorite recipes for the holiday table:
📖 Recipe
Corn Bread Dressing
Equipment
- 13x9x2 inch baking dish or pan
- 12 inch skillet
- very large bowl (8 quart capacity or larger)
Ingredients
- 1 batch corn bread (slightly stale) cubed
- about 7 cups white bread (slightly stale) cubed
- ¾ cup unsalted butter (plus more for greasing pan)
- 2 cups yellow onion chopped
- 1½ cup celery finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh sage finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon dried sage
- kosher salt
- fresh ground black pepper
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup pecans roughly chopped
- about 2 to 3 cups chicken (or turkey) broth or stock
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 400℉ and grease a 13x9x2 inch baking dish or pan with butter.
- In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes or until soft.
- Stir in the herbs, salt, and pepper. Cook for another few minutes, or until the onion and celery are completely tender. Remove from heat and allow the vegetable mixture to cool slightly.
- In a very large bowl, toss the corn bread and the white bread together.
- Spoon the cooled vegetable mixture over the bread mixture and then toss everything together.
- Add the pecans and toss again to evenly distribute.
- Pour about 2 cups of chicken (or turkey) broth over the mixture and toss to coat. Check for seasoning at this point, adding salt and pepper to taste (and perhaps more herbs, if you like).
- Add the beaten egg and gently toss the whole mixture one last time to thoroughly combine. The texture you are looking for here is clumpy, not doughy, so try not to overwork the mixture. You can add more broth, if necessary, to achieve clumping.
- Transfer the dressing to the greased baking dish and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until golden on top.
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