Best Southern Cornbread Dressing (For Thanksgiving & Christmas)

This old-fashioned Southern Cornbread Dressing recipe is the only one you'll ever need. If there was ever a dish that could make you feel like a big warm southern hug, this is it.

Filled with homemade buttery skillet cornbread, chicken, homemade chicken stock, sautéed onions, leeks, celery, and sage. This vintage family recipe has been passed down for generations as far back as I can remember. It's really good.

In our family, no Thanksgiving or Christmas is complete without my Dad making multiple huge pans of this cornbread dressing so we can all have leftovers to take home to eat and freeze for later on.

If you enjoy this recipe for the holidays, you may also want to try this triple coconut cream pie and leftover Thanksgiving turkey soup recipe!

Jump to:

• Why You'll Love This Easy Cornbread Dressing
• What's the Consistency of a Good Southern Cornbread Dressing?
• A Slightly Updated Cornbread Dressing Recipe 
• Homemade Cornbread Dressing Ingredients 
• How to Make the Best Southern Cornbread Dressing
• Cornbread Dressing recipe step-by-step photos
• Southern Cornbread Dressing Add-Ins:
• What to Do With Leftover Southern Cornbread Dressing?
• More Easy Holiday Sides and Dessert Recipes
• Cornbread Dressing Recipe tips & FAQ's
• 📖 Recipe
• The Very Best Southern Cornbread Dressing
• The Roots of Southern Cornbread Dressing

Why You'll Love This Easy Cornbread Dressing

• It's simple and easy to make
• Meal prep it to save time and oven space on Thanksgiving or Christmas day
• It can be eaten as a meal in itself!
• It's a no-fail Thanksgiving side dish recipe anyone can make
• It uses buttery homemade Southern cornbread
• It uses homemade chicken broth for even more flavor or store-bought for convenience!
• It's full of perfectly balanced sage and other fall flavors
• It's easily customizable

What's the Consistency of a Good Southern Cornbread Dressing?

The consistency of Southern Cornbread Dressing is somewhere between a spoon bread and bread pudding.

It's firm enough to stand up on its own when cut or spooned from the dish, but it should always be perfectly moist on the inside with a golden brown crispy top. And it should never be dry. 

This combination of a tender, smooth interior and crispy buttery top provide the perfect textural combination. Plus, it's perfect to sop up homemade giblet gravy and mashed potatoes.

If you end up with a cornbread dressing that's too wet (or even gummy), or even too dry, see the top tips below to help salvage it.

A Slightly Updated Cornbread Dressing Recipe 

The original cornbread dressing recipe I grew up with was usually made with canned chicken stock, slices of stale or toasted white bread, and no leeks at all. I made the following substitutions and additions to this original recipe as outlined below:

• I used homemade chicken stock instead of storebought. I pressure cook at least one stock or broth weekly to be used in various recipes.  So, using homemade stock was a no-brainer for me.  It's healthier and I can control the amount of sodium and the flavors that I want to be more or less prominent. Definitely use storebought if that works best for you (and your schedule) because it tastes great.
• I used plain bread crumbs instead of slices of stale bread. Using the bread crumbs allows me to get a consistent measurement so that it can easily be replicated in any kitchen without any guesswork. The original recipe which calls for "4 to 6 slices dried or toasted bread"). Using bread crumbs saves you the step of having to dry out the bread in advance or having to toast it. Just use whatever you have on hand and is most convenient for you.
• I used a fine Himalayan pink salt instead of table salt or kosher salt. I cook with all kinds of different salt, but don't cook with the iodized Morton's table salt that I grew up with because Kosher salt has a better feel making it easier to season foods. That said, Morton's iodized salt is what's used in the original recipe (and it calls for using 2 teaspoons).  Use what you have and what you're used to. *See the recipe notes for substitutions
• I added a small amount of diced leeks. I love the subtle onion flavor of leeks and also happened to have part of one in my fridge. Feel free to omit them.
• I added 1 ½ teaspoons of rubbed sage in addition to the 1 teaspoon of Poultry Seasoning called for in the original recipe. It's important to taste everything along the way to ensure the flavor is just how you want it. You may find yourself wanting to add a little more or less of the rubbed sage and/or Poultry Seasoning. Just taste as you go. And if you want to want to use fresh sage and herbs, I've provided that information in the recipe as well.

Homemade Cornbread Dressing Ingredients 

This is the best cornbread dressing recipe to make this holiday season. It uses the most basic ingredients but makes a really stunning and tasty Thanksgiving or Christmas side dish. Plus, everyone loves it!

• chicken
• homemade chicken broth, or storebought
• Southern Skillet Cornbread
• bread crumbs or dried bred slices
• butter
• yellow onion
• celery
• leeks (white and light green part only)
• McCormick's Poultry seasoning
• rubbed sage
• salt
• black pepper
• eggs

How to Make the Best Southern Cornbread Dressing

Get ahead of your holiday cooking and baking schedule by preparing this cornbread dressing in advance of the holiday. You can either bake it, freeze it, and reheat it on the day, or assemble it (without baking it), cover it, and freeze it a week or even a month in advance. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight and bake it the morning of Thanksgiving or Christmas.

1. Preheat the oven and prep the casserole dish. Turn on the oven to 350°F/°176C and butter a 9x13 inch casserole dish and set aside.
2. Combine the dry ingredients. In a mixing bowl, add the crumbled cornbread, bread crumbs (or crumbled stale bread), and 1 ½ teaspoons of salt, and mix everything to combine. Add the cooked diced chicken, combine, and set aside.
3. Sauté the vegetables. In a skillet, melt ⅓ cup butter and add the diced onions, celery, and leeks (if using), 1 teaspoon salt, poultry seasoning, sage, and black pepper. Sauté the vegetables for 7 or 8 minutes, or until translucent and soft, and remove from heat.
4. Make the dressing. Add the sautéed vegetables to the cornbread mixture and stir to combine, being sure to get all of the butter from the skillet into the mixing bowl using a rubber spatula. Stir in about ¾ of the amount of the chicken stock and combine well. Taste the mixture and check for consistency. Adjust the seasonings if needed, then add the eggs and stir to combine. If the mixture is still too dry, add in the last of the stock a little at a time until the mixture is "jiggly" and wet (like the consistency of a mud pie from when you were a kid).
5. Finish and bake.  Pour the dressing into the prepared casserole dish and smooth it out.  Dot the top of the dressing with about 2 tablespoons (30g) of butter. Feel free to add fresh buttered sage leaves to the top for decoration if you want.  Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the top is golden brown and the middle is set, but is still soft to the touch, Enjoy!

Cornbread Dressing recipe step-by-step photos

Southern Cornbread Dressing Add-Ins:

In our family, we include a whole deboned, diced chicken, but I also like to substitute ingredients like oysters and sausage for an East Coast cornbread dressing. Or shrimp and crawfish tails for a Creole or Cajun-inspired cornbread dressing.

You can use the base dressing recipe as the foundation for the dressing and switch it up by substituting or adding any of the following ingredients for the chicken or vegetable:

• sliced cooked andouille sausage + sautéed bell pepper (red or green)
• crawfish tails and fresh sautéed corn off the cobb
• sautéed corn and chives
• cooked pork breakfast sausage and sage (fresh or dried rubbed sage)
• chopped hard-boiled eggs
• sautéed shrimp, diced bell peppers, and andouille sausage
• sautéed shrimp, corn, and diced jalapeños
• sautéed shrimp, boiled or steamed cra,b and the "Holy Trinity" (equal parts sautéed diced onion, bell peppers, celery)
• roasted chopped chestnuts
• roast or boiled deboned turkey

What to Do With Leftover Southern Cornbread Dressing?

If you only make one casserole dish of this dressing, you probably won't have any leftovers. But if you're like our family and make extra so you can be sure to have plenty to eat over the holiday weekend then here are a few tasty ways to enjoy it or transform it.

• Make Savory Cornbread Dressing Cakes (as seen in photo above) with w/fried eggs and spring greens
• Make Thanksgiving Summer Rolls
• portion, wrap, and freeze it to eat later (Update: I made this in September, froze it, and pulled it out in February of the new year, and it was just as delicious as the day I made it.)

More Easy Holiday Sides and Dessert Recipes

If you love the holidays as much as we do, it's never too early to start thinking about what you'll serve or bring to the family or Friendsgiving potluck this year. Whether it's an Italian-inspired meal or more traditional fare, here are a few of our favorite crowd-pleasing dishes that are perfect for any celebration.

Cornbread Dressing Recipe tips & FAQ's

• Why use a scale versus measuring cups?  For best results when baking, use a scale as opposed to measuring cups which yields a more consistent end product and it makes it quicker to pull together because you can measure straight into the mixing bowl.
• Do I cover cornbread dressing with foil while it bakes? No, do not cover the cornbread dressing with foil as it bakes.  This will keep the top from forming a nice golden, crispy top that adds both texture and additional flavor to the final cornbread dressing recipe. If however, you're reheating dressing leftovers the next day, cover it with foil while it reheats to help it retain its moisture.
• Can I make cornbread dressing ahead of time and freeze it? Yes, you can make cornbread dressing ahead of time. Wrap and freeze the prepared and unbaked dressing and thaw it in the refrigerator overnight the day before you want to bake it. Remove the wrapping and let sit at room temperature for 30-45 minutes prior to baking.
• What's the best way to store cornbread dressing? Store any leftover cooled dressing wrapped or sealed in an airtight container in the fridge. Eat it within 2 to 3 days. Alternatively, you may store it wrapped tightly in a sealed container in the freezer for up to 2 months. Just thaw in the fridge overnight, cover with aluminum foil and reheat in the oven or in a skillet with a lid on it for the first several minutes.
• What if my cornbread dressing is gummy or too moist after it finishes baking? If for any reason you end up adding too much liquid or your cornbread dressing is gummy, just spoon it out onto a parchment-lined sheet pan and bake it uncovered in a preheated 350°F/176°C oven until it's golden brown and has dried out to your liking.
• What if my cornbread dressing is too dry? If your dressing is too dry, perhaps do one of two things: turn it into an actual cornbread bread pudding by making a custard base as you would with a savory bread pudding and baking it again. Or, smother it in turkey or chicken gravy and eat it with a side of buttery mashed potatoes to help mask the dryness. Or, crumble it and toast it in the oven till golden brown and crispy and use it as a salad topper or add it to the top of a gratin casserole.
• Where does cornbread dressing originate from?  When we Southerners think about the delicious cornbread dressing that we grew up eating for generations, there is typically a gap in the history of how this dish actually originated. We tend to think of it as "our family recipe".  But, it actually originates because of Native American Indians and Western and Northern African slaves (and enslaved African Americans). See more about this below after the step-by-step recipe photos at the end of the post.

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📖 Recipe

The Roots of Southern Cornbread Dressing

Long before European settlers arrived in America, Native American peoples cultivated corn as a cornerstone of their diet. They taught early colonizers how to grow it and cook with it, including how to make a simple cornbread from cornmeal, water, and salt.

When Columbus landed in 1492, it set off a global exchange of ingredients and resources between the Americas, Europe, and Africa. Maize (corn) was introduced to the African continent for the first time and quickly became a staple crop. Some food historians believe that a dish called Kush (or cush), with roots in Islamic culinary traditions, may have originated in Western or Northern Africa during this period.

In the American South, Kush was a humble dish made from cornmeal, water, salt, and sometimes a little pork or pork fat. It was a way to stretch limited ingredients into something nourishing. While Kush isn't the same as the cornbread dressing we know today, the connection between the two is significant.

Much of Southern cuisine, including dishes I grew up eating and cooking (fried okra, macaroni and cheese, black-eyed peas, BBQ, grits), has deep roots in African culinary traditions. Enslaved Africans and African Americans brought their knowledge of ingredients, techniques, and flavors from their home countries and combined them with what was available in America, creating an entirely new food culture.

These dishes, born from resourcefulness and resilience, eventually became the foundation of what we now call Southern cuisine. It's a legacy worth honoring every time we gather around the table.