One of my mother’s signature dishes that she is known for in our family and extended family and friends is her Southern cornbread dressing. There’s nothing Stovetop stuffing about this one, no way! Made from simple ingredients and crumbled up cornbread, it’s an easy, yet deliciously satisfying side dish for Thanksgiving and Christmas. We have it every single year. I grew up on this stuff.
This was a good opportunity to take notes and write down another one of mom’s recipes that resides in her head. This is yet one more recipe that my sister, niece, and I have never made. So, now I get to document it for all of you too. I’m not sure if everyone will love this, but we sure love our dressing in the South made this way. It’s a big hit in our family and tastes delicious!
Start with a medium iron skillet to cook the cornbread in. You’ll want to drizzle a little oil (I prefer canola) in the bottom of the pan and heat it in the oven while you whip up the cornbread batter to pour in. This makes for a crisp crust!
Iris’s Southern Cornbread
1 & 1/2 cups self-rising corn meal (mom uses white) (just found out from mom that self-rising cornmeal has salt in it). I did not know that!
1/2 cup self-rising flour (just found out from mom that self-rising flour has salt in it). I did not know that!
1 egg
1 & 1/4 cup buttermilk
Stir together and pour into iron skillet. Heat oven to 400* and bake 30 min. or until golden brown.
You can bake up the cornbread ahead of time and set aside to cool.
Chop up 3 stalks celery.
Slice and chop one large onion.
Chop well
Saute celery and onion until soft.
Break up cornbread in small pieces in a large pan.
Add 2 to 3 slices of wheat bread (or white if you’re feeling crazy!). 🙂
Take a large spoon and start breaking it up further, until it’s crumbly texture.
Of course, I used Knorr’s Homestyle chicken concentrate Homestyle Stock in this recipe and added the celery water as well as any chicken broth that the chicken was cooked in to add to the water. We used one chicken stock concentrate from Knorr and 4 cups water/broth mixture.
Begin pouring in the stock and you’ll need 3 to 4 cups. Add until heavily moistened. When you bake this, a lot of the broth will cook out, so you want to keep it moist. We added approximately 4 cups chicken stock.
Add sauteed onions and celery. Add 1/2 tsp. sage (optional, if you don’t like this herb).
Mix well with a big spoon. The mixture will be very wet and soupy and that is what you want.
Pour it all into a large baking dish. This is a large flat French cookware piece.
Then add pieces of cooked chicken, again optional, but I love it best with chicken added. You won’t need any more than 1 chicken breast or even dark meat chicken, cut up and added.  Press it down into the dressing.
Ready to bake.  Bake at 400* for 45 minutes and you’ll have this!
Golden brown Southern cornbread chicken and dressing.
Mom made a little gravy for this too and it was really good!
So, I have to know? Do you other Southern girls make dressing like this?? It’s really not hard to make now that I’ve watched her do it. Really pretty easy to put together and it feeds a lot of people.
Classic Southern Chicken Cornbread Dressing
Bake cornbread recipe (above) set aside
Chop celery and onion (3 stalks celery and 1 large onion)
Saute in saucepan until soft.
Cook 1 chicken breast in water, debone and chop or any other chicken piece you have.
Crumble up entire cornbread into large pan. Add 3 to 4 slices wheat bread (or other bread) to the mix. Press down with a large spoon to break it all up into smaller crumbles.
Add sauteed onion and chopped celery back to the pan.
Begin adding broth, approx. 4 cups. You’ll want the bread all covered and very moist. Soupy texture.
Add 1/2 tsp. sage (optional)
Mix well. Pour into large baking pan
Bake at 400* for 45 minutes.
Eat and Enjoy!
Let me know if you’ve made a Southern cornbread dressing recipe like this before or if you think you might try it out! I’d love to hear! Also enjoy those leftovers!Â
that cornbread dressing looks AMAZING. i loved seeing your mother’s hands in the prep/cooking photos. i’m a mess in the kitchen, but would love to try this… love me some good southern soul food:) i listed your blog on a top 10 post i did today:)
This if my first time visiting your blog, I visited from Lianna Knight’s blog because I saw the link for chicken and dressing. This is exactly the way that my Grandmother made hers and it is delicious.
Rhoda, that got my mouth to watering! It reminds me of the first Thanksgiving I couldn’t go home to Grandma’s so I asked for her recipe for cornbread dressing. Hers was very sage-y. She sent me a newspaper clipping with a recipe and she had written in changes, with a note “just mix it all up to taste”.
Over the years I have honed my own recipe, which involves adding a few eggs to the mixture as well as a can of cream of mushroom soup. On occasion I leave out the chicken and add a cup or two of roasted mashed butternut or acorn squash. I also add a teaspoon of cayenne to spice it up a bit. Sooooo good!
My grandmother made her’s the same way and so do I. My family loves it and I make it every year at Thanksgiving. My grandmother put meat in hers but I leave it out since turkey is on the table. I love the pics of your mom’s hands. Very sweet.
This is cornbread like my Mam-Ma used to make. I sure do miss her! Can’t wait to try it. I even have one of her iron skillets to make it in.
This is exactly how my mom taught me how to do it. I make it every Thanksgiving. It’s not hard and really delicious. And yes, the pictures of your mom’s hands are very sweet. It makes me feel like I’m right there in her kitchen.
Hi Rhoda!
I just started reading your blog a couple of weeks ago! Obviously, I am hooked. I love the receipe but what touched me more was your mother’s hands. They remind me so much of my grandma’s whom I miss dearly. Thanks for sharing!
I would be content just eating this stuffing for Thanksgiving dinner! It looks delicious! I am not from the South but sometimes wish I was when I see some of the food y’all cook! Yum.
Yes, I make mine this way, but I toast whatever bread I crumble up in there a day ahead of time so it will be really DRY when it goes in….also have used left over biscuits and put them in there too. We would take the giblets that are packed inside the turkey or hen and boil them and use the meat off of them to put into the dressing as well as a little extra chicken/turkey meat for flavor. When we make gravy for this we add a little cream of chicken soup to thicken it and also slice up a boiled egg or two into the gravy. I would eat at your mom’s table ANYTIME!! She is obviously a FABULOUS cook!!!
Thanks for sharing this recipe. It is so much like the recipe that my mother and grandmother used! The one thing that I always remember is that they insisted on using a hen instead of chicken. I was estranged from my mother for 8 years (her choice) and during that time my family missed her dressing so much. The closest recipe that I could find was one by Paula Deen. My mother had Christmas with me several years back and when I asked her how she liked my dressing she told me “it’s as good as mine”. My mother died the day before Thanksgiving 2010 and I think this recipe will help me keep that “little taste of childhood” alive. Thanks for the wonderful pictures of your mother’s precious hands and the chance to win an apron and cookbook!!
I would love to win this!
My sister-in-law gave me the love of cooking. I use a recipe passed down from her mother who was born and raised in Alabama. It is very similar to your mother’s with the addition of chopped bell peppers and browned,crumbled and drained pork sausage.
I am always assigned the “dressing” and make enough for all who would like some to take home. I think the addition of chicken makes this a comlete meal. Thank you for all the inspiration.
Please enter me in the cookbook give away.
This Southern girl loves Cornbread Dressing!! It isn’t Thanksgiving in my family without it. I love seeing your dear mother’s hands chopping celery and onions. I can almost smell them sauteing. Thanks for the giveaway, Rhoda, and thanks for the smiles and good feelings your recipe conjured up for me.
I also make Southern Cornbread Dressing, always have, but instead of Sage I use pork sausage seasoning mix..has all the spices already mixed together. The dressing smells heavenly while baking! Wishing you a very Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving.
Hi Rhoda,
This is exactly how my Mamaw made her dressing. This story instantly brought back so many wonderful memories of her, thank you for that. She taught me how to make it when I was barley 10 years old (30 years ago!). Through the years I have added a few things to her recipe. I use a few hard boiled eggs, chopped, and to the stock the chicken is boiled in, I add cream of chicken soup. I think it adds some great flavor. I love your blog and hope you continue to bring geat stories and beautiful pictures! Thanks
Yes, ma’am, Miss Rhoda, you’d better believe we make dressing like this! None of that “stuffing” mess–it’s dressing made in a pan all the way! And of course we make our own cornbread to go in the dressing, and OF COURSE we make cornbread in an iron skillet! 🙂
I just love these posts about your mom’s cooking. Seeing her hands brings me joy.
Thanks Rhoda, always enjoy when you’re in the kitchen or out in the garden with your mom and dad. The pics of your mom’s busy hands reminded me so much of my grandmother’s – lovely memory. We don’t have cornbread in our dressing here in New England but do use the bread, celery, broth, and sage… do love the cornbread tho! Will have to keep this on file. And, you know, my mom was using Knorr products many years ago, so funny to be reintroduced to them through you.
This sounds so delicious Rhoda! I do adore a well prepared dressing during the holidays! Sharing your mom’s recipe is just precious. I love that you photographed your mother making it all. Beautiful.
Oh this looks delish and with gravy I’d make it my whole meal! I love stuffing. For me it’s the best part of the Thanksgiving dinner. My husband brought home a delicious recipe from the firehouse one Thanksgiving and that’s the one we’ve been making ever since. It has sage in it, apples and buttermilk but don’t tell, it’s made with stuffing mix 🙂 Your mama’s looks tasty too and I might just give it a try after we’ve had chicken one night and make it the meal. Hugs, Valerie
My hubs is a Georgia Southern boy and I am definately going to make this for him!