Easy Cornbread Dressing
An easy cornbread dressing recipe is a must for any Southern Thanksgiving, Christmas, or special dinner. By making southern style cornbread and saving leftover white bread, along with either making chicken stock or buying it, learning how to make cornbread dressing is simple. By adding chicken, this cornbread dressing recipe makes not only a hearty side but also a satisfying meal. If you want to learn how to make a homemade cornbread dressing recipe with chicken and sage that would be perfect for a Southern Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Sunday dinner, be sure to keep reading.
Easy Cornbread Dressing With Chicken:
Although some say that the difference between stuffing and dressing is that stuffing is put inside the chicken or turkey and dressing is cooked outside the bird, an article in Southern Living Magazine suggests that it is only a regional difference: the word “stuffing” is used in the North while “dressing” is used in the South. Thus, I will use the phrase cornbread dressing throughout the rest of this article.
From my research, I have concluded that the original intention was for easy cornbread dressing to be a way to use leftover scraps of bread and chicken, as well as to make use of chicken stock. Thus, if you want to make homemade southern cornbread dressing for Thanksgiving, you are going to have to start your prep work the day before.
The basis of this any southern cornbread dressing recipe is cornbread, so you are going to have to make southern style cornbread the day before Thanksgiving. Although you may use Jiffy cornbread mix, many Southern cooks will advise you not to because Jiffy mix has added sugar and will make your dressing too sweet. I have not used Jiffy mix to make this easy cornbread dressing recipe, so I cannot comment.
In addition to cornbread, my research has shown that southern cornbread dressing recipes always include some other type of bread as well. Even though sliced white bread seems to be the most common other type of bread, I have also seen recipes using leftover biscuits.
If you have leftover cornbread or bread ahead of Thanksgiving, wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze it until a few hours before you are going to make the dressing so that the bread can thaw in the refrigerator. Like I said, the whole point of learning how to make easy cornbread dressing is to use up leftovers.
Although there are various ways to make a stock, the easiest way is to boil bone-in chicken with vegetables for a few hours so that the water absorbs the flavor. However, if you have leftover chicken and do not want to make chicken stock for cornbread dressing, you can use leftover chicken and use storebought chicken stock or chicken broth.
Before assembling the dressing, saute onions and celery in a mixture of butter and oil. However, you may want to start cooking the celery a few minutes before the onion since celery takes longer to cook than most people realize. Add garlic one minute before the onion and celery are done, then set aside.
The first step in making old fashioned cornbread dressing is crumbling or cubing the breads. Then, add the chicken and sauteed vegetables. The next step is to add liquids to moisten the cornbread dressing. Most recipes call for chicken stock or chicken broth, along with canned cream of chicken, mushroom, or celery soup. Although those are fine options, I like to use evaporated milk because it is lower in fat. The exact ratio of stock to evaporated milk is debatable, but I would use either a 50:50 ratio or perhaps 75:25 stock to evaporated milk to ensure a strong chicken flavor. However, it is important to know how wet the easy cornbread dressing mixture should look so that you know when to stock adding liquid, so be sure to take a look at my easy cornbread dressing YouTube video (link below).
Then, add spices. While poultry seasoning and sage are mainstays in southern cornbread dressing, it is important to not add too much sage because it is very strong. If you have never made easy cornbread dressing, I suggest perhaps adding the sage in 1/2 teaspoon increments. Once the dressing is seasoned to your liking, add an egg to help bind everything.
Start baking covered at a lower temperature, then bake uncovered at a slightly higher temperature to get the top to brown. Although this easy cornbread dressing is delicious, it would be even better with a bit more butter melted on top or mixed along with the sauteed vegetables; however, keeping the butter to a minimum makes this southern style cornbread dressing somewhat healthy.
Easy Cornbread Dressing Video:
Ingredients
- 1 large chicken leg quarter (315g)
- 1/4 skillet cornbread recipe (186g)
- 2 slices of white sandwich bread, or the equivalent roll (62g)
- 1 Tablespoon butter
- 1/2 teaspoon oil (such as canola)
- 1/2 small onion (100g)
- 1/2 celery stalk (75g)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 cup chicken stock (240g)
- 1 cup evaporated milk (240g)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1.5 teaspoons poultry seasoning
- 1.5 teaspoons dried sage (not rubbed)
- 1 large egg
Instructions
- Cook chicken leg (or use equivalent leftover meat) and make stock (or use storebought)
- Saute celery and onion in butter and oil for about 10 minutes. Add garlic just before celery and onions are done. (However, you may want to cook the celery on its own for 2 to 3 minutes since it is surprisingly tough)
- Crumble or cube bread into a large mixing bowl.
- Add chicken and sauteed vegetables
- Add chicken stock and evaporated milk
- Add seasonings; adjust if needed
- Add 1 large egg
- Pour into a buttered dish
- Bake at 350 F, covered, for 30 minutes; then, bake at 375 F, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let rest, covered, 10-15 minutes before serving
Easy Cornbread Dressing Recipe Video:
Be sure to watch my YouTube video recipe:
Also, be sure to watch my 2020 updated video recipe:
Sources:
https://www.southernliving.com/dish/stuffing/stuffing-vs-dressing
