Southern Cornbread Dressing Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How to make Paula Deen cornbread dressing? ›

In a large bowl, whisk together broth, soup, eggs, poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper; stir in vegetable mixture. Crumble cornbread into broth mixture and stir until well combined. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Bake until center is set, 45 to 55 minutes.

She notes that Northern cornbread is sweeter, lighter, and more cake-like than Southern cornbread. Not surprisingly, it includes sugar (or molasses, in the earlier centuries), unlike traditional Southern cornbread.

For soft dressing, add enough warm stock to make the ingredients the consistency of thick cooked oatmeal. Some cooks add a can of cream of chicken or cream of celery soup to their dressing recipe to ensure it turns out moist enough to slice or scoop.

But for the Thanksgiving side dish in the South, the term dressing was adopted in place of stuffing, which was viewed as a crude term, during the Victorian era. Although dressing and stuffing are interchangeable terms, the signature ingredient of this Thanksgiving side dish in the South is cornbread.

The primary difference between stuffing and dressing is that stuffing is cooked inside a bird and dressing is made on the side. As with many food traditions in the U.S., regional loyalties to stuffing vs dressing abound.

Those terms are pretty much interchangeable and tend to be used regionally, rather than referring to specific ingredients, whether it be the damp mass of bread (corn, sourdough, or potato), rice (white or wild), potatoes (also a PA Dutch specialty), saltines (it's a thing), or masa harina (in the states that bump up ...

The most common theory is a change in cornmeal itself. Until early in the 20th century, Southern cornmeal was made with sweeter white corn and it was water-ground. When industrial milling came along, that changed. The steel-roller mills used yellow corn that was harvested before it was ripe, so it had less sugar.

Sugar Is Optional

Whether to include sugar or not in a southern cornbread recipe is an issue for debate. We've included as an option a tablespoon which just intensifies the flavor of the cornmeal; it doesn't make the cornbread sweet. The choice is yours as to whether or not to include it.

Northern cornbreads tend to be more cake-like, on the sweet side, with a finer crumb due to more flour in the mixture. Southern cornbread is flavored with bacon grease, and cooked in a cast iron skillet, a perfect side for barbecues, or chili. It also tends to be rather crumbly.

You can use either stock or broth for keeping dressing moist or as a basis for gravy, but a strong flavor will give you better results.

Why is my cornbread dressing gummy? ›

Why is my Cornbread Dressing gummy? Adding too much liquid can result in a gummy-like texture. Baking it longer, using less liquid, and more stirring can help avoid a gummy texture.

If your cornbread dressing is mushy, be sure you baked it in a wide enough pan. Plenty of surface area will help the top crisp and the bottom bake completely. Also, be sure you measured your ingredients properly and didn't add too much liquid.

"Stuffing is cooked in the cavity of the turkey, so the juices soak into the ingredients, making it more flavorful. Dressing gets cooked on its own and needs extra liquid to make it flavorful." So stuffing is cooked inside the bird. Dressing is cooked outside the bird, usually in a casserole dish.

Most northern states call the side stuffing regardless of preparation, while those south of the Mason-Dixon line call it dressing.” While most New Englanders and the majority of West Coasters referred to the dish as “stuffing,” about half of Texans and the majority of Southerners call it “dressing.”

Add sautéed onion and celery to the crumbled cornbread. Stir in chicken stock, eggs, sage, salt, and pepper until well combined. Pour dressing into the prepared baking dish. Bake in the preheated oven until dressing just starts to turn golden brown around the edges, about 30 minutes.

CORNBREAD CRUMBS (ENRICHED WHEAT AND SEMOLINA FLOUR, CORNMEAL, SUGAR, SALT, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL, YEAST, CALCIUM PROPIONATE (FOR FRESHNESS), DRIED NONFAT MILK); DRIED VEGETABLES (ONION, CELERY, PARSLEY); SALT; SUGAR; DRIED CHICKEN (FAT, MEAT); YEAST EXTRACT; SPICES; HYDROLYZED SOY/WHEAT PROTEIN; TURMERIC ...