Southern-Style Homemade Cornbread Dressing Recipe

Every good Southern cook knows a thing or two about dressing. Dressing is not to be confused with stuffing, or literally the "stuff" that goes inside the cavity of a turkey or other meat to roast. Dressing is meant to be treated as a casserole of sorts that you can dress up or down with ingredients, and is an important element of holiday or other entertaining in the South. This recipe for Southern-style homemade cornbread dressing — courtesy of recipe developer Julie Kinnaird – features traditional homemade buttermilk cornbread, aromatic vegetables and herbs, chicken stock, and a bit of crispy bacon and sweet pecans for flair. It is moist on the inside, crispy on the outside, and bursting with savory, crowd-pleasing, and comforting flavors in every bite.

Kinnaird's cornbread stays true to Southern tradition with only a minimal amount of sugar added, mostly to assist with the browning of the crust. The cornbread is baked in a cast iron skillet, which is first preheated in the oven so that when the batter hits the surface of the pan, it immediately crisps up to create a wonderful crunchy exterior. Once the cornbread is baked, Kinnaird slices the entire loaf into cubes and gives them a brief toast in the oven to dry them out a bit. Sweet onion, bell pepper, and celery are sauteed in the drippings of crispy bacon and folded into the cornbread along with sage and thyme. Chicken stock keeps the dressing moist as it bakes into a golden, savory side to enjoy with turkey, ham, or your favorite Southern dishes.

Step one in this recipe is making the traditional Southern cornbread. For this, you will need vegetable oil to lubricate the inside of a cast iron skillet, yellow cornmeal, all-purpose flour, baking powder and soda, sea salt, black pepper, and just a touch of granulated sugar. Eggs, buttermilk, and melted unsalted butter bind those dry ingredients together and give the cornbread tenderness and lift. For the dressing, you need some thick-cut bacon of your choosing. The drippings from the bacon are used for cooking sweet onion, celery, and sweet yellow or orange bell pepper, along with salt for seasoning. Raw chopped pecans add some crunchy texture and sweet nutty flavor, while fresh sage and thyme add herbaceous flavor to balance the richness. Chicken stock is used to moisten and hold the dressing together while baking, as well as to add additional flavor.

Preheat an oven to 400 F.

Coat the inside of a 10-inch cast iron skillet with the vegetable oil.

In a large bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, baking soda, and pepper.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and buttermilk until smooth.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix just until combined.

Stir in the melted butter and let the batter rest for 10 minutes.

While the batter is resting, heat the cast iron skillet in the oven for 5 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and immediately add the batter, smoothing the top.

Bake the cornbread for about 25 minutes until it's golden brown and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove the cornbread from the oven and cool it completely on a rack (about 1 hour).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cut the cooled cornbread into cubes.

Spread the cubes on the prepared pan and bake for about 10 minutes until lightly toasted. Set aside.

Bush the butter on the inside of a casserole dish.

Wipe clean the cast iron skillet and place it over medium heat.

Add the bacon and cook until crisp.

Remove the bacon from the pan and drain it on paper towels.

Add the onion, celery, bell pepper, and salt to the bacon drippings in the skillet and saute over medium-low heat until the vegetables have softened (about 5 minutes). Remove it from the heat and let it cool slightly.

Chop the bacon into small pieces.

In a large bowl, combine the cornbread cubes, vegetables, pecans, sage, thyme, and chopped bacon.

Gently stir in the stock until moistened.

Transfer the dressing to the prepared baking dish and cover it with foil.

Transfer the dressing to the prepared baking dish and cover it with foil.

Bake for an additional 15 minutes until the top is browned and crispy.

Remove the dressing from the oven and let it rest for 15 minutes.

Serve the dressing with your favorite meats or other sides.

There are historically plenty of variations on cornbread dressing in the South, depending on geography. Being close to a coast might mean adding oysters. Louisiana is known for crawfish making an appearance in the dish. The nuts in this recipe are a nod to Georgian pecan trees. In Texas, you might throw in some extra smoked meats. Truly, the beauty of this recipe is that it can be used as a template for adding your own touches and favorite additions.

Kinnaird says that she loves adding dried fruits to dressings, such as apricots, currants, or cherries. She suggests throwing in some peeled and diced tart apple when cooking the aromatic vegetables. You can also try varying the herbs by using rosemary or Italian parsley. Ham could also be used in place of the bacon — just be sure to use some butter or oil in the absence of drippings for cooking the vegetables.

One other addition to consider in your dressing is eggs. Eggs are often seen in Southern cornbread dressing recipes, although Kinnaird has a preference for the style of her dressing without them. If you like a more souffle-like texture, try whisking in a couple of eggs with the chicken stock. The eggs will help bind all the ingredients together and make the dressing a bit more firm for cutting.

There is a historical distinction in holiday fare between the Northern and Southern United States when it comes to stuffing/dressing. Technically, stuffing and dressing share the same foundational ingredients: some type of bread that is dried out into cubes or crumbs, aromatic vegetables, fat, and liquids like broth, milk, or eggs. In the North, there was a preference for filling game birds, turkeys, or other meats with this dense mixture to soak up the juices while cooking, hence "stuffing." This type of stuffing was typically made from leftover wheat products like sandwich breads, biscuits, or rolls. Southerners, on the other hand, preferred to bake their bread-y mix separately, using their staple cornbread for a more crumbly end product with a bit of sweetness coming from the coarse stone-ground corn. 

Kinnaird says that she likes to marry both traditions with one simple holiday hack. If she is roasting a turkey, she pours some of the pan drippings directly over the top of a freshly baked batch of cornbread dressing. This infuses the dressing with the flavors of the roast bird while keeping the lovely crunchy exterior texture of the pan-baked dressing. This effect can also be achieved with any roast meat or bacon drippings, and it imparts a richness to the dressing that blends perfectly with the herbs and savory vegetables.