Cornbread Dressing

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Our family’s favorite Thanksgiving Cornbread Dressing! This dressing has tender, sweet cubes of cornbread tossed with crusty sourdough and the perfect combination of fresh seasonal herbs. 

Include this cornbread dressing in your Thanksgiving menu, along with Wild Rice SaladMashed PotatoesDinner Rolls, and Roasted Brussels Sprouts as delicious sides.

Cornbread dressing fresh out of the oven, garnished with fresh herbs.

The Best Cornbread Dressing

This is our absolute favorite dressing recipe and a must-have on our Thanksgiving table every year. If I’m honest, I’d even pick this over the turkey

The cornbread adds such a great depth of flavor and slight sweetness to the dressing; it perfectly complements the sourdough bread. The veggies are slowly sautéed in melted butter and tossed with myriad fresh herbs such as rosemary, sage, thyme, oregano, and parsley. This combination of herbs not only makes your cornbread dressing smell incredible; it makes your entire home smell amazing!

Cutting cornbread and sourdough bread and placing them on a tray to dry out, while preparing the butter, herb, and veggie mixture in a pan for stuffing.

Ingredients

  • Sourdough and Cornbread: Form the dressing’s base, offering varied textures and flavors.
  • Unsalted Butter: Adds richness and cooks the vegetables.
  • Onion and Celery: Provide savory flavors and crunch.
  • Garlic: Introduces delicious smells and flavor to the cornbread dressing.
  • Herbs (Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano): Infuse the dish with fresh, aromatic flavors.
  • Chicken Stock: Adds moisture and flavor, softening the bread.
  • Eggs: Bind ingredients and set the dressing when baked.

QUICK TIP

Make sure to get flat-leaf Italian parsley, as opposed to curly for this recipe. Flat-leaf parsley has a more robust flavor and curly parsley is used more commonly as a garnish.

Combining and mixing ingredients, pouring them into a prepared baking pan, and baking according to the cornbread dressing recipe.

How to Make Cornbread Dressing

  1. Prepare Breads: Cut sourdough and cornbread into cubes and oven-dry them.
  2. Cook Vegetables: Sauté onions, celery, and garlic in butter.
  3. Add Herbs: Mix in parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, and oregano, seasoning with salt and pepper.
  4. Combine Liquids: Whisk eggs with chicken stock.
  5. Mix Together: Stir the egg-stock mixture into the vegetables, then gently fold in the dried breads.
  6. Bake: Transfer to a baking dish and bake until the top is browned and crisp. Serve immediately.

The finished dish, fresh out of the oven, a hearty and delicious comfort food, ready to be savored.

STORAGE

  • Prep Ahead: Allocate over an hour for drying and baking. Prepare bread and cornbread a day in advance and store at room temperature.
  • Make Ahead: Assemble the cornbread dressing, refrigerate, and bake the next day, allowing extra time.
  • Storage: Best served fresh. Leftovers degrade in texture and aren’t suitable for freezing; consume within a couple of days.

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Cornbread Dressing

5 from 6 votes
Our family's favorite Thanksgiving Cornbread Dressing! This dressing has tender sweet cubes of cornbread tossed with crusty sourdough bread and the perfect combination of fresh seasonal herbs. 
Cornbread dressing fresh out of the oven, garnished with fresh herbs.
Print Recipe

Cornbread Dressing

Cornbread dressing fresh out of the oven, garnished with fresh herbs.
5 from 6 votes
Our family's favorite Thanksgiving Cornbread Dressing! This dressing has tender sweet cubes of cornbread tossed with crusty sourdough bread and the perfect combination of fresh seasonal herbs. 
Course Side Dish
Cuisine American
Keyword cornbread dressing
Prep Time 35 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes
Servings 12 -16 servings
Chelsea Lords
Calories 430kcal
Cost $7.81

Ingredients

  • 6 cups good-quality sourdough bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 4 cups day-old cornbread, cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 11 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 ½ cups finely diced yellow onion (~2 medium onions)
  • 1 ⅓ cups thinly sliced celery, (~6-8 stalks)
  • 2 teaspoons minced garlic (~3-4 cloves)
  • ½ cup flat-leaf parsley finely diced
  • 2 tablespoons fresh sage finely diced (See Note 1)
  • 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary finely diced
  • 1 ½ tablespoons fresh thyme finely diced
  • 1 teaspoon fresh oregano finely diced
  • Fine sea salt and freshly cracked pepper
  • 1 ¼ cups chicken stock
  • 2 large eggs

Instructions

  • PREP: Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Generously grease a 9x13-inch baking pan with nonstick spray and set aside.
  • CORNBREAD AND BREAD: Cut the sourdough and cornbread into equal one-inch-wide pieces (½-inch thick); place both on a large, rimmed baking sheet (15x21 inches). Bake for 45 minutes, gently stirring the bread and cornbread cubes every 15 minutes, or until completely dried. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Now, increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
  • BUTTER AND VEGGIES: Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the diced onions, celery, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until just beginning to lightly brown and the veggies are tender, about 10-15 minutes. While veggies are cooking, finely chop the herbs.
  • HERBS: Add all of the fresh chopped herbs (½ cup parsley, 2 tablespoons sage, 1 tablespoon rosemary, 1 teaspoon fresh oregano, and 1 and ½ tablespoons thyme) to the butter and veggie mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste (I use about 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper). Remove pan from heat and let it cool slightly.
  • EGGS AND CHICKEN STOCK: In a separate bowl, whisk the 2 eggs with a fork until smooth. Pour in the chicken stock and whisk again until smooth. Pour this mixture into the slightly cooled pan with the butter and herbs and gently stir to combine. (If the pot is super hot, you'll scramble the eggs!)
  • COMBINE EVERYTHING: Add the cornbread and bread cubes to the pan. Stir very gently until all ingredients are combined and the bread/cornbread is well coated.
  • BAKE: Transfer this mixture to the prepared 9x13-inch baking dish. Bake for 45-60 minutes or until browned and crisp on top. Remove and serve immediately.

Recipe Notes

Note 1: Herbs: Buying individual packages of each of the fresh herbs called for in this recipe can end up being pretty costly. Around Thanksgiving time, many grocery stores offer a fresh poultry herb blend that you can use instead, which typically contains rosemary, sage, and thyme. This leaves just fresh parsley and oregano. If you don't want to buy an entire package of oregano just for this recipe, use ¼ teaspoon dried oregano instead or simply leave it out. 
Prep ahead: Bread cubes can be baked up to one day in advance. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Make ahead: Completely assemble the ingredients according to the recipe right up until baking it. Instead of baking, cover the casserole dish tightly and refrigerate. The next day, remove the dressing from the fridge, allow it to come to room temperature, then bake in a preheated oven. You may need to add some additional baking time to the dressing. I don't recommend making this Thanksgiving dressing more than a day in advance.

Nutrition Facts

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 430kcal | Carbohydrates: 55g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 104mg | Sodium: 618mg | Potassium: 267mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 806IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 149mg | Iron: 3mg

We do our best to provide accurate nutritional analysis for our recipes. Our nutritional data is calculated using a third-party algorithm and may vary, based on individual cooking styles, measurements, and ingredient sizes. Please use this information for comparison purposes and consult a health professional for nutrition guidance as needed.

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8 Comments

  1. I discovered cornbread when I first moved to the states…and it has become a love affair since then. IT IS SO GOOD.
    But used in a dressing? That right there is pure genius!

  2. 5 stars
    Cornbread has always been a favorite of mine, too! It reminds me of staying overnight at my grandparents house. My Grandma would make a skillet of cornbread to go along with breakfast every once in a while. I’m loving this cornbread stuffing, Chelsea! What a great idea to use cornbread instead of regular bread.

  3. That looks so delicious- I just tasted cornbread for the first time (Hi from Toronto Canada!) and am obsessed. I need to make this standard in Australia!

    1. I did try only cornbread and it didn’t work out super well; I’d recommend doing a gluten-free bread with the cornbread

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