Cornbread Dressing for the Holidays
By: Patricia Davis
Tags: Food, Holidays, Recipe, Cooking, Baking

Recipe

Cornbread Dressing for the Holidays

This easy recipe will become a regular at your table all year.

Photo by Nik Owens on Unsplash

Every region of the country has its own favorite version of dressing. My family loves cornbread dressing. Over the years, I have refined this recipe to be as simple as possible. The star of this dish is cornbread, so it must be the best. You can use a store-bought mix, but I don’t advise it because it’s too sweet.

My mother-in-law loved all-butter cornbread baked in a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet. It is very good, but also seems too greasy. The recipe I finally concocted is a mix of butter and shortening. It creates a great texture in cornbread dressing.

Cornbread recipe — the star of this dish.

I keep cornbread in my freezer, so this part of the recipe can be made weeks ahead to save time on the day you make the dressing. If you have it in your freezer, you can take out enough to make your meal or the amount you need just for you.

This is easy to make whenever you need it and takes about 30 minutes to complete from start to finish. You can make this the day you need it, but it needs to be completely cool before you make the dressing, so make it early. The day before is even better.

Ingredients

1 ½ cup cornmeal

½ cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

¼ cup shortening, butter (softened), or strained bacon fat

1 ½ cups buttermilk

2 eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons of shortening or butter

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Put two to four tablespoons of shortening (or butter, if you prefer) into a 9" round cake pan or a cast-iron skillet. You will place it into the oven to allow the fat to get hot while you mix up the batter — about 5 to 10 minutes.

If you worry it will catch fire, mix the batter and then put the pan in the oven. You will have to wait for the fat to get hot enough to fry the dough as you pour it into the pan.

Mixing it up — 5-minute prep

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Add shortening or butter and cut in with a fork. It will have a crumbly texture.

In a 4-cup measuring cup, beat the eggs. Then whisk in the buttermilk, stirring until well-combined. I like to whisk it until it is slightly foamy. This also helps give the cornbread some lift.

Fold the egg-buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients until just combined. It is okay if it has a few small lumps. They will bake away. Do not overmix. If time is not an issue, let the cornbread rest for 10–15 minutes before pouring it into the pan. This adds time, but improves the texture of the finished product.

This recipe makes a more savory cornbread. If you prefer it a bit sweeter, you can add more sweetener — 2 tablespoons to ¼ cup of sugar. It will make your dressing sweet as well, however.

A boxed cornbread mix from the grocery store is an alternative in a pinch, but they are much sweeter than my recipe. We find that the savoriness of my cornbread recipe is preferable for the dressing.

For a spicy twist, add 1/4 cup of diced roasted jalapenos, seeds removed, to the batter before you bake it. I usually add a tablespoon of sugar to the recipe when I do. You can also use jarred jalapenos to save time.

Baking it up — 15 to 25 minutes

Remove the pan from the oven. It will be very hot, so take caution. Pour the mixture into the hot pan. The butter or shortening should sizzle as it hits the melted fat. This is what makes a crispy crust, perfect for eating right out of the pan with butter and a pot of homemade beans.

Place the pan on the middle oven rack and bake until golden brown. This will take around 20 minutes, but start checking it at 15 minutes, and then in 5-minute intervals after that to prevent burning. The top of the cornbread should be golden with patches of toffee color.

My mother-in-law preferred to make this recipe using just butter. She used a cast-iron skillet, but I have issues with iron intake, so I use a stainless steel cake pan. I make it using butter in the batter, and melt shortening in my cake pan.

I have found that if my shortening is hot enough, the batter sizzles when I pour in the batter. This quick fry of the crust makes the final results very crispy.

To prepare it for the dressing recipe, crumble it up and let it dry out as much as possible. This helps it absorb the flavors and liquids that you will add. I make mine up to two days before I will make the dressing and let it sit in the pan, uncovered, until I’m ready to crumble it into chunks.

When crumbling the cornbread, it should be chunky, not smooth like breadcrumbs. I use my fingers and rake them through the pan several times until it is loose from the bottom. The chunks should be about ½–¾ inch in size. It is okay if some are smaller or larger.

If you are going to eat this later, you should let it cool completely before freezing it whole. I usually use half of the recipe for just me and my husband and freeze the other half for another meal. You can cut it into 8 wedges and put each one in a sandwich bag before putting them all in a freezer bag.

Making the dressing

This dressing takes about 10 minutes to assemble and it bakes alongside the chicken or turkey. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. This dish will bake for about an hour, so put it in during the last hour, while the bird cooks. If you like it crispier, cook it for up to 1 ½ hours.

Ingredients

1 stick unsalted butter (8 tablespoons)

3 ribs of celery, cut into ¼" slices

½ cup diced onion

1–1 ½ Tablespoon rubbed sage (to taste)

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1 recipe cornbread, crumbled into chunks and dried out

2 eggs, beaten

1 ½–2 cups chicken stock

Putting it together

In a large saucepan, melt the butter and saute the celery and onion until softened slightly — about 5 minutes. Add sage, salt, and pepper, stirring until fragrant — about 30 seconds. Remove from heat and stir in the crumbled cornbread. Mix in the egg. Finally, slowly add in the chicken stock, until the mixture is slightly soupy, but not runny.

Generously grease a 2-quart casserole baking dish, and transfer the mixture to the dish. You can transfer the ingredients before adding the chicken stock, if that is easier for you. I have a casserole dish that can be used on top of the stove as well as go into it, so it’s a one-pan process.

Bake it in a 350-degree oven for 1–1 ½ hours, until it reaches the desired doneness. Cook it less, if you prefer it moister, and more, if you like it crispy on top. You can also lay boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs directly on top and bake it until the chicken is done, a great weeknight meal.

Final thoughts

Even making a half recipe of the dressing leaves us with enough left over for another meal. It freezes beautifully in a freezer-safe container or freezer bag. I take it out and let it thaw when I am ready to fix it for a quick dinner. Just add a ¼ cup of chicken stock and warm it in the microwave or oven.

Bon Appetit!