Homemade Southern Cornbread Dressing Recipe ~Soul Food Style~ (2024)

FAQs

How do you make Paula Deen's 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.

So stuffing is cooked inside the bird. Dressing is cooked outside the bird, usually in a casserole dish.

Already baked cornbread dressing can also be frozen, then thawed and reheated as normal. 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.

Make the stuffing, melt butter in a large frying pan and gently sauté onion and garlic for five minutes until soft. Stir in the herbs for one minute then add breadcrumbs to absorb butter. Mix in zest, pine nuts and seasoning and cook over medium heat for about seven minutes until crumbs start to brown and crisp.

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.

The thing that distinguishes Southern cornbread from, say Yankee cornbread, or any other cornbread one is likely to eat outside of the southern states, is that it is savory, not sweet, and it is made mostly with cornmeal.

Southerners, on the other hand, tend to prefer white cornmeal. Many people believe that it is because, in the old South, families used white cornmeal as it more closely resembled “fancy” European wheat flour. In any case, today it remains a main component in traditional Southern buttermilk cornbread.

Why is my cornbread dressing mushy? If your cornbread dressing is mushy, be sure you baked it in a wide enough pan.

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.

Why is my cornbread dressing dry? ›

If the baked dressing turns out too dry, drizzle a little more warm stock over the top before serving, or count on the turkey gravy to camouflage the shortcoming. For soft dressing, add enough warm stock to make the ingredients the consistency of thick cooked oatmeal.

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.

Be sure to leave enough time — the cornbread needs to sit out overnight to harden slightly before you make the dressing.

The stuffing should be moist but not wet. If there is a puddle of broth at the bottom of the bowl, you've added too much. Add more bread to soak up the excess moisture. If the mix is still dry and crumbly, add more liquid and toss gently until it starts to clump together.

In the bottom of a large glass bowl, place cornbread cubes. Layer beans, corn, onion, bell pepper, tomatoes and 2 cups cheese on top of cornbread. Spread ranch dressing evenly over cheese. Cover, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.