Old Fashioned Southern Thanksgiving Cornbread Dressing Recipe

If you’re looking for an old fashioned Southern cornbread dressing recipe for Thanksgiving, you’re in the right place. This is the old-school kind, made with buttermilk cornbread, sage, and homemade broth. It’s a guaranteed crowd-pleaser you can make ahead of time, and it always gets requests for seconds. Start with my easy Southern cornbread recipe, and you’re halfway there.

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Today, I am grateful that Thanksgiving is approaching! As you know, I usually keep all the recipes over here low-carb, but since my family isn’t 100% on board with healthy eating, chances are yours isn’t either. So, I’m sharing the literal best-ever recipe —no adjectives can do it justice—because it’s that good cornbread dressing recipe.

Another reason I’m sharing yet another Thanksgiving recipe is that I’ve been looking at the so-called “best” ones, and they are pure BS. Sometimes, I think these recipes are written by robots or total posers with zero experience in the kitchen. 

Anyway, you don’t have to be Betty Crocker to make this dressing, and, fun fact, Betty Crocker wasn’t a real person anyway. She was a fictional character created to sell baking crap for General Mills. Know that before you trust the AI:))

Alrighty now, what’s the secret to making legit Southern Thanksgiving Cornbread dressing? 

A good recipe, buttermilk cornbread, homemade chicken broth, and a Thanksgiving miracle seasoning shortcut that never fails—you’re in the right place if you need a fabulous cornbread dressing that your family, friends, and neighbors will adore. 

This dressing is epic. 

Wait – Is This Stuffing or Dressing?

Dressing. And in the South, that distinction is not optional.

Stuffing goes inside the bird. Dressing is baked in a pan on its own. That’s the actual difference, though in practice almost nobody stuffs a turkey anymore because it’s a food safety headache and it makes the turkey take forever.

So most of what’s called stuffing is technically dressing. Southerners just never adopted the other word.

Yes, this recipe uses a bag labeled Pepperidge Farm Stuffing. No, that doesn’t make it stuffing. It’s seasoning. Take it up with Pepperidge Farm.

You know, there is nothing more important on Turkey Day than a legit slap your mama good Southern Thanksgiving Cornbread Dressing.

Unless, of course, you value time with family or you’re into the whole gratitude thing, and in that case, we’ll put the dressing in the third spot:)

But seriously, there is no substitute for this dressing.

It was one of the first holiday recipes I mastered – even before I learned to cook. It isn’t complicated, but there are quite a few steps. I’ll walk you through it.

Let’s get into what you need to get your dressing on.

Cornbread 

You need to use this buttermilk cornbread recipe to make this dressing happen. Yes, seriously. I have messed up a couple of times and used a basic non-buttermilk cornbread instead, and my family hated me for it. 

Small chicken or Cornish Game Hen

You won’t be using canned broth or bouillon cubes. We’re going old school and making the broth ourselves. It makes a huge difference, and it HIGH-key makes you feel like a domestic superhero when you tell folks you did it yourself.

Pepperidge Farm Herb Seasoned Stuffing 

Look for the blue bag of Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix. It’s a vital seasoning shortcut—don’t skip it! And don’t wait until the last minute to pick it up. I’ve made that mistake before and driven to six different grocery stores like a crazed, desperate maniac. 

That covers the main three ingredients. You will also need:

6 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

2 sticks of salted butter 

1 large red onion, chopped

6-8 ribs of celery, chopped 

1-2 tablespoons sage 

Salt and pepper

Extra-large foil pan with lid 

That Seems Like A lot of Work…Is It Worth It?

In a word, yep. This dressing is absolute perfection. Once you taste it, you will know I speak the truth. Until then, you’ll have to trust me.

The good news is that you can do all of the prep work beforehand so you can handle Thanksgiving day. I make the cornbread one or two nights before, depending on how many I plan to host.

You can also boil the hen and make the broth, chop the veggies, and boil the eggs the day before. Just put everything covered in the fridge until you’re ready to assemble it.

Note: You will want to heat the broth if you have kept it in the fridge. 

Southern Thanksgiving Cornbread Dressing Step By Step 

Make the cornbread. 

The full recipe is here, but to save you time and frustration, here’s the short version. 

Combine 1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal, 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, 1/4 cup vegetable oil, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, and two eggs. Mix all those ingredients, pour into an oven-proof skillet or a cake pan – whatever you have handy as long as it’s greased, and bake at 450 for 25 minutes. 

Boil the hen in a large stockpot filled with water and two sticks of salted butter, salt, and pepper. 

If you are using a hen with the gizzards, remember to take them out before you boil it. 

Yes, you’ll have to suffer through low-key molesting a chicken, but you will get over it. 

If you’re using a frozen hen, remember to give it time to thaw because cooking a frozen one will take much longer. (I know because I’ve been there. Done that.) 

Boil the eggs and chop the red onion and celery. 

When the eggs are boiled, please put them in an ice bath for five minutes and then peel and chop them.  

Now that the ingredients are ready, it is time to assemble this thing. 

Grab a large skillet and melt two tablespoons of butter over medium heat on the stove. 

Add the chopped onion, celery, and about ⅓ cup of broth. Saute for ten minutes until veggies are tender and transparent. 

Remove the hen from the broth and cut it/shred it to use in the dressing and to use as leftovers:) Do not pour out the broth – guard it with your life! This is the magic ingredient that makes this cornbread dressing so flipping good! 

Preheat the oven to 350°

Go ahead and wash your hands before making another move. I know I’m not your mother, but I am a mom of three, and this is just how I talk now. 

Plus, you’re about to get up close and personal with this cornbread. 

Start by crumbling the cornbread into the foil pan with your hands. Don’t use a food processor; it will pulverize it, and the texture will not be consistent. 

Then, add the Pepperidge Farm stuffing and mix it with the cornbread in the foil pan. 

Add the sauteed vegetables and stir again. 

Now start adding the broth one cup at a time, stirring as you go. 

I usually add 4-6 cups. The dressing should be the consistentcy of putty at this point. You want this – the dressing will dry as you bake it, so do not be afraid of a wet-looking dressing. 

Add the pieces of the hen. 

Add the eggs and more broth if it looks dry. 

Add the sage, salt, and pepper. 

Taste it—if you think it needs more salt, pepper, or sage, this is your chance to add them.

Bake for 45 minutes, checking in to stir, and add more broth if needed. 

Enjoy it and the compliments. Feel free to pretend it’s your original recipe. This is your time to shine.

Leftovers can be stored covered in the fridge for up to 5 days. This recipe makes a ton of dressing, but the leftovers always go fast. In other words, nobody will complain about having to eat it again. 

If you leave the eggs out, you can freeze this recipe in an airtight container for up to 3 months. 

Now that dressing is handled, the other thing on that table people fight over: Southern sweet potato casserole.

Make-Ahead Timeline

Two nights before: Bake the cornbread. Leave it out uncovered so it dries – dressing made with fresh moist cornbread turns to mush.

The day before: Boil the hen and make the broth. Boil and chop the eggs. Chop the onion and celery. Everything goes in the fridge covered.

Thanksgiving morning: Warm the broth (cold broth won’t absorb right), sauté the vegetables, assemble, bake 45 minutes.

Assembly to table is about an hour. That’s the whole point of doing it this way – the only thing competing for oven space on the day is the bake.

How Much Do I Need?

This recipe yields about 18 servings, which is a large foil pan. For a Thanksgiving crowd, plan roughly ¾ to 1 cup per person – and then make more anyway, because dressing is the dish people go back for and leftovers never last.

Feeding 25 or more? Make two pans. They bake at the same time and you’ll use them.

Storage & Leftovers

Fridge: covered, up to 5 days. Freezer: up to 3 months – but leave the eggs out if you plan to freeze it. Boiled eggs don’t survive freezing. Reheating: 350° covered with foil, splash of broth over the top if it’s dried out. The microwave works for a plate but not for a pan.

Leftover ideas: Fry a patty of it in butter and top with an egg. Layer it with turkey and gravy in a casserole dish. Or just eat it cold standing at the fridge, which is what most of us actually do.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use store-bought broth instead of boiling a hen?

You can, and it will be fine. It won’t be this recipe. The homemade broth is the thing that makes people ask what you did differently. If you’re short on time, use boxed broth and add a little butter, but do the hen at least once so you know what you’re comparing to.

Do I have to use the Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix?

It’s a seasoning shortcut, not a filler. The blue bag has the herb blend that makes this taste like a Southern holiday table. You can season from scratch with sage, thyme, marjoram and rosemary, but you’ll be chasing a balance the bag already nailed.

Can I make this without the chicken?

Yes. Use vegetable broth and skip the meat. It’s a different dish but it works, and it makes the whole thing vegetarian.

My dressing came out dry. What happened?

Not enough broth. The mixture should look wet – putty consistency – before it goes in the oven, because it dries as it bakes. If it looks right going in, it’ll be dry coming out. Add broth mid-bake if you need to.

My dressing came out mushy. What did I do?

You probably used fresh cornbread. It has to be a day or two old and dried out. Crumble it into a pan and leave it uncovered overnight.

Can I use a boxed cornbread mix?

You can. But most boxed mixes are sweet, and sweet cornbread makes strange dressing. If you use one, look for an unsweetened variety, or make the buttermilk cornbread – it’s nine ingredients and one skillet.

Can I bake this in a glass dish instead of a foil pan?

Yes, you’ll just need two or three of them. The foil pan is about volume, not magic. It also means you’re not scrubbing a casserole dish on Thanksgiving night.

Can I make this the day before and bake it on Thanksgiving?

You can assemble it the day before, cover it and refrigerate, then bake the next day. Add 10–15 minutes to the bake time since it’s going in cold, and have extra broth on hand.

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