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Old Fashioned Sage Cornbread Dressing

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Old Fashioned Sage Cornbread Dressing is a true Southern tradition to serve during Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas dinner. My momma used to make this family recipe for the holiday season and now I am sharing it as well.

I did it — I finally did it. I mastered Southern cornbread dressing! I'm so excited! I have been so scared of making homemade cornbread dressing for the simple fact that everyone says it is temperamental and hard to make. Some people call this cornbread stuffing, but in my neck of the woods, we call it dressing.

Are you team dressing or team stuffing?

I am here to tell you that it is not as hard as everybody makes it out to be. This Thanksgiving stuffing recipe can be super easy to make, as long as two key elements are done correctly — enough moisture and the right amount of seasoning.

How to Make Old Fashioned Sage Dressing

To make this recipe, you have to start with a good base and that means you need to make a batch of my Classic Skillet Cornbread recipe. It's light and fluffy and can be made ahead of time so that on Thanksgiving, you are not having to cook as much!

Of course, if you are not comfortable making homemade cornbread, grab a box of Jiffy cornbread mix and use that. I have done both and it is still delicious. You might need 3 boxes to get the right amount of cornbread.

It also has a few slices of white bread in it too. This adds some great texture to the dressing.

Just throw the crumbled cornbread and the stale bread into a large mixing bowl. Trust me, by the time you add all the chicken broth, cornbread, spices, and veggies, you will need a really large bowl for this cornbread batter.

Add the veggies to a large saute pan and cook them until they are soft. You will need celery and yellow onion. Now, add the sauteed vegetables to the mixing bowl as well.

If you want, some people add Italian sausage to their dressing as well. Just throw it in and cook it with the vegetables.

What Makes Southern Cornbread Dressing Recipe So Good?

There are two key factors that make Southern cornbread dressing so darn good. 

Moisture: Everyone always complains about dressing being too dry. That may be the case if you don't use enough chicken stock or turkey broth when making it. The dressing has to be really wet, almost pourable like a liquid when you first put it in the pan. You may think it is too wet, but it will dry out some in the oven, so make sure it is wet.

Seasoning: If you don't use enough seasoning the dressing will taste bland, so make sure you add enough. This recipe has the perfect amount of sage and poultry seasoning so the dressing will have tons of great flavor!

I use dried sage in my dressing because that is what I grew up with. You can use fresh sage if you wish.

If you are not a fan, just leave it out. Just make sure to bump up the salt and pepper flavor if you leave it out. Then bake until golden brown for the most amazing holiday side dish you can make.

If you are not big on dried seasonings, you can totally use fresh herbs. That part is up to you.

Once you get everything mixed up, pour it into the baking dish and cover with aluminum foil and bake until a beautiful golden brown.

Can You Freeze Old Fashioned Sage Dressing?

The cool thing about this recipe is that it can be frozen in a casserole dish once baked. I love to cut mine into squares once it has cooled off and place it in a zip-lock bag in the freezer until ready to use. Once Thanksgiving day arrives, I take it out of the freezer and let it thaw. Then, I put all the pieces back into the pan and allow it to re-heat in the oven.

What Recipes Go Great With Cornbread Dressing?

Of course, if you are serving this on your Thanksgiving table, turkey is definitely going to be on the menu, but there are a ton of other recipes that this goes great with! This dressing serves well hot right out of the oven or even at room temperature.

These are just two options you could go with, but if you're skipping the ham and turkey and making a prime rib or something like that, you can also make a pan of this to go with your main entree as well.

Can I Leave Out The Eggs?

If you are not a fan of eggs, you can totally leave them out. We love eggs so I always add them. Plus, it is a great binder in the recipe as well.

Here's the easy recipe. I hope you love it as much as I do! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Check Out These Other Delicious Recipes for the perfect Thanksgiving Menu

My favorite part of Thanksgiving is the delicious side dish recipes that are served. Here are a few more that you might want to go with your Thanksgiving meal.

Yield: 24 slices

Old Fashioned Sage Cornbread Dressing

Old Fashioned Sage Cornbread Dressing

This easy old fashioned sage dressing will need to grace your table this holiday season!

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 1 cup chopped celery
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 1 pan of my skillet Cornbread recipe
  • 4 slices bread, torn into small pieces (2 1/2 cups)
  • 2 teaspoons ground sage
  • 1 teaspoon of poultry seasoning
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 cups chicken broth
  • 2 large eggs, beaten
  • 3 eggs hardboiled and chopped

Instructions

  1. HEAT oven to 450°F. Coat 13 x 9-inch baking dish or pan with no-stick cooking spray.
  2. MELT butter in medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add celery and onion. Cook and stir until tender. Set aside
  3. Combine crumbled cornbread, bread pieces, sage, poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper in large bowl. Stir in broth, beaten eggs and onion mixture. Add chopped hard boiled eggs and then pour into prepared baking dish.
  4. BAKE 30 minutes or until golden brown.
  5. (if dressing is still a bit wet to your liking, just bake a few more minutes until it gets to be the likeness you desire)

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

12

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 129Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 95mgSodium: 652mgCarbohydrates: 10gFiber: 1gSugar: 2gProtein: 5g

Did you make this recipe?

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Lisa T

Wednesday 22nd of November 2023

Can I make this the night before and put in oven next day ?

Jennifer Sikora

Saturday 25th of November 2023

Yes. I do that all the time.

Paula

Monday 25th of September 2023

This is it! Thank you so much!There are only 3 of us now. I'm gonna make this for Thanksgiving and save half frozen for Christmas. I think you may have made the dressing that two of us will finally agree on!

Jennifer Sikora

Tuesday 26th of September 2023

So happy to hear that Paula! It is definitely my favorite as well.

Donna

Sunday 4th of December 2022

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS!!! I watched the video, and I didn't see where you added the celery and the hard-boiled eggs. But I see the instructions in the recipe, so that's helpful. My mama (who was 90 when she passed) always had hard-boiled eggs and bread slices in her cornbread dressing, which is why I'm looking at your recipe. Unfortunately, no one in the family has been able to duplicate her cornbread dressing, so I'm going to make this for Christmas. Since my family fights over the sage (carrying on a fine family tradition, LOL!), how strong is the sage taste in your recipe -- mild, medium, or strong? If it's mild, how much sage would you recommend I put in for a medium sage taste and then a strong sage taste? (Does that make sense?!)

Pam

Thursday 2nd of November 2023

@Donna, lol my Mama said till you can smell the sage,we love alot of sage

Donna

Friday 23rd of December 2022

@Jennifer Sikora, thank you so much. That's very helpful!

Jennifer Sikora

Monday 5th of December 2022

The sage taste is mild. If you want a big punch of sage, just add more to it.

Bee

Wednesday 23rd of November 2022

Great recipe! It's almost identical to my Grandma's, except she added hard boiled eggs and biscuits instead of bread. The one thing I will suggest is to not press down the dressing after pouring it into the pan; that makes for a dense dressing. To make it less dense, spoon the mix into the pan and then put it directly into the oven. Happy Thanksgiving!

Jennifer Sikora

Saturday 26th of November 2022

Thanks Bee!! Happy Thanksgiving.

Mary

Sunday 20th of November 2022

How many boxes of cornbread

Jennifer Sikora

Monday 21st of November 2022

If you are using the Jiffy cornbread, I would do 2 boxes.

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