Grandma Emma's cornbread dressing is simple and easy to make. This southern style dressing is a great addition to any Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.
Grandma Emma was a feisty woman of her day. She was a career woman and entrepreneur, and she was one of the first women in her family to use a hyphenated name (keeping her maiden name as well as adopting her husband’s name). In addition to all of her talents, she was also a fabulous cook. She spent lots of time in the kitchen helping both her mother and grandmother prepare family meals.
Having a passion for cooking, she opened a small restaurant in southern Mississippi. As a restaurant owner she tailored her recipes for large numbers of people and created shortcuts to make her delicious dishes in less time.
One of her specialties was her simple, easy to make cornbread dressing. Below is a recipe disclosing all of grandma’s secrets and shortcuts. Make this dressing and your family will think you’ve spent hours preparing this delicious dish. It would make a great addition to your Thanksgiving and/or Christmas dinner.
Cornbread Dressing Recipe
Serves 8-10
Ingredients:
- 2 (8” or 9”) pans of cornbread (make from scratch or use the Jiffy mix). Note that the Jiffy mix tends to make the cornbread dressing a little sweeter than with homemade cornbread.
- 1 package of onion soup
- 1 can of cream of mushroom soup
- 1 can of cream of celery soup
- 2 cans of chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons of sage
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup of finely chopped green pepper
- 1 cup of finely chopped celery
Preparation:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Sauté green peppers and celery in a skillet and set aside
- Prepare onion soup according to the package
- Add cream of mushroom soup, celery soup and 1 can of chicken broth - simmer over heat.
- Add green peppers and celery
- Break apart cornbread with your hands and add little by little into the soup mixture, stirring as you add. Make sure all of the bread is moist. If the mixture is too thick (like the texture of oatmeal) add the other can of chicken broth, and if it's still too dry add a little water. If the mixture is too moist or soupy, toast some bread and slowly add until it is the appropriate texture.
- Season with sage, salt and pepper.
- Bake in the oven at 375 degrees until the top is crusted. Should take about 30 minutes. Watch carefully as you don’t want the dressing to dry out.
Serve with poultry like turkey, duck or chicken along with fresh cranberry sauce. If you have leftovers, you can freeze the dressing in zip loc bags for future meals.
