Easy Cornbread Stuffing – Best Ever Dressing Recipe For Thanksgiving or Christmas! (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between cornbread stuffing and cornbread dressing? ›

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

It's a matter of preference, but adding a beaten egg to your stuffing mixture acts as a binder and keeps the bread moist.

A great make-ahead recipe: You can make this Thanksgiving side dish up to a day in advance, and keep it in the fridge until you're ready to bake it. The leftovers are good for up to 4 days so you can enjoy leftover cornbread dressing with your turkey leftovers the next day.

Stuffing should be moist, not dry, because heat destroys bacteria more rapidly in a moist environment. Once the bird is stuffed, it should be placed immediately in an oven set no lower than 325°F. Check out the cooking chart for recommended cooking times for stuffed turkey of various sizes.

As with many food traditions in the U.S., regional loyalties to stuffing vs dressing abound. Many Southerners are die-hard dressing fans, while Northerners tend to prefer stuffings, but these are not hard and fast rules. Nor is the language used to describe either dish.

If your cornbread dressing is mushy, be sure you baked it in a wide enough pan. Plenty of surface area will help the top crisp and the bottom bake completely. Also, be sure you measured your ingredients properly and didn't add too much liquid.

If you cook the stuffing outside the turkey, first of all, it's no longer "stuffing" — it's "dressing." Both it and the turkey will cook more reliably, and you can fill the inside of the turkey (loosely) with aromatics if you're going for that Thanksgiving-y turkey-cornucopia look.

Eggs: Two lightly beaten eggs help hold the dressing together and add moisture.

Classic stuffing made with bread cubes, seasonings, and held together with chicken stock and eggs. A holiday staple!

The term dressing, per the History Channel, originated around the 1850s, when the Victorians deemed stuffing too crude for the dish to be named. This happened around the same time that the term “dark meat” began to refer to chicken legs and thighs.

Do Southerners say stuffing or dressing? ›

Some people insist that it should be called dressing when it hasn't actually been stuffed inside a bird. But many people insist on one term or the other regardless of how it's prepared or what's in it. The term dressing is most commonly used in the South, but it's popular in pockets throughout the US.

The significant difference between the two is the bread — the first building block that contributes the base from which the dish is prepared. Dressing is made from cornbread, and stuffing is traditionally made from other breads — sourdoughs, biscuits, etc.

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.