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This Old Fashioned Cornbread Dressing with Sausage is a traditional, Southern recipe and it's delicious. This homemade dressing is filled with flavor and will completely WOW your Thanksgiving guests!
I am a sucker for a homemade cornbread and this old fashioned cornbread sausage dressing is no different. Sometime the traditional way is just best! It has an amazing sweetness from my homemade cornbread muffins.
This recipe starts from dried cornbread, that needs to be made two days ahead of time and crumbled up to then air dry. It will get nice and stale this way and be the perfect texture for our cornbread dressing.
The whole family will love this one! I know mine does. This is honestly my favorite food on my plate every year, especially with some gravy poured over the top.
Jump to:
Why You'll Love This Recipe:
- It is absolutely full of flavor from the homemade cornbread to the sausage and sage.
- The recipe is really easy to make!
- It combines all the traditional flavors from thanksgiving, plus sausage. YUM!
If you looking for more Thanksgiving Recipes to pair with this dressing, try our homemade Cranberry Sauce and Mini Apple Pies.
Ingredients:
Stale Cornbread: Creates the perfect texture and brings in just a bit of sweetness. It's important to use stale cornbread or it will result in a soggy texture.
Sausage: Pairs perfectly with cornbread & brings in extra flavor.
Onions and Celery: Must have vegetables in any stuffing or dressing.
Cranberry: For just a bite of tart and holiday flavor.
Chicken Stock: Brings the proper moisture to the recipe.
Sage: A traditional Thanksgiving herb and I love a good tradition.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Recipe:
Technically speaking, stuffing means stuffed in the bird and dressing is in a separate dish. However, I think of traditional stuffing as chopped up large chunks of bread, while dressing is more of a crumbled up texture like the crumbled cornbread that we use in this recipe.
Personally, I would wait until the morning of Thanksgiving. It will get dried out if you bake it twice, but it will be mushy if you let it sit too long in the fridge before baking.
How to Make this Old Fashioned Cornbread Dressing:
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Prepare the Cornbread: Two days ahead of time, bake the cornbread. Use my homemade cornbread muffin recipe or a boxed mix, like jiffy, is fine too. You need 6 cups of cooked cornbread. Once baked and cooled, crumble up and allow to dry out in the air for 2 days.
For the Dressing:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Dice up the yellow onion, and celery. Mince the sage.
Into a large dutch oven over medium low heat, add in the olive oil and butter. We are using butter to get a buttery flavor, and adding the olive oil to help increase the burning point.
Once the pot is hot, add in the onion, celery and salt. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Bump up the heat to just under medium. Add in the sausage. Stir and cook for another 7 to 8 minutes, until no longer pink.
Toss the sage into the pot. Stir and cook for 1 minute.
Turn off the heat and add in the stale cornbread and cranberries and mix together.
Slowly add in the chicken stock to the mixture, stirring to incorporate.
Transfer the dressing into a casserole dish and bake uncovered for 30 minutes. After baking, turn to broil. Broil for about 3 minutes for a nice brown crust on top.
Allow to sit for 5 minutes before serving & then enjoy!
More Thanksgiving Recipes You'll Love:
Recipe
Old Fashioned Cornbread Dressing
- Total Time: 60 minutes
- Yield: 8 cups 1x
Description
This Old Fashioned Cornbread Dressing with Sausage is a traditional, Southern recipe and it's delicious. This homemade dressing is filled with flavor and will completely WOW your Thanksgiving guests!
Ingredients
- 6 cups of crumbled stale cornbread (recipe linked below)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon salted butter
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 3 ribs of celery, diced
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 16 ounce sweet Italian sausage with no casings or 16 ounce mild country sausage, like Jimmy Dean
- 4 sage leaves, minced
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1 and ¾ cups chicken stock
Instructions
- Prepare the Cornbread: Two days ahead of time, bake the cornbread. Use my homemade cornbread muffin recipe or a boxed mix, like jiffy, is fine too. You need 6 cups of cooked cornbread. Once baked and cooled, crumble up and allow to dry out in the air for 2 days.
- For the Dressing: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Dice up the yellow onion, and celery. Mince the sage.
- Into a large dutch oven over medium low heat, add in the olive oil and butter. We are using butter to get a buttery flavor, and adding the olive oil to help increase the burning point.
- Once pot is hot, add in the onion, celery and salt. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Bump up the heat to just under medium. Add in the sausage. Stir and cook for another 7 to 8 minutes, until no longer pink.
- Toss the sage into the pot. Stir and cook for 1 minute.
- Turn off heat and add in the stale cornbread and cranberries and mix together.
- Slowly add in the chicken stock to the mixture, stirring to incorporate.
- Transfer the dressing into a casserole dish and bake uncovered for 30 minutes. After baking, turn to broil. Broil for about 3 minutes for a nice brown crust on top.
- Allow to sit for 5 minutes before serving & then enjoy!
Notes
*Be sure to use stale cornbread for the recipe to get the best results!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Category: Sides
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Thanksgiving
Keywords: cornbread dressing with sausage, thanksgiving sides, side dishes
Holly
This is the BEST cornbread dressing! Total hit on Thanksgiving and really like the sausage in it.
★★★★★