Jiffy Cornbread Dressing (Easy Southern Family Recipe)
This Jiffy cornbread dressing is loaded with shredded chicken, boiled eggs and herbs. It is a traditional side dish for a Thanksgiving menu in the South. The holiday season isn’t complete without it sitting next to your Thanksgiving Turkey and cranberry sauce!
Cornbread dressing is a staple on Thanksgiving Day where I’m from. If you’re hosting Thanksgiving here, it is just expected that there will be cornbread dressing on the table.
With this southern staple, most families have their own way of making it. Passing down the recipe is a family tradition – and when it’s your turn to start making the dressing, you need to make it like Mamaw made.
This particular easy cornbread dressing recipe has been passed down in my family and is served up every Thanksgiving dinner. It uses basic ingredients and has simple steps – but everyone is always a little intimidated by it.
Ok – enough talking…let’s get started on how to make this easy Jiffy Cornbread dressing!
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Affiliate Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, this means that I will earn a small commission if you choose to purchase through my links. This is at no extra cost to you!
Simple Ingredients for Southern Cornbread Dressing
My family recipe is for a huge serving size. But for the sake of this recipe, I’ve scaled it down to fit in a 9X13 pan or large cast iron skillet.
- 2-3 Chicken Leg Quarters – trying to get about 2-3 cups of cooked chicken
- 6 cups Chicken Broth – Either reserved from boiling chicken legs or store bought.
- 2 boxes of Jiffy cornmuffin mix
- 1/2 onion
- 2 stalks celery
- 3 eggs
- 2 tsp sage
- 1 tbsp poultry seasoning
- bay leaves for boiling chicken
- salt and black pepper
- Optional – Cream of Chicken Soup
How to Make Southern Jiffy Cornbread Dressing
First you need to make up a batch of cornbread.
The day before I plan on assembling my dressing and baking it, I go ahead and make my cornbread. Day-old cornbread seems to do better in this dish than fresh out of the oven. But if all you have is fresh, that’s fine too!
For the jiffy cornbread mix, bake according to the package directions.
If you are using my copycat jiffy recipe, be sure to make a double batch.
Once the cooked cornbread is cooled enough to handle, crumble cornbread into small pieces in a large mixing bowl. There shouldn’t be any large pieces left.
Next you need to cook your chicken, veggies and eggs.
Dice your onion and celery stalks.
In a medium to large pot, place your chicken leg quarters, onion, and celery. I like to throw in a couple bay leaves as well.
Add about 5-6 cups of water – enough to cover the chicken. Bring to a boil and cook until the chicken is cooked through.
I also toss my eggs in the broth to cook for about 10 minutes. You could do this is a separate small saucepan if you prefer.
Remove the chicken and vegetables from the pot but keep the broth! You can use this broth to moisten your dressing in the last steps.
Allow to cool and then debone and shred the meat.
Assemble the Dressing, Season, and Bake!
Now we mix it all.
Take the large bowl of crumbled cornbread and add in the cooked shredded chicken, cooked onion and celery, and chopped boiled eggs.
Season with 2 tsp of sage, 1 tbsp poultry seasoning blend, and salt and pepper. Fresh herbs really enhance the flavor of this dish, so use those if you have it. If not, dried also works just fine.
For the chicken broth, you are going to need some judgement on how much is needed. You are trying to get the cornbread mixture to a point that it is all really wet, with a little excess liquid pooling, but not swimming in liquid.
I recommend starting with 3 cups and seeing where that leaves you. Then add more liquid, about 1/2 cup at a time until you’ve reached the desired consistency.
I’ve found that I usually use between 4-6 cups of reserved chicken broth. This varies each time based on the dryness of the cornbread I am using.
You can also add in some cream of chicken soup or store-bought broth if you need some extra moisture.
I always taste my mixture before baking it to see if I need to adjust the seasonings. Everything in the dish is cooked at this point, so no harm in trying it.
Pour it all in a 9X13 baking dish (or 14-inch oven safe skillet) and cover with aluminum foil. Cook in a 350-degree oven for about 20 minutes. Remove the foil and allow it to continue to cook until the top is golden brown and the center is set – usually another 15 minutes or so.
Now you have the perfect side dish to complete you Thanksgiving table!
Need to make an extra large pan of cornbread dressing?
Have a big family (like mine) and need to double this? Go right ahead!
Just double all of the ingredients listed and use a whole chicken instead of leg quarters. Here is the handwritten recipe that I pull out every year to reference with the measurements.
We usually cook ours in a big 11X15 heavy duty pan like this.
Check out these other Thanksgiving Recipes!
- Cornbread Squash Casserole Recipe – Easy Side Dish
- Easy Jiffy Corn Casserole Recipe – Southern Comfort Food
- Traditional Deviled Egg Recipe
- Beginner Friendly Homemade Dinner Rolls
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Southern Jiffy Cornbread Dressing
Ingredients
- 2-3 Chicken Leg Quarters
- 6 cups chicken broth Reserved from boiling chicken or storebought
- 2 boxes Jiffy Cornbread Mix
- 1/2 large onion diced
- 2 celery stalks sliced
- 3 eggs
- 1 tbsp poultry seasoning
- 2 tsp sage
- salt and pepper
- optional – cream of chicken soup
Instructions
- Start by cooking cornbread according to package directions (preferably one day prior to cooking dressing to allow time to dry). Once cornbread is cool enough to handle, crumble completely.
- Place chicken leg quarters, diced onion, sliced celery in a large pot. Cover with about 6 cups of water. Cook until chicken is cooked through.
- While chicken is cooking, hard boil your eggs, peel, and dice.
- Remove chicken and vegetables from broth. Debone chicken once cooled enough to handle. Keep the broth if you are wanting to use it to moisten your dressing!
- In a large bowl, combine crumbled cornbread, cooked chicken, onions, celery, and hardboiled eggs.
- Season with poultry seasoning, sage, salt and pepper.
- Pour in 3 cups of broth. Mix well. Add in 1/2 cup of additional broth at a time until entire mixture is very wet.
- Pour in 9X13 baking dish. Cover with foil.
- Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Remove foil and continue cooking until top is golden brown.
Can I prepare this ahead of time?
I don’t recommend mixing it all together ahead of time, but you can definitely get some prep work out of the way the day before so all you have to do is assemble and bake.
I like to cook all my ingredients the day before I actually need to make the dressing. I’ll boil my chicken and veggies, cook the cornbread and eggs, and get everything diced and shredded. I store it in the fridge overnight and the next day I just crumble my cornbread, add the seasonings and cooked ingredients, pour in the broth and bake.
My cornbread dressing is too dry or too wet!
If your dressing is too dry, you are either not adding enough liquid or over cooking it. Make sure that the mixture is really wet and that you are just cooking until the center is no longer sloppy.
If it’s too wet – well, you’ve added too much liquid. Try returning it to the oven for a little more baking time to see if that helps.
It is important to note that some people do prefer a drier formed dressing, while others prefer a really moist, fall apart dressing. When you’re adding your liquid, keep your preferences for this in mind.
Is cornbread dressing the same as cornbread stuffing?
No, it’s not. Dressing is baked in separate casserole dish, while stuffing is traditionally “stuffed” inside the cavity the turkey before cooking.
Personally, I’ve never had stuffing at any house in the South – it’s always been cornbread or rice dressing.
Cornbread Substitutes
You can substitute the jiffy mix called for in this recipe for whatever cornbread you prefer. Jiffy cornbread has a touch of sweetness, so if you don’t like sweet cornbread, this may not be right for you.
Can I make it gluten free?
Sure, you can use a gluten free cornbread mix. Since I’m not sure of the texture/absorbency of a gluten free cornbread, you will need to gauge the “wetness” of your mixture after adding the chicken broth to it. It may need more or less liquid than the recipe calls for.
