Rich Cornbread Dressing

Name: Rich Cornbread Dressing
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 12 servings
Cuisine: american
Ingredients: 6 1/2 ounces butter (13 tablespoons); 6 cups crumbled cornbread; 6 cups torn crusty white bread, such as a baguette; 2 cups chopped onion; 2 cups chopped celery; 1/2 to 1 teaspoon dried sage (optional); 2 teaspoons salt; Black pepper; 6 eggs, beaten; 1 1/2 cups heavy cream; 2 cups turkey or chicken broth; 2 dozen shucked small oysters, with their liquid (optional)

By Julia Moskin

Total Time: 1 hour
Rating: 5(1,423)
Notes: Read community notes

This luxurious Thanksgiving dressing is almost a bread pudding, with cornbread, eggs, celery, onion, a pint of oysters and lots of butter and heavy cream. If the oysters prove to be too controversial for your family, simply leave them out.

Featured in: There's Only One Stuffing: Ask Any Cook

Learn: How to Cook a Turkey

Learn: How to Make Stuffing

or to save this recipe.
Subscriber benefit: give recipes to anyone
As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.
Subscribe
Share
Print Options
Include recipe photo

Ingredients

Yield:12 servings

6½ounces butter (13 tablespoons)
6cups crumbled cornbread
6cups torn crusty white bread, such as a baguette
2cups chopped onion
2cups chopped celery
½ to 1teaspoon dried sage (optional)
2teaspoons salt
Black pepper
6eggs, beaten
1½cups heavy cream
2cups turkey or chicken broth
2dozen shucked small oysters, with their liquid (optional)

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Heat oven to 400 degrees, and butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Melt remaining butter. In a large bowl, combine cornbread, white bread, onion, celery, sage, salt and pepper to taste. Toss until well mixed. Add melted butter, eggs, cream and 1½ cups broth. Toss in oysters, if using. Mix lightly but well; mixture should be very moist.
Step 2
Turn mixture into prepared dish. If mixture seems dry around edges, drizzle on remaining broth. Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour, until firm and browned on top.

Ratings

5 out of 5

1,423 user ratings

Have you cooked this?

Private Notes

Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.

Cooking Notes

catherine6 years ago

Can you make this ahead of time and re-heat on thanksgiving? or is it best to do it the day of?

Ronnie6 years ago

Can I make this the night before Thanksgiving, cover with foil, then stick in the oven Thanksgiving evening? The direction that the mixture should be "very moist" makes me worried that it will be a soggy mess if it's refrigerated for a day. Experiences, anyone?

Melissa6 years ago

Highly suggest not making the sage optional for maximum flavor - it's key. Vegetable broth works just as well. And in addition to oysters, consider mushrooms or (wait for it...) a bit of cream of mushroom soup. Either way, sautee mushrooms (or add soup) to the butter sautee along with the celery and onion (I include scallions). If you do use the cream of mushroom, you can cut back on the heavy cream. Lastly, consider swapping out a teaspoon of salt for a teaspoon of poultry seasoning.

catherine6 years ago

SO..... i halved the recipe but forgot to halve the butter... then instead of the oysters i added 1/2 lb of hot italian sausage and 1/2 pound of mild italian sausage... let me tell you it was brilliant. Some of the best stuffing i have ever made. OH! and i sautéed the onions and celery in the butter before adding it to the bread... seriously it was delicious. I am more excited about this stuffing then literally anything else that i am preparing for thanksgiving today!

Stephen6 years ago

I always find that stuffing/dressing tastes better a day or two after making—it gives enough time for the spices to more evenly distribute. You can make ahead and freeze if you'd prefer, but we always make ours a few days ahead of time and just reheat

Hilary4 years ago

I am making this for Thanksgiving on Thursday and am interested in finding out how crumbled the cornbread should be? Should it be fine or should there be chunks of cornbread? Additionally, about how much cornbread will yield six cups of crumbled cornbread?

Deb Goldman6 years ago

DELICIOUS. just made it yesterday and hope it's good til Thursday. One modification for my family: use some of the butter, and sauté the onions ahead of mixing into bread mixture. Just a personal preference, but the onion doesn't cook enough for our taste.

Deidra6 years ago

If anyone is cooking gluten free, I tried this recipe using 12 cups of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Cornbread Mix, and it was really good.

Kate6 years ago

The first time this article appeared in 2002, I was going to make my first Thanksgiving dinner. This is simply best dressing that I have ever had. And since it's the only one I've ever made, it's "moms famous dressing" now! ;)

Mark6 years ago

Anyone use fresh sage - if so how much? We have a ton of it in the garden.

Kelly6 years ago

I've made this the last two years and it's simply great. We don't do oysters as some in my family have shellfish allergies. The sage IS KEY.

Meta6 years ago

Sauteed vgetables in butter first. Would probably reduce butter to 8 Tbsp (plus amount to grease pan), decrease stock to 1 cup, salt to 1 1/2 tsp., and increase sage to 2 tsp.

Beth6 years ago

I toast the breads briefly (15 minutes) in a hot oven just enough to crisp some edges and reduce the moisture.

Candice5 years ago

I made this 2 days before Thanksgiving and tried a few bites when it came out of the oven and was underwhelmed; I did not understand the rave reviews. Kept it in the frig and placed in oven to reheat on Thanksgibing with some added broth and heavy cream. Today, it was amazing and everyone loved it. I sauteed the celery and onions first as recommended by readers and did not use oysters.

lorie6 years ago

I sauteed the onion and celery in the butter with chopped pecans. I skipped the oysters.

Rebeca5 months ago

I reduced the eggs to 4 and sautéed the veggies in the butter prior to mixing in. Like others have suggested, the sage is key. Do not skip it!

Betty8 months ago

Add waaaay more sage

Bkln Mom9 months ago

Super, super disappointing after all the glowing reviews. Added the oysters but not the juice and it smelled super fishy (not in a good way). Otherwise followed recipe exactly. It was very wet before cooking (and did not use the extra liquid) and was quite dense after. Fishiness was more smell than taste, but still... Fam requested the old cornbread/sausage for next year.

Kay Threlkeld9 months ago

I made this for our Thanksgiving dinner, and everyone loved it. I've made dressing for many years with many different recipes, but this is the best one ever. Thank you

Jen9 months ago

I made this gluten free and it was amazing! Instead of bread I used homemade gf buttermilk biscuits (recipe from Let them eat gluten free cake- incredible recipe), and used gf Krusteaz honey cornbread. I crumbled and dried out both overnight. I lightly sauteed the veggies before adding. I added 1/2 chub cooked jimmy dean maple sausage, and 1/2 diced Honeycrisp apple, and used homemade turkey stock. Yum- my favorite stuffing ever- thank you!

Caleb S.9 months ago

Delicious! I made the cornbread a few days before and toasted in an oven to completely dry it out. Sautéing the veggies before baking is a great idea. I only used a couple of eggs and skipped the oysters, still came out great.

Faith C9 months ago

I used fresh sage — I lightly simmered fresh sage into the heavy cream until infused, removed half, and let the other cook into the stuffing. If people have to pick out some leaves, they’ll live :) this was DELICIOUS

James C9 months ago

Swapped italian sausage for the oysters and it was a huge hit.

EGowan9 months ago

This dressing is delicious! My mom made the best dressing and it was always my favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal. I've tried to duplicate her dressing, but something was always missing. This recipe is as close as I have come to hers. Thanks NY Times!

Roo9 months ago

Made it without the oysters. Sautéed the onions/celery with the sage, salt, & pepper, as well as fresh thyme, fresh bay leaves, and the turkey neck/giblets (removed after sauté) to get a little more flavor as other comments made me think it might be under-seasoned. It came out great and we would definitely consider making again. The crispy bits along the edges were particularly tasty.

Aphrodite9 months ago

The best stuffing I’ve ever made, and I’ll never make another one. Re: whether to sauté onions and celery first, I’ve tried it both ways and found using them raw is much more flavorful, and they cook down plenty in the oven. I only have two adjustments: I don’t use oysters in dressing ever because I think it’s a waste of a good oyster; instead I use reconstituted dried mixed wild mushrooms; and I use a mixture of breads, one part, homemade cornbread, one part brioche bread.

Chris9 months ago

Has anyone subbed half and half for the heavy cream successfully?

linda9 months ago

Has anyone tried baking this with cornbread MIX (rather than already made cornbread)? Seems like this would save some time (similar to the Jiffy Corn Casserole recipe).

Pattie9 months ago

I make a version of this every year with pecans and muchrooms instead of oysters. I make herbed butted in advance and roll in plastic wrap to put under the turkey skin and in the stuffing. I have never put in cream before but...

jane9 months ago

I add the onions and celery to the cornbread batter before I cook the cornbread. That saves a steps of sautéing the onions and celery.

Private notes are only visible to you.