For years, my husband and I hosted Thanksgiving dinner. At one point we had about 25 people over for the meal – it was a lot of people, a lot of food, a lot of fun, and a lot of memories! While this was great for the memory books, I was ready to let someone else take the wheel.
For the past two years, we’ve changed things up a bit. We took our RV (the RV will be another post for another day), down to New Braunfels. This puts us smack dab in the middle of where mom is and where my sister is – 30 minutes one way, I get to mom, 45 minutes the other way, I get to my sister.
My sister and her husband, hosted this year and what a feast it was!! Smoked Turkey, Prime Rib, Dressing, Roasted Vegetables, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Tossed Salad, Pumpkin Pie, and Brownies to complete the meal. We were stuffed!!
One of the staples of any of our Thanksgiving meals, is Auntie May’s Cornbread Dressing. We were all trained on how to make this recipe one July back in the 90’s. My Aunt Pam, mom’s sister, was visiting from Colorado and asked to see how the dressing was made. So we all gathered to become dressing masters. Note – this is dressing, not stuffing. We are not stuffing the bird, therefore, this is called dressing. Here’s a link to Delish if you have the burning need to understand the difference: https://www.delish.com/food-news/a37273636/stuffing-vs-dressing
Auntie May’s Cornbread Dressing
Equipment
- 1 Sauté pan
- 1 9×13 baking dish
Ingredients
- 2 pkg Pioneer Cornbread Mix Pioneer is preferred, Jiffy is a touch too sweet but will work.
- 1 pkg Biscuits, canned Auntie used 8-10 biscuits, I usually get 2 cans of the store brand jumbo biscuits. I don't use them all in the mix, but I get to eat leftover biscuits – #winning!
- 4 cans Chicken Broth I used the broth in a box – usually takes the entire box.
- 4 stems Celery, chopped
- 1 lg Onion, chopped
- 2 sticks Butter Auntie used margarine, if that's what you like, go for it!
- 4 lg Eggs
- Salt & Pepper To taste!
- Sage This was Dad's addition and I kept it – I would put a measurement, but that's up to your taste for Sage.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375℉
- Spray a 9×13 pan with baking spray – Pam works well. For this recipe I used two (2) disposable pans, since I was taking this to the office Thanksgiving party.
- Bake the Cornbread and Biscuits, according to the package instructions, a day or two in advance.
- Chop the Celery & Onion
- On the day you are going to assemble and bake the dressing, in a large bowl, crumble the Cornbread and tear the Biscuits. The amount of Biscuits to use is really up to you – I keep the ratio pretty even – the amount of crumbled Cornbread is usually the same amount of torn Biscuits.
- In a sauté pan, melt the Butter and add the chopped celery and onion.
- Sauté until the onion is translucent and the celery has lost some of its crunch.
- Add the Butter/Onion/Celery mixture to the crumbled bread mixture, stir to combine.
- Season with Salt, Pepper, and Sage. Stir to incorporate.
- Add enough Chicken Broth to make the mixture soupy.
- Now is the time to taste to check the seasoning. You will want to to do this before you add the Eggs.
- Add the beaten Eggs. Stir to fully incorporate.
- Place the mixture in a greased 9×13 pan.
- Bake for 45 minutes in a 375℉ oven.
- After about 30 minutes, take the dressing out and fluff it with a fork, this makes it less custardy.
- Add back to the oven until golden brown.
