This chicken dressing recipe is simple but oh-so delicious! A wonderful switch-up from turkey dressing, this cornbread dressing is made with chicken so everyone will love it! Using 7 ingredients plus a little salt and pepper this cornbread dressing cannot be easier to make for the holidays!
5cupswhite breadhalf of 1 loaf (homemade or store-bought), roughly torn
Prevent your screen from going dark
Instructions
Start by rinsing the chicken then add it to a large pot (8 quarts) with the water, salt,1 tablespoon of ground black pepper, celery, and half of the chopped onions and green bell pepper.
Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer then cover. Boil the chicken until the meat is very tender and falls off the bone, around 1.5 - 2 hours.
Once the meat is tender, take the chicken out of the pot and set it on a plate or bowl. Separate the meat from the bones.
Pour chicken broth into a separate container. You should have 9 - 10 cups.
In the same pot that you boiled the chicken in, add the crumbled cornbread, torn white bread, shredded cooked chicken, the rest of the ground black pepper, and the rest of the onions and green bell pepper.
Finally, pour in enough broth so that your dressing mixture is loose and a little liquidy but still has some resistance when you stir it. I like to add most of the broth and then slowly add in more until it reaches the right consistency.
Taste the dressing mixture for seasoning. Adjust as desired. It should taste more like cornbread instead of bread.
Pour dressing into the prepared baking dish, spreading it out evenly. Cover the top with a layer of parchment paper pressed gently onto the surface of the dressing and then a layer of aluminum foil.
Bake your cornbread dressing for 1 hour covered, then remove both the parchment paper and aluminum foil then bake for another 30 - 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the bottom is crusty.
Allow the dressing to cool for 20 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
The nutrition information is only an estimate and the recipe card may contain affiliate links. The dressing should have a liquidy almost soupy consistency before being baked. If you ran out of chicken broth add a little bit of water until it reaches the right consistency.Taste the dressing mixture before baking to add more salt or ground black pepper as desired.Homemade cornbread dressing will spoil very fast in the refrigerator. It’s best to slice and portion out any leftovers the same day you make it or the next day at the latest.Wrap your dressing sections tightly with plastic wrap then place it in a freezer-safe bag to store in the freezer for several weeks.Reheat frozen dressing covered with aluminum foil or parchment paper in a 400-degree Fahrenheit oven for 30 - 40 minutes or until heated through.Make ahead. If you want to make the dressing ahead of time, chop the vegetables, and bake the cornbread and bread(if using homemade) up to 3 days before the holidays or whenever you are serving it.You could also boil the chicken for the broth 1 - 2 days beforehand as well. After boiling, separate the meat from the broth then discard the bones. Store the meat and broth separately in the refrigerator. When you are ready to make the dressing, simply reheat the broth until warm before combining it with all the other ingredients. (The broth will have probably gelatinized so it will be easier to tell how liquidity the dressing is if the broth is warm)