Grandma’s Secret CORNBREAD Dressing Recipe (Passed Down for Generations!) + Turkey Gravy Recipe!

Bring true Southern comfort to your table with this homemade Southern Cornbread Dressing — golden, flavorful, and packed with soul. 🥘 Made from scratch in a cast iron skillet, this dressing has the perfect crispy top and tender, savory inside. Whether it’s for Thanksgiving or Sunday dinner, this easy, traditional recipe will become your family’s new favorite!

Cornbread
3 cups of self rising cornbread mix
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
3 tbsp vegetable oil

Turkey Wings
3-4 lb turkey wings
Seasoning mix: 1 tbsp chicken bouillon, 1/2 tbsp garlic powder, 1/2 tbsp paprika, 1/2 tbsp buttery steakhouse seasoning, 1 1/2 tsp seasoning salt, 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp onion powder
onion
carrot
celery
water

Gravy
1/4 cup flour
4-5 cups broth
salt/ pepper to taste

Dressing
1 pan cornbread
meat of 2 of the turkey wings
3 – 3 1/2 cups broth ( I used 3 cups)
1 can cream of chicken
1 can cream of onion
1/2 onion
1 rib celery
5 sage leaves
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp white pepper
2 tbsp butter
2 eggs
seasoning to taste

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Hey y’all. Welcome to Chamira’s Kitchen. It is time for me to show you guys how I make the most delicious, flavorful southern turkey cornbread dressing. Now, if you have made any of the dressing recipes on my channel, you know that my dressings never miss. I’m also going to show you guys how to make a delicious gravy. Guys, this is going to be so good. Now, of course, cornbread dressing is going to start off with corn bread. So, I’m going to preheat the oven to 425°. Now, y’all, I like using some good old Crisco in my skillet, y’all. This is Sister Mabel. Do y’all know my cast iron skillet? Some of y’all new here don’t know Sister Mabel, but y’all going to meet her today. Okay, now I’m going to put her in the oven for, you know, while the oven is preheating. That’s going to take about 5 minutes. Now, some of y’all going to want to snatch my wig because I like to use a cornbread dressing mix for my cornbread dressing sometimes. If you want to use a completely from scratch corbett recipe, I will link one in the description that I do use for a dressing. Now, I’m using three cups of that white lily buttermilk mix. And then I’m going to add in a4 of a cup of sugar. Trust me, this is not going to be a sweet cornbread. Okay? Because actually that mix does not have sugar in it. This is just going to bring out the flavor of the corn. Here I’m adding in a half of a stick of melted butter. You can use salted or unsalted. I’m also going to add in two large eggs. Then I’m going to put in two cups of butter milk. Now, the cornbread that I make with this mix is not my preferred cornbread to eat as a side dish. It’s not nasty, but it’s definitely not better than homemade, nor is it as good as my doctorred up Jiffy recipe. So, I only use this cornbread just for dressing. Then, I’m going to put in three tablespoons of vegetable oil. I like to add in a little bit of that vegetable oil just because it helps with any potential dryness cuz it’s a liquid fat. At this point, Sister Mabel is piping and she is ready. Okay, so I’m going to pour in all of my cornbread mix. And you’re automatically going to see a crust start to form. Place this back in the oven. And you’re going to cook at 425 degrees for about 20 to maybe 30 minutes. Mine is usually ready right at the 25 minute mark. You see the top is brown. It’s perfectly cooked. And you want this to set out at least one night, but sometimes I even make this 3 days in advance so it is extra stale. What I am going to do for my turkey is that I’m also going to be cooking my turkey in advance. If you’re doing this for a holiday, of course, you probably are going to be cooking your turkey the day you’re going to prepare your dressing. You can use any seasonings you want. This is what I’m using, but what’s important is that you need to pick a seasoning blend that is going to pair well with your dressing. Whatever you do, you’re going to get that flavor in the dressing because you’re going to be adding some of the meat and the broth. So, this is not the time to pull out your jerk or the barbecue wings. That’s a very specific flavor that doesn’t match dressing. But I feel like a simple blend of herbs, chicken bullion, seasoning, salt, garlic, onion, paprika, that’s a classic pairing that works. You could throw in a little bit occasion. You know, not too much, but a little bit will work fine unless you want a very Cajunforward dressing. I’m going to prepare turkey wings, which is my favorite cut of the turkey in a crock pot overnight. And I’m going to use the celery, the onion, and the carrot, as well as some whole garlic cloves to pack a bunch of flavor into the broth. You need that broth to taste good because that is really going to be the flavor powerhouse of your dressing. So, I’m also using fresh herbs, a bay leaf, and you definitely want to leave on the wing tips of the turkey wing. First of all, I like to eat them, but secondly, they have a lot of collagen and there’s a lot of bone, and that bone is going to flavor the broth. This may seem like a lot of seasonings for this amount of meat, but actually it is going to be perfect because remember, we’re going to put in water and some of that seasoning is just going to fall off into the broth. And you still want that broth to have a lot of flavor as well as getting that seasoning down into the bone, okay, of this meat. You could also use another cut of turkey if you want to. And you also don’t have to prepare your wings in a crock pot. You could boil them on the stove with the same seasonings and vegetables until they’re soft, or you can cook them in the oven covered. But whatever you do, you’re going to have to get at least 5 to six cups of broth out of this thing. So, I am going to add about 2 and 1/2 cups of water. And then the turkey is going to release the rest of the water. I’m going to put on my lid, and I’m going to cook this low and slow. I’m just going to cook this overnight for 8 hours. Using a crock pot is an excellent way to free up the stove, especially when you have other dishes that you are going to be cooking, especially if this is a holiday. So, I like to just keep it simple. And I also like just having some things prepared in advance. Now, it’s the next day and this is the turkey wings. Now, these are actually delicious just to eat on their own. I am going to be eating two of them and then using two of them for the dressing. You can use three or all four of the turkey wings for the dressing if you want. It honestly just depends on how meaty you want your dressing to be, but today I’m only going to use two. And the ones that I’m going to eat, I’m going to broil them with a little bit of butter just to brown up the skin. I’m going to remove the vegetables, but I’m not going to throw them away. I’m going to be adding the celery bits and the onion bits to the dressing, but I will not be adding the carrot. I just eat those as a little chef snack. All right, this broth is rich. It is delicious, and it is a fatty broth because it was made with the turkey wings. It has all that skin. I’m going to skim off some of the fat from the broth. And I am not going to throw that away. I’m going to save that for when I do the gravy. My cornbread is nice and stale from sitting overnight. And as you can see, I took me a little taste. Even if the cornbread don’t taste that great, I just can’t resist getting me a little piece. It’s the southern gal coming out of me. Okay. Now, what I’m going to do is that I’m going to slice my cornbread into cubes. This is just a preference because some people just prefer to crumble it up when they take it out. But I actually like to have some that are some pieces that are a little bigger and some that are a little more broken up as I stir my dressing. And you’ll see what I’m talking about as I mix. And then I’m going to take all of the cornbread out and put it in a bowl. And I’m going to use that same skillet. Okay? So, it may be getting a little more action. And I’m going to add 2 Tbsp of butter and a little bit of olive oil. Add half of a medium onion diced and one stalk of celery diced kind of finely. And sauté that on medium to medium low heat until it has a little color. That should take about 3 minutes. And then I’m going to put in some fresh sage. Now, this is about five sage leaves that I have just chopped up. And I’m going to allow them to just bloom and get very aromatic in this oil. At this point, I’m turning the heat down to low. Then I’m going to add anywhere from a fourth to a half a teaspoon of dried thyme and a half a teaspoon of white pepper. I’m going to just let that just cook in the residual heat with the stove off for about 30 seconds. Now, it’s time to start putting this thing together. Okay, we really getting down to business now. I’m going to pick the meat off of two of the wings and I’m going to eat that skin. Okay, I told you I brown the wings. And so, y’all, that skin is delissios. So, do y’all hear me? Now, this is all the meat I’m putting. You can definitely add more meat. I am not about to wash another bowl. So, I’m just going to take out the turkey and then I’m going to add in a can of cream of chicken and a can of cream of onion. You can just use two cans of cream of chicken if you can’t find the cream of onion. And then I was taught by my mama to add in eggs. So, I add in two eggs. I’ve had some people fight me and say, “You’re not supposed to put in eggs in the dressing because the cornbread has eggs.” I don’t know what to tell y’all. My mama taught me to do this and so I’m going to do it. Do y’all hear what I’m trying to say? and it slaps every time. Now, put in your slightly cooled or cooled sauté vegetable mixture. And I’m going to start out with putting in two cups of the turkey broth. You will need more, but I always need a minimum two. So, I’m going to start out with that. And then I’m going to just mix that into my base. This is going to add the base flavor. put in at least half of your cornbread and then start to mix it in. Initially, you’re going to feel like, well, this is too much liquid as it is. But then you just wait and that cornbread is going to start absorbing the liquid mixture. And then I’m just going to break up some of the pieces as I stir. Some people like to have their dressing pieces very small so they just crumble up the cornbread completely. There’s nothing wrong with that. I like to have a couple of pieces that are not necessarily big, but they have a few they’re just a little bit bigger than that totally crushed up look. So, I will crush some pieces and then also allow some pieces to be a little bit more chunky. I think the dressing just has a slightly better texture that way. Now, I’m going to add in that onion and the celery. I just roughly chopped them up on my cutting board. And I’m going to mix that in as well. This is where you just got to pay attention. You have to watch and you’ve got to learn as the grandmas would say. All right? Because dressing is an art and it’s not a science. Right here, you might feel like it’s liquidy enough, but it is not because some of the cornbread pieces are still a bit dry. They’re not hydrated enough. And if I was to stick this in the oven right now before adding that extra broth, my dressing would be dry. And this is where I’ll show you what I mean. When I break up this piece, it’s a little dry in the center. So, I add in another cup of broth in total. So, in total, I’m using three cups of broth today. I know your grandmama and M didn’t even measure the broth for you, but I’m going to do it for you today. All right? So, you can get the exact measurement. If you let your cornbread sit out for two or even possibly 3 days, you might need 3 and 1/2 cups of broth because your cornbread is most likely going to be drier than mine. I’m going to fold in all of that turkey meat. And then I’m going to add a little bit extra seasoning salt and a little bit more pepper because I just feel like I want to adjust the seasonings. This is personal preference, okay? whatever seasonings you think it needs. This is where you can now add it in. The final texture of your dressing should look like this. So, what you see on the screen is what you are going for. Okay. Now, in my cast iron skillet, I’m going to rub a little bit of butter just so I can get a extra buttery crispy crust on my dressing. Then, we’re going to put in all of that goodness. Now, let me tell y’all, y’all start making dressing like this, you will always be asked to make dressing. I am always asked to bring the dressing to family functions, and people love it, okay? They love it. So, guys, I’m going to put this in the oven at 375° for anywhere from 50 minutes to 1 hour. Let’s make a delicious gravy. So, remember that turkey fat we skimmed off the broth? I’m going to put that in a pan with about a tablespoon of butter. And then I’m going to cook it for about a minute just to get off any water that I may have accidentally brought up with the fat. Then I’m going to put in a four of a cup of flour. And we going to cook a light skin r. So I’m going to cook this flour for about a minute, constantly stirring it. You’re looking for that beautiful golden brown color. If you push it past that point, the flavor is going to start to get nutty. And that’s not what we are looking for with a turkey gravy. So, this is the color I’m at. And now, I’m going to start putting in some of the turkey broth. Slowly, we’re going to use whatever is left that we didn’t put in the dressing for this gravy. I’m slowly going to add in about a half a cup at a time and stir until I get all of the broth that I have left over. And then I’m going to be using some boiling water. You do need to use boiling water, or else you’re going to reduce the temperature of the pan. Add enough water until you get the gravy to the thickness that you want. I like my gravy on the slightly thicker side. So, I add it in about a cup and a half of water. But honestly, with gravy, it’s it’s not a science. Just add it in till it’s the level that you want and then put in chicken bullion and adjust with salt and pepper. I know y’all see this beautiful, beautiful turkey cornbread dressing. It is crunchy on the outside, moist on the inside, perfectly seasoned, a nice herbal sage flavor that isn’t too much. Little chunks of meat, but it isn’t overwhelming. The perfect side dish for a holiday dinner, a soul food sundae, or just anytime you want that cozy feeling. Y’all let me know if you’re going to make this recipe. And when you do, let me know how much you love it. I’ll see you next time on Camar’s Kitchen. Goodbye and God bless.