Cornbread Dressing with Chicken

Thanksgiving is almost here. It’s time to start thinking about what we want for our Thanksgiving meal. Some dishes can be prepared ahead of time like this cornbread dressing. Mix it up, put it in a freezer safe dish, cover tightly, and freeze. I think it tastes better when I do it ahead of time and freeze it. Let it thaw and bake the day of your dinner. I certainly hope you will try this recipe and let me know how you like it.

Enjoy!
Karen, Stephanie, & Paul

Contact us on email at:
Karen@karenjonesfoodandfamily.com

Write us at:
Food & Family
PO Box 675
McCalla, AL 35111

Cornbread Dressing
Preheat oven to 435 degrees
I used an 8″ and a 10″ iron skillet
Put your skillets in the oven when you start to preheat so they will be hot when you are ready to pour up your cornbread mixture.

3 cups Buttermilk Cornmeal Mix, White Lily
1/4 cup self rising flour, White Lily
2 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk, low fat (if using whole fat it will take more)
Mix well.

In hot skillets add 1 Tbsp shortening and 1 Tbsp butter
Pour mixture into each skillet.
Bake at 435 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden
After cornbread has baked, remove from skillets and put into a large bowl. After bread has cooled, crumble it finely. Some larger pieces are good.
Set aside.

Boil 4 bone in, skin on, chicken breasts, or 1 whole chicken, with 2 stalks celery and 1 onion. Salt chicken well. This is the time to season it all the way through.
Cook until chicken is done and tender.
When chicken has finished cooking, remove chicken pieces to a plate and strain chicken broth into another bowl and discard the celery and onion.

Reserve about half a breast of chicken for gravy. Shred chicken but not too finely. You will want some larger pieces. Add to crumbled cornbread:
3 stalks celery, diced
1 large onion, diced
2 tsp sage
2 tsp poultry seasoning.
Taste for salt if you need to add more.
Stir bread mixture.

4-5 cups chicken broth, or more if needed for right consistency
Pour over bread mixture. Stir well. You want the bread to be wet but not soupy with broth. Spray a 9X13 baking dish with non-stick spray. Add mixture and bake 1 1/2 hours or until golden and set. You want the dressing to still be moist so be sure not to overbake.

Gravy (this is not exact, I can only give approximate measurements)
2 Tbsp Oil or 1 Tbsp oil and 1 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
salt and pepper to taste
3 eggs, hard boiled
4 cups chicken broth.

Get oil and butter hot. Add flour, salt and pepper to taste. Cook 2-3 minutes. Add chicken broth a little at a time, stirring well after each addition. If your gravy is too thick, add more stock or a little water. Cut up eggs and stir into gravy. Serve in a pretty bowl.

[Music]
hey everybody it’s Karen with food and
family and Thanksgiving is almost here
so we’re getting ready to make some
dishes we want to put them in the
freezer so saves us time when we’re
cooking our Thanksgiving meal and one I
love to put in in the freezer ahead of
time it’s my cornbread dressing after it
sits it just everything just melds
together and marries together um I’ve
got my oven
preheating to
435 that is the perfect temperature to
make your cornbread on I’ve got two
Skillets I’m making a lot of cor uh
cornbread a lot of dressing so I’ve got
a 10in skillet and then I’ve got um
these are 6 or 8 in Skillet smaller one
so that’ll be enough for for my family
so we’ll start out we’re going to start
out with three cups of cornmeal now this
is white lily buttermilk cornmeal mix
that’s what I like to use you have heard
me before I love white lily and yes I
know this has flour and salt and
everything in it already but you know I
like to add a little bit
more it’s just the way I’ve always done
it and the way I like to make it so I’ve
got three cups of that cornmeal mix and
I’m going to put right about
a/4 of a cup of flour I don’t want it
cakey but I just like to add that little
extra bit of
flour then we’re going to add some salt
I like to add extra
salt I’ve got some chicken back here on
the stove boiling I’ve got uh four large
chicken breast salted really well you
want it seasoned you want that meat
seasoned this is your opportunity to get
it all in I’ve got an onion and some
celery letting it cook and that’s going
to make my
broth so we want fresh homemade broth
you can make it with U Store BT with the
Box stock and it would still be good
but we just like to do it like this I’m
going to put in a couple of
eggs and I forgot to get my buttermilk
out I’ll get
that I’ll be right back but I want to
rinse this eggs off my hand hands I’m
going to start with two
cups of milk but I think it’s probably
going to take a little more more now
when you use like whole fat buttermilk
when you can find it sometimes we can’t
find it it’s I don’t know
why but if you
use the low um lowfat buttermilk it
won’t take as much cuz it’s a lot
thinner so let’s start out with
that this
cup I’m sure it’s going to take more and
and that is still too thick can you see
that so let’s put the rest of it in so
we’ve got two cups of milk in
it maybe that’ll do it cuz this is the
thinner oh I think that’s going to
work yeah oh that’s looking
good look now that’s the perfect consist
consistency for your
cornbread
so let’s move some of this stuff out of
the way I’m going to get
my Skillets out of the
oven and see if they’re hot
enough you want them
hot I like to put them in the OV then
when I start preheating it and by the
time I get them out it’s screaming
hot so we got them there and I’m going
to add a little
bit of solid shortening to each one
Crisco solid shortening if you’ve got
lard use lard I just don’t have
any look it’s already
melting it doesn’t take a whole
lot well one reason being we’re going to
add some butter to that
[Applause]
skillet add a little bit of
butter as my granny would say that’s
just going to make it
good all right so now what we need to do
is we’re going to divide this cornbread
batter
between the two Skillets
today it’s going to be
good I smooth it out and you see how all
that butter and shortening come up on
that side and it’s already started
getting a
little cooked around the edge you see
that so we’re going to put this in our
preheated
oven
and we’re going to bake it about 20
minutes and then we’re going to take it
out and I’ll put it in my bowl that I’m
going to mix my dressing up in break it
up a little bit and let it cool enough
so I can handle it and then when we get
to that point I’ll come back and show
you what I add to it okay I see we’re
back we’ve got our cornbread baked the
chicken is done I’ve got it out of the
pan and cooling I took the cornbread out
broke it up so it could cool we started
crumbling it up so now I’m going to fix
our celery and onions I’ve got my onions
chopped up so now I’m going to do my
celery and if you have little tender
pieces like this from the inside and
with the leaves use them there’s a lot
of
flavor in those celery leaves I’ve
got oh I cut it up I’ve got about three
stocks of celery now these are celery
Hearts I trimmed the ends washed them
real good and then I cut each piece into
in half so I’ve got a couple of sticks
of celery so I’m just going to chop it
up and we’re going to add it in there if
you my family doesn’t like a whole lot
of
celery and the dressing we would rather
have a little bit of celery just enough
I don’t precook my celery I don’t
pre-cook the onions I figure why should
I I’m going to be putting it in the oven
and cooking it anyway but if you’re used
to cooking it and that’s what your
family does by all means cook it I know
people that do there’s nothing wrong
with it I just choose not
to
so it’s one less step to go through and
one less pan to
wash so we’re going to put that in there
and dump our onion
in got all our veggies you can’t see can
you got all our veggies in there now
we’re going to break up this
chicken and I don’t want it in fine
shreds but I want smaller chunks
maybe about like that you want to know
you got some chicken in it and it not be
stringy and if you get too fine it gets
string in I don’t like it that
way I want to know I’ve got
chicken so it don’t take but a minute
now what I’m going to do is I’m going to
save back a little bit of this chicken
for my gravy and just in the case I
don’t have enough I’ve got some extra
chicken broth sitting on the counter
behind me if I don’t have enough in my
pot here it’s going to be good I can’t
wait y’all have ready for the holidays
we are we’re getting ready for them it’s
going to be so good my big spatula now
we got to stir this big bowl you see how
full it is and that’s the biggest bowl
I’ve got if I had any more I’d have to
split it up
there’s a few bigger pieces of cornbread
in there but once we add that broth
they’re going to break down after they
get
wet that’s good for now because we’re
going to add some seasoning I’m going to
add a little bit more salt um I tasted
the cornbread and I decided it needed a
little more salt and that’s
probably that’s not even a t teaspoon
close to to it but not a
teaspoon I’m going to add use sage and
poultry seasoning now I know sage has
poultry seasoning in it but I like to
use a little extra so I’m going to use
two teaspoons of
that we might come back and add a little
let’s add a little more we like this
sage and we’ll taste it we might add
some more I don’t have raw eggs
so
we’re going to add
some yall know what I did I just set it
backwards I added two teaspoons of sage
now I’m adding 2 teaspoons of my poter
seasoning that’s okay I got my jars
mixed up it happens when you’re
cooking and this is real
cooking you know what this is a big bowl
of dressing all right I think that’s
mixed up real good can you see down in
that
bowl now let’s add our this pot has I
don’t know I think four to five cups of
broth so we’re going to start out with a
big lot of it and we’re probably going
to end up using it all if not some of
that extra that I’ve
got back
there now we’re going to bake this I
need to go ahead while I’m thinking
about it let me turn my oven
on so it can be
preheating I’m making it for
Thanksgiving but we want to go ahead and
this is going to be our test run
today and we’re going to try
it yeah we’re going to use all of this
[Music]
broth you want it wet you don’t want it
swimming and broze but you want it
pretty
wet oh that’s looking
fun I do think I want a little more
broth so let me grab the extra I’ve got
back
here and it it’s Rich you can
actually boil your chicken
make you some
broth use your chicken for chicken salad
or uh chicken tacos or enchiladas or
anything take your
broth put it in a container and freeze
it so you’ve got fresh homemade broth
anytime you want
it oh now can you see the
consistency of this see it’s
wet it’s dripping off of my spatula it’s
wet but it’s not um swimming in liquid
so let’s get our pan get our
dish I’ve got a what is this a 9 by
13 uh something like that it’s a 34 it
says so we’re going
to pour this in there I hope it help it
all that’s
better y’all are in here with me look
there look at
there oh it’s a big
pan that’s a big
dish of dressing so let’s spread it out
we’re going to Pat it
down now my oven is I’m preheating it to
4:35 we’re going to bake
this I want to say I’m going to start in
an
hour and it I may actually have to go a
little bit longer this is a lot of
dressing but you want it done on the
inside everything is cooked you’ve just
going to get it hot
and on the inside the onions and celery
will cook with it so and there’s nothing
really in
here you could eat it just like this if
you wanted to but we’re not so I’m going
to slip this in the oven when it gets
done preheating and we’re going to come
back and make some gravy to go with it
okay hang on with me let’s make some
gravy to go with that dressing and it
will be out in just a little bit so
we’re going to get our D oh our gravy
going so get my pan heat and I’m going
to put a little bit of
oil that’s
um probably a tablespoon maybe just
over
so get us a little bit of
flour you want about as
much flour as fat whether you’re using
oil or butter we might put a little
butter in it we’ll just have to
see we’re going to put salt in it we got
a season it that is about a teaspoon of
salt probably looks like more to you but
it’s not
and it takes a couple of minutes to cook
that raw flour taste out of it you want
to cook it
[Applause]
down and I think we’re going to
add a touch more
flour I said that was a tablespoon of
oil that might have been closer to
two better better
better and it
will make a paste it’s hard to tell you
exact
recipe for
gravy um a lot of it’s just an eyeball
you got to see what it looks like and
how it
feels
so let’s see how I got like pasty in
there let me just let it cook
so here’s our broth that we had you know
the extra we
had so we’re going to start pouring it
in so typically you’re going to use
about twice actually about four times
more
broth than you do fatten
flour and I’ve got close to four cups
here yeah get some of that good
old chicken stuff in there
that it just give it a little extra
flavor you can put um if you’ve got some
um chicken base put some of that in
there if you’ve got some bullan put just
a little bit
because it’s salty and you want to be
careful with
that that’ll just amp up that flavor a
little bit and I’ve got some in
here so that’s what we’re doing today
we get this smoothed out and bubbling
we’re going to put our chicken in it and
we’re going to cut up these
eggs do you put eggs in your gravy for
dressing I like it I think it just adds
to it to me that
makes what we call giblet
gravy all
right so I’m going to let that sit here
a second
and we’re going to break up this
chicken and I’ve got to get a knife to
cut up my
eggs so let’s just again don’t don’t
tear it up too
fine um but you don’t want too big of
chunks in this either
n yep that’s the perfect amount of
chicken in this gravy for me so let me
grab a
knife and um we’ll get this um get these
eggs cut up now if you’re not used to
cutting it in your hands don’t please
put it on a cutting board I’ve done this
for so many years but I don’t want
anybody to get hurt I’ve cut it in four
pieces y’all have seen me do this before
and I’m just going to cut it
up and just let it fall right
in that gravy if it has some bigger
piece pieces that’s
fine doesn’t matter I boiled four eggs
actually I cooked them in my egg cooker
and if you haven’t seen it go to my
Amazon store and I’ve got it on the
Amazon store I’ll put a link in the
description box below the video and get
you one of these they’re not expensive
and they’re the best things I put my
eggs
in see I’m putting that yolk in there
kind of changes the color too cuz it’ll
kind of break up a
lot the white won’t but the yolk will I
think we’re going to use just about all
of this
broth I make
my I make my gravy for my dressing a
little thinner than I
do if I’m making gravy for breakfast or
to go on biscuits or yep let’s go ahead
and use the rest of it cuz we’re going
to let that simmer down for just a
minute
minute and it’s going to get to the
right consistency and actually it’s
pretty perfect
now and I’m going to get me a
spoon and I’m going to taste it see if
we need to add any more salt and pepper
or anything like that if you have
other can’t wait to put this all
together and have a
plate no it doesn’t need any more
salt remember I put a little bit in with
the
flour plus I’ve got a bullan in there
and um it’s got salt in it so this is
perfect so I’m going to set this let
this sit here and simmer for just
another couple of minutes and when that
dressing comes out of the oven we’re
going to scoop into it and we’re going
to put a big spoonful of gravy over it
and we’re going to try it out okay stay
with me timer just went off on the oven
so let’s get out the dressing I can
smell it and I’m
hungry turn our oven
off
o look at here look at here oh my
goodness see that steam coming off of it
oh it’s going to be so good so let me
close this let turn that light off what
we’re at in and I’m going to get a
serving spoon we’re going to dip up some
of this
dressing
wow Miss Stephy just came in so she’s
going to try it with me so we’re going
to service up
some yeah this is what we got ooh
chicken and
dressing and gravy look at at those
crispy edges
there I like crispy edges ni part
M can you see what that looks
like look at
there look at
there can you just
smell oh that
goodness
ooo show them what that dressing looks
like then we’re going to drown it in
gravy see
that oh
my that right there’s the best part you
know it
crises it’s not dry it’s still
moist and that’s what you
want I showed up at the right time you
sure did you can help me taste it can
you get any better better than that
gravy with eggs in it and
butter we didn’t put butter in it oh I
was going to put butter in it that’s
okay we don’t need
it a little extra gravy won’t hurt us
will
it let’s see what we got
here we got a big old bowl of
deliciousness
it’s
hot that’s
Thanksgiving that is Thanksgiving in one
bite Thanksgiving in one bite
y’all I hope you make this you’ve got to
try
it I know I’m bragging on myself but
this is some
delicious dressing with the
gravy and I’ll put the recipe down in
the description box for
you and I’ll give you instructions on
the gravy I can’t give you exact
measurements but you’ll be able to
eyeball it and uh try this you know we
make it at Thanksgiving and Christmas I
don’t know why we don’t make it the rest
of the year year once a month at least
you know we need to make it more let’s
make a holiday just for
dressing we don’t need anything else to
go with
it I’m going to go eat my
dressing and we’ll see y’all later
thanks for joining us and I love and
appreciate all love you
[Music]
bye-bye
[Music]