Ingredients
- One Dozen stale Cornbread Muffins (or one 8×8 or 9×9 pan of cornbread)
- 1 large Shallot
- 2 stalks of Celery
- 2 cups of Fresh Brown Mushrooms
- 6 ounces of Pancetta
- 3 tsp of Fresh Thyme Leaves
- 2 tsp of Fresh Sage (about 3–5 leaves)
- 2 cups of Chicken Stock (or less, see notes)
- 2 tsp of Salt
- 1 tsp of Black Pepper
- Unsalted Butter for greasing the baking dish
Instructions
- Be sure the cornbread is stale before making the dressing. For more information, see the notes below.
- Chop the cornbread muffins into one inch cubes and set aside.
- If you are not making the dressing in advance, butter a 9×9 square or 11×7 rectangular baking dish. Turn the oven on to 350 degrees and start prepping the vegetables while the oven heats.
- Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Chop the pancetta if you did not buy it pre chopped. Add the pancetta to the pan and start browning it while you chop the vegetables.
- Dice the shallot and celery, and slice the mushrooms if you did not buy them sliced.
- Remove the leaves from the thyme stems and chop the sage leaves.
- Add the vegetables, the 2 tsp of salt, the 1 tsp of pepper, and the sage and thyme to the skillet with the pancetta and cook until the pancetta is browned and the veggies are tender, about 5 minutes.
- Pour the veggies into a very large bowl and add the diced cornbread. Stir well, and pour in the chicken stock starting with one cup. Keep stirring to allow the cornbread to absorb the stock.
- Add another 1/2 cup of stock and stir again. The dressing should be wet but not oversaturated with stock. Add another 1/2 cup if you like your dressing on the moist side to equal 2 cups. If not, you can stop at 1 1/2 cups.
- Transfer the dressing into the greased baking dish and spread it evenly inside the dish. Bake uncovered for 25 to 30 minutes, until the top is a nice golden brown. See notes for make ahead and reheat tips.
Notes
Here are some tips for drying out the cornbread:
If you are using cornbread muffins (which I recommend), simply leave them out on the kitchen counter right in the muffin tin for a day or two to let them go stale. Then, you can proceed with the recipe.
If you don't have time to do that, cut the cornbread into cubes and put them on a rimmed baking sheet and bake them in a 275 degree oven for 30 minutes. This will dry it out.
If you are not cooking the dressing right away, you can skip buttering the baking dish and heating the oven. Simply refer back to the cooking instructions when you are ready to bake.
To make the dressing in advance, you can do this one of two ways:
First Method- Dry out the cornbread, cut into cubes and place in a sealed plastic freezer bag. Chop and saute the vegetables and place them in a bowl with a tight fitting lid and refrigerate. When you are ready to bake the dressing, just follow the instructions above starting with step 8, and heat your oven to 350 degrees to bake.
Second Method- You can assemble the whole dressing all the way up to the final step of baking it. Just wrap the baking dish tightly with foil or plastic wrap before refrigerating, and remove any wrapping before baking.
If you are making the dressing ahead, you can do so a couple of days in advance. Any more than that and the ingredients begin to lose freshness, and you reduce the amount of time that you can keep any leftovers.
For recipe variations, please see the blog post for suggestions.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Additional Time: 0 hours
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Side Dishes and Salads
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 666
- Sugar: 33
- Sodium: 1475
- Fat: 26
- Saturated Fat: 7
- Unsaturated Fat: 16
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 92
- Fiber: 7
- Protein: 15
- Cholesterol: 61