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The holiday panCornbread · sausage · pecan

Southern Living · 1987

Moist Cornbread Dressing

The 1987 Southern Living formula layers cornbread and soft breadcrumbs with pork sausage, pecans, vegetables, eggs, and poultry seasoning for a soft-centered holiday dressing.

Bake the dressing
A deep roasting pan filled with golden baked bread dressing, celery, onions, and herbs.
An illustrative pan of dressing. The source recipe uses both cornbread crumbs and soft toasted breadcrumbs, with sausage and pecans folded through the mixture.Photo by Dorevabelfiore / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Serves
8
Oven
350°F
Bake
45 min
Center
165°F

This is dressing by abundance. The old formula begins with eleven cups of crumbs, then gives them four cups of deeply seasoned broth, butter-softened vegetables, sausage, eggs, and pecans. It is not aiming for dry cubes that tumble apart; it wants a browned lid over a generous, cohesive center.

Its identity is unusually specific. Green bell pepper joins the expected celery and onion. Pecans are not a garnish but a full cup folded through the body. And the source draws a firm line around the method: this mixture is too moist for a turkey. The casserole dish is where its texture—and its safe final temperature—can be controlled.

“A moist cornbread-and-soft-breadcrumb dressing with sausage, pecans, bell pepper, celery, onion, and poultry seasoning.”

Two kinds of crumb

Six cups cornbread bring corn flavor; five cups soft toasted bread give the wet mixture enough structure to slice and spoon.

Vegetables keep their butter

Celery, onion, and green pepper soften in the full quarter-cup, and the aromatic butter goes into the bowl with them.

Sausage and pecans stay distinct

Browned pork brings savory depth while a full cup of finely chopped pecans interrupts the soft center with nutty texture.

The dish is the safety design

This unusually moist dressing belongs in a shallow casserole, where the center can be checked directly for 165°F.

The mixing bowlCrumb · broth · bind · interrupt

Four anchors keep a very moist pan in balance

The quantities are preserved exactly. The useful work is understanding how each generous measure behaves before the pan reaches the oven.

01

Cornbread + soft toast

The 6:5 ratio makes this a cornbread dressing with a bread-supported crumb, not a pan of loose cornbread mash.

Cool the cornbread fully and toast the bread lightly before measuring both by volume.
02

Four cups bouillon broth

The generous seasoned liquid defines the recipe’s moist center and carries poultry seasoning into every crumb.

Dissolve every cube completely; allow a short absorption pause before deciding the bowl looks too wet.
03

Sausage + eggs

Half a pound of cooked pork seasons the crumb, while four beaten eggs set the saturated mixture into a soft slice.

Cook the sausage through and drain it; bake the finished center to 165°F.
04

Pecans + green pepper

A cup of each gives this 1987 formula its identity: nutty interruptions and a clean green savor beneath the poultry seasoning.

Chop both finely enough to distribute through all eight servings.

Crumb + crumbleGolden bread, browned pork

Dry structure first, savory weight second

Golden Southern-style cornbread cut into thick square pieces beside a cooling rack.
Cornbread is the leading crumb, but the source does not specify a particular cornbread formula. Cool it fully before measuring six cups of crumbs.Photo by Calstanhope / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
The 6:5 equation

Cornbread leads by one cup; soft toast supports it. That close ratio lets four cups of broth feel lush without leaving the pan entirely without structure.

Breakfast sausage patties browning in a wide skillet.
An illustrative sausage skillet. For the dressing, crumble the bulk pork sausage as it browns, cook it through, and drain before folding it into the crumbs.Photo by Dschwen / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0

The pan clockWet soften brown bind bake probe

Seventy-five minutes to a safe, browned center

The archived method gives a 45-minute bake. This timeline keeps it and makes the preparation—and the mandatory center-temperature check—visible.

  1. 0:00

    Heat and grease

    Bring the oven to 350°F and prepare the 13-by-9-inch dish before raw egg enters the mixture.

  2. +5

    Build the wet crumb

    Dissolve the bouillon in boiling water and stir it through the two measured breads.

  3. +10

    Soften the vegetables

    Cook celery, onion, and green pepper in butter until tender, carrying every aromatic drop into the bowl.

  4. +18

    Brown the sausage

    Crumble the pork in a heavy skillet, reach 160°F, and drain before it meets the bread.

  5. +25

    Bind and fill

    Fold in eggs, pecans, seasoning, salt, and pepper; spread loosely in the prepared casserole.

  6. +30

    Bake uncovered

    Let the broad surface brown while the egg-rich center sets and climbs safely toward 165°F.

  7. +1:15

    Probe, then rest

    Confirm 165°F in the center, add time if necessary, and let the finished dressing stand 10 minutes.

Five checksSaturated · tender · loose · brown · 165

Read the bowl, then trust the center probe

Moist dressing is supposed to look generous before baking. The difference between intentional softness and underdoneness is settled by temperature.

01

Moist crumbs, no free lake

Broth should saturate the mixed breads, but it should not remain as a separate layer beneath them after a brief rest.

02

Tender vegetables

Celery and pepper should bend easily before baking; raw crunch will not disappear evenly inside the wet crumb.

03

Loose, not packed

Level the casserole without pressing. Compression works against the soft, spoonable center this formula promises.

04

Brown top, set edge

The surface colors and the perimeter firms first; neither proves the middle has finished.

05

165°F at the center

The thermometer is the decisive cue for the raw-egg and sausage dressing, even when that takes longer than 45 minutes.

The safe runwayDry ahead, bake now, chill shallow

Make the breads early; mix the eggs only when the oven is ready

Advance work belongs to the crumb components. Once broth, cooked sausage, and raw egg share the bowl, move directly to the hot oven.

Dry the breads ahead

Bake and cool the cornbread and prepare the soft toast a day early; store them dry and separate.

Cook after mixing

Once the beaten eggs meet the broth-soaked crumbs, transfer and bake immediately rather than refrigerating the raw mixture.

Cool shallow and promptly

Move leftovers to shallow containers and refrigerate within 2 hours so the dense, moist center cools safely.

Use in 3–4 days

Reheat covered with a small splash of broth until the center returns to 165°F; freeze sooner for longer keeping.

Moist Cornbread Dressing

A very moist Southern cornbread dressing with soft toasted bread, pork sausage, pecans, celery, onion, green pepper, and poultry seasoning.

CornbreadDressingThanksgivingSausagePecansSouthernHoliday

Ingredients

Bread base

  • 6 cups cornbread crumbs
  • 5 cups soft toasted breadcrumbs
  • 6 chicken-flavored bouillon cubes
  • 4 cups boiling water

Sausage, vegetables, and binder

  • 1/2 pound bulk pork sausage
  • 1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
  • 1 cup celery, finely chopped
  • 1 cup onion, finely chopped
  • 1 cup green bell pepper, finely chopped
  • 4 large eggs, beaten
  • 1 cup pecans, finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

  1. Heat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. Lightly grease a 13-by-9-by-2-inch baking dish.
  2. Combine the cornbread crumbs and soft toasted breadcrumbs in a very large mixing bowl. Dissolve the six bouillon cubes completely in the four cups of boiling water, then pour the hot broth over the crumbs and stir until evenly moistened.
  3. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the celery, onion, and green bell pepper and cook, stirring often, until tender but not deeply browned. Scrape the vegetables and all of the butter into the moistened crumbs and stir well.
  4. In a heavy skillet over medium heat, crumble and brown the bulk pork sausage until no pink remains and the center reaches 160°F / 71°C. Drain away the rendered fat.
  5. Fold the cooked sausage, beaten eggs, chopped pecans, poultry seasoning, salt, and black pepper through the crumb mixture until no streaks of egg remain. Transfer at once to the prepared baking dish and spread loosely into an even layer without compressing it.
  6. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes, until the top is browned, the edges are set, and the center reaches 165°F / 74°C. If the center has not reached 165°F at 45 minutes, continue baking and check again in 5-minute intervals.
  7. Rest for 10 minutes before serving in 8 portions. This high-moisture formula is designed for a casserole dish, not for packing inside poultry.

Source and technique references: the surviving Moist Cornbread Dressing transcription credited to The Southern Living Cookbook (1987), USDA FSIS on precooking meat, separate casserole cooking, 165°F doneness, cooling, and storage, FoodSafety.gov’s minimum temperature chart, R.B. Quinn and Min Merrell’s test-kitchen explanation of moist but not soupy dressing and center-temperature checks, and Food Network’s Gloria Martin formula as an independent example of cornbread, tender aromatics, broth, and a browned casserole edge. The ingredient quantities, pan, oven, 45-minute source bake, yield, and separate-pan warning remain unchanged; temperature and storage language are identified safety controls.

Image credits

Photography is used under open licenses with attribution: Dorevabelfiore / Wikimedia Commons, Calstanhope / Wikimedia Commons, and Dschwen / Wikimedia Commons.