A comfort food casserole made with stewed chicken and Southern cornbread dressing. Great with leftover turkey too!
I think I've lost my mojo. Or my mind. Or both. All I know is I cooked three amazingly delicious recipes for the blog this weekend and couldn't get any pictures that were worth a toot.
I think it might be time to invest in a camera. And get a proper lighting setup. But, dang y’all. I don’t want to fool with all that. I’m not a full-time blogger. I’m just like y’all. I have a full-time job (that has nothing to do with food or recipes or blogging). I have a family. And kids. Who all play sports. Ain't nobody got time for professional photo shoots.
It’s got to be easy for me. And fun! I don’t cook stuff just for the sole purpose of taking pictures and blogging about it. I cook it so we can eat it. And that means I’m taking pictures at supper time when all the good natural light is gone. If I make things too complicated, it’s not going to be fun anymore. It’s going to be a chore. And cooking and blogging is my happy time. Not my work time.
I used to be perfectly happy with my perfectly mediocre photos but it’s like everyone else is seriously stepping up their game out there. Have you been on Pinterest lately?
Anywho! Let’s talk about food! My buddy Lynn at Southern with a Twist posted this recipe many moons ago and I have wanted to make it since the first time I saw it. She did a great job with her picture. Obviously. Because I still see it in my sleep. My pictures just didn't turn out and do NOT do this recipe justice! This was delicious and would be great to bring to Thanksgiving or a potluck dinner!
Chicken & Dressing Casserole
Yield: 10 Servings
prep time: 15 Mcook time: 1 hourtotal time: 1 H & 15 M
A comfort food casserole made with stewed chicken and Southern cornbread dressing. Great with leftover turkey too!
ingredients:
- 3-4 chicken breasts (2 lbs.)
- 1 14-oz can chicken broth
- 3 stalks celery, finely diced
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 6 tablespoon butter
- 1/2 pan of cornbread* (6 servings), crumbled
- 1 can cream of chicken soup
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning (plus more to taste if desired)
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3 boiled eggs, peeled and diced (optional)
instructions:
How to cook Chicken & Dressing Casserole
- Slowly cook chicken breasts in broth over medium-low heat in a covered pot until cooked through. Don’t boil them to death or they’ll turn out hard and rubbery. Remove chicken and allow to cool then shred with two forks or dice into bite-sized pieces; cover and set aside. Measure out two cups of chicken stock and set aside.
- Meanwhile, sauté celery and onion in butter until onion is translucent.
- Combine reserved 2 cups chicken stock, cream of chicken soup, salt, poultry seasoning, pepper and garlic and stir well.
- In a large mixing bowl combine cornbread, chicken, sautéed veggies (with butter), chicken stock mixture and boiled eggs and mix well. Spoon mixture into a greased baking dish and cook, uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until nicely browned on top. Remove from oven and let rest 15-20 minutes before serving.
NOTES:
*You can use a box mix but I don’t recommend using a sweet cornbread for this. I just use the recipe on the back of my House of Autry corn meal bag.
Keep up with my latest shenanigans by following South Your Mouth!
I hear you! I am no professional photographer, in fact the only thing I appear (in the mirror) to be a pro at, is EATING the food! This looks fab, and your photos are incredible! -Chris/Chefwannabe
ReplyDeleteMandy, How long do you boil the chicken in the broth....estimated, of course! I have been known to boil too long.....
ReplyDeleteThanks
Heat on medium-low heat, covered, until water begins to boil. Reduce heat to low and let chicken simmer (do not let water reach a full rolling boil) for about 10-15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
ReplyDeleteJust when I thought I was able to hole out on cooking chicken and dressing until Thanksgiving you post this recipe!! I think its going to be Thursday's dinner.. Do you have a recipe for gibblet gravy?
ReplyDeleteGo to your local butcher and get you a sack of gizzards. Liver, heart, ect.... Boil with salt, pepper and celery seed. Pull 'giblets' out and finely dice. Save broth! Chop a boiled egg. Heat broth up with a pat or 2 of butter. Make a flour slurry. For 2 cups of broth about 4 heaping tsps. of flour and 1/2 cup of the reserved broth. I like to put it in a sealed jar and shake the devil out of it! Whisk that into the broth and season with salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer slowly whisking often. Add chopped egg and gizzards after it thickens to get warm. Make and add more slurry if it doesn't get as thick as you want.
DeleteThis looks delicious! We like to add linguica (spicy Portuguese sausage) to the bread based dressing at Thanksgiving, I bet it would be delicious in this too.
ReplyDeleteMandy, there's another blogger I follow who has one of them pro-fessional blog sites. It's almost impossible to figure out where to click to get to the dang recipe for all them pretty, pretty pictures. You keep doin what you're doin and enjoy that supper, girl! We'll keep right on enjoying your blog!
ReplyDeleteI AGREE CLINT 100%..KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK MANDY.
DeleteThanksgiving dinner? I can eat this anytime of the year! And don't worry about your pictures, I can't speak for everyone else but I follow you because I love your RECIPES:)
ReplyDeleteI'm not a professional anything and it looks good to me. The recipe and the picture. I bought all the right stuff. I think one must need an eye to get these pro shots everyone is pinning.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing,
Linda @ Tumbleweed Contessa
In my house we just call this dressing. We serve this at Thanksgiving & Christmas. It takes the place of "stuffing". This is a very old southern dish & I think it is amazing! The eggs are a must! Although I've never used the cream of mushroom soup...I will try it next time.
ReplyDeleteThe ONLY thing missing from the recipe is Sage
DeleteHi Mandy, We are featuring this yummy recipe on Friday, can you email me the image url of the main photo? Thanks, doll!
ReplyDeleteTonya from 4 little Fergusons
and Weekend Potluck :)
Katerina, I make dressing too but it doesn't have this much liquid or the creamed soup. Or four chicken breasts. This eats more like a casserole than what I'd call dressing.
ReplyDeleteCan you use bread instead of cornbread??
ReplyDeleteDeb, I'm not sure. This seems like too much liquid for bread. But if you're after something like a savory bread pudding, I think it would work. If you try it, let us know!
ReplyDeleteAt Thanksgiving I use day old dried out white bread cubed small by about 1/4 amount to cornbread.
ReplyDeleteI tried this recipe for the first time on Sunday and it was AWESOME! It was my first time making dressing and I've always wanted to try making it. This recipe was easy to follow and the results were great. Thanks for posting this. I will be cooking again and again!
ReplyDeleteHello!! Can't wait to try this recipe for Thanksgiving, haha probably before then! Quick question: The reserved chicken stock you mentioned... is that from the pot the chicken was simmering in? or is this an additional 2 cups of stock? Thanks!!! LOOOOOVE YOUR BLOG!!!
ReplyDeleteYes, that's the 2 cups you reserved after cooking the chicken. Good luck! I hope you enjoy!
DeleteI don't sauté my Vegas I boil them and. Use chicken base half the fat I channel my yesterday when I made my chicken and dressing .it was so good!
ReplyDeleteWe have a version similar to this one except we add 8 raw eggs and we do not add coc soup. We use a whole hen (not chicken) -Mom says hen adds more moisture, 8 packages of cornbread (mixed) - recipe ends up with 16 eggs in it plus boiled eggs if we add them. It serves our whole extended family (30 ppl+) on special occasions. Would love to try this version as well for a simple family dinner. Oh, We add Sage!
ReplyDeleteI like your recipes,have made a lot of them.Keep them coming.
ReplyDeletePinterest has great pics but a lot of the recipes are not great. I like how your blog has real good meals I am actually interested making! I would love to see them, even with a poor pic, just to get a general idea of what it will look like. :)
ReplyDeleteIt was just me and my husband for Thanksgiving. I decided to try something new and simple but still traditional. I stumbled on this casserole. All I can say is, I will never cook another turkey as long as I live! I have spent years trying to replicate my Dad's dressing. This was dead on. It was moist and delicious and so easy. I did use sage rather than poultry seasoning and I added a lot more pepper but that was just personal preference. I will not wait until Thanksgiving to make it again. Leann
ReplyDeleteMandy, one small addition I learned of and may or may not be something of interest to these folks has become a new ingredient in my cornbread. Sometimes my cornbread can be dry and crumbly. It probably isn't a problem in making this casserole, as you're going to crumble it anyway. But, a friend of mine (Southern girl, of course) told me her mama added a tablespoon of mayonnaise to her cornbread mixture. It works like a charm. I just found your blog site today, but I will be back (just like the preacher for Sunday fried chicken!)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recipe, I was wondering if you can substitute stove top stuffing mix instead of the cornbread recipe ???
ReplyDeleteStove top would DEFINITELY not make this traditional southern cornbread dressing
DeleteCornbread tip - grease your baking pan with lard (yes! lard!), and put the pan(s)in the oven that is preheating while you make the cornbread batter. Once the batter is ready the pan will likely be nice and hot. The lard now melted will create a buffer between the cornbread and the pan. My cornbread never sticks to the pan using this method. Pay attention while handling the batter and pan, don't forget what you are touching. Don't ask how I know, and now I own two Ove' Gloves.
ReplyDeleteHi I was just wondering is a side dish that can be eaten with this or is this a solo dish.
ReplyDeleteThis looks like it would freeze well .
ReplyDeletePeople who post recipes probably hate those of us that post comments with changes, lol. A very good dish. I did two chicken breasts, and instead of a third, I substituted organic crimini mushrooms instead. I did the veggies/mushrooms in garlic butter. I would cut back a bit on the poultry seasoning. It was also calling to me for cheese, so I put about a cup of shredded cheese into it. Not sure what the 3 chopped eggs did for the dish, but what the heck, they are good for you. Someone previously asked about how long to boil the chicken breasts for? I did mine on simmer for 2hrs. Make sure they are cooked, did not turn out rubbery. I also cooked the dish at 375 for an hour, as the dish I used(8.5 x 11?)was very full. Turned out just right. Looking forward to leftovers.
ReplyDeleteHello, great looking recipe that brings back many memories. The link to the recipe on the back of the House of Autry cornmeal bag is unable to be found. Do you use the HOA yellow plain cornmeal for your cornbread? I appreciate that you said no "sweetened" cornbread mix as here in NY it seems all you can find is a sweet mix. Homemade is best so the sugar can be adjusted/omitted. I have really enjoyed your recipes. Your photos are just how I want to see a recipe. Truly homemade and delicious looking!
ReplyDeleteThank you!! I just updated the link to point to their recipe for cornbread made with self-rising cornmeal mix (since that seems to be all you can find these days). I've never gone wrong with the recipes I've found on the bags of cornmeal so if you have plain, see if there's a recipe on the bag or just search their site.
DeleteHave you ever used a rotisserie chicken in the recipe? Or made it in a slow cooker?
ReplyDeleteThis is almost like the dressing that my family makes. I know my great grandmother made it. The only difference is we poach the chicken in plain water and save this water to moisten the dressing. Also, we use cream of chicken soup. It's my favorite part of Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteWhy do my boiled eggs turn hard and rubbery in my dressing?
ReplyDeletemine do too! grrrrr!
DeleteWhen we cook we always end up making A LOT of food. Because of roasting a turkey, frying a turkey and cooking a ham I omit the chicken in this recipe. I'm from michigan (who does NOT make or eat this) and my Floridian husband LOVES this recipe! Hes had me make this twice since Thanksgiving and it's only Dec 30th! Also, due to my schedule I use a cornbread mix rather than make homemade (which I'm sure would be better) but he loves it anyways! Definitely highly recommended and thank you!!!
ReplyDeleteHello! I am making this for my family and I found a buttermilk cornbread recipe that I am making in a 12" iron skillet. I want to get the correct amount of cornbread in the dish, but cannot find the volume 6 servings comes up to...(how many cups I'd need for the cornbread I've made). Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHalf of a 12" skillet should be good
Delete