Southern Cornbread Dressing (Multi-Cooker Version)

I had an email request for a southern cornbread dressing made in my Paula Deen Multi-Cooker.  I am so tickled that my recipes for her multi-cooker are catching on.  And thank you so much Diane for not only for following my food blog, but also requesting new recipes.  I enjoy creating new recipes, but I enjoy them even more when I am doing them for others. (SEE FOLLOW UP EMAIL BELOW WITH PICTURES)

What I came up with is a bit of a twist on my original Southern Cornbread Dressing.  Obviously Thanksgiving dinner can not be complete without this traditional southern side dish.  And now that more and more of us are getting Paula’s Multi-Cooker we needed a way to utilize it and free up our ovens.  So here is what I have come up with for y’all.  It is quite tasty and with the addition of some turkey from Trina’s Make-Ahead Turkey Gravy, I am calling this a home run.  Let me know what y’all think.  Especially Diane.  Thanks again, and Happy Thanksgiving.

Ingredients:

• 1 whole cornbread
• 3 cups soft white bread -torn into small pieces
• ½ cup butter (1 stick), plus more for the pan – melted
• 2 cups chopped sweet onions
• 1 ½ cups chopped celery (4 or 5 stalks)
• 1 cup of shredded turkey from Trina’s Make-Ahead Turkey Gravy
• 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 ¼ tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage (optional)
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• ¾ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 to 5 cups rich chicken or turkey stock (preferably homemade or low sodium)

1. Make the cornbread: Recipe Here
2. Combine cornbread (after cooling)  and white bread in a large bowl, tossing to mix, and breaking cornbread into smaller pieces.
3. Turn Multi-Cooker on “stovetop-high” and add butter to melt.  Then add onions, celery and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Sauté until vegetables have softened, about 5 minutes.
4. Turn multi-cooker to bake 350°
5. Add vegetables and turkey to bread mixture and combine.
6. Lightly beat eggs in separate bowl and add to dressing mixture.
7. Sprinkle in herbs, remaining 1 teaspoon salt and the pepper and toss together.
8. Add 4 cups broth and stir well.
9. Using your hands, work the mixture to get a very lumpy, thick, batter like consistency. Add another cup of stock only if needed. (The mixture should be very wet and pour-able but without any standing liquid.)
10. Pour the mixture into the multi-cooker and bake until dressing puffs slightly and has browned well around the edges, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
11. If you have drippings from a roasted turkey, spoon some over the top about 30 minutes into the baking time to add additional flavor.

Diane’s Follow Up email: (sharing with her permission)

Hi Greg, as promised I made your cornbread dressing in Paula’s multicooker according to your recipe and it came out perfect, all my family members raved about it, and I will definitely do it again as it freed up my oven for everything else, I hope you had a lovely holiday and appreciate your going out of your way to do this for me, I will be following your website and blog as we go along for more recipes! Btw, I also made the Trina’s make ahead gravy and that was so easy and “the bomb” and loved that all I had to do was take it out of the freezer and heat it up on Thanksgiving day to go over your fantastic Garlic mashed potatoes and dressing!  Everything was great and we even had a second helping of it all later that night!

Thanks again,

Diane