Now let’s start by gathering your ingredients for the cornbread. You’ll need the following items:

• 2 cups self-rising cornmeal
• 1 cup self-rising flour
• 1 stick softened butter
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1½ cups buttermilk
• 4 eggs

This is a classic Southern cornbread recipe, and it’s very easy to make.

While the oven is pre-heating to 350˚F, combine the cornmeal and flour in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Then, mix your wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until fully incorporated.

Pour the batter into a prepared 13x9x2 casserole dish and bake until golden brown, approximately 25 minutes. Let it cool before crumbling the cornbread into a bowl and setting it aside to be used later in the dressing.

If you prefer, you can use your own favorite cornbread recipe, but it’s important that you not use a sweetened cornbread, as that will drastically change the flavor profile of this dressing.

Once your cornbread is ready, gather the rest of the ingredients for the dressing:

• 1 pound bulk breakfast sausage
• 2 sticks butter
• 3 chicken bouillon cubes
• 4-5 stalks chopped celery
• 1 large sweet onion, chopped
• 8 green onions, chopped, using both the white and green parts
• 3 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 3-4 cups chicken stock (you’ll add a bit at a time)
• salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten

To get started on the dressing, brown the sausage for 5 minutes over medium heat. Then, remove the sausage from the pan, leaving some of the drippings behind.

Add the butter to the pan with the drippings, letting it melt, before adding the chicken bouillon, celery, and sweet onion, cooking until the celery and onion are translucent—this should take around 5 to 10 minutes. Then stir in the green onions, garlic, and parsley, cooking for another 2 to 3 minutes.

Now pour the sausage, the veggie mixture, and some of the chicken stock over the cooled cornbread, gently folding so as not to break up the cornbread and sausage further. Continue adding chicken stock until it’s your desired moistness—keep in mind that as it bakes, it will dry out some, so make it a little wetter than you might think. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Then, pull some of the mixture out to combine with the beaten eggs before mixing it all back together. Adding the eggs last ensures you can safely taste the dressing to ensure your seasonings are correct.

Now pour the dressing into a greased 13x9x2 baking dish and bake at 350˚F for 45 to 60 minutes, until the dressing is cooked through. If you’re worried about over-browning, add tinfoil towards the end.

A homemade Southern cornbread dressing with sausage may be a labor of love, but you’ll surely have a table full of thankful guests once they get a scoop of this Southern favorite next to their turkey and taters.

Will you be making a homemade dressing this Thanksgiving? Will you be making this one? Let us know in the comments below!

The post How to Make Paula’s Southern Cornbread Dressing Recipe with Sausage appeared first on Paula Deen.

You’ll need the following ingredients:

• 4 quarts water
• 1 (10¾-oz) can condensed cream of celery or cream of chicken soup
• 1 teaspoon Paula Deen’s House Seasoning
• 2 chicken bouillon cubes
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 ribs celery, chopped
• 1 (2½-lb) chicken
• 2 cups all-purpose flour mixed with 1 teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup ice water
• 2 tablespoons corn starch (optional)

You’ll start with the homemade chicken broth. Be sure to cut the chicken up, but leave the skin on—you’ll remove the skin and bones later, but in the meantime, they add a lot of flavor! Add the chicken, celery, onion, bay leaves, bouillon, and House Seasoning to a large stock pot with four quarts of water. Cook it at a low boil for 30 to 45 minutes, until the meat starts falling off the bones. At that point, you can remove the skin and bones, along with the bay leaves. Return the skinned and de-boned chicken back to the pot.

While the chicken is boiling, start prepping the dumplings.

Put the flour and salt mixture in a mixing bowl, form a bowl in the flour, and start adding a little dribble of ice water to the center of it. Using your hands, work the water, flour, and salt mixture from the center of the bowl to the sides of the bowl, adding a bit more water at a time until all the flour is incorporated. The batter should feel tough at this point.

Now, start to knead the dough and form it into a ball. Flour your counters or dough board and use a rolling pin to roll it until it’s 1⁄8-inch thick. The dough will be firm, and you should be sure to work from the center when rolling. Set the dough aside to air dry for a few minutes.

Once your dumplings are prepped and you’ve returned the chicken to the pot, you’ll add the condensed soup to the stock pot, letting it continue to boil. It’s your choice whether you prefer cream of celery or cream of chicken soup—both create a thick, creamy, and flavorful base for your chicken & dumplings. At this time, you can decide if you want a thicker stock. If you do, create a slurry by combining the cornstarch with ¼ cup of water. Add this slurry to the stock.

Now, return to your dumpling dough, cutting them into 1-inch-wide strips. Add the dumplings to the pot one at a time to prevent sticking. Do not stir after the dumplings have been added to the pot. Instead, shake the pot gently in a circular motion until the dumplings are submerged.

Cook the dumplings until the dumplings float and are no longer doughy. This should take approximately 3 to 4 minutes, but be sure not to overcook them. Once they’re finished, you’re ready to serve!

Making a Southern chicken and dumplings recipe from scratch is a labor of love, but after just one bite, you’ll realize why it’s worth it!

Of course, that doesn’t mean there aren’t great shortcuts if you really need them. Instead of starting the dumplings from scratch, you can swap out the dough by using 3 cups of Paula Deen Original Recipes Mix combined with 1½ cups of buttermilk. Then roll out the dough and cut into strips. You can also purchase frozen dumplings in most supermarkets if you don’t have time to make them yourself. In fact, even Paula uses frozen dumplings at times!

If you want to see the Queen of Southern Cuisine make her Southern chicken & dumplings recipe for herself, you can watch her here.

Have you tried making Paula’s recipe from scratch or do you employ some shortcuts, like store-bought dumplings? Let us know in the comments below!

The post How to Make Paula’s Famous Southern Chicken and Dumplings Recipe appeared first on Paula Deen.

With the year winding down, we’re once again recapping our year in food—namely the recipes you loved most through the year! So as we bid farewell to 2024 and usher in 2025, let’s revisit the 10 most popular recipes of 2024 on PaulaDeen.com.

Did your favorite Paula Deen recipe make the list of her most popular of 2024? Are there any surprising upsets or recipes you feel should have made the top 10? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Top 10 Recipes of 2024 appeared first on Paula Deen.

So in celebration of the end of one year and the beginning of the next, we’re once again recapping the 10 most popular recipes of 2023 on PaulaDeen.com. There’s just no better time to reflect on the most-loved recipes of the year!

Were there any surprises in 2023’s top 10? Are you shocked by any recipes that didn’t make the list? Do you see your favorite Paula Deen recipe in our top 10 for 2023? Let us know all that and more in the comments below!

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We don’t know about y’all, but we’re looking forward to a long weekend and enjoying these Memorial Day grilling ideas with some of our favorite people. How will you be honoring Memorial Day? And what will you be grilling? Leave a comment below to let us know!

The post 9 Memorial Day Grilling Ideas appeared first on Paula Deen.

So to cap off another wonderful year, we’re continuing on with our end-of-year tradition in sharing the 10 most popular recipes of 2022 on PaulaDeen.com. It’s the perfect time of year to reflect on those most-loved recipes of the year, don’t you think?

Were there any surprises in 2022’s top 10? Did your favorite Paula Deen recipe make the top 10 for 2022? Share with us in the comments below!

The post Top 10 Recipes of 2022 appeared first on Paula Deen.

Ok, let’s address the elephant in the room—we know what you’re thinking. “Pork chops are tough!” “Pork chops are dry!” Well, not anymore, folks! These healthy pork chop recipes are not your grandmama’s pork chops. Years ago, the direction on this classic weeknight dinner was to cook pork all the way through to avoid getting trichinosis. But that “wisdom” has been debunked! Now you should just aim for an internal temperature of 145˚F. We highly recommend using a meat thermometer because pork chops can be very easy to overcook, which is what can cause them to be dry and tough. Once you cook these healthy pork chop recipes to the correct temperature, you may be surprised at just how succulent a pork chop can be!

Does your family love a good pork chop? What’s your favorite way to eat them? Will you be skipping the fried pork chops for one of these healthy pork chop recipes? Let us know all that and more in the comments below.

The post Healthy Pork Chop Recipes appeared first on Paula Deen.

As with other proteins, environment, texture, and fat content will determine which cooking methods are best, but as a general rule, fish with darker flesh have higher oil content and stronger flavor, though many people, even children, find salmon and tuna surprisingly palatable. Most fish fall into the category of flat (flounder, fluke, sole, turbot), round (sea bass, snapper, grouper, tilefish, salmon, tuna, pompano, mahi-mahi), or cartilaginous (swordfish, shark, monkfish, skate). They can also generally be classified as saltwater, freshwater, or anadromous (migrating between the two through rivers, like eel, salmon, or ocean trout).

Your fishmonger and recipe can help find the type, cut, and accompanying ingredients that are right for you. Zesty sauces, deep-frying, and butter are reliable ways to get almost anyone to appreciate fish, but healthier, easy options, like steaming, poaching, grilling, and baking with herbed lemon or a light vegetable topping, can also produce delicate, enjoyable results.

Here are some fun recipes, highlighting Southern standards…

Whip up an elegant fish dish just like a restaurant chef by searing and finishing in the oven, like this Pecan Coated Fish with Remoulade Sauce. We like grouper, but you can play around with other fish, like flounder, or go even healthier and faster by omitting these standard nut crusts and side sauces.

Or make it a club or po’ boy sandwich:
Grouper Club
Grilled Tilapia Po Boys with Homemade Tartar Sauce

Tilapia is a mild and widely available fish, commonly used in baking or grilling or for the popular Southern specialty of a blackened fish sandwich:

Blackened Tilapia Sandwich with Cilantro Lime Mayonnaise
Bobby’s Baked Tilapia
Zesty Grilled Tilapia

Another excellent grilling fish is tuna, which provides a tasty alternative to a high-cholesterol red-meat steak, Grilled Tuna with Olive Tapenade.

Southerners are known for catfish, fried or baked with Old Bay seasoning or heavily sauced:
Southern Fried Catfish
Oven Fried Catfish
Saucy Catfish

For some large-pot Southern group meals, consider a gumbo or a seafood stew:

Savannah Seafood Gumbo
Seafood Cioppino Stew

And remember these tips for the freshest and most delicious fish (aka, for some, the least “fishy” tasting):

• Look for bright, clear, bulging eyes; tight scales and shiny (not slimy) skin; elastic flesh with a clean, pink belly; and no strong odor—essentially, as close to alive as possible.
• Fish degrades extremely fast in the air, so most chefs prefer to buy their fish the day of or the day before cooking. It should be chilled, if not iced, for display, storage, and transport.
• Frozen fish should be properly thawed and gently dried before cooking.

The post Learn All About Fish appeared first on Paula Deen.

In what has become something of a tradition here at PaulaDeen.com, we’re celebrating the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022 with a look back at the top 10 most popular recipes on the site.

Did your favorite Paula Deen recipe make the top 10 for 2021? Let us know in the comments below!

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There truly are many kinds of different stuffing, but I’m very dedicated to the one I’ve been making for over 40 years. If there’s any variation at all, it’s that I don’t actually stuff the bird like I remember my grandmother doing. The only time I’ll cook mine in a bird is if I’m cooking a hen. She’s a tough ol’ bird, y’all, so you cook it totally different than you would a turkey or a chicken. You boil the heck out of it, stuff it and bake it in the oven.

But the old-timey stuffing I make does not play second fiddle to anything—not even the turkey. In fact, she’s the best rival around. You sauté some fresh-cut onions, celery and peppers in a stick of butter, toss that with the breads and soak it with stock and you’ll see what I’m talking about. I do add some seasoning, like pepper and dried sage, but I’m careful not to overpower the dish. Just make sure you don’t underestimate the size of your mixing bowl because stuffing can really grow on you. And if you remember one thing about my cornbread stuffing, let it be that you cannot make it from a sweet cornbread. Look at the box. If sugar is an ingredient, you have the wrong stuff. Use that, and it’ll ruin the dressing.

Y’all, I don’t eat this way every day, but I do give myself permission to eat my favorite foods on the holidays. Part of my obsession is the wonderful flavors; the other part is the memories that celebration foods trigger—like the year after my daddy died, I remember my mother cookin’ the best stuffing of her life. I ate and ate and ate until I was sick. Then when momma passed away, I vowed to make a meal she would be proud of. I spent most of the afternoon on the phone with my Aunt Peggy trying to make sure I was doing every little thing right. That went on for a while until my Uncle George finally lost patience and hollered, “If you don’t get off that damn phone, I’m not ever gonna get my meal!”

But the point isn’t just that my family’s cornbread stuffing is arguably the best around. It’s about that one special dish that defines the holidays for you and your family—the recipe that warms our heart, fills our belly and ultimately outlasts each and every one of us.

Southern Cornbread Dressing

Dressing:
Cornbread, recipe follows
7 slices oven-dried white bread
1 sleeve Saltine crackers8 tablespoons butter
2 cups chopped celery
1 large onion, chopped
7 cups chicken stock
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon sage, optional
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning, optional
5 eggs, beaten

Cornbread:
1 cup self-rising cornmeal
½ cup self-rising flour
¾ cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Dressing Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine crumbled cornbread, dried white bread slices, and saltines; set aside.

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the celery and onion and cook until transparent, approximately 5 to 10 minutes. Pour the vegetable mixture over the cornbread mixture. Add the stock, mix well, taste, and add salt, pepper to taste, sage, and poultry seasoning. Add beaten eggs and mix well. Pour mixture into a greased pan and bake until dressing is cooked through, about 45 to 60 minutes.

Cornbread Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Pour batter into a greased shallow baking dish. Bake for approximately 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

The post Born and Bred with Cornbread appeared first on Paula Deen.