Soul Food Style Seafood Dressing

This is cornbread dressing like my grandma used to make made even more indulgent with lobster, shrimp, and crab. Soul food seafood dressing is the perfect side dish for special occasions because it's made with lots of love and quality ingredients.

The holidays call for special recipes that the family looks forward to all year. My authentic cornbread dressing with seafood is exactly that. It's my grandma's cornbread dressing recipe plus shrimp, lobster, and crabmeat. Your friends and family will ask about it pointedly and you'll be better off making multiple pans because the chances of leftovers are slim to none. Have I got your attention? Start scrolling for the best Thanksgiving dressing recipe ever.

And if you're looking for more winning Thanksgiving recipes, check these out, too!

• Bourbon Sweet Potato Pie
• My Holiday Mac & Cheese Recipes
• Praline Sweet Potato Bread Pudding

Grab my holiday dinner guide to make Thanksgiving easy this year!

What You'll Need for this Recipe

The ingredient list for this recipe is long but each and every element is necessary to make true southern-style cornbread dressing. I'm going to go ahead and lead with the fact that I make my cornbread dressing with Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix and am not entertaining any arguments about that. I'm standing it in because it has worked for generations and everyone who tries my Thanksgiving dressing truly cannot get enough. And just to clarify, raisins do not belong in dressing. That seems to be a running joke these days but just don't do it, ok? Here's what to add to your grocery list to make the recipe happen.

• Bay Leaf
• Bell Pepper
• Black Pepper
• Butter
• Cayenne Pepper
• Celery
• Corn Muffin Mix
• Dried Parsley
• Eggs
• Evaporated Milk
• Garlic Powder
• Hot sauce
• Fresh Garlic
• Fresh Lemon
• Fresh Onion
• Fresh Parsley
• Lobster Tail
• Lump Crabmeat
• Milk - Whatever kind you'd normally drink--both plant and animal milks work here!
• Onion Powder
• Sea Salt
• Shrimp
• Smoked Paprika
• Vegetable Broth or Seafood Stock

The kitchen tools you'll need to make dressing are simple: a good deep stock pot, as well as a kitchen spoon, a sharp knife, and a sturdy cutting board. Go ahead and grab an oblong roasting pan to bake everything in. I use the same one to bake the cornbread AND the dressing!

What's the Difference Between Dressing and Stuffing?

Authentic cornbread dressing from The South differs from Thanksgiving stuffing in ingredients, preparation, and how it's served. Dressing is served as a standalone side dish as opposed to stuffing which is sometimes served in the bird--whether that be turkey, chicken, or something else. That brings me to the preparation, too. Stuffing can either be cooked on the stove top or baked in your turkey as it roasts but dressing is cooked on the stove top and then baked. Check out the recipe card and video tutorial below for the details. As far as the preparation, Dressing uses crumbled cornbread while stuffing primarily calls for cubes of dry wheat or white bread. Both are kind of like a savory bread pudding in my opinion. Also my opinion: dressing is superior to stuffing. Just saying.

Tips for Making Southern Dressing

• What is a Black folks dressing recipe? You're looking at it, friend. Every family will do their's a little differently but this is a standard soul food dressing amped up by special occasion seafood.
• If you can, use seafood stock in this recipe. The dressing is delicious as is but seafood stock adds richness that takes it over the top and is just perfect to indulge during the holiday season.
• It is important to thoroughly incorporate the crab, shrimp, and lobster before baking so that you wind up with some seafood in every bite. Feel free to add up to 25% more seafood to this recipe if you like. More than that will make it tougher for your dressing to stay together, though.
• Should dressing be covered while baking? You want to get a nice top crust to your dressing. For this reason, don't cover your dressing while baking unless the top starts to burn.
• How to know when dressing is done? Dressing is done when the top is golden brown and firm to touch. You want kind of a crust on top. The inside, however, should be moist (but not soggy) and dense. To test doneness, look at the top of the dressing, gently press to make sure it's firm, and use a fork or knife to cut through to the bottom of the pan and separate a small piece. There should be no liquid in the pan.
• How to reheat dressing? You can reheat cornbread dressing by the pan or in individual servings. To reheat a whole pan of dressing, allow it to come to room temperature then place it in the oven at 350 degrees, uncovered, with a splash of broth, stock, or milk over top until heated through for about 30 minutes. This will ensure that the dressing doesn't dry out AND does not come out soggy. Reheat individual portions in the microwave with a small spoonful of broth or milk over top for about two minutes on high. Temperatures and heat times will vary by appliances, altitude, etc.

What to Serve with Dressing

While I associate this dressing made with shrimp, crabmeat, and lobster with Thanksgiving dinner, you can enjoy for any special occasion (or regular ol' weeknight) year-round. We typically have it again for Christmas dinner and, if my family had it their way, I'd make it much more often. If you're planning your holiday meal, check out this list of soulful Thanksgiving dishes to pair with your seafood dressing.

And sharing is caring so make sure you pin my homemade southern dressing for Thanksgiving over on Pinterest. Thanks for reading!

How to Make Old Fashioned Cornbread Dressing with Seafood

Seafood Cornbread Dressing Recipe

Seafood Cornbread Dressing

Jazzmine from Dash of Jazz

Spicy Soul Food style cornbread-based dressing made even more indulgent with fresh seafood

4.69 from 29 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 50 minutes mins

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Soul Food

Servings 16 servings

Calories 377 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

For the Cornbread

• 34 ounces cornbread mix I use 4 boxes of Jiffy corn muffin mix
• 11 eggs divided
• 1 ⅓ cup milk

For the Dressing

• 1 cup butter
• 2 teaspoons ground cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 cup dried parsley
• 1 dried bay leaf
• sea salt to taste
• black pepper to taste
• 3 stalks celery
• ½ onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 green bell pepper
• 2 ½ cups vegetable broth or seafood stock
• 2 tablespoons hot sauce or to taste
• 12 ounces evaporated milk
• 1 pound raw shrimp peeled and deveined with tails removed
• 5-6 ounces lump crabmeat
• 6 ounces lobster meat chopped, roughly what would come from one lobster tail
• 1 lemon optional garnish

Instructions

 

For the Cornbread

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix corn muffin mix, four eggs, and 1 ⅓ of milk until uniform and free of any large lumps. Transfer batter into a 13x9-inch pan and bake for about 30 minutes or until top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool a bit for safe handling then crumble and set aside.

For the Dressing

• Reset oven heat to 350 degrees. In a large pot, melt butter over medium heat.
• Add cayenne, smoked paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, parsley, sea salt, and black pepper to pot. Cook until fragrant (about 5 minutes). Meanwhile, chop celery, onion, and bell pepper, and mince garlic.
• Add celery, onion, bell pepper, and garlic to pot. Cook until tender and translucent (about 8 minutes).
• Add veggie broth or seafood stock and hot sauce to pot and stir to incorporate. Meanwhile, beat remaining seven eggs and set aside.
• Bring mixture to a boil then remove from heat and stir in cornbread, evaporated milk and eggs until smooth and uniform.
• Add shrimp, crabmeat, and lobster meat to dressing and mix in thoroughly until well incorporated.
• Spread dressing into a 13x9-inch pan and bake, uncovered, for about 45 minutes to an hour or until dressing is golden brown and firm to the touch.
• Serve with lemon wedges, if desired.

Video

Notes

• If you can, use seafood stock in this recipe. The dressing is delicious as it but seafood stock adds richness that takes it over the top and is just perfect to indulge during the holiday season.
• It is important to thoroughly incorporate the crab, shrimp, and lobster before baking so that you wind up with some seafood in every bite. Feel free to add up to 25% more seafood to this recipe if you like. More than that will make it tougher for your dressing to stay together, though.
• Should dressing be covered while baking? You want to get a nice top crust to your dressing. For this reason, don't cover your dressing while baking unless the top starts to burn.
• How to know when dressing is done?
• How to reheat dressing? You can reheat cornbread dressing by the pan or in individual servings. To reheat a whole pan of dressing, allow it to come to room temperature then place it in the oven at 350 degrees, uncovered, with a splash of broth, stock, or milk over top until heated through for about 30 minutes. This will ensure that the dressing doesn't dry out AND does not come out soggy. Reheat individual portions in the microwave with a small spoonful of broth or milk over top for about two minutes on high. Temperatures and heat times will vary by appliances, altitude, etc.

Nutrition

Calories: 377kcalCarbohydrates: 49gProtein: 15gFat: 13gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 141mgSodium: 905mgPotassium: 364mgFiber: 5gSugar: 17gVitamin A: 684IUVitamin C: 15mgCalcium: 187mgIron: 3mg

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