Herb cornbread dressing with collard greens, and smoked turkey meat. This amazing holiday southern style dressing is seasoned with fresh garlic, bell peppers, onions, celery, and turkey broth!
Every Thanksgiving it seems like the same old dishes are served. You know: Stuffing, Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, and Green Bean Casserole. Although I love all of the dishes that I mentioned, I like to spice up my menu. I like to take traditional thanksgiving recipes, and give them a twist. In this post, I’m going to make a far from traditional Thanksgiving cornbread dressing. I’m going to show you how to make my easy Smoked Turkey & Collard Greens Cornbread Dressing. 
If you’re a lover of collard greens & cornbread, you are going to LOVE this dressing recipe! Just like a big ol’ pot of southern style collard greens, this dressing is packed with flavor. Most of the flavor comes from the smoked turkey drumstick used in this recipe. I simply take a smoked turkey leg ( or wing) and slow cook it in turkey broth for 3 hours. I then shred the meat from the bone, and toss it into my dressing… Yes, cooking the smoked turkey takes a while, but it is so worth it. As mentioned, I slow cook my turkey leg. However, you can also cook the turkey leg on the stovetop if you’d like..
Just remember to reserve the broth that you cook the smoked turkey in, because you will need it for the actual dressing later on!
For this dressing, I used herb cornbread dressing mix. Why? Because It saves time. If you want to go the old fashioned route, and make some homemade cornbread, I have plenty of cornbread recipes available. Just be sure to make the cornbread a day in advance.
I won’t talk your ear off too much about this recipe, but I do want you to just look at this amazing dressing y’all!
Ready to try it out for yourself?
Ready to try it out for yourself?Check out my video tutorial
(I forgot to add the footage of me adding sage & thyme in the video, however I did include them in the steps below)
Smoked Turkey & Collard Greens Dressing
Ingredients
- 2 24 oz bags of herb cornbread dressing
- 1 stick unsalted butter plus more for buttering the bake dish
- 6 cup turkey broth
- 1.5 lb smoked turkey leg or wing
- 2 stalks of celery diced
- 1 medium sized red bell pepper diced
- 1 medium sized onion diced
- tbsp fresh minced garlic
- 10 oz bag of collard greens cut & stems removed( clean greens thoroughly!)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp ground sage
Instructions
- Place the turkey wing or leg in the slow cooker, along with 6 cups turkey broth.
- Let the turkey cook on high for 3 hours.
- Remove the turkey from the broth ( but reserve the broth), and shred the meat, then set aside.
- Next, melt down 4 tbsp of salted butter over medium heat, then toss in the chopped veggies, and minced garlic.
- Season with the salt & pepper, then cook until translucent.
- Remove the veggies from the pan, and set aside.
- Next toss in the collard greens, and cook until tender.
- Remove the greens from the pan, and melt down the 4 more tbsp of butter.
- Add the cornbread dressing mix into a large mixing bowl, then pour in 6 cups of broth, and the melted butter.
- Let sit for 15 minutes to soak up all the flavor.
- Next, add in the minced veggies & garlic, collard greens, and smoked turkey.
- Fold the ingredients.
- Sprinkle in the sage, thyme, and red pepper flakes, then fold the ingredients some more.
- Butter up a 9x13 bake dish, then add in the dressing.
- Cover the dish with foil, and bake on 350 F ( make sure the oven is preheated!) for 50 minutes.
- Once done, remove from the oven, and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.
- Serve & enjoy!
Video
A completely new take for the holiday table. Looks delicious. Pinned. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Mary! XOXO
I’m planning on making this. Why do you not put eggs in this one like the you did the tradition dressing. Just curious?
Because they are two different recipes 🙂
How many Tablespoon(s) of garlic Rosie? Love your recipes by the way.
1 tbsp of mince garlic. XOXO
What brand of stuffing did you buy?
I honestly can’t remember. I’m sorry.
Thank you. I see Herb Stuffing with bread, but not cornbread. The cornbread one just says cornbread So I bought the Cornbread one and hope for the best.
Oh yes. It should be cornbread dressing cubes. You got the right one hun!
Looking forward to making this for Thanksgiving who doesn’t love collards an cornbread yesss. Can this be made an frozen if so for how long?
Hi Valerie! I actually never froze it, but I don’t see it being an issue. Not sure how long though.
Is the cornbread dressing 24ozs totally (2) 12oz ? Because I didn’t see any 24oz bags.
Nope, 24 oz bags… You need 48 ounces all together.
Can you use frozen greens?
Hi Tiesha! Absolutely 🙂
Hey Rosie!! Thank you for responding to me. I can’t wait to try this
Rosie, thank you so much for the recipes can’t wait to try them!!❤
What type of herb cornbread dressing did you use? I’m going to make this!
I used a generic brand. You can use whatever brand that you’d like to use. XOXO
Ok thanks. I saw pepperridge farms herbed stuffing mix I also saw the had a cornbread mix but wasn’t herbed. Didn’t know if it was the same thing or not
Can’t wait to try this recipe! If I’m using day old cornbread, should I dice it like the stuffing you used?
Sure, or you can crumble it.
Hi Rosie,
I would love to try this but I have family that don’t eat turkey. Can I use Chicken broth instead? What can I substitute to get the smoked flavor?
Thanks for assisting with meal preparation for us all. The items I’ve tried so far were all delicious.
Yes, you can use chicken broth. Add 2 tsp of liquid smoke for the smokey flavor.
Where did you get the herbed dressing mix?
Your local grocery store should carry boxed dressing mix 🙂
Hello how many people does this serve.
It should feed at least 6
Definitely making this!
What would i serve this with since it already has meat,veggies and carbs
Serve it with other holiday dishes.
i cant wait to try this! thank you so much.
I grow collards in my garden so this recipe was perfect for me. This recipe was so easy and it came out great. Thanks! Keep blessing us with your gift.
Hi Rosie….Just found your recipe for Collard Greens Smoked Turkey Dressing and I can not wait to try it.
Making it this Thanksgiving (2018)….gonna knock everyone socks off….I just know it.
Thanks Girl…..
Mary
Hi Rosie! I can’t wait to make this for Thanksgiving. I found the herbed cornbread mix in 12oz bags so that means I have to get 4 bags. The video doesn’t look like you used that much. Thanks!
Can you use ground thyme or does it have to be dried thyme?
You sure can hun! Happy Holidays!
Hello I usually make my cornbread from scratch for my dressing. Do you think that will work also? Or would you say just do the herb mix?
Can i use turkey stock if I can’t find turkey broth
Yes, you can. You can also use chicken or vegetable broth.