Country cooking recipes are the dishes that taste like Sunday dinner at a farmhouse table: crispy fried chicken, slow simmered greens, buttery biscuits and a cobbler still bubbling from the oven. This collection of 50 southern recipes covers the whole meal, from mains and sides to the desserts everyone saves room for.
You’ll find easy southern recipes for busy weeknights, a few slow cooker and Instant Pot shortcuts, potluck favorites and three DIY JOY originals with step-by-step videos. Pick a main, add a couple of sides and a skillet of cornbread, and that’s real southern comfort food on the table.
Country Cooking Style Recipes
1. Chicken Fried Steak
This is the plate country diners are built on. A crispy, craggy breaded steak gets smothered in creamy white pepper gravy and set on a pile of mashed potatoes, with green beans on the side to make it feel like a balanced meal. The photo tells you everything: that crust is thick, golden and full of nooks for the gravy to settle into. Make extra gravy. Somebody always wants more for the potatoes.
2. Easy Chicken and Dumplings
Chicken and dumplings is a hug in a bowl, and this version is easier than it looks. Carrots, celery and onion soften in butter, then simmer in chicken broth with cooked chicken (rotisserie chicken works great). The dumplings are a simple dough of flour, baking powder, cold butter and milk, rolled thin and cut into strips that cook right in the pot and thicken the broth as they go. Roll the dough to about a quarter inch so the dumplings stay tender.
3. Southern Peach Cobbler
This cobbler has only seven ingredients and one very important rule: don’t stir. A stick of melted butter goes into the dish, then a quick batter of sugar, flour, baking powder, salt and milk, then three cups of fresh peaches scattered over the top. As it bakes at 350 degrees for about an hour, the batter rises up around the fruit into a golden, buttery crust. Serve it warm, with vanilla ice cream if you’re feeling generous.
4. Southern Cooked Cabbage
Cabbage is cheap, humble and seriously underrated, and this is the dish that proves it. The photo shows tender, buttery-looking cabbage tossed with bits of bacon and plenty of black pepper, served in pretty blue and white bowls. It’s the kind of side that shows up next to cornbread and a pot of beans on a cold night. Let it cook low and slow until it’s soft and sweet, and leftovers are even better the next day.
5. Southern Style Green Beans
These are not crisp-tender green beans, and that’s the point. Bacon pieces cook in a Dutch oven, two pounds of fresh green beans get tossed in the drippings until bright green, then two cups of chicken broth, salt and pepper go in and the pot simmers low for about an hour. The beans turn soft, savory and full of smoky flavor. Dry the beans in a towel after rinsing so they coat nicely in the bacon fat.
6. Southern Ambrosia
Is it a salad or a dessert? At a southern potluck, nobody asks. Whipped topping and sour cream make the creamy base, then in go sweetened coconut, mini marshmallows, pineapple tidbits, mandarin oranges, halved grapes, maraschino cherries and optional chopped pecans. It takes about ten minutes to stir together. The key is draining the canned fruit really well, or the whole bowl turns soupy. Chill it before serving so the flavors come together.
7. Bacon Chili Cornbread Muffins
This one’s a DIY JOY original, and there’s a video that shows exactly how it comes together. A box of cornbread mix gets an upgrade with an egg, milk, melted butter, cream of corn, a can of green chiles and six slices of crumbled crispy bacon. They bake at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes until golden. The cream of corn keeps them moist and the chiles add a little kick. They freeze really well, too.
8. Southern Fried Catfish
Fried catfish is a Friday night tradition across the South, and these fillets look like they came straight from a fish camp. The photo shows a thick, golden, crunchy cornmeal-style crust, cooled on a wire rack so the bottoms stay crisp, with lemon wedges and creamy tartar sauce on the side. Serve it with hush puppies, coleslaw or a pile of fries. A rack beats paper towels here, every time.
9. Crispy Southern Cornbread
Real southern cornbread starts with a screaming hot cast iron skillet. A quarter cup of oil heats in the pan while a simple batter of self-rising cornmeal mix, eggs, oil and buttermilk comes together. When a drop of batter sizzles, the rest goes in, then the skillet bakes at 400 degrees. That sizzle is what makes the crispy, crunchy edges. Bacon grease or lard can stand in for the oil if you want a little extra country flavor.
10. Simple Southern Collard Greens
This pot of greens gets a twist with half a head of thinly sliced cabbage cooked right in with the collards. Thick-cut bacon goes in first, then the greens and cabbage are added in batches and wilted in the drippings. Red pepper flakes and a splash of apple cider vinegar balance the richness, and the pot cooks low for about an hour. Add chicken stock only as needed. Save the pot liquor for dunking cornbread.
11. Southern Pecan Pie
A holiday table without pecan pie just feels wrong. This classic filling is beaten eggs, sugar, melted butter, dark corn syrup, vanilla and a pinch of cinnamon, poured over a cup and a half of chopped pecans in a frozen or homemade crust. It bakes at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes. Set the crust on a baking sheet first, which makes the hot, wobbly pie much easier to get out of the oven.
12. Extra Crispy Spicy Fried Chicken
Look at that crust. Bone-in chicken soaks in buttermilk with hot sauce, salt, pepper and garlic powder for two hours or overnight, then gets dipped in an egg and hot sauce wash and dredged in flour seasoned with paprika and a full tablespoon of cayenne. Fried in peanut or vegetable oil, it comes out shatteringly crisp with real heat. Let the coated pieces rest on a rack before frying so the breading holds on.
