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If you’re like me and don’t care for traditional stuffing (or dressing as some call it), then this cornbread stuffing is for you. I could never get over the soggy texture and overwhelming poultry seasoning flavor from traditional stuffing. I never understood the appeal.
I can’t recall when I first heard of cornbread stuffing, but I knew when I did, that it could be a side dish I could get behind. This recipe is what I’ve tweaked and re-tweaked and have used the past several Thanksgivings. It’s crisp on the outside and moist on the inside. There’s lots of onions in place of the celery. It’s very savory with a subtle sweet note from the cornbread. The base of this cornbread stuffing recipe is my cornbread recipe you can find here. The cornbread is on the sweet side. It’s light but dense and it ends up being the perfect bread for stuffing if baked 1 to 2 days prior.
Tips for the Best Cornbread Stuffing
- Use 1-2 day old cornbread. If the cornbread is too moist it could potentially get soggy. I like to bake off the cornbread, then once it reaches room temperature, wrap tightly in saran wrap and let it sit on the counter until I’m ready to use it. Don’t wrap it while it’s warm or it will trap steam inside and make the cornbread wet.
- Original breakfast sausage is best for this recipe, but you can substitute for whatever you like.
- This recipe doesn’t call for celery. If you love celery feel free to omit one of the onions and replace with 2 stalks chopped celery.
- Using a vegetable dicer to chop all the onions is a life saver.
Cornbread Stuffing
Ingredients
- 9 inch cornbread cake pan size
- 1 lb breakfast sausage
- 4 1/2 C chopped yellow onions about 3 medium sized onions
- 1 3/4 C chicken stock
- 1/3 C fresh chopped parsley heaping
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 tsp pepper
- 3/4 tsp poultry seasoning
Instructions
- Prepare my homemade cornbread recipe. It's best to use 1-2 day old cornbread for this recipe.
- Dice cornbread and lay pieces on their side and toast at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, flip and toast 2 more minutes
- Brown the sausage in a pan over medium heat for 10 minutes.
- Add chopped onions to the sausage and cook for 20 minutes just under medium heat.
- Season the sausage and onions with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning and add fresh chopped parsley, stir.
- Deglaze with chicken stock. Scrape up all the brown bits and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add cornbread to a buttered 9x13 dish, top with the sausage and onion mixture. Carefully mix and bake at 350 for 35 minutes uncovered.