This Italian sausage cornbread stuffing recipe is packed full of flavor with onions, celery, red peppers, fresh sage, and pistachios.
Make Cornbread Ahead of Time For Stuffing / Dressing
This Italian sausage cornbread stuffing / dressing recipe is easy but it tastes best when using stale or older cornbread. So, try to make the cornbread a day or two in advance if possible.
It's important to use stale cornbread for dressing / stuffing (using these words interchangeable here). The cornbread will turn grainy and no longer have chunks if the cornbread is too fresh.
In a pinch, make the cornbread the night before. Then break it apart to try to speed up making it stale.
Totally forgot to make the stuffing ahead of time? Ok - just wing it with some fresh cornbread but it will be better if you cool it completely down before continuing.
Italian Sausage Cornbread Variations
Italian sausage cornbread variations are endless.
- Fresh or dried herbs or spices can be omitted or substituted. For example, don't like or have sage. Sub a favorite fresh herb or leave it out.
- Don't like or have pistachios? Cool, omit them or substitute with almonds.
- Wanna add some diced apples? Do it. Cook them down with the onion mixture.
- Like spicy sausage? Change it up and add hot Italian links instead of mild.
Things In My Kitchen:
- Teak cutting board - 18 x 14 x .75 Easy on knives, pretty, has a juice groove, and is sustainably harvested.
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Italian Sausage Cornbread Stuffing
EatSimpleFood.com
This Italian sausage cornbread stuffing recipe is packed full of flavor with onions, celery, red peppers, fresh sage, and pistachios. Make the cornbread 1-2 days before so it has some structure and texture.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 10
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Stovetop / Oven
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- one (12 ounce) package cornbread, made 1-2 days before
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1lb spicy Italian ground sausage
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- ¾ cup onions, finely diced
- ¾ cup celery, finely diced
- 1 ½ cups red pepper, finely diced
- ⅓ cup shelled pistachios, chopped
- ¼ cup fresh sage, chopped
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup chicken broth
Instructions
- Make one 12 ounce package of cornbread (according to package instructions) one - two days before making stuffing. When it's cooled break it apart in ¾" chunks and let sit out or put it in the refrigerator.
- Pre heat oven to 350F.
- Heat a large pan to medium high on the stove, add vegetable oil (~1 Tbsp) to lightly coat the bottom the pan and add sausage.
- Cook (breaking sausage up with the back of a spoon)~ 8-10 minutes or until done and place cooked sausage in a large bowl - keeping any liquid or fat in the pan.
- Reduce heat to medium and add to the same pan: butter, onions, celery, and peppers. Cook ~ 5 -7 minutes uncovered
- Add remaining ingredients, except cornbread and broth.
- Add mixture to the bowl of sausage.
- Add cornbread to the bowl. Slowly add broth while stirring gently, trying not to break down the cornbread.
- Oil a 9x13 oven safe dish and add mixture.
- Bake 35-40 minutes or until top starts to brown. If top is not browning, put on broil for final 2-3 minutes, watching carefully, or until brown.
- Let cool 10 minutes before serving and add salt to taste.
Notes
- Forgot to make the stuffing ahead of time? Ok - just wing it with some fresh cornbread but it will be better if you cool it completely down before continuing.
Serving Suggestion - Indulgent Thanksgiving
Serve this delicious Sausage and Cornbread stuffing recipe with these Holiday meals to round out your dinner (assuming you're ok with busting your pant seams if you have them all 😉 ):
Serving Suggestion - Alternative Thanksgiving
If you're not looking for an indulgent feast that may come at the cost of putting you out of commission for the rest of the day, and instead you want to be functional the rest of the day, try these:
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