Save this Sausage and Cornbread stuffing with Sage and Pomegranate Seeds for all your fall and winter feasts!
Every Thanksgiving and Winter feast deserves a side stuffing or dressing to feed the masses. Something to fill you up and sop up any gravy or cooking juices left pooling on your plate. A big spoonful of this slightly sweet, cornbread mixed with savory sausage, sage and a hint of seasonal spices goes perfect with your main entree.
Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted all the prep photos for this recipe. The cornmeal itself would have otherwise been it’s own recipe here. It’s SO GOOD and easy to make. The batter consists of corn meal (I used white), flour, salt, baking powder, milk, eggs, and oil. Mix all that up and bake in a 13×9 baking dish at 375°F for about 35-40 minutes. You could also use the batter recipe to make corn muffins or to pour in to a cast iron skillet instead of a baking pan. Adjust your cooking time for each cooking method; less time for little muffins, maybe a little more time for a smaller but deeper skillet.
The cornbread is cubed then dried to a crouton like state before mixing with the sausage, vegetable broth, and custard. You can leave it out for up to 48 hours or you could bake it at low temp for a couple hours. I left mine in the cool oven for a day and they were perfect. Combine the vegetables and broth with the custard then carefully fold in the sausage and custard. Allow this to sit for about 20 minutes for the dried cornbread to absorb the liquid. Add the stuffing to a baking pan and drizzle melted butter on top. Bake this for 40 minutes or until the top is crusty.
This stuffing ends up being a mixture of moist and dry – exactly how I like my stuffing. If it’s too moist it’s like eating baby food or wet bread. Too dry and you’re reaching for extra gravy. This is in that Goldie Locks zone of ‘just right’. Cornbread does a great job of delivering juices on your plate while not getting waterlogged.
I used regular Italian pork sausage for this recipe but you should use whatever you’d like. Turkey sausage may be a little redundant for Thanksgiving, but I’m not opposed to it. There’s lots of sage in this recipe but you could absolutely do a pork (or chicken) and sage sausage. I’ve seen Chicken Apple sausage which I think would be really awesome.
Sausage Cornbread Stuffing
Ingredients
Cornbread
- 2 1/2 cups milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups cornmeal
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
Stuffing
- 1 1/2 lbs. sausage
- 2 cups finely diced onion
- 3/4 cup finely diced celery
- 6 tbs unsalted butter
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 cup fresh sage minced
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup half and half
- 4 eggs
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- Pomegranate seeds for garnish
Instructions
Cornbread
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly butter and flour a 13x9 baking dish.
- Whisk together cornmeal, flour, salt, baking powder in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, whisk the milk, eggs and oil then incorporate with the flour mixture. Pour batter in to baking dish and bake for about 30 minutes until interior is proven dry with a toothpick inserted in the cornbread. Allow to cool completely for a couple hours.
- Dry cornbread by cutting in to 1 inch cubes and baking at 250°F for an hour, turning half way, until very dry. Alternatively, cube cornbread and leave on a baking sheet in a cool oven for up to a day in advance.
Stuffing
- Cook the sausage in a large pan over medium heat with a tablespoon of vegetable oil. While cooking, use a fork or other utensil to break sausage in to smaller bits. Sausage should be cooked through in 10 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate reserving any left over fat int he pan.
- Add a tablespoon of butter, onions, and celery to the pan and cook until tender. Add garlic and sauté for a minute until aromatic. Remove from heat, stir in finely minced sage, then add the broth. Set aside to cool.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the half and half, eggs, salt, cayenne, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Slowly whisk in the broth until incorporated.
- Add dried corn bread and sausage to the bowl and fold all ingredients together. Set aside for 20 minutes for cornbread to absorb the liquid.
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly butter and flour a 13x9 baking dish. Melt remaining 5 tablespoons of butter.
- Add cornbread stuffing to baking dish and drizzle with melted butter. Bake for 40 minutes until top is golden brown and crispy.
- Garnish with finely minced sage, parsley, and pomegranate seeds. Serve warm.
