Pumpkin Cornbread Stuffing with Country Sausage and Sage is hands down the best stuffing I’ve ever had. The flavors are phenomenal, and to be honest, when you’ve got a dressing like this, you don’t really need the turkey at all!
Pumpkin cornbread stuffing is a new classic!
I had to do it, I had to make another batch of that pumpkin cornbread just to seeย if it could knock it out of the park as a stuffing and man, did it ever. This was fabulous, and I’m not even a stuffing kind of person.
This cornbread stuffing is moist, and full of flavor with sausage and fresh sage
The appeal of plain stuffing has always been lost on me. But when you substitute homemade cornbread enriched with pumpkin, molasses and a little brown sugar for those brittle dried breadcrumbs in the bag, then add country sausage and fresh sage, you can’t help but get something special. You could easily make this a vegetarian stuffing, just replace the sausage with some roasted mushrooms, add in a few walnuts, and use veggie stock. I think dried cranberries would be nice, too.
Stuffing is all about texture
I cut my cornbread in large chunks so it wouldn’t completely fall apart as the stuffing is mixed. I crumbled the larger pieces as I added in the liquid to get a combination of textures. I also cut the onion and celery in relatively large dice, so they are recognizable in the final dish; you can taste them and they still have some crunch..
The peppery country sausage and the fresh sage gives this pumpkin cornbread stuffing so many layers of flavor.
TIP: Fresh sage is well worth it, the flavor is far superior to the dried. If you have extra leftover, I’ll show youย how to dry herbs in the microwave, it’s a fabulous technique for preserving extra fresh herbs.
This beats the dried packaged mixes by a mile, I hope you give it a try!
I guess I’m going to have to call myself a stuffing person from now on.
I love all the extras on a holiday menu, and I have lots more side dish inspiration on the blog ~
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Maple Candied Brussels Sprouts with Bacon
-
Butter Pecan Pumpkin Souffle
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Buttered Rutabaga
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Easy Crock Pot Cranberry Butter
Pumpkin Cornbread Stuffing with Country Sausage and Sage
Ingredients
- 1 recipe Pumpkin Cornbread, get recipe here
- 8 oz country sausage, the kind that comes in a tube, or from the butcher
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 onion, chopped (2 big handfulls)
- about 6 inner stalks of celery, leaves included, sliced (2 big handfulls)
- salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 4 Tbsp chopped fresh sage leaves
- more butter for dotting
Instructions
- Set oven to 350
- If you have the time, let the cornbread sit on the counter overnight to dry out. Then cut it in large bite sized cubes. Set aside.
- Crumble the sausage into a large heavy bottomed pot. Brown the sausage, continuing to break it up into small bits as it cooks. When it is completely cooked, remove from the pan and set aside.
- Melt the butter in the same pan and sautee the onion and celery for several minutes until the onion starts to turn translucent.
- Add the sausage back to the pan.
- Turn off the heat and toss in the cornbread cubes and fresh sage. Add salt and pepper, and stir briefly to combine.
- Lightly beat the eggs in a measuring cup, and then stir in the stock. Pour this mixture into the stuffing pan, stirring lightly as you add the liquid. Break up any extra large chunks of cornbread as you mix. If it seems dry to you, add a little more stock, but not too much or the stuffing will get mushy. When it is all combined, but not overly mixed, turn into a buttered baking dish or casserole.
- Dot with butter, and then bake for about 30 minutes until hot and browned on top.
Notes
- You can bake this stuffing in well buttered muffins cups for individual portionsโฆ
- As I said above, this can be made vegetarian/vegan with just a few tweaks.ย
hi! greetings from buenos aires, i’m making your stuffing on thursday for our thanksgiving celebration (it’s a group of us studying abroad here) .. one question.. i’ve never actually stuffed a turkey, so instead of baking the stuffing in the oven, in its own casserole, should I just stuff it in the turkey when the egg is still raw? will it cook? or should I cook the stuffing first in the casserole, and then put it in the turkey. also when the turkey is finished, do i remove the stuffing and serve it fresh out of there?
okay, so in this instance, i might be okay with a little pumpkin action. what a pretty batch of dressing!
Yes!
Happy Turkey Day Grace!
I love a bit of stuffing and I would be happy to eat pumpkin every day so this is a great marriage – just have to skip back and find out how you made that cornbread, something we never seem to make downunder.
Come to think of it, I guess cornbread is a traditional American food, but I hope you try the pumpkin version, it’s wonderful!
That stuffing looks amazing and ever so scrumptious!
Cheers,
Rosa
Thanks Rosa!
way to go, Sue! I love playing with unusual recipe ideas. I had a cornbread stuffing idea I was thinking about for this year too, but I’m not sure I’ll be that creative after all. I may just try yours instead!
I’d love to see your take on stuffing, I’m imagining it might include jalapenos?
Yes! I was hoping you’d go with the option of making the cornbread into a stuffing. I’ve honestly never even had cornbread stuffing before (my family’s is so very traditional and plain), but it looks too good not to try. Although I don’t think I could get away with making it on Thanksgiving, I should try it some other time. Why save stuffing just for one day of the year?
We always had plain stuffing, too. I think that’s why it never wowed me. But that’s the thing about Thanksgiving, traditions die hard!
Mmmmm! This sounds so earthy and comforting. All requests in my house this year are for cornbread stuffing, so this has really given me inspiration. Delicious, Sue. ๐
I’d love a seat at your Thanksgiving table, Heather…!
I’m not even a stuffing kind of person either but my hubs is. This is SO up his alley! Gorgeous pics of it, too!
I’m only a stuffing person one day a year, I think. I think of it like bread pudding…maybe good once in a long while, but not for everyday.
No offense, but I really don’t get why people ask if they can substitute the main ingredient in a recipe.. obviously, you can use whatever you want, but what makes this special is the pumpkin cornbread. If you want to use something else, why not just find a standard sausage stuffing recipe instead of butchering this one?
I am looking forward to trying it, as written. Thanks for the idea!
I don’t mind when people ask about substitutions because it opens up the discussion to new ideas and variations. In this case, It got me thinking about new directions for it myself. Thanks for visiting, and I hope you try it!
I love any kind of sausagey stuffing, I’ve nver even seen cornbread before, I’m intrigued, do you think I could put some other kind of bread in it instead?
Hey Tabitha—the sausage really makes this stuffing, for me anyway, so I’m sure it would be good with any other kind of bread. But I would try fresh bread cubes, not the dried ones from a package, to get a similar consistency. You just inspired me to imagine this with pumpernickel bread…yum…but without the pumpkin component ๐
How many people does this serve?