Making Cornbread Dressing (or stuffing) with Sausage is hands down, the best version, and my mother-in-law’s classic southern recipe is the perfect savory sidekick to a well-cooked turkey.

The salty pieces of cooked sausage and the buttery flavor of cornbread provide ample flavor to every bite so that it’s a feast for the palate. The hearty texture is uniform throughout compared to stuffing made with bread.

Sausage Dressing Recipe

What I love about her recipe is that the Italian sausage’s flavors really come through and whether you double this recipe and use some of it to stuff the turkey or serve it on the side, you’ll want to eat a few servings for sure.

This dish can also be made ahead of time and only need to be baked or warmed up on Thanksgiving day.

Making this classic recipe is super simple, just watch how easy it comes together.

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How to Make Cornbread Dressing with Sausage

What I love about this recipe is that you can make it entirely from scratch or semi-homemade. Whether you make your cornbread with the recipe below, buy the cornbread box mix, or buy it already made, it comes out perfectly moist and crumbly every time.

My biggest tip to cut a little prep time on the big day is to make the cornbread a day ahead. It will save you time, and toast faster, you want the cornbread to be lightly browned and dry so it will soak up more of the broth and flavors.

With that being said, let’s make this sausage and cornbread stuffing:

Make the cornbread
Prepare the cornbread. Regardless if you use a homemade recipe or boxed, you’ll need 4 cups crumbled.
Prep
While the cornbread cools, preheat the oven to 400F and grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish.
Toast
Coarsely crumble the baked cornbread and spread it in an even layer onto a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly brown. Remove from the oven and cool.
Brown the sausage
In a large skillet, brown the sausage, celery, and onion for 10 minutes until the sausage is cooked through. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl, leaving the drippings in the pan.
Combine
To the sausage, add cornbread, parsley, and seasonings. Toss to combine before adding the chicken broth and beaten egg. Stir thoroughly.
Bake
Spoon the cornbread mixture into the baking dish and cover with foil. Bake for 45 minutes. In the final 10 minutes, remove the foil and finishing baking until the top has a golden-brown crust.

Gluten-Free Cornbread Dressing

This recipe is that it can easily be made gluten-free by using an all-purpose 1:1 gluten-free baking flour (my favorite one is made by Bob’s Red Mill); however, be careful that not all gluten-free flours work the same so check out the notes in the recipe below for more information.

large dish of freshly baked cornbread stuffing

Dressing vs Stuffing

If you are wondering why some people call this recipe “dressing” and others “stuffing” is because while some people use this side dish to “dress” the meal, others use the dressing to stuff the turkey and in that case, it’s called stuffing. Many of us do a combination of both.

In this version, I didn’t add any dried fruits or nuts, although some people add 1 cup of chopped chestnuts and even ½ cup of dried cranberries. If you choose to do that, you would add them to the bowl along with the crumbled cornbread and combine them with the rest of the ingredients.

dish of cornbread stuffing with spoon pulling out of it

What is your favorite Thanksgiving side dish?

Cornbread Dressing with Sausage

Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 3 reviews

Delicious Thanksgiving side recipe for Cornbread Dressing with Sausage! This can easily be served inside or outside the bird depending on your preference, it’s tasty either way!

Author: Laura Fuentes
Yield: 12 servings
Category: Side Dishes

Ingredients

For the Cornbread

1 cup cornmeal
¾ cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 ½ cups milk
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus butter for baking dish

For the Dressing

4 cups coarsely crumbled and toasted cornbread*
1 lb Italian sausage, casings removed
2 cups chopped celery
1 cup finely chopped onion
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning*
1 cup chicken broth
1 egg, lightly beaten

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Instructions

For the Cornbread

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly grease an 8-inch baking dish.
In a large bowl, mix together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, milk, and butter. Pour the liquid mixture into the cornmeal mixture and fold together until there are no dry spots (the batter will still be lumpy). Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish.
Bake until the top is golden brown and tester inserted into the middle of the cornbread comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the cornbread from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes before serving.

For the Dressing

Preheat oven to 400F and butter or grease a 9×13 baking dish or, a 3-quart dish of any shape.
Coarsely crumble the cooled cornbread and place crumbles on a baking sheet. Bake cornbread crumbles for 8-10 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes until crumbles are toasted evenly. Remove from oven and set aside.
Reduce oven temperature to 325F and grease or spray a casserole baking dish.
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook sausage, celery, and chopped onion for 8-10 minutes, until the sausage is thoroughly cooked, making sure to break up the meat into small pieces throughout. Spoon cooked sausage into a large bowl, leaving any oil behind.
To the large bowl, add crumbled cornbread, finely chopped parsley and seasoning. Toss to combine. Add the chicken broth and beaten egg and combine.
Next, spoon cornbread and sausage mixture into the casserole dish and cover.
Bake in your preheated oven for about 45 minutes. In the final 10 minutes, remove the cover to brown the top.

Equipment

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Notes

For the 4 cups crumbled cornbread you can use the recipe below or 1-package of your favorite cornbread muffin mix according to package directions. After it has cooled, coarsely crumble it with your hands and place crumbles inside a baking sheet. Toast in a preheated oven for 400F for 8-10 minutes, making sure to stir once until lightly browned. Don’t have poultry seasoning? Add ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, ¼ teaspoon ground thyme, ¼ teaspoon sage, ¼ teaspoon marjoram (substitute cumin if not available).

Nutrition

Serving Size: 1
Calories: 268
Sugar: 0.8g
Sodium: 677.3mg
Fat: 12.2g
Saturated Fat: 3.1g
Carbohydrates: 26.6g
Fiber: 0.6g
Protein: 12.3g
Cholesterol: 75.7mg

Keywords: sausage stuffing, cornbread sausage stuffing, sausage dressing, cornbread dressing with sausage, thanksgiving, thanksgiving sides,

Cornbread Dressing with Sausage