Cornbread Dressing Recipe with Sausage and Apples

5 from 1 vote

Cornbread Dressing Recipe with Sausage and Apples

Delicious, moist cornbread dressing recipe made with the addition of spicy Italian sausage and apples. Dressing always tastes the best when using homemade buttermilk cornbread and there are always options to make it ahead of time.

Prep Time15

Cook Time1

Total Time1 10

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 656kcal

Author: Lyuba Brooke

Ingredients

Cornbread:

1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour*
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup low fat buttermilk
1/2 cup unsalted butter
unsalted butter to rub the pan

Cornbread Dressing:

2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 large yellow onion
3 celery ribs
2 medium green apples
16 oz spicy Italian sausage (or mild, or sweet if preferred)
2 tbsp minced fresh parsley (1 tbsp dried)
2 tbsp minced fresh sage (1 tbsp dried)
2 tsp fresh thyme (1 tsp dried)
2 eggs
2 cups chicken broth warmed
1/4 cup unsalted butter melted
Salt
freshly cracked black pepper

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Cornbread:

Preheat oven to 400°F and generously rub a 10-inch skillet with butter all over the bottom and up the sides.
Combine all the dry ingredients in one bowl and whisk together.
In another bowl, combine all the wet ingredients and whisk until smooth.
Slowly pour in wet ingredients into dry ingredients while whisking and whisk until evenly incorporated.
Spread cornbread batter evenly in the skillet and bake for 20-22 minutes. (Until the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.)
Let cornbread cool for about 10 minutes in the skillet and then turn it over onto the cutting board.

Sausage Cornbread Dressing:

Preheat a large skillet over medium heat and add butter. Once butter is melted, add diced onion and celery and saute for until it starts to soften.
Add diced apples and cook for a few minutes, until apples and veggies are soft.
Take everything out of the cooking pan and set aside.
Add ground sausage to the pan and break in apart as much as you can. Let sausage cook until done, breaking clumps apart as it cooks.
Once sausage is cooked, add veggies and apple mixture back into the pan and mix everything together.
Set oven to 375°F and rub a 9×13 baking dish with butter all over the bottom and up the sides.
Crumble cooked cornbread in a large mixing bowl. Add sauteed sausage and vegetables, sage, thyme, and parsley.
Whisk eggs, salt, pepper, garlic powder, stock, and melted butter in another bowl and pour it all over the cornbread mixture. Mix everything together well and spread it evenly in the prepared baking dish.
Bake cornbread dressing for 30-35 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the middle is set.
To make sure that the dressing is cooked through, check internal temperature, it should be at 165℉. Try not to overbake your cornbread dressing or it could be dry.

Notes

*Gluten Free Notes: if you need to make this cornbread dressing gluten free, use all purpose gluten free flour to make the cornbread. Remaining ingredients should already be gluten free but double check the packaging to make sure.
Make Ahead: You can make cornbread itself a couple of days before and then prep cornbread dressing a day before.
Prepare everything up to the step of baking and instead of baking it, wrap the baking dish air-tight. Place the dish into the refrigerator overnight.
To bake it the next day, set the dish on the counter to warm up while the oven is preheating and then bake for about 30-35 minutes.

Nutrition