Stuffing was my favorite thing as a kid. I wondered why anyone would eat turkey on Thanksgiving when they could just have stuffing instead. I just didn’t get it. Such dummies. I remember loading my plate up with everything at the dinner table then I would only eat the stuffing. It was such a genius plan. Until I felt incredibly uncomfortable with the amount I had consumed in 12 minutes. So what would I do? Eat pumpkin pie, obviously. Thanksgiving is such a strange day. We cook all.day.long, eat for 12 minutes, then complain for 3 days how much food we ate that day. Can I be that annoying person real quick and remind you that you don’t have to eat all the food at the table, especially the food you don’t actually want. And honestly, if you really want Thanksgiving food, you can make it any time in the year. You don’t need to wait until late November. You’re an adult and being an adult is the best when it comes to food choices!
That was a terrible intro. Sometimes I got it, most of the time I don’t. Today is just not my day. It’s one of those days when I’m thinking too much about Thanksgiving versus thinking about my work at hand. “Do we have family over during a pandemic? Probably not. The numbers are going up, it isn’t a good idea. But it will hurt their feelings if I say no. But boundaries are a good thing. But it makes me feel like a terrible person.” These are the things that are filling my mind this holiday season. And I know others have to be going through the same dilemma. Seeing our family is more important than ever, but keeping the population alive is most important. I know this post just got really serious and you simply wanted me to give you a recipe so I’ll shut up for now. But if you’re dealing with this same issue, please tell me. I need to know I’m not alone with my frustrations right now.
Gluten Free Cornbread Stuffing
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
- Yield: 10-12 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1 bag gluten free cornbread mix*
- 1 tablespoons ghee
- 1 yellow onion, minced
- 2 apples, peeled and cubed
- 3 celery stalks, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 pound breakfast sausage
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/4 cup dairy-free milk
- 1/2 cup chicken bone broth
- black pepper, to taste
- freshly chopped parsley
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8×8 baking dish.
- Make cornbread according to packaging. For the cornbread mix I used, I needed milk, eggs, and oil to make the mix. Keep that in mind when you’re doing your grocery shopping! Cook cornbread and let cool completely. Once cooled, cut cornbread into cubes and place on a baking sheet. Place in the oven for 5-7 minutes to dry out.
- While the cornbread cooks, place a large nonstick pan over medium heat. Add ghee along with onion, apples, celery, and garlic. Sprinkle with salt and cook for 10 minutes to soften. Add breakfast sausage, rosemary, and thyme, and break up into small pieces. Cook for another 10 minutes, until sausage is brown and no pink remains. Turn heat off and add pecans to mix the combined.
- In a bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and broth.
- Grease a 9×12 baking dish. Add half the cornbread to the bottom of the dish then top with the sausage mixture. Lastly, arrange the last bit of cornbread on top of the sausage mixture, pressing it down throughout. Pour egg mixture on top of the cornbread stuffing. Place in the oven to bake for 20-22 minutes, until the top is golden brown.
- Top with black pepper and fresh parsley on top before serving!
Notes
*If you want to go strict paleo for this dish, make a double batch of my cornbread topping from this recipe instead of using gluten free cornbread!
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When I talk to my friends, they are all not doing Thanksgiving with their family. One person’s Mom wanted them all to come visit, so her family, her brother’s and some other people. She was just like, nope not happening. I’ll see ya next year. My other friend is also not doing Thanksgiving with her family even though they live down the street, they are all erring on the side of caution. No one is taking it personally. I have some friends that are taking it super seriously and others who take it more lightly. It really just ends up being what your are comfortable with.
You are SO not alone in this dilemma. I’m 6 1/2 months pregnant and I can tell my family is irritated and very judgy about the fact that my husband and I are sitting Thanksgiving out. I love them very much, but my family is super critical about other people’s choices — so at least we’ll give them something to talk about on Thanksgiving (and probably xmas too)! On one hand I feel really bad because I don’t like having my family mad at me BUT on the other hand people can kiss my ass because my #1 priority is keeping my little nugget safe.
I got invited to a party with 70 people! Yes, 70! And I know these people are anti-maskers. That sounds like a super spreader event to me. I RSVP’d no. I don’t want to end up on the evening news.
I was supposed to drive across the country to spend the holiday with family, but a few weeks ago I started to get anxious about the whole endeavor; I ended up telling my family that I was tentative and so they offered to buy me a plane ticket instead. The plane ticket offer was very nice and yet, flying is not something I’ll be comfortable doing until there is a proven vaccine that is widely available. This past weekend I finally made the decision to not go and told my family that I will not be joining them for Thanksgiving! The hardest part of it for me was that I live alone (with my dog) and will now be spending Thanksgiving alone… I am working on reframing how I think about it, from thinking I am a lonely spinster – if one can be a spinster at 35 – to making it a day of my favorite things. I’m also trying to find volunteer opportunities over the next couple months to try and spread love to others who don’t have the luxury of deciding whether to be or not to be with family and friends for the holidays.
p.s. I love cornbread stuffing and will be making this ASAP!
I am waiting on the result of a COVID test I took Thursday (I think I just have a bad cold). My in laws want to drive out for thanksgiving and stay for a week. I know they are very careful so I am not worried about seeing them, but I am worried about them traveling out here since Colorado is in such a spike right now.
totally
Tested this out over the weekend – I added a little more broth, used olive oil instead of ghee, and skipped the milk, but all the rest according to the recipe as listed. It turned out so good! I am excited to add this to our TG menu…. I am less excited that neither of my kids will be able to be here, but such is current life. I have been unable to see either of my kids this whole EFFING year. It sucks. Each time we had plans, COVID interfered. I put myself through a lot of pain those other times, but this time, I decided to mentally prepare a long time in advance just in case. It’s easier this time, but my god this is really really hard. I just try and remember to be grateful for everything that is good in my life and minimize the torture of getting sad over missing the fam. This too shall pass. We won’t have to live like this forever… even it if EFFING feels like it!
so glad you liked it!! and that’s all we can do at this point, be happy with what we have instead of thinking about what is currently missing this year.
Excited to make this!! I am celiac so I’ve been looking for a good stuffing as I agree with you, it is one of my favorites to eat on Thanksgiving! This is the first year in many years where we are not traveling back to Ohio to see my family or my husbands. We are gathering here with 1 other couple who we know is super safe as well but it still gives me angst and worry. Thanks for posting the recipe and I will let you know how it turns out!
hope you guys liked it, Meaghan!
Made this for Thanksgiving…turned out amazing! I used a mixture of chicken stock and milk rather than all milk but otherwise followed recipe to a “T”. A note for people trying to get things done ahead of time, I assembled everything but the egg mixture the day before, and prior baking on Thanksgiving, added the liquid mixture to the top and let it sit for a few minutes to soak in. Worked out just fine and was nice getting the majority of the work done the day before. Thanks for the recipe Juli!
great tip, saving that for next year!
so glad you liked it, Robin!
Loved it! and so did my husband. This is my first time making stuffing (I’m learning to cook at 64 years old LOL). My husband has always done the cooking, and I am slowly learning to help out. Thank you for this recipe. It’s going to be a Thanksgiving tradition at our house from now on.
awesome!! so happy to hear that!
This turned out great! I made it with the cornbread recipe from your previous post and kind of winged it on how I thought that needed to bake, I kind of wish there were instructions since it was really just a topping for a casserole. If you have could post the recommended time / temperature that would be fantastic – leaving me to my own devices is a good and a bad thing. That cornbread recipe is amazing, I’m not sure how I never tried it before, but thanks for helping me remedy that!