In our family, we usually mix cornbread and regular bread dressings to come up with the perfect recipe. Today, we’ll be using my homemade cornbread with a store-bought gluten-free bread, plus lots of fall spices. You may also notice I have a few tips for a low-sodium version. Mom was just put on a low-sodium diet by her doctor, and can’t have more than 2g per day. That’s not a lot considering salt is in literally everything. So as I make Thanksgiving dinner this year, I’m going to have to cut a lot of my salt use, which will suck, because salt doesn’t just make things salty, it’s a flavor enhancer that helps to make everything actually taste better.
Anyway, I pretty much did the low-sodium version of the recipe in my video, which is where I discovered that sage will overpower the dish if you don’t add enough salt. So if you go low-sodium with this recipe, make sure to cut the amount of sage you use. Also, increase the amount of celery, because low-sodium dressing is kind of bland, and some extra celery flavor will help. Also, you might want to add some extras like dried cranberries if you can find some without salt added.
Ingredients:
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
8 stalks celery, diced (more for low-sodium recipe)
1 onion, diced
½ pan Deglutenizer recipe cornbread, cut into chunks
8 slices gluten-free bread, cut into chunks
2 tbsp. ground sage (less for low-sodium recipe)
1 tbsp. dry thyme
1 ½ tsp. dry marjoram
1 tsp. dry rosemary
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
OR
3 tbsp. + 2 ¾ tsp. poultry seasoning
½ tsp. fresh ground black pepper (1 tsp. pre-ground pepper from can)
1 tsp. salt (omit for low sodium recipe)
3 eggs
2-3 c. chicken broth (reduced sodium broth for low sodium recipe)
Directions:
- Melt butter in large skillet over medium low heat (4/10). Add celery, stirring to coat. Cover pan with lid and allow to sweat 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent color from developing. Add onions, stir again, and cover to sweat about 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally to minimize browning. Reduce heat if stirring too often.
- Remove vegetables from skillet and set aside to cool. In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients including breads and spices. In another large bowl, whisk together eggs and 2 c. chicken broth. Once vegetables are cool, lightly fold dry ingredients in with vegetables and wet mix. If bread is still too dry, add more chicken broth up to 1 c.
- Preheat oven to 375°. Grease casserole dish with butter or oil, spread dressing mixture into pan, and press lightly to seal any spaces. Cover with foil, and bake 30-40 minutes.
- Remove foil, and bake 12-18 more minutes until top is desirable brown.
- Allow dish to cool a few minutes before serving.
Now, some of you may not have heard, but stuffing is evil. Do not stuff your turkey to cook your delicious cornbread mixture. Why not? Well first of all, you would be increasing the overall mass of the turkey while decreasing surface area, which would greatly extend cooking time on your bird, and would probably make your turkey dry out. Secondly, the stuffing would have to reach an internal temperature of 165°, which can’t really happen when the heat in the oven has to go through the turkey first to get to the stuffing. So basically, turkey juice would be dripping into the stuffing through cooking, but the stuffing would never reach the correct temperature to kill the bacteria from the turkey that’s now in the stuffing, leading to a massive risk of you and your guests contracting salmonella from soggy stuffing and dry turkey.
So enjoy your cornbread dressing, and have a very happy Thanksgiving! Please leave your thoughts in a comment below, or get in touch with me directly by filling out the form on the contact page.
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