Description
This stuffing bakes in a sheet pan for maximum crispness and deep golden color.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
For the cornbread:
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 TB baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk buttermilk
- 2 TB honey
- 5 TB unsalted butter, melted
For the stuffing:
- 8 cups cubed cornbread (made from above recipe, will use the entire batch)
- 1 TB olive oil
- 1/2 large sweet onion, diced
- 2 celery stalks, diced
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp fresh black pepper
- 2 tsp garlic paste
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 TB fresh minced sage
- 1/2 TB fresh minced thyme
- 1-2 TB fresh minced parsley
- 1/2 cup turkey drippings, optional
Instructions
To make the cornbread:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and line a 9 x 9 square pan with parchment paper. Alternatively, use butter or baking spray to grease the pan.
- Whisk the cornmeal, flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda together in a large bowl and set aside.
- In another, smaller bowl, combine the eggs, buttermilk, honey and melted butter. Whisk vigorously until smooth.
- Add the buttermilk mixture to the cornmeal mixture in the larger bowl, and use a spatula to fold everything together until evenly combined. There should be no pockets or streaks of dry ingredients.
- Pour the batter into the prepared 9 x 9 pan and bake for 35 minutes. Allow to cool completely before cutting into 1 inch cubes. Allow the cubed cornbread to sit out, uncovered until you use it. I just added it to a plastic 8 cup measuring cup and set it in a corner of my countertop.
- Ideally, allow the cornbread to sit out overnight and dry a bit.
To make the stuffing:
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Heat the 1 TB of olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat until shimmering. Add the diced onion and celery to the hot oil and season with the 2 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the veggies are tender crisp and slightly softened, about 5 minutes.
- Add the garlic paste and stir constantly for another minute. Remove from the heat and pour the cooked veggies into the same big bowl as the cornbread cubes.
- Return the skillet to the heat and add the butter. Once the butter has completely melted, add the sage, thyme and parsley to the skillet.
- Continue to cook, stirring constantly until the butter stops foaming and starts to brown. When the butter is a light to medium golden and smells fragrant, (nutty/herby) immediately remove the skillet from the heat.
- Scrape all of the browned butter and herbs into the mixing bowl with the cornbread and veggies, and use a spatula to gently fold everything together until well combined.
- Line a baking sheet with foil and spread the moistened stuffing mixture into an even layer. Be sure to get stuffing into the corners.
- Bake at 450 degrees for 25 minutes, or until the stuffing is deeply golden brown and crisp. Allow to cool slightly.
- Add the stuffing to a large mixing bowl, and drizzle about 1/2 cup of turkey drippings on top. Toss the stuffing with the drippings until well combined, and return moistened stuffing to the foil lined sheet pan it baked on.
- Return to the oven and re-crisp for 6-7 minutes, being careful not to burn it. If you don’t have turkey drippings or you’d prefer not to use them, you can skip this step and serve the stuffing as is.