Stuffing is a favorite side dish at our house on Thanksgiving. My traditional recipe is hard to beat, and I have made the same stuffing recipe for over 25 years now, so I decided it was time to try something different. I may end up making both the traditional stuffing and this new cornbread stuffing because in our house… you can never have enough stuffing. This festive cornbread stuffing is sweet, savory and is a tasty addition to your holiday spread. It really looks pretty and is a healthy plant-based and gluten free option that everyone will love. You will want to prep the corn bread the night before so that it has time to dry out a bit.
Ingredients
- 1 batch of my cornbread recipe or you can use Pamela’s gluten free cornbread mix. If you use the store-bought mix and want it to be vegan, use Bob’s Red Mill egg replacement instead of the eggs called for on the package.
- 2 Tablespoons avocado oil
- 2 Tablespoons vegan butter
- 1 cup diced yellow onion
- 2 cups thinly sliced leaks (leave out the very top green part)
- 2 cups thinly sliced shitake mushrooms
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- 1 carton of vegetable broth (my favorite is Imagine Brand No Chik’n Broth)
- 1 tablespoon fresh tyme
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- 1 bag of cranberries
- ¼ cup of water
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
Instructions
- Prepare the cornbread the night before. Once the corn bread has cooled, slice it up into 1 inch cubes, spread it out on a baking sheet and let it sit out uncovered overnight so that it dries out a bit. This will help the corn bread cubes not to get mushy and hold its shape.
- Prepare the cranberries (this can be done the night before or you can do it when you are ready to start making the stuffing. To make the cranberries, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Rinse the cranberries and then put them into a small baking dish. Pour the water and syrup over them and then top with the coconut sugar. Bake for about 20 to 30 minutes or until they are bubbling and soft. Once they are done, put them on the counter to cool and gel.
- Heat a large fry pan on medium heat and add the avocado oil, onions, leaks and mushrooms. Once the mixture starts to soften a little, add some salt and pepper and then cook until very soft and set aside. Let it cool for about 5 minutes.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the cornbread cubes, the onion/leak/mushroom mixture, fresh thyme and pecans. Slowly add the vegetable broth and carefully mix and incorporate all the ingredients without making the stuffing mashed up. It is normal to have some of the stuffing cubes get a little mushy but they should mostly hold their shape. Depending on how dry your cornbread cubes are, you will use 2 to 4 cups of the broth. You want it to be moist but not mushy or overly soggy.
- Taste and then add more salt and pepper as needed
- Lightly grease a medium baking dish with some vegan butter. Add the stuffing to the baking dish a little at a time, alternating spoonfuls of the stuffing with spoonfuls of the cranberries; evenly distributing the cranberries into the stuffing mixture. Add some small dollops of vegan butter on top.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour, or until slightly browned on top.
