I just perfected this cornbread dressing for Thanksgiving. I’m glad I tried the recipe a couple of weeks before that so I could tweak it a little more.
I forgot how much we like our vegies cut up larger and cooked less than most people do in their dressings. This dressing is made even easier because you only precook the chorizo sausage, not the vegies. Make sure you drain the chorizo after cooking and I even squeezed it out with paper towels before adding it to the vegies.
The dried cornbread cubes are added to the dressing right before it is baked so they don’t get soggy and lose their texture. This Cornbread Dressing With Chorizo is all about texture and flavor and color!
In addition to the gluten free cornbread (or your favorite cornbread) and the chorizo sausage, this stuffing has chopped onions, garlic, red bell peppers, celery and Ortega chiles.
The chorizo and vegies have so much flavor that no spices are needed to complicate the already perfect combination.
Some chicken stock and a couple of eggs are the only other ingredients.
You could easily cook the chorizo, dry out the cornbread cubes and cut up the vegies early in the day or even the day before you plan to serve the stuffing. That way you will only have to mix it together and stick it in the oven for 40-50 minutes, depending on how tender you like your vegies.
I ate the leftovers for breakfast and lunch for a couple of days afterward and they were great.
This recipe makes a large pan full that would easily serve 12 people, so you might want to cut the recipe in half if you are not feeding that many.
I shared the link to this recipe with Gluten Free Wednesdays at The Gluten Free Homemaker.
I shared the link to this recipe with Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist.
I shared this recipe with Tuesday Night Supper Club at Fudge Ripple.
Make 1 batch of my gluten free cornbread. You can also use your choice of cornbread. When it is done and has cooled, cut it into 3/4 inch sized cubes. You will have about 8 cups of cubes.
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and place cornbread cubes in a pan where they will all fit in one layer. Bake for about 15 minutes total to dry out, stirring cornbread cubes every 5 minutes so they will dry out evenly.
Set dried cornbread aside and turn your oven off until you are ready to bake the completed stuffing.
Cook 2 pounds of good quality Mexican chorizo sausage (not the smoked Spanish kind) until it is just barely done. You don’t want to dry it out because it will finish cooking during the 40 minutes in the oven. If you like hot sausage, leave the pieces a little larger, but if you like your flavors a little more mild, break the chorizo up into small pieces.
Drain the cooked chorizo thoroughly on paper towels- I actually squeeze it out with paper towels too. Set chorizo aside.
Chop all of the vegies into pieces that are about 1 inch square:
6 cups onion
6 Tblsp fresh garlic, minced
2 cups celery
2-3 cups red bell peppers
2- 7 oz cans of whole Ortega chiles, drained and seeded before chopping (about 1- 1/3 cup chopped) I used fresh roasted pasilla chiles the first time I made this recipe and they were just too hot for most people. Ortegas are a lot more predictable!
When you are ready to bake the stuffing, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Melt 6 Tblsp unsalted butter in a large frying pan
Add cornbread cubes and stir to moisten.
Place cubes and butter in a large rectangle baking pan- the one I used was 14″ x 11″ x 2″ deep.
Add all vegies and chorizo and
1- 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
Mix all together with a big spoon then bake for 40-50 minutes. Test the vegies at 40 minutes so you can decide how much longer to cook the stuffing.
Before serving, sprinkle with 1/4 cup toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds).
If you reheat the leftovers the next day, the cornbread will start breaking down but the flavor will be great!
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this looks amazing….the colors and the flavors are making my mouth water! thank you for sharing with tuesday night supper club
Hi Christy! Thanks for your comment! It’s almost making me hungry just thinking about it!