Cornbread stuffing is a holiday side dish straight from the South and is only made better by ingredients from Liberty Heights Fresh. I’m adding my own twist here with lots of dried cherries and apricots as well as fresh pomegranates. I served this at our annual Friends-giving and there wasn’t a crumb left behind!
This week I’m teaming up with Annalise from Completely Delicious to share with your some of our favorite Thanksgiving dishes. She’ll be making the pies while I’ll be sharing all of my favorite Thanksgiving side dishes. We’ll also give you lots of links to turkey recipes, appetizers, and ideas for what to do with leftovers. I’ll also be adding some of my favorite quotes every day. We hope you get inspired!
“The shared meal elevates eating from a mechanical process of fueling the body to a ritual of family and community, from the mere animal biology to an act of culture.”
– Michael Pollen
You can find wonderful local ingredients for stuffing at Liberty Heights Fresh including local dried cherries and apricots. The apricots are actually semi-dried and the best dried apricots I’ve ever tasted! Liberty Heights Fresh even makes their own stocks, so pick up some of their veggie or chicken stock to amp up your stuffing and gravy!
A cornbread stuffing recipe filled with dried fruits, herbs, and fresh pomegranate seeds.
Ingredients
- 1 recipe for cornbread, broken up into large pieces (1 lb)
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 cup dried apricots, chopped
- 1 cup dried cherries
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 1 cup pomegranate seeds
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1-2 cups chicken broth
Instructions
- Arrange cooked cornbread in a single layer on a baking sheet, and let stand, uncovered, at room temperature overnight. (Alternatively, bake bread in a 300-degree oven until dry but not browned, about 15 minutes).
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter and set aside.
- Heat oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion, apricots, raisins, and celery; cook stirring, for 5-10 minutes (until cherries are more plum and onion is translucent). Remove from heat.
- Place cornbread in a large bowl. Add apricot mixture, pomegranate seeds, and parsley. Then add melted butter and egg. Slowly add in chicken broth until the cornbread is all moist but not soggy; mix until well combined. If mixture seems too dry, add a little more broth until desired consistency is reached.
- To cook stuffing in a turkey: Loosely stuff into a turkey, and roast until center of stuffing registers 165 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. Spoon remaining stuffing into a buttered 9-by-13-inch baking dish, cover with parchment paper, then foil, and bake for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake until golden brown 10 to 15 minutes more. To bake all of the stuffing outside a turkey: Bake as directed above in a large rectangular baking dish.
Notes
make this with your favorite cornbread recipe or you may use a cornbread mix from a box.
The Pie of the Day is Annalise’s Cranberry Blueberry on CompletelyDelicious.com. This one also makes a fabulous breakfast! (I definitely stole a slice and had it with some coffee in the morning!)
Thanksgiving Recipe Menu for the Day:
Appetizer: Herbed Gruyere Thumbprints by Cafe Johnsonia
Main Meat: Simple Roasted Turkey Breast by Foodie Crush
Side Dish: Chopped Kale Salad with Avocado by Cookin Canuk or Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Red Onions and Feta by Kalyn’s Kitchen
Rolls: Potato Rosemary Rolls by Two Peas and Their Pod
Cocktail: Mulled Cranberry Juice Cocktail by Mountain Mama Cooks
Leftovers: Moroccan Turkey Stew by me
I’m usually not a stuffing person, but this one looks good!
Maria, I feel exactly the same way!! This stuffing is just slightly sweet but not overly heavy like many other stuffings.
My affinity for stuffing only came in the last five years. Now I can’t get enough of it. I’d love to try your recipe.
I think the apricots are so smart to use. And I can tell just by looking at them that they are high quality!
1st time here! found you via G+. Beautiful spread. The 1st corn stuffing I made was a recipe in Oprah’s 1 or 2nd issue of O magazine. It was divine. This was about 12 years ago. I wish I would have saved the recipe. Have a lovely Thanksgiving and nice to have found you.
Bren, thanks so much for stopping by my blog! I hope this one comes close to Oprah’s 🙂 I have recipes like that where I’ve kicked myself for not keeping them!
I’ve never had a corn bread stuffing. Looks like I’ve been missing out.
I think you would enjoy it too because it’s slightly sweet!
I love seeing what you guys are cooking! And thanks for mentioning my sweet potatoes too.
Thanks Kalyn, it’s been a delicious season so far! I think Thanksgiving can be truly delicious without all of the excessively heavy dishes!
Can this be prepped ahead of time? If so, how?
Sorry for the tardy reply Alyssa!! Yes, you can make this ahead of time and reheat. You can even make the cornbread a few days ahead and then the whole stuffing dish a day or two prior. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!
For how long do I bake the stuffing if I’m not putting it in the turkey? I know I bake it at 350 but I’m not sure how long?
Click the link in the post that takes you to baking times. It depends on the size of your turkey. Basically, you want to get the meat to 165 degrees. Make sure and pick up a meat thermometer if you don’t already have one. Hope that helps!