The Almond Eater

This Leek Cornbread Stuffing is made with apple chicken sausage, leeks and cornbread for a quick, flavor-packed stuffing recipe. 

Ohhhhh hello favorite cornbread stuffing! Or maybe I should just say favorite stuffing…. You see, I don’t usually love stuffing—it’s certainly not my favorite part of the Thanksgiving dinner spread—but this leek cornbread stuffing is different. It’s made the same way you’d make a casserole—cooking everything and then pouring it into a large 9×13 baking dish. 

Speaking of Thanksgiving, can you believe we’re just 10 days away?! I feel like it was Halloween yesterday—what is happening? Do you prepare a full Thanksgiving dinner, help out with one or two dishes, or do you simply go to someone’s house and EAT? ….there’s nothing wrong with option 3 as that’s usually what I do. You see, it’s sort of just tradition for my mom and grandma to prepare the food. However, this year I was asked to bring my walnut pumpkin pie which I’m excited to make and eat again. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll make this cornbread stuffing too. 

I think part of the reason I love cornbread so much is because I don’t eat it super frequently, so when I do eat it, it tastes that much better. Normally, I eat cornbread with butter and maybe some honey if I’m feeling fancy, but it pairs well with so many other foods, like leeks and sausage (chicken sausage, to be exact). 

Note: you can make your own cornbread or use store-bought. I opted to make my own by following a basic recipe I found online—either one should work! 

Note: I used the apple chicken sausage and I thought it worked PERFECTLY—better than traditional Italian flavored chicken sausage. Yes, you can use whatever you want, but I’m going to suggest using the apple chicken sausage, which I think most grocery stores sell (at least Trader Joe’s, Giant Eagle and Whole Foods do). 

For this recipe, you’ll start by cooking the chicken sausage in a skillet, then you’ll add the butter, leeks and celery and cook until the leeks are soft. Then you stir in the thyme, salt, pepper, chicken broth, and cream. You’ll pour everything into a casserole dish then add the cornbread and GENTLY stir—the bread is going to break a bit and that’s ok, but you still want there to be whole cubes of bread—then add in the whisked eggs last. The casserole bakes in about 45 mins, and that’s it! 

The result is a flavor-packed leek cornbread stuffing recipe that’s sure to please. 

Chicken Sausage Leek Cornbread Stuffing

This leek cornbread stuffing is made with leeks, chicken sausage and cornbread and is a super quick and flavor-packed way to prepare stuffing.

• Author: Erin
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins
• Total Time: 1 hr 5 mins
• Yield: 8
• Category: dinner
• Method: oven
• Cuisine: casserole

Ingredients

• 1 batch cornbread made in an 8×8 dish, broken into bite-size pieces (approx. 6 cups)
• 3 links apple chicken sausage
• 1/4 cup butter
• 4 cups leeks, sliced
• 2 cups celery
• 1 tsp fresh or dried thyme
• Salt and pepper
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 eggs, beaten

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Cook chicken sausage in a skillet then set aside in a large bowl.
3. Add butter to that same skillet, then cook the leeks and celery over medium high heat for a few minutes until soft, then add the thyme and stir.
4. Pour in the chicken broth and heavy cream, then add salt and pepper. Simmer for 5 minutes, then pour mixture into the bowl with the chicken sausage. Now, add the eggs to that bowl and stir. Pour mixture into a 9×13 baking dish, then add in the cornbread and GENTLY stir! Some if it is going to break and that’s ok–you want there to still be a handful of full cornbread cubes.
5. Bake stuffing for 45 minutes or until cornbread is golden on top. If cornbread begins to burn, add foil over top of the casserole dish.
6. Remove, season with additional salt and pepper and enjoy!

Keywords: cornbread stuffing, stuffing, thanksgiving