Southern creole sausage and cornbread dressing

This sausage and cornbread dressing is one of my favorite recipes, a dish present on every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter table at my childhood home. The original recipe lives in a non-descript church cookbook from somewhere in the Middle South from the 1970s, and another iteration lives in an email from 2008, which is terribly inconvenient. I decided to record it here for posterity, with some of my own notes added. 🍞

This savory cornbread stuffing hits all the taste centers in your primitive lizard brain, with fats and carbs and meats galore. For the cornbread, make any recipe you’d like as long as it’s a full 10” unsweetened round. I make mine in a cast-iron skillet. And if you don’t feel like making your own Creole seasoning, get a tin of Tony Chachere’s spice mix or just bite the bullet and use as many fresh herbs as possible.

Ingredients

1 pound Chicken Gizzards (optional) 1/2 pound Ground Lean Pork 1/2 pound Ground Beef 8 T Butter 4 Whole Chopped Onions 4 Whole Chopped Celery Ribs 2-6 Garlic cloves minced 32 oz Chicken Broth 3 T Creole Seasoning 4 cup Corn Bread (unsweetened) 1/2 cup Chopped Green Onion

Creole Seasoning

2 tablespoons onion powder 2 tablespoons garlic powder 2 tablespoons dried oregano 2 tablespoons dried basil 1 tablespoon dried thyme 1 tablespoon black pepper 1 tablespoon white pepper 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper 5 tablespoons paprika 3 tablespoons salt

Instructions

In a Dutch oven, deep fry meats in butter until browned.

Add onions, celery, and garlic to the meat and butter mixture and cook until tender.

Add broth and season with creole seasoning.

Bring to a boil, simmer for 1 hour.

Break the cornbread into 4-5 large pieces with your hands. Add corn bread to pot in large pieces, breaking it up with the side of a large spoon, until all of it is added. Add chopped green onions for color and stir until cornbread is moist and coated with broth dressing.

Adjust seasoning to taste.

Notes

If you’re not a gizzards person, leave this out and adjust the beef and pork to 1 lb. each, or sub with andouille sausage.

For the cornbread, make any recipe you’d like as long as it’s a full unsweetened round. I make mine in a cast-iron skillet.

The creole seasoning can be stored in an airtight container, but if you don’t feel like making your own, get a tin of Tony Chachere’s from the seasoning section at the grocery store. I generally add fresh herbs that I have on hand, and it’s lovely with fresh sage and rosemary.