Andouille Cornbread Dressing

This is an incredibly rich and tasty stuffing. I’ve made it a few times, and it took a while to get it figured out. There is some finesse involved figuring out exactly how much broth to throw in when you do the final mix. I’m making it soon, so I’ll come back and update the recipe if I have changes. It helps to break this up into two days. Cut the veggies, make the breadcrumbs the first day. Then just put it all together on the second day.

Time to prep: 30 minutes

Time to done: 1 hour and 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS

¼ cup olive oil
1 pound andouille sausage or other smoked sausage, chopped
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green onion
½ cup chopped celery
½ cup chopped green bell pepper
1 chopped jalapeño
3 tablespoons minced garlic
5 cups crumbled cornbread (2 packages cooked in 8X13 dish)
1 tablespoon Emeril’s Creole Seasoning
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon cayenne
3 ½ cups chicken broth
6 tablespoons melted butter divided

DIRECTIONS

Make the cornbread ahead of time. I make two packages in an 8X13 dish, then cut it into 1 inch squares. Put the squares in a 250 degree oven for around 45 minutes, stirring periodically. Once dried, let them cool. After cooling, put them in a gallon ziploc and lightly break them up with a tenderizer.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat and add the sausage. Cook, stirring as needed until browned, about 3 minutes. Add onion, green onion, celery, bell pepper, jalapeño, and garlic and continue to cook 5 minutes longer, or until the vegetables have softened. Remove from the heat.

Add the crumbled cornbread to a large bowl. Stir in the sausage and vegetables, Creole seasoning, salt, pepper, cayenne and chicken broth. Mix thoroughly.

Brush a 1 1/2-quart casserole, 8 x 8-inch square pan, or 12-inch skillet with half of the melted butter. Drizzle the remaining butter over the cornbread mixture and stir to combine. Transfer the mixture to the casserole and bake in a 425 degree oven for 60 minutes, stirring and scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon to distribute the browned bits and keep it from sticking every 20 minutes, until browned on top.