Ah stuffing, it’s arguably the best part of Thanksgiving. In a meal loaded with carbs, side dishes really have to compete for our love and this one certainly won mine. There’s just something about stuffing made completely from scratch – include the golden, buttery cornbread.
This particular stuffing is pretty impressive to guests because they’ll think you spent hours and hours and, in reality, it’s pretty simple. If you’re making this for Thanksgiving, I highly recommend making the cornbread a day or two in advance. It will save you a ton of time on a day when both time and oven space are limited.
Apple Bacon Mushroom Cornbread Stuffing
The beauty of this stuffing is that it requires no drying time and no hours long bread making process. In fact, you can make this entire dish the morning of your event and still have plenty of time for the turkey. The stuffing is also very versatile…don't like mushrooms? No problem, you can take them out. Are you a vegetarian? Sub the bacon for extra mushrooms – it's all up to you!
Ingredients
Cornbread
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted and cooled a bit
- 1//3 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup room temp buttermilk
- 1 tsp fresh rosemary finely chopped
- 1 tsp thyme finely chopped
Stuffing
- 1 Pound Shiitake mushrooms
- 5 thick cut bacon strips
- 1 Large Granny Smith apple
- 1 Large shallot
- 2 Cups chicken stock
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh thyme
- 1/2 Tbsp salt
- 1/2 Tbsp pepper
Instructions
For the Cornbread:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and grease and lightly flour a 9 inch square baking pan then set aside.
- Whisk the melted butter, egg, honey, buttermilk, and sugar in a bowl until combined – place all other cornbread ingredients in a large bowl
- Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until incorporated then pour into prepared baking dish
- Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown all over and crispy on the edges
- If using the cornbread right away, set aside and let cool – but note this can be made 2 days in advance for stuffing!
For the Stuffing:
- Reduce oven to 375 degrees and grease then set aside a 9×13 inch casserole dish
- Chop bacon, mushrooms, and apple into large bite-sized pieces and the shallot into fine pieces
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat and cook bacon until just starting to crisp – remove bacon and drain over a paper towel while leaving as much grease in the skillet as possible
- Cook apple, mushrooms, and shallots in the bacon grease until apple is soft, mushrooms are starting to crips, and shallots are translucent- scrap mixture into a large bowl and add bacon
- Return skillet to heat and melt 1/4 of the butter, working in batches, brown cubed cornbread in the skillet adding more butter for each batch- when eatch batch is complete, add to the large bowl with the apple mixture
- Gently combine all ingredients including the herbs and the chicken stock in the large bowl then scrape into prepared baking dish
- Bake for 35-45 minutes until the top is toasted and the center is moist but not damp
