Make-Ahead Southern Cornbread Dressing with Sausage & Pecans

Ingredient notes

A complete list of ingredients and measurements is located in the recipe card below.

• Cornbread – I always make my own and recommend using my recipe for Old Fashioned Cornbread, which doesn’t contain any gluten-free flour, or my Easy Southern Cornbread with Buttermilk. Also, most grocery stores have it premade and available for purchase around the holidays. If you decide to purchase it, make sure it is not sweetened.  
• Onion and celery – are traditional ingredients in cornbread dressing. These classics add great flavor and crunch. 
• Pork sausage – is an essential ingredient in this recipe with perfectly seasoned ground pork. It is sometimes called breakfast sausage and is often found packed in a cylinder shape close to where bacon is sold in grocery stores. You can also buy it in bulk from your butcher. Jimmy Dean’s is a popular brand. I usually use either regular or sage.
• Roasted pecans – are my favorite nuts and add a sweet, nutty, buttery element to this dressing. Roasting them brings out their delicious essence. 
• Turkey or chicken stock – either stock works well in this recipe and adds moisture and flavor. 
• Egg and poultry seasoning – the egg helps to bind everything together. Poultry seasoning, full of sage and thyme, plus the classics, kosher salt and pepper, enhances the flavors and round out this recipe. 

Recipe variations

• Instead of a baking dish, you can bake your cornbread dressing with sausage in a cast iron skillet, individual muffin cups, or a casserole dish.
• You can leave the pecans out altogether or substitute your favorite nuts.
• You can substitute Italian sausage for breakfast sausage for a completely different taste profile.

How to make Cornbread Dressing with Sausage

1. Gather your ingredients and preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Brown the sausage in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat for four minutes.

3. Add the chopped onion and celery and continue cooking for another ten minutes or until the sausage is thoroughly cooked. Remove from the heat and drain any grease. Set aside. 

4. Mix one cup of the chicken or turkey stock and the egg in a small bowl until well blended. Set aside. 
5. Place the cornbread in a large bowl. Add the cooked sausage.

6. Add the roasted pecans, poultry seasoning, kosher salt, ground black pepper, chicken or turkey stock, and egg and toss to combine. 

7. If you like moister dressing, add additional stock, about one-quarter of a cup at a time, until the dressing is the consistency you like. (It will dry out a little when it is cooked.)

8. Place the dressing in a two-quart baking dish sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. 
9. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional ten minutes or until the top is golden brown and crusty.
10. Serve immediately.

Tips for making cornbread dressing with sausage ahead

• Every year, about a month before Thanksgiving, I make several rounds of cornbread, then turn around and make both this dressing and my Old-Fashioned Cornbread Dressing, and freeze them unbaked so all I have to do on Thanksgiving Day is pop them in the oven. Along with my Southern Potato Salad, these three recipes are what Thanksgiving tastes like to me, and that afternoon of cooking is one of my favorite days of the whole year; it’s almost like getting to celebrate Thanksgiving twice!
• I recommend making your cornbread at least a day ahead or even several months ahead. The cornbread will keep for several days covered at room temperature and for several months if frozen. I always make my own and recommend using my recipe for Easy Southern Cornbread with Buttermilk or Old-Fashioned Cornbread, which doesn’t contain any flour and is gluten-free.  
• The sausage, onion, and celery mixture can be made a day to several months ahead. It can be stored covered in your refrigerator for a day or two or frozen for up to several months. I like to keep it in a plastic storage freezer bag. 
• You can also follow the complete recipe and store it unbaked in a plastic storage freezer bag for a day or two in the refrigerator or the freezer for several months. You can also go ahead and place it into your baking dish, cover it and store it in the fridge for a day or two, or freeze it. If frozen, take it out of the freezer and place it in the fridge the night before you cook it, and allow it to thaw first before baking it. 

Cornbread dressing with sausage FAQs

Sharon’s tips

• If you have a turkey with giblets, it’s easy to make homemade turkey stock. Place the giblets, a handful of celery, chopped onion, and four cups of water in a medium-sized saucepan. Add one teaspoon of salt and one-half teaspoon of pepper and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for about 45 minutes. Strain out the giblets and veggies. Voila, turkey stock!
• Either chicken or turkey stock works great in this dish. If you would like to make homemade stock, here is a link for making homemade chicken stock.
• If I don’t have homemade stock, I use Better than Boullion. It comes in chicken, turkey, beef, and ham flavors, and one tiny jar makes over two gallons of stock. I don’t have any relationship with this company; I like it and think you will too.  
• If your pecans aren’t roasted, you can spread them out on a baking sheet and pop them in a 350 °F oven for eight to ten minutes. However, if you are roasting them to serve as an appetizer, you might want to check out my recipe for roasted pecans, which coats them with butter and salt while roasting.
• Did you know you can also microwave pecans? This is an excellent method, especially if you only roast a cup. Place them on a microwave-safe plate in an even layer and microwave them in 30-second intervals until they are golden and toasted. Depending on their size, this only takes around five minutes.

More Thanksgiving recipes

There is no doubt that Thanksgiving is a food lovers' nirvana. And, if you are looking for some new recipes, I think you might also like these collections, which are full of quick, easy, and primarily make-ahead options. 

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And, in the event you need even more inspiration, here is a link to all of my Thanksgiving recipes and Christmas recipes.

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