Vegetarian Cornbread Stuffing (Adapted from The Silver Palate) (2024)

4.6 from 41 votes

Author: Carolyn Gratzer Cope

• ▢ 12 tablespoons 168 grams butter
• ▢ 2 medium yellow onions (finely diced)
• ▢ 3 ribs celery (including any leaves, finely diced)
• ▢ 3 small Granny Smith apples (skin on, cored and finely diced)
• ▢ ½ teaspoon fine sea salt (divided)
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (divided)
• ▢ 4 ½ cups 375 grams coarsely crumbled cornbread
• ▢ 4 ½ cups 250 grams dried bread cubes
• ▢ 1 cup 120 grams finely chopped walnuts or pecans
• ▢ ½ cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• ▢ 2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme leaves
• ▢ 2 tablespoons minced fresh sage leaves
• ▢ 4 large eggs (beaten)
• ▢ 3 cups 710 ml good vegetable broth

• Preheat the oven to 325°F with a rack in the middle.

  See Also

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• Melt the butter in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat.

• Add the onions, celery, and apples, along with half the salt and pepper.

• Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned in spots, 10 to 15 minutes.

• Into a large mixing bowl, place the crumbled cornbread and dried bread cubes.

• Top with the apple mixture, parsley, time, sage, and remaining salt and pepper.

• Mix gently but thoroughly.

• Pour the beaten eggs and the broth over the contents of the bowl, and mix again until the bread has absorbed all the liquid.

• Spoon the stuffing into a 9x13x2-inch baking dish.

• Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes, until crisp on top and tender and custardy inside.

1. You'll need good-quality cornbread to make this stuffing. I make my own from my favorite recipe when I have the time. You can bake it up to a couple of days in advance. Or buy it from a trusted bakery if you need a quicker option.
2. For this recipe, I like to start with good-quality store-boughtdried bread cubes. I typically buy them at Whole Foods, where they're made from a nice variety of artisan breads. If you'd like to make your own, choose a good crusty bread (or several) that you enjoy, cut into ¾-inch cubes, and distribute between two rimmed sheet pans without crowding. Bake for about an hour in the center of a 200°F oven, until the cubes are dry all the way through. You can do this up to a few days in advance if you like.
3. Use a really good-qualitybutterif you can. Here and virtually everywhere, I start with a cultured, salted butter from grass-fed cows. This sounds fancy but doesn't have to be. Kerrygold, for example, is sold in most supermarkets at a reasonable price.
4. Cut theonionandcelerynice and small so it almost melts into the mix.
5. Walnuts and pecans work equally well in this recipe.
6. My favoritevegetable brothby far isthis one. It makes all the difference.
7. I love to usefresh sage and thymein this recipe, but you can substitute two teaspoons each of dried if necessary.
8. You've got a couple of good options for prepping this dish ahead of time. The first one, which I prefer, is to assemble the whole pan of stuffing up to 24 hours in advance, but hold off on baking it until just before you're ready to eat. As long as it's tightly covered in a nice cold fridge, this is a great approach. You can bake the stuffing straight from the fridge, adding a few extra minutes for it to cook through. Or you can bring it to room temperature on the counter about an hour before baking and pop it in the oven for the 45 minutes indicated in the recipe. The second option is to bake the stuffing ahead of time and then reheat it before serving. This is totally fine, too. Pull cooked stuffing out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature for an hour or so. Cover your pan tightly and pop it into the oven for 30-40 minutes. Ideally you'd do this at about 350°F, but since Thanksgiving's ALWAYS got multiple dishes in the oven, you can really reheat it at just about any temperature your oven's set to.
9. Leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for a week.

Meaty version

If you'd prefer to incorporate sausage, here's what to do. Reduce the butter by half. Buy a pound of good-quality sweet Italian or sage-flavored sausage and add it to the frying pan while you're sautéing the onions and celery. There's no need to make any additional changes.

Adapted fromThe Silver Palate Cookbook, which would make a pretty terrific holiday gift for almost anyone who likes to cook.