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    You are here: Home » Food » Side Dish Recipes

    Smoked Sausage, Caramelized Onion, and Cornbread Stuffing

    November 8, 2017 By Mary 10 Comments

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    Smoked Sausage Cornbread Stuffing Pinterest Pin with text in light background
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    Smoked Sausage Cornbread Stuffing Pinterest Pin with text in light background
    Smoked Sausage Cornbread Stuffing Pinterest Pin with text on dark background

    Smoked Sausage Stuffing is the ultimate holiday side dish! This Thanksgiving stuffing has savory smoked sausage, caramelized onions, and sweet cornbread, and is cooked directly on the smoker or grill freeing up your oven for other things!

    Smoked Sausage Cornbread stuffing in a cast iron pan.
    This is on our Thanksgiving Menu Every Year

    Did you know you can cook your Thanksgiving stuffing (or dressing, however you prefer to call it) directly on your smoker or grill, saving room in your oven for all the other goods. Or better yet, take Thanksgiving outside this year and give your oven a break! Bonus points if you use our smoked turkey recipe.

    Before we moved to our new house we had the worlds tiniest oven. It was ridiculous. Like so tiny you couldn’t fit a regular sized turkey in it. I’m not lying. So whenever we hosted Thanksgiving we adapted all of our favorite recipes to be cooked outside on the smoker or grill.

    Pro tip: Use your grill as a warmer while other things are cooking so nothing is served cold. 

    This Smoked Sausage Stuffing recipe works both on your grill or smoker, just depending on if you want some of that smoked love. It is super easy to make and the results are so good this has been our go-to stuffing every year for at least the last 10 years.

    You can start with our skillet cornbread recipe since you need day old cornbread.

    How to Make Smoked Sausage & Cornbread Stuffing

    • Start with bulk sausage, about one pound, and break it up into about quarter size pieces and place on a baking sheet. Place on your smoker, preheated to 225 degrees Fahrenheit, and cook up to 60 minutes, until the pieces are cooked through.
    Sausage cooking on the grill.
    • Next caramelize your onions, then mix the remaining ingredients together, and then place into a cast iron pan. Jack up your smoker temp to around 375 degrees (F) and place your sausage stuffing into the smoker for about 30 minutes or until it looks crispy and cooked through. You can also finish cooking in your oven at the same temperature and time (375 degrees for 30 minutes).
    Thanksgiving sausage stuffing on the smoker

    Boom. That’s it.

    More Holiday Side Dish Recipes

    • Grilled Brussels Sprouts
    • Maple Glazed Carrots on the Grill
    • Grilled Green Beans
    • Collard Greens with Smoked Turkey Leg
    • Grilled Mashed Sweet Potatoes

    Smoked Holiday Recipe Roasts

    • How To Smoke a Turkey
    • Smoked Beef Tenderloin
    • Smoked Ham with Brown Sugar
    • Double Smoked Ham with Cherry Glaze
    • Brown Sugar Glazed Smoked Ham

    This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you click on the link, we may receive a small commission if you purchase through the link. We partner with brands we know and love and use and it helps keep the blog going!

    Smoked Sausage, Caramelized Onion, Cornbread Stuffing for Thanksgiving, cooked on the smoker or grill

    Smoked Sausage, Caramelized Onion, and Cornbread Stuffing Recipe

    A simple smoked sausage, caramelized onion, and cornbread stuffing for Thanksgiving, cooked on the smoker or grill.
    4.60 from 5 votes
    Print Pin Rate Save Saved!
    Prep Time: 15 minutes
    Cook Time: 30 minutes
    Smoking Time: 1 hour
    Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
    Servings: 4 people
    Calories: 1721kcal
    Author: Mary Cressler | Vindulge
    Cost: $15.00

    Ingredients

    • 1 pound bulk spicy Italian pork sausage
    • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
    • 1 medium onion, chopped (roughly 2 cups worth)
    • 10 sage leaves, chopped (about ¼ cup loosely packed)
    • 10 sprigs thyme, chopped (about 1 teaspoon)
    • 6 cups day old/dried cornbread, chopped into 1-inch cubes (we prefer gluten-free cornbread)
    • ½ cup dried cranberries
    • ½ cup heavy whipping cream
    • 1 cup chicken stock (may need more or less, see notes)
    • 1 egg
    • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
    • ¼ teaspoon pepper (or a few twists of fresh ground pepper)
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Instructions

    Smoke Sausage

    • Pre-heat smoker to 225 degrees using fruit wood.
    • Break up the sausage into quarter size pieces and place on a foil-lined cookie sheet. Place on the smoker for up to 60 minutes, or until browned. Remove and transfer the sausage to a large bowl.
      Increase the grill temperature to 375 degrees, using a two-zone or direct/indirect method, to prepare it for cooking the stuffing.

    Make Dressing

    • Caramelize Onions: In a large skillet set to medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of butter and the chopped onions. Let them slowly soften and nearly caramelize (about 15 – 20 minutes), stirring often. Remove from heat and add the sage and thyme. Mix together. Transfer to the large bowl with the sausage.
    • Add the cornbread pieces and cranberries to the bowl.
    • In a separate bowl, whisk together the heavy cream, chicken stock, and one egg. Pour that mixture over the cornbread and stuffing mix. Add salt and pepper and stir together. Add more chicken stock (just a couple tablespoons at a time) if the mix looks dry.
    • Transfer to a buttered 10-inch round cast iron skillet for this size portion (alternatively a large buttered baking dish will work too)
    • Place the skillet uncovered on the grill and bake until the top is golden brown (or about 30 minutes). Alternatively you can finish in the oven at the same temperature and time.

    Video

    Notes

    Gluten Free: for a gluten free version just make sure you are using gluten free cornbread.
    For the cornbread it’s best to use day old cornbread. But if you forget to cook it the day before (it happens!), cut the pieces into 1″ cubes and place on a baking sheet and place under the broiler for a couple minutes, monitoring closely, to dry out a little bit and toast up.
    If the cornbread is still too moist, the texture of the dressing will be more cakelike.
    Find the perfect wine pairing at the Vindulge Wine Shop

    Nutrition

    Calories: 1721kcal | Carbohydrates: 212g | Protein: 45g | Fat: 77g | Saturated Fat: 31g | Cholesterol: 368mg | Sodium: 3115mg | Potassium: 919mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 69g | Vitamin A: 1290IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 536mg | Iron: 9mg
    Tried this recipe? We would love to see!Mention @vindulge or use the hashtag #vindulge

    If you like this recipe we’d truly appreciate it if you would give this recipe a star review! And if you share any of your pics on Instagram use the hashtag #vindulge. We LOVE to see it when you cook our recipes.


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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. john says

      November 19, 2018 at 12:56 pm

      Looks great…can this be made ahead of time and refrigerated, then heated up in the oven on thanksgiving day?

      Reply
      • Mary says

        November 20, 2018 at 12:19 pm

        John, you can certainly do that if you are traveling elsewhere (assuming maybe it’s your location). I would actually slice it all up when done, then fridge it. Then when you are warming, use a little apple cider vinegar in your pan, put the turkey parts in there at a lower heat (250 ish), and wrap in foil. When you reheat that way, you are steaming and warming at the same time.

        Reply
    2. Charlotte says

      November 18, 2018 at 12:00 pm

      This is the best stuffing we have ever had and crave it every year!!
      I lost my print out and almost freaked out!! Thank goodness for History on my computer and found it from 2 years ago!! So excited to be making it again for the 3 year!

      Reply
    3. Meg says

      November 09, 2017 at 3:37 pm

      I love how you figured out how to adjust things to make it work for you. I can relate, since my first stove in my NYC apartment years ago wasn’t wide enough to fit sheet pans; a large turkey would never have worked. The combination of ingredients and flavors in this stuffing sounds awesome together. If I was making TDay dinner, I’d totally include it, but we are eating out, but I will save it for another time. Thank you!

      Reply
    4. Marlynn | UrbanBlissLife says

      November 09, 2017 at 3:03 am

      Ooh I love the idea of using the grill as a food warmer too, during the holidays. What a great tip! And I love the flavor combo you have with this stuffing recipe.

      Reply
    5. Hillary Harper says

      November 08, 2017 at 11:13 pm

      The combination of sausage and cornbread in a stuffing sounds incredible! We’re going to be staying at a cabin for Thanksgiving so this recipe would be perfect!

      Reply
    6. Erin says

      November 08, 2017 at 7:45 pm

      5 stars
      What a great idea to do the stuffing on the smoker! I love that it frees up room in the kitchen too! I may need to try this for Thanksgiving this year!

      Reply

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    Mary-Cressler-Sept-2015-smI'm Mary, a wine/food/travel writer, Certified Sommelier, mom of twins, former vegetarian turned BBQ fanatic, runner, and founder of Vindulge and author of Fire + Wine cookbook.  Thanks for stopping by!

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