Cornbread dressing has been beloved in our family for decades. Whether you call it dressing or stuffing, I promise that everyone around your Thanksgiving table will call it delicious! I love this southern twist on a classic with bits of sausage and all the herby flavors you love in stuffing. I mean dressing.

This recipe is based on my southern grandmother’s recipe. She made this dressing every Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember. I updated it a little, made it gluten free, and fell in love with it all over again! I hope you do too!

Making homemade dressing (or stuffing) is a bit labor intensive, but it’s Thanksgiving. So all that work will be well worth the effort and this makes a very full 9×13″ pan to feed a crowd.

I’ll give you all my best tips for finding ingredients and make-head prep so this cornbread will come together beautifully and won’t stress you out.

NOTE: Most cornbread is sweet. Bordering on cake-like. This isn’t that. In fact, there is zero sugar in the cornbread recipe. According to my grandma, cornbread should never be sweet. While I disagree in most cases, I’d much rather have savory cornbread in this dressing than sweet. For that reason I don’t recommend using store-bought cornbread or a cornbread mix for this because most are very sweet.

Gluten Free Cornbread Stuffing vs Dressing

Technically “stuffing” is baked inside of a turkey and “dressing” is baked in a casserole dish separately. However, I think the stuffing vs. dressing debate also depends on where you live in the US.

Whatever you call it — it’s delicious. And one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving.

Gluten Free Cornbread Dressing Ingredients

This recipe is split into two sections — the cornbread itself and the rest of the ingredients to make the dressing. Here’s what you need for all of it (pictured above). If you are strictly gluten free, be sure to check labels on your cornmeal, flour, stuffing cubes, and sausage to make sure everything is gluten free.

• Cornmeal
• Gluten Free Flour – I used King Arthur 1:1 flour
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Sea salt
• Buttermilk – You could use any type of milk here
• Eggs
• Avocado oil – Or another type of neutral baking oil
• Bulk Sausage – Pork or turkey “classic” aka breakfast flavor
• Onion
• Celery
• Hard-Cooked Eggs – My grandma always added some to hers, so it’s a nostalgic thing for me. If you’d prefer, you can omit these without missing much.
• Gluten Free Seasoned Bread Cubes – I used this GF Stuffing Mix that included a seasoning packet. If you can’t find them seasoned, add some poultry seasoning. Or bake up some gluten free bread. I added notes about this in the recipe.
• Chicken broth/stock
• Butter

How to make Cornbread Dressing (GF)

1. Bake the cornbread and hard boil your eggs.
2. Cook the sausage in a skillet. Remove and sauté the onion and celery in butter.
3. Combine the sausage, sautéed vegetables, diced eggs, bread cubes, and salt in a very large bowl.
4. Dump the warm cornbread into the bowl and break it up with a spoon as you mix everything together. Add the chicken broth — the mixture should be very wet.
5. Transfer to a 9×13″ baking dish, drizzle with butter, and bake.
6. Serve immediately!

How long to cook cornbread dressing?

Bake covered for 30 minutes and then uncovered for 15 minutes to crisp up the top.

Can you make cornbread dressing ahead of time?

Yes! If you’re wanting to make this ahead of time I recommend getting it all mixed up and transferred to a baking dish. Instead of baking, cover with plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.

Drizzle a 1/2 cup of chicken broth over the stuffing before putting it in the oven to compensate for moisture lost during refrigeration. You’ll want to bake it for an extra 15 minutes covered, too.

Gluten-Free Cornbread Stuffing Recipe FAQs

If you like this recipe, try my other stuffing recipe: Sourdough Stuffing. (It’s not gluten free as written, but you can use gluten free crusty bread instead.)

More Delicious Thanksgiving Sides on Perry’s Plate

Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes – No giant pot of boiling water or draining necessary!

Cauliflower Puree Recipe – If you need a low-carb option, try this puree with garlic and rosemary.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes Instant Pot – Love this one with its unique orange-chili butter!

Orange Beets – Love this alternative veggie side dish.

Shaved Brussel Sprouts – Always a huge hit.

If you make one of my recipes, be sure to post it on social media and tag me at @perrysplate or #perrysplate so I can send you some love!

Continue to Content

Gluten Free Cornbread Stuffing Recipe

Yield: 12 servings

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 50 minutes

Whether you call this cornbread dressing or stuffing, I promise that everyone around your Thanksgiving table will call it delicious! I love this southern twist on a classic with bits of sausage and all the herby flavors you love in stuffing. I mean dressing.

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Ingredients

For the cornbread:

• 1 1/2 cups cornmeal
• 1 cup gluten free flour blend
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup avocado oil or another neutral tasting oil

For the Dressing:

• 3 eggs
• 1 pound bulk pork or turkey sausage
• 8 Tablespoons butter, divided
• 1 medium onion, peeled and diced small
• 3 celery stalks, diced small
• 10 ounces gluten free seasoned dried bread cubes
• 3 cups chicken stock/broth
• 1 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 400F. Prep a 8x8" baking dish with nonstick spray.
2. Make the cornbread by whisking the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Add in the buttermilk, eggs, oil, and 1/2 cup water. Whisk until no lumps remain.
3. Transfer to the prepared baking dish and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
4. Meanwhile, put the eggs in a small saucepan and fill with cold water until they're covered. Bring to a boil, boil for 2 minutes, cover and remove from heat. Let it sit for 10 minutes and then drain, transferring the eggs to a bowl of ice water. Set aside.
5. Bring a large skillet to high heat and add the sausage. If you're using turkey sausage you may want to add 1-2 Tablespoons of oil so it doesn't stick to the skillet. Cook the sausage, breaking it into small pieces, until no longer pink and there are toasty brown bits all over.
6. Transfer the sausage to a really large bowl (the biggest one you have), then add 4 Tablespoons of the butter to the skillet. Add the diced onion and celery and stir often, cooking at medium-high heat for about 10 minutes or until the onion turns golden brown and the celery softens.
7. Transfer the sauteed vegetables and any butter left in the pan to the bowl with the sausage.
8. Peel and dice the hard cooked eggs. Add those to the bowl along with the salt and bread cubes (also add the seasoning packet if it comes with one -- see note below).
9. Turn the oven down to 350F and prep a 9x13" baking dish with nonstick spray.
10. By now the cornbread should be baked and cooled a little. It doesn't need to be completely cooled off before adding it to the bowl. Just remove it in sections and add it to the bowl with everything else. Stir the mixture, breaking the cornbread into smaller pieces.
11. Pour the 3 cups of chicken broth into the bowl and stir again. The mixture should be very, very moist (borderline mushy) but no liquid should be pooling anywhere.
12. Transfer the mixture to the 9x13" pan. It will fill it to the top. Melt the remaining 4 Tablespoons of butter and drizzle it all over the top.
13. Bake, covered with foil, for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes or until it's as crisped up as you like around the edges.
14. Serve immediately.

MAKE AHEAD TIPS: You can prep the hard cooked eggs and cornbread up to 4 days in advance. And you can prep the whole thing, uncooked in the baking dish a day or so ahead. Just drizzle 1/2 more chicken broth over the whole thing right before baking. Add 15 minutes of covered baking time.

Notes

1. If you can't find GF seasoned bread cubes, use unseasoned bread cubes and add 1 1/2 teaspoons of poultry seasoning.
2. If you can't find any GF bread cubes at all, make your own by cutting gluten free bread into small cubes and bake them on a sheet pan at 375F until very crisp, but not too browned. You should have 10ounces of dried cubes. This can be done several days ahead of time.
3. If you don't care if this is GF, you can use regular flour in place of the GF flour and regular seasoned bread cubes.
4. The hard cooked eggs are odd, yes. My grandma always added some to hers so it's nostalgic for me. If you'd rather leave them out, it wouldn't change the recipe that much.

Recommended Products

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• 
  King Arthur Measure for Measure Gluten-Free Flour
• 
  ALEIA'S BEST. TASTE. EVER. Savory Stuffing Mix - 10 oz / 2 Pack

Nutrition Information

Yield 12 Serving Size 1/12
Amount Per Serving Calories 449Total Fat 24gSaturated Fat 9gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 13gCholesterol 140mgSodium 951mgCarbohydrates 37gFiber 2gSugar 4gProtein 21g

The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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