This is one of the most delicious holiday cornbread dressing recipes! Loaded with seasoned sausage, green & red apples and plump, tart cranberries, Sausage Apple Cranberry Dressing is moist and full of seasonal flavors. Subtly sweet and richly savory, this easy recipe is sure to become one of your favorites!
Some years we like to mix things up a little bit for Christmas or Thanksgiving. Instead of our favorite cornbread & squash dressing, we like to make this wonderfully aromatic Sausage Apple Cranberry Dressing.
It is chock full of delicious fall & winter flavors and has crisp, golden edges that just can’t be beat. Plus, nothing says holiday goodness like the sweet of the fruit against the savory, seasoned cornbread and sausage. It’s perfect sidekick for turkey, pork loin, even prime rib!
Related Recipes: Southern Chicken and Dressing, Cornbread and Squash Dressing
Ingredients for Sausage Apple Cranberry Dressing
- yellow cornbread mix
- sausage
- Granny Smith & Honey Crisp Apples- unpeeled to add color
- dried cranberries
- onion
- celery
- chicken broth
- cream of chicken soup
- buttermilk
- butter
- eggs
- poultry seasoning, salt & pepper
Why We Love Apple Cranberry Cornbread Dressing with Sausage
Another reason we love this recipe is that it is a real time saver. No sitting extra bread out to dry over night. And the fruit, meat, onions and celery are cooked right into the base cornbread (see photo above), creating a richly flavored, moist bread and cutting down on final bake time.
It’s also EASY! Because so many ingredients are baked right into the original cornbread, this is an easy dressing recipe that comes together in a snap!
Spicy sausage can be used if you like a little kick. It adds another layer of savory goodness that can’t be ignored.
The making and the passing on of a good cornbread dressing recipe is almost a sacred thing here in the South. And this Sausage Apple Cranberry Dressing is sure to take it’s proper place among your favorites. All the right flavors, baked up in just the right way, your family is going to love the cornbread dressing this year!
Other Thanksgiving Side Dishes You’ll Love
- Southern Cornbread Pudding
- Louisiana Dirty Rice
- Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping
- Broccoli Macaroni & Cheese
- Sauteed Green Beans with Bacon & Mushrooms
Sausage Apple Cranberry Dressing
Ingredients
- 3 6.5 oz yellow cornbread mix packages
- buttermilk as directed
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1 lb ground sausage, browned
- 1 medium honeycrisp apple, chopped
- 1 medium granny smith apple, chopped
- 1 C dried cranberries
- ½ C diced yellow onion
- ½ C diced celery
- 1 10 ¾ oz can cream of chicken soup
- 1 14 oz can chicken broth
- 1 stick butter, room temperature
- 2 large eggs, room temperature, beaten
- ½ teaspoon poultry seasoning
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 ° Fahrenheit. Add 1 tablespoon oil to your skillet. Place in oven while it is preheating.
- Prepare cornbread in a mixing bowl as instructed on mix packages. Use buttermilk as a substitute for the water or milk designated on the mix. Use the same measurement for the buttermilk as designated on the mix for the other liquids.
- Stir apples, cranberries, browned sausage, celery, and onion into the cornbread batter.
- Pour cornbread batter into heated skillet. Bake for the time designated on the mix package. You may have to bake a few minutes longer to compensate for the moisture the apples release into the cornbread as it bakes.
- Remove cornbread from oven after baking. Allow to cool, but not completely. Turn oven temperature down to 350 degrees.
- While cornbread is still warm, remove from skillet and break into pieces in large mixing bowl. Add butter and mix together, breaking down the cornbread.
- Add soup, eggs and seasonings to cornbread mixture. Mix ingredients together until all are well-incorporated. Stir in just enough broth so that the cornbread mixture looks almost like a batter again (don't make it overly wet), about half the can.
- Spoon cornbread dressing into 9×13 casserole dish. Bake at 350 ° Fahrenheit for 30- 40 minutes or until dressing is golden brown and set in the middle.
Notes
Absolutely perfect recipe – everyone loved it!
Hi, Jay! Yay! Thank you so much! This absolutely made my day!
I make it every year, it’s the best dressing my family have ever eaten. Delicious!
Hi, Mitzi! Thank you so much for making and loving this dressing! This makes my day. Happy Thanksgiving!
I made this for a Christmas dinner last night and it was so good I’m making it for another one today. 10/10❤️
Hi, Penny! Wow, that is awesome! Thank you so much! Makes my day!