National Stuffing Day: Vegan Cornbread Stuffing, A classic Thanksgiving side—made fully plant-based. Food Safety

Vegan Cornbread Stuffing 

A classic Thanksgiving side—made entirely plant-based. Whether you call it stuffing or dressing, this familiar holiday favorite is now completely vegan. The deep cornbread flavor anchors the dish, while poultry seasoning (which contains no poultry!) delivers that nostalgic Thanksgiving aroma without chicken broth or turkey stock.

This high-fiber recipe is perfect for serving a crowd, and the cornbread can be made ahead for easy holiday prep.

Vegan Cornbread. 
Servings: 12

Yield: 6 cups

Nutrition Profile:

Nut-Free Dairy-Free High-Fiber Vegan Vegetarian Egg-Free Low-Calorie

Ingredients

• 5 Tbsp water

• 2 Tbsp flaxseed meal

• 1 ¼ cups whole-grain cornmeal

• ¾ cup white whole-wheat flour

• 2 Tbsp granulated sugar

• 1 tsp baking powder

• ½ tsp salt

• ¾ cup unsweetened plain soymilk

• 3 Tbsp avocado or canola oil

Stuffing

• 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 ½ cups chopped onion

• 1 ½ cups chopped celery

• 1 ½ tsp poultry seasoning

• ½ tsp ground pepper

• 5 cups crumbled day-old Vegan Cornbread

• 1 cup low-sodium vegetable broth

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Instructions

Make the Cornbread

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat an 8-inch square baking dish with cooking spray.

2. In a small bowl, stir together water and flaxseed meal; let sit 3–5 minutes to thicken.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

4. In another bowl, whisk soymilk, oil, and the flax mixture. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

5. Pour batter into the baking dish and smooth the top.

6. Bake 25–30 minutes, or until golden and a toothpick comes out clean.

7. Loosely cover and let sit 1 day to dry slightly (ideal for stuffing).

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Make the Stuffing

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Coat a 9×13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and celery and cook, stirring often, until softened and lightly browned, about 10 minutes.

3. Remove from heat; stir in poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper.

4. Add crumbled cornbread and broth, mixing gently to moisten.

5. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish.

6. Cover and bake 25 minutes.

7. Uncover and bake another 20–25 minutes, or until the top is golden and crisp.

To make ahead

Store Vegan Cornbread, well-wrapped, at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Fillers

Almost anything can serve as stuffing. Many popular Anglo-American stuffings contain bread or cereals, usually with vegetables, herbs, spices, and eggs. Middle Eastern vegetable stuffings may be based on seasoned rice, on minced meat, or a combination. Other stuffings may contain only vegetables and herbs. Some stuffing types include sausage meat, while vegetarian stuffing sometimes contains tofu. Roast pork is often accompanied by sage and onion stuffing in England; roast poultry in a Christmas dinner may be stuffed with sweet chestnuts. Oysters are used in one traditional stuffing for Thanksgiving. These may also be combined with mashed potatoes for heavy stuffing. Fruits and dried fruits can be added to stuffing, including apples, apricots, dried prunes, and raisins. In England, a stuffing is sometimes made of minced pork shoulder seasoned with various ingredients, such as sage, onion, bread, chestnuts, dried apricots, dried cranberries, etc. The stuffing mixture may be cooked separately and served as a side dish. This may still be called stuffing, or it may be called dressing.

Food Safety

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) states that cooking animals with a body cavity filled with stuffing can present potential food safety issues. These can occur because when the meat reaches a safe temperature, the stuffing inside can still harbor bacteria (and if the meat is cooked until the stuffing reaches a safe temperature, the meat may be overcooked). For turkeys, the USDA recommends cooking stuffing/dressing separately from the bird and not buying pre-stuffed birds. (Stuffing is never recommended for turkeys to be fried, grilled, microwaved, or smoked). The turkey's internal temperature must reach a safe minimum of 165 °F. Check the temperature in the thigh, the innermost part of the wing, and the thickest part of the breast.

Resources
1. Stuffing, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2. Thanksgiving Stuffing Recipes, EatingWell

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