A Southern classic gets the vegan hospitality.

Click here for the full recipe and nutritional information.

In my house, we never have cornbread stuffing on Thanksgiving. We always have Italian bread stuffing. My mom thinks cornbread stuffing is too mushy, and as house chef, what she says goes. I agree that it is mushy when compared to a standard bread stuffing. When you think of it as a savory and delicious cornmeal pudding, it’s magic on a plate. So let’s get cookin’!

The first thing we need is, of course, cornbread. I haven’t really found a recipe for cornbread that I’m in love with, so I made two boxes of Jiffy Vegetarian Corn Muffin Mix (about 50¢ each at any grocery store) with flax egg and soy milk in a 13″x9″ baking pan. Once baked, I allowed it to cool, crumbled it up into roughly 3/4″ pieces, and bake again at 200ºF for 1-2 hours, or until completely dried.

Next, I sauteed a small-ish onion and about 3 stalks of celery, both finely diced, in a bit of canola until tender and and slightly golden. Once the heat is turned off, I stirred in a teaspoon of ground herbes de Provence.

The next thing you need is Vegan Egg. No, not flax, not applesauce, and definitely not mashed banana. I mean VeganEgg. It binds, it fluffs, and it flavors your stuffing. You could try it with pureed silken tofu, but I haven’t so I can’t recommend it. You need about 4 tablespoons whisked with a cup of ice-cold water until it’s roughly the consistency of mayonnaise.

Now mix all of these components together, along with three cups of double-strength vegetable stock. In my case, I used two tablespoons of my beloved reduced-sodium Better Than Bouillon dissolved in hot water. Once everything is mixed, it will look like a watery, gruel-like mess. This is what you want.

Pour the resulting cornmeal smoothie into a greased 8″x8″ baking dish. I like to “bake” mine at 375ºF on the broil setting for an hour, but if you can’t control the temperature of your broiler, simply bake yours in a metal pan, broiling it in the last five or so minutes.

And that’s all there is to it! It makes a gorgeous, savory, custard-y corn pudding texture. Just look at that crunchy brown edging.

It’s a bit time-consuming with all the pre-baking, sauteing, baking again, etc., but it’s technically very easy and totally worth it. So creamy, never mushy, always delicious.

I hope you’ll give this one a try, and please let me know what you think!

~M

Cornbread Stuffing | Printable Version

Makes 8 servings
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 2-3 hours

Ingredients:

2 boxes Jiffy Vegetarian Corn Muffin Mix
2 T ground flaxseed (in 6 T water)
1⅓ c unsweetened soy milk (or non-dairy milk of your choosing)

2 T canola oil
2-3 stalks celery, finely diced
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 t ground dried herbes de Provence
2 T reduced-sodium Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Base
¼ c Follow Your Heart VeganEgg

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine corn muffin mix, flax mixture, and soymilk in a large mixing bowl. Transfer to a greased 13”x9” baking dish and bake for 15-20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 200°F. Once cool enough to handle, crumble cornbread and continue to bake until completely dried, about 1-2 hours.
2. In a medium sauté pan, heat canola oil over medium heat. Sauté onion and celery until tender and slightly golden. Turn off the heat and stir in dried herbs.
3. Dissolve vegetable base into 3 cups of hot water and set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk VeganEgg into 1 cup of ice-cold water until smooth.
4. Preheat oven (or broiler, of possible) to 375°F. Combine dried cornbread, sautéed vegetable mix, bouillon, and vegan egg. Pour into a greased 8”x8” baking dish. Bake or broil for 1 hour.