The holidays are my absolute favorite time of the year. Once it hits November, I find myself counting down until Thanksgiving, then Christmas, and of course, New Year's. With Thanksgiving only a couple of weeks away, it's time to plan the dinner! I have the usual dishes that I make every year, but I'm always open to trying new ones like these cornbread stuffing muffins. Whenever I make cornbread muffins, the muffins tend to be a little dry. Fortunately, these cornbread muffins are anything but! They far exceeded my expectations, so much so that I think I'll be adding this recipe to Thanksgiving every year.

Recipe

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Cornbread Stuffing Muffins

Yields 12 muffins

Total Time45 minutes mins

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: pork

Servings: 12

Author: Christine Ma

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 4 ounces spicy Italian sausage casings removed, diced
• ¾ cup diced onion
• ½ cup diced celery
• ½ cup diced apple peeled
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• ⅔ cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup milk
• ⅓ cup vegetable oil
• ⅓ cup chopped pecans

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray muffin pan with cooking spray.
• Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add sausage and saute until browned, about 4-5 minutes, stirring to crumble. Add onion, celery, and apples and saute another 5 minutes or until vegetables have softened. Add sage and season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
• In a large mixing bowl, mix flour with cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder. Whisk together egg, milk and vegetable oil in another bowl. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until combined. Add sausage and vegetable mixture and stir to combine.
• Spoon batter into muffin cups ¾ full. Top with chopped pecans and bake for 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and serve warm.

**Helpful tips and common mistakes

These muffins combine your bread and stuffing side dish into one and are ready within half the time. You can change the filling for the stuffing according to your preferences but I personally love the sausage and apple combination.

Just sauteing the onion and sausage mix reminds me of Thanksgiving already! Mix all together and pour into the muffin pans.

The muffins came out beautifully after exactly 12 minutes. You can line the muffin pans with muffin cups for easy removal or simply grease the pan.

These cornbread stuffing muffins are incredible! The muffins are moist with hints of sweetness and salty from the apple and sausage. The toasted pecans add a subtle nuttiness to the muffins and add textural contrast to the baked good. These muffins are hands down the best cornbread muffins I've ever had. Trust me, you're going to want to make these not just for Thanksgiving but for any other dinner!

For more holiday side dish inspiration check out this ultimate cranberry sauce!