Chorizo, Chipotle Cornbread Stuffing

Sweet, spicy and a delicious side dish that totally satisfies.

It all started with a half a pan of leftover cornbread.
Leftover... and left in someone's trunk over night from the potluck the day before.
Cold, old cornbread doesn't thrill me... probably not many people.
The two of us are just NOT going to eat 8-9 pieces of leftover cornbread, even if I do make awesome cornbread.
I was poised and ready to scrape that mess into the compost bin.
But ya know, a thought came to me.
What about stuffing?  I love, love my Sourdough Sausage Stuffing that I do at Thanksgiving, and I would never replace it with something else because the way the family whines and complains when something is "different" at the blessed event.  But this stuff is good, really good... heck I may even make two stuffings this November. I can talk big in March about Thanksgiving... hahaha, come November, I will dream about running away to the Tropics and not cooking a thing.

(chicken broth not shown)

Serves about 6

Ingredients

5-6 cups cornbread, cubed or crumbled

8 oz chorizo

1/2 onion, chopped

3-4 small celery stalks with leaves, minced

3-4 green onions, sliced small

1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced

1 garlic clove, minced

1-2 cups broth

salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to about 300 degrees.  Toast the cubed cornbread for about 20-25 minutes, until the cubes are getting dry and crunchy, but not browned. 

Saute the onions, celery and garlic in a pan with a little olive oil.  Add in the chorizo and break up the meat into the veggies, cooking it for about 10 minutes until the meat is cooked through and the veggies are soft. Add the minced chipotles and stir thoroughly.

 

Add the toasted cornbread chunks to the chorizo and veggie mixture.  Toss to combine.  Add about 1 cup of broth and stir some more.  Check the consistency to see if you want to add more broth.  You want the dressing to be damp, but not sopping wet.  You could eat the stuffing immediately, but it is really good to add to a greased baking dish and bake for another 15-20 minutes until the top gets crispy.  

Don't over think this here... go with the flow and do what feels good.  We served this will a grilled chicken breast and some roasted asparagus and it was a very nice dinner.

You could make this ahead and get it ready to throw in the oven to re-heat and crisp up for another big dinner (like Easter, or Thanksgiving).  Heck, you could throw some eggs on top of it and bake it until they are set and the stuffing is hot for a fantastic brunch dish, or simple dinner.

Here's a picture of a small baking dish of the stuffing.

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