Cathe's Cajun Stuffing
Submitted by shez
Cornbread stuffing loaded with browned sausage, pink shrimp, red bell pepper, and celery, spiked with cayenne. A Cajun holiday side dish that steals the show from the turkey.
YIELD
1 batchPREP
20 minCOOK
25 minREADY
45 minForget bland bread stuffing. This Cajun version brings the bayou right to your holiday table.
Sausage browns in a big Dutch oven, then red bell pepper, celery, and parsley cook down in those spicy drippings. Butter melts in, shrimp get a quick sear until just pink, and then everything folds into cornbread stuffing mix with a hit of cayenne and dried garlic.
Bake it for 15 minutes and you’ve got a stuffing that’s savory, slightly spicy, and loaded with chunks of sausage and whole shrimp in every bite.
This one has a way of making people forget all about the main course.
Pro Tips
- Break the sausage into small, uneven pieces as it browns. You want some crispy bits and some tender ones for texture contrast.
- Don’t overcook the shrimp in the pot. They’ll finish cooking in the oven, so pull them when they’re just barely opaque.
- Lightly spoon the stuffing into the pan rather than packing it down. A looser stuffing bakes up with more crispy edges.
Ingredients
Directions
In a large pot or Dutch oven (at least 6-quart), cook the sausage over medium heat until lightly-browned, breaking it up into small pieces.
Sauté the vegetables in the sausage drippings in the pot with the cooked sausage.
The vegetables will brown lightly while the sausage gets browner than it was.
Add the butter to the pot and stir the pieces around until they are melted.
Add the shrimp and cook for 3 or 4 minutes, stirring constantly.
The shrimp should turn pink all over and be done, but just barely done.
Break one in half and make sure it is opaque in the center.
Turn the heat off, but leave the pot on the burner.
Add the 2 ¾ cup water, the dried garlic and the cayenne pepper flakes; stir well.
Add both bags of stuffing mix to the liquid mixture.
Blend all ingredients together well.
Lightly spoon the stuffing mixture into a greased 9×14 inch pan.
Bake at 350℉ (180℃). for 15 minutes.
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