This cornbread stuffing dish should be made a few times a year, and not just on Thanksgiving. The roasted poblano peppers and fresh sage, celery, and onions give this unique stuffing a combination of unfamiliar and familiar flavors.
Poblano Cornbread Stuffing with Homemade Cornbread
This cornbread stuffing dish should be made a few times a year, and not just on Thanksgiving. The roasted poblano peppers and fresh sage, celery, and onions give this unique stuffing a combination of unfamiliar and familiar flavors.
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp yellow stone ground cornmeal
- 1/3 cup plus 2 Tbsp white granulated sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 2 large eggs
- 4 Tbsp salted butter, melted
- 1.5 cups whole milk
- 6 whole poblano peppers
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
- 6 Tbsp salted butter
- 1 white onion, small dice
- 2 stalks celery, small dice
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 12 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
- 4 sprigs thyme, leaves separated from stems
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
- ½ tsp freshly-ground black pepper
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 2 Tbsp white wine
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- To make the cornbread batter, whisk together the dry ingredients, including the all-purpose flour, the corn bread, the baking powder and baking soda, sugar, and salt.
- Melt 4 Tbsp butter and mix with 1.5 cups whole milk and 2 large eggs.
- Whisk together these wet ingredients thoroughly.
- Combine the wet and dry ingredients, and gently fold everything together with a rubber spatula until no significant lumps remain.
- *Do not overmix.
- Grease the bottom and sides of your deep cast iron skillet lightly with some vegetable oil.
- Pour the cornbread batter into your oiled cast iron skillet.
- Bake in the oven at 400F for roughly 35-40 minutes, or until the cornbread is golden-brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cornbread comes out clean.
- When the cornbread is fully cooked, allow to cool for 30 minutes at room temperature.
- Gently take a sharp knife and release the edges of the cornbread from the sides of the cast-iron skillet.
- Place a flat serving plate over the top of the cast iron skillet, and carefully flip the cornbread over onto the plate.
- Allow the cornbread to cool at room temperature.
- Increase the oven temperature to 500F.
- Coat the poblano peppers in a thin layer of vegetable oil, and roast the peppers at 500F for roughly 12 minutes, or until they begin to take on some dark color.
- Remove the poblanos from the oven, and place them in a bowl covered with plastic wrap.
- *This step will allow the poblanos to continue to steam after they have come out of the oven, which makes removing their skins much easier.
- After the poblanos have steamed for about 15 minutes, use paper towels to rub off the outer layer of skin from the steamed peppers, and reserve the poblano flesh in a bowl for later.
- Break the cornbread you baked down into bite-sized chunks, and place on a sheet tray with parchment paper.
- Reduce the oven heat to 200F, and bake the cornbread at 200F for roughly 40 minutes.
- *This step is just to dehydrate the cornbread used for the stuffing.
- In a large saute pan, add the 6 Tbsp butter and the white onion and celery, and cook on medium heat for about 8 minutes, or until the onions are translucent.
- Add the minced garlic, sage, thyme leaves, Kosher salt, freshly-ground black pepper, chicken stock, and white wine, and bring to a simmer.
- Add the bread crumbs and the poblano pepper flesh that you reserved from earlier, and mix to evenly combine.
- Remove the stuffing mixture from the heat.
- Preheat the oven to 375F.
- Transfer the stuffing mixture to a greased casserole dish, and bake the poblano cornbread stuffing in the oven for roughly 25 minutes, or until the top of the stuffing is golden brown and the inside is very hot.
- Serve stuffing immediately.
Notes
People from the South who are serious about cornbread typically do not add sugar to the batter—this recipe above is more of a Yankee-style cornbread.
You can also use storebought cornbread for this recipe, if you are trying to save time.