Kitchen notes · a little help before you start
Roasted Apple Cranberry Cornbread Stuffing
Cornbread stuffing with roasted apples and cranberries makes a generous spoonful for the dinner table. The sweet-tart fruit sits against savory onion and celery, with pecans giving the softer stuffing a little crunch. Help yourself while it is warm and enjoy the different bites together.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 45 min
- Total
- 60 min
- Original yield
- Serves 8
- Ingredients
- 10 listed
Make it part of your week
Recipe categories & planning details
- Meal type
- Dinner · Sides
- Cuisine
- American
- Cooking method
- Baking · Baked & roasted · Roasting
- Preparation & total time
- Prep: 15 minutes or less · Total: 31–60 minutes
A few quick notes
1. Roast fruit until cranberries burst
Stir the sugared fruit partway through roasting and continue until the cranberries have burst and look wrinkled.
2. Soften onion and celery separately
Cook them in butter until the onion is translucent while the fruit roasts, then bring their measured water to a boil.
3. Rest stuffing off the heat
Stir the dry mix briefly into boiling water, turn off heat, cover and wait for it to absorb the liquid.
Get to know the ingredients
Sweet-tart apples
Try Gala or Honeycrisp; core and dice the apples before roasting with cranberries, sugar and salt.
Cornbread stuffing mix
Use the boxed mix at the boiling-water stage with the sauteed onion and celery, rather than mixing it into the roasting fruit.
Chopped pecans
Chop the pecan halves while the vegetables cook and keep them for folding into the rested stuffing with the fruit.
Let’s make it
Choose your servings, then check things off as you go.
Original recipe: Serves 8. Original quantities shown.
Check ingredients as you prepare them. These checks stay on this page.
How to make it
0 of 4 steps completeMake room for Roasted Apple Cranberry Cornbread Stuffing
Review ingredients in your pantry before anything is added. Meal plans use your household size; grocery-only additions use the servings selected above.
The last little job
Fold in fruit and pecans
Gently fold roasted apples, cranberries and chopped pecans into the rested stuffing, then serve or use the optional crisping bake.
A little more help as you go
Optional crisp top
After combining, the stuffing can move to a baking dish for the short lower-temperature bake if you want a crispier top.
Coat fruit before roasting
Stir the diced apples and cranberries with brown sugar and salt in their baking dish so the fruit is evenly coated.
A few questions you might have
Do I boil the cranberries in the stuffing pot?
They roast with apples separately, then join the stuffing only after it has absorbed its water and rested.
Does all the butter go over the fruit?
The butter cooks the onion and celery in the pot; apples and cranberries roast with brown sugar and salt.
Can I serve without the final bake?
Yes. Serve immediately after folding in fruit and pecans, or use the optional bake to crisp the top.
When do the pecans get mixed in?
Add them after the covered stuffing rest, folding through with the roasted apples and cranberries before serving or the optional bake.
Does the water boil before adding the mix?
Yes. Bring it to a boil with onion and celery, then add cornbread stuffing, stir briefly and turn off the heat.
Any more cooking tips?
Use a sweet-tart variety of apple, like Gala or Honeycrisp.
Storage & reheating safety
For cooked, perishable leftovers, refrigerate within 2 hours (1 hour above 90°F), using shallow containers for prompt cooling. Keep the refrigerator at 40°F or below, use refrigerated leftovers within 3–4 days, and reheat hot leftovers to 165°F, checked with a food thermometer. Follow any shorter package limit.
These are general safety limits, not a tested storage or freezing recommendation for this particular dish. USDA leftovers guidance · Safe cooking temperatures
Recipe source: budgetbytes.com. Ingredient names and quantities may be adapted for the pantry.
Preparation notes follow the recipe shown here.
