Sausage Cornbread Dressing Cups

Sausage Cornbread Dressing Cups is personal size Southern cornbread dressing. Everyone gets to enjoy the crispy outside edge this way! They are perfect to make ahead and freeze for travel, then reheat when you arrive at your family Thanksgiving or Christmas destination.

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Why make cornbread dressing in muffin cups?

Cornbread dressing is my absolute favorite side for Thanksgiving and Christmas! One year, my family in Arkansas decided to have all finger foods or food that could be picked up like an appetizer since we were going to have to eat later than a dinner time (supper time according to my family).

It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving if we didn’t have the dressing, right? So I came up with this solution and it was a hit!

Everyone loved getting the outside edge in every bite and I loved that I could freeze them after baking and cooling on a baking sheet, then throw the frozen cups in a large zip-top bag and keep in the freezer until time to travel to Arkansas. They traveled well in a cooler and were thawed by the time we got there. I reheated them in the oven and have been doing this now for years!

I’ve even made them in the mini muffin size for snacks or appetizer parties and topped them with my Cranberry Apple Jalapeno Salsa. They will be the hit of your party!

I like to make a double batch of biscuits (frozen or from scratch) a few weeks before the holiday and freeze half for this recipe and eat the other half for breakfast. Same goes for the cornbread. I double the recipe on the cornbread mix bag (4 cups cornmeal mix) and bake in a 10-inch cast iron skillet. We eat half with soup that day and freeze the other half for the upcoming holiday dressing.

Don’t crumble the cornbread and biscuits so fine it looks like cornmeal or breadcrumbs. I like to have a little more texture in the dressing cups.

Cook the onion, celery, and garlic in a combination of sausage drippings and butter. If you choose to omit the sausage, just use 4 tablespoons butter. That’s a lot to cook this amount of veggies but you will need it for the entire recipe of dressing.

Stir everything together in a large bowl.

Spoon 1/3 cup dressing mixture into each of the muffin cups. If you do not have enough muffin pans, you can bake them in batches.

Make Ahead Option: Cool dressing cups completely and place on baking sheets. Freeze 1 hour or until firm. Place frozen dressing cups in a zip-top bag and freeze until ready to serve. To reheat, place thawed dressing cups on foil-lined baking sheets and bake at 375˚ for 15 minutes or until thoroughly heated and edges are slightly crispy.

I’d love to hear from you in the comments below or on my social media posts what are your family recipe traditions that you feel are “must haves”.

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Print Recipe

Sausage Cornbread Dressing Cups

These are just the right portion size, everyone gets the favored crusty edge, and they take up less room in the fridge or freezer by placing them in the zip-top bag. I've even made them in the mini muffin size for snacks or appetizer parties.

Prep Time30 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Total Time1 hr

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: appetizer, cornbread dressing, dressing, individual cornbread dressing, make ahead, portion control, southern, stuffing, thanksgiving

Servings: 32 dressing cups

Author: Kathleen Royal Phillips

Cost: 10

Equipment

• muffin pan

Ingredients

• 1/2 16-oz package breakfast sausage
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups chopped onion about 1 medium
• 1 1/2 cups chopped celery 4 large stalks
• 2 cloves garlic minced or 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 4 large eggs
• 1 32-oz container chicken broth (4 cups)
• 5 1/2 cups crumbled cornbread [Made from 2 6-oz Jiffy packages or 1 recipe cornbread
• from Martha White or White Lily cornbread mix using 2 cups cornmeal mix]
• 3 cups crumbled biscuits [Made from 6 frozen biscuits 6 homemade biscuits, or 1 (5.5-oz) can refrigerated buttermilk biscuits]
• 1 teaspoon ground sage or 1 1/2 teaspoons rubbed sage
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350˚.
• Cook sausage until browned in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring often to crumble; drain reserving 1 tablespoon drippings in the pan. Add butter to pan and melt over medium heat.
• Cook onion, celery, and garlic in butter and drippings over medium-high heat 8 minutes or until almost tender, stirring occasionally.
• . To save a bowl, lightly beat eggs directly in a large bowl. Whisk in chicken broth. Add crumbled cornbread and biscuits and onion mixture with drippings. Sprinkle with sage, salt, and pepper then stir with a large spoon, coating all the cornbread and biscuits.
•  Spoon 1/3 cup dressing mixture into each of 32 muffin cups that have been coated with cooking spray or greased. If you don’t have this many on hand, they can be baked in batches. Bake for 30 minutes or until lightly browned on the top and set in the middle.
• Let cool 5 minutes in pan. With a table knife, loosen around edges of pan and remove to a serving platter. 

Notes

Shortcut: I like to make a double batch of biscuits (frozen or from scratch) a few weeks before the holiday and freeze half for this recipe and eat the other half for breakfast. Same goes for the cornbread. I double the recipe on the cornbread mix bag (4 cups cornmeal mix) and bake in a 10-inch cast iron skillet. We eat half with soup that day and freeze the other half for the upcoming holiday dressing.

Notes: *Of course, you can bake the mixture in a 13x9-inch baking dish at 350˚ for 45 to 50 minutes, if you’d rather. *Jiffy brand cornbread mix tends to be on the sweet side. *Torn French bread from the day old shelf at the bakery can be substituted for biscuits. *I usually fry the entire package of sausage and freeze the remaining half or serve sausage stirred into scrambled eggs for breakfast the next day. *Leave the celery leaves on while chopping. They add so much flavor! *Sausage can be omitted if you want traditional cornbread dressing. Just use 4 tablespoons butter to cook onion mixture. *Make Ahead: Cool dressing cups completely and place on baking sheets. Freeze 1 hour or until firm. Place frozen dressing cups in a zip-top bag and freeze until ready to serve. To reheat, place thawed dressing cups on foil-lined baking sheets and bake at 375˚ for 15 minutes or until thoroughly heated and edges are slightly crispy.