This Thanksgiving: Cornbread Dressing with Tempeh Bacon, Cherries and Portabella Mushrooms
My house smells like Thanksgiving.
Believe me, this is a vast improvement over the norm. Actually, believe my friend Deb, this is a vast improvement over the norm.
Deb and I have the kind of closeness that means we can let ourselves into each other’s homes to borrow necessary ingredients or to leave unwanted pets when the other isn’t home. She keeps giving Pea Kitty back.
Unfortunately, I have the terrible luck of Deb letting herself into my home when it is positively rank.
She dropped her fish off for a few days last month and walked right into a nose full of burnt kale. Try explaining that one. I did. I’m not sure she bought it.
Then, she needed to borrow some tahini when we were in California. She discovered sooner than we had that Pea Kitty’s litter box had mistakenly not been cleaned by our pet sitter. The entire week. “Burnt kale” is much easier to explain than “cat toilet.”
I thought I could at least chalk part of our “homey” scent up to the fact that we cook and eat a lot of vegetables. So does Deb’s family. Thus when I had to let myself into Deb’s house this morning to borrow some of her abundant sage supply, I thought her house would smell familiar.
Maybe some roasted garlic.
Maybe some steamed cauliflower.
I could have even gone for a little dirty boy smell. (They have three boys living there. We have one. Odds were in my favor.)
But no.
Deb’s home smelled like Christmas, a sweet baby’s head, and a new car all rolled into one.
And sage, of course.
I took care of that.
Cornbread Dressing with Tempeh Bacon, Cherries and Portabella Mushrooms
Serves 6-8
- 1/2 of a large onion, chopped
- 1 c. portabella or crimini mushrooms, chopped
- 1 t. minced garlic
- 6 oz. package of Lightlife Smoky Tempeh Strips, prepared according to package directions or 1 batch homemade Tempeh Bacon, chopped into bite-size pieces
- 5 sage leaves, chopped
- 1 1/2 t. poultry seasoning
- 6 c. cornbread (i.e. Cowgirl Cornbread), cut into 2-inch cubes
- 1 c. dried cherries or cranberries (unsweetened, if possible)
- 2-3 c. low sodium vegetable stock
- salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place a large skillet spritzed with oil or cooking spray over medium high heat. Add onion and mushroom and sauté 4 or 5 minutes or until softened and starting to brown.
Get your prepared tempeh bacon.
I made this batch for inclusion in the next book. A girl’s got to have some secrets.
Add chopped bacon to pan and continue to cook until heated through.
Add garlic, sage and poultry seasoning and continue to cook for an additional minute or until aromatic.
Aromatic in a good way.
Cube your cornbread and place it in a large bowl.
I made a double batch of Cowgirl Cornbread over the weekend to eat with chili. We ran out of chili before we ran out of cornbread.
Add cherries or cranberries to the cornbread.
Continue to add tempeh bacon mixture to the bowl.
Pour in vegetable stock a little at a time and stir until fully moistened. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Pour dressing into a 1-quart baking dish that has been lightly greased.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, until dressing is firm and browned.
My house smells like Thanksgiving.
And tastes like heaven.
I love bringing dishes like this to a holiday dinner, whether the crowd is vegetarian, vegan or not.
It’s traditional enough not to freak anyone out and might even entice my Uncle Jeff to take a scoop on the side.
Love you, Uncle Jeff. Please don’t put gravy on my dressing.
But it’s hearty enough that vegetarians and vegans could eat it as their main dish.
Like we’re doing tonight.
Paired with a baked sweet potato and a green veggie.
Like steamed broccoli.
Mmmm, stanky. Smells like home. I expect Deb will show up at any moment.
That looks so good! I can’t believe its less than a month until Thanksgiving! I’m so excited, I LOVE the holidays!
Oh! And this post totally reminded me, do you have any recommendations for a turkey-like dish for vegetarians on Thanksgiving? My stepmom is so sweet and asked me what I’d like her to make for me on Thanksgiving instead of Turkey and I have no idea what to tell her! Its my first Thanksgiving as a vegetarian!
My mom always made me an acorn squash stuffed with rice and all sorts of thanksgiving-y ingredients (it’s her secret recipe!) It was a filling substitute, easy for her to make, and everyone else was jealous!
Actually, if you don’t want to make something from scratch, like tofu or seitan (stay tuned for those recipes before Turkey Day), I’d get a field roast roast or even a Tofurkey. Not bad at all!
That does it….I am officially going meatless for Thanksgiving
Whoohoo!
Now I want roasted acorn squash and wine.
Me too.
I can’t wait to make cornbread stuffing this year!! I’ve never had it. Just had a successful GF + vegan cornbread, so I’m pretty excited.
Love the tempeh edition. It’s a full meal!
I was totally tempted to make your cornbread with this…but if it has Cowgirl in the title, Gigi is onboard, so Cowgirl Cornbread won.
i will definitely be making this for thanksgiving
Oh wow that looks amazing! I tried to do a cornbread dressing last thanksgiving but it didn’t turn out great. I will have to test this one out soon! This is pretty close to our cornbread dressing we love in the south- minus the dried fruit of course!
You could totally omit it and it would still be wonderful!
NICE!! And poor poor Deb!!
Seriously, this makes me happy to look at – Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!
Mine too. And poor poor Deb indeed.
That looks seriously delicious. I’m not sure if my comment got posted or not, but I have to tell you that I tried two of your recipes in the last week: your Thai veggie burgers and the PB&J cupcakes. Both of these got RAVE reviews from all who partook. You are a genius. The burgers, in particular, were some of the best textured veggie burgers I’ve ever made. I even blogged about it: http://thecurveball.tumblr.com/post/11760221565/thai-veggie-burgers
So wonderful to hear…I will check out your post for sure!
Oh my goodness…I LOVE cornbread stuffing but every time I see it it has chicken broth or sausage or something in it. I will be making this long before thanksgiving. Any ideas for a fall side dish I can bring to dinner at a family friend’s on Halloween that can double as my main?
Hmmm…what about the African Peanut Stew? Or the Carrot Ginger Soup? Even the Strawberry Mango Chickpea Salad would be great.
mm this looks SO good! I love cornbread dressings and stuffing is the best park about thanksgiving!:)
I totally agree!
this is such a fun take on dressing! i love the cherries the most…sweet and tart and perfect. what time should i be there for dinner?
I don’t even know where it is this year. But guaranteed we will be eating all day.
Nothing will ever beat my mom’s stuffing but this looks like a really close runner up
Sage is totally one of those herbs I forget about unless it’s Thanksgiving. Thanks for the reminder!
I’ll give you Deb’s key. She has a sage jungle in there.
Oh my gosh, I really want to make this for thanksgiving!! It looks absolutely divine.
It was pretty darn tasty…and easy if you have leftover cornbread!
Oh good heavens. You just got me so excited for Thanksgiving I can hardly stand it.
And my house smells like roasted broccoli right now, which is quite possibly the worst roasted vegetable smell out there.
Awesome! Love that it has tempeh and mushrooms in it. Two of my favorite things.
I’m the only vego in the family (who kind of give me a hard time about it) so this is a great dish everyone will love. Thanks!
I hope you try it and that it goes over well!
This could easily be gluten-free too! You made my day. I love my dad’s stuffing/dressing but was feeling sad about not eating it this year. I might have to make this!
Isn’t sage great? I rarely remember to cook with it but am always thankful when I do.
I’m thankful to have friends that grow it so I can break into their house and steal it.
This looks so good I can’t even contain myself. Stuffing is my absolute favorite Thanksgiving dish.
Mine too!
That’s a lot like what I was planning. Only I’m doing tempeh sausage and baking it in a pumpkin.
Oooh, yours will be pretty!!!
I hope so!!! I just want to stuff something!!
I’m excited that you’re posting T-day recipes because if all goes as planned I am going to host Thanksgiving this year.
I’ve actually never had cornbread dressing before but this version looks might tasty.
good vegan gravy this sounds delicious! i’ve been on a kitchen bender these last few days (stress relief) and my house has smelled like a variety of amazing things. unfortunately all delicious smells have been simultaneously tainted by the smell of baby vomit (thus the need for the stress-release-cookstravaganza). yum yum yum! can’t wait to try this one! xo
Ok so you must be recipe testing for a book OR you are just ridiculously well-prepared for TG and are trialing recipes in advance. <– wish I could be like that!
But being that no one special will be coming over for our TG dinner, if there's anything that requires a trial… well, Scott and Skylar and I get to "trial" the one and only version that will be made on TG Day. And hopefully the trial goes well.
Your food looks…so good. And I swear I want to have TG Dinner like…tomorrow after seeing this post!
Ha, I hate when cooking stinks up my house. The worst is when I burn cookies. I live in a small apartment so that smell spreads! Delicious looking recipe! Cannot wait for the next book now to get that tempeh bacon recipe!!
Btw–went to Whole Foods this week and tried to find those bacon pickles. Nowhere to be found!!! In what part of the store did you find yours??
That looks delicious – funny how it is called a ‘dressing’ – or am I just being an ignorant Australian? Is is a traditional thing? Whatever it is, mmmmm.
My understanding is that if you aren’t shoving it in a bird, it’s called dressing rather than stuffing.
What is the Cowgirl Cornbread recipe? Did you make it homemade?
It’s in the first book
Um, yeah, that looks amazing! Love the cranberry addition.
Why do people come over at just the right time? I can think of a couple other smells that I like to blame on either my boys or the dog.
PS- I love you juts replied to the previous comment with “in the FIRST book”. Soo cool!
Ha ha. Maybe I do need a dog…
I always wonder what my apartment smells like to other people. I certainly don’t notice anything since I live here, but what would others think? Hmm…maybe I don’t want to know.
Leave for a few hours and then come back and take a deep breath. I do that just to test it sometimes.
See I need to do that trick sometime when I haven’t been cooking/baking. Because I always come back and it just smells like that. Ahhh I think I get it now! lol
My mother-in-law always makes my husband and I a “special” vegetarian stuffing every Thanksgiving. It is disgusting, but we haven’t had the heart to tell her since she puts forth the effort to make it just for us, the only vegetarians in their very large family. Perhaps I should volunteer to bring this one so she won’t have to “go to all that trouble”? Yours actually looks and sounds like it would be delicious. Not like I would have to hide it under my napkin as I clear my plate to the kitchen. And toss the leftovers in the garbage as soon as we step foot inside our house.
Yes, definitely offer to bring this!
This looks absolutely delicious! Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and each year I try to add a vegetarian dish to the spread and your stuffing just made it! I can not wait to make this for my family.
Whoohoo! I can’t wait to hear what you think!
I’ll be sure to let you know! I just featured your recipe on my blog in my post, “New additions to our Thanksgiving spread.”
Awesome! Thank you!
My dream would be to have Thanksgiving at your house!
Looks so good!
Happy Thursday! xo <3
I’ll set a place for you.
Can you believe we get to meet in a little over a week????
Mmmm, yumminy! My favorite part of Thanksgiving is the stuffing (stuffing…not dressing
) but my aunt always adds tons of sausage…no bueno for this veggie girl. I love the sub in of tempeh bacon and mushroom!! This will make an appearance at our Thanksgiving table, even if I’m the only one eating it!
Yay! I hope you love it.
Wowwwie! Yum yum yum. This might have to be on our Thanksgiving table. And my might, I mean will.
LOL – I’ve been known to create some pretty rank smells in our kitchen, conveniently right before visitors show up! My mum has a trick for this: “Bake” cookies by throwing a few store bought ones in the microwave for a few seconds. It makes the kitchen smell better and let’s be honest, who really cares that your house stinks when they’re eating warm, “freshly baked” cookies?
I like your mom. Can I have her address?
I gasped a little at the thought of a house full of Thanksgiving smells. Oh…I am waiting for the day!
And I love the “cat toilet” term! I am NOT a cat person and this is another reason why I prefer dogs-no cat toilets!
My whole house smelled like one big cat toilet. I walked in the door and immediately started retching and then thought—”Oh my gosh, Deb was here yesterday!!!!”
Wait wait wait back up…. You’re not going to tell me how to make homemade Tempeh Bacon till your new book??!!! Is it coming out next week cuz I don’t think I can wait much longer! Arghhhh!
Ha ha ha…I hate to break it to you…Spring 2013. (eek)
Oh, Lordy!! That looks and sounds delicous! It doesn’t even need to be Thanksgiving…I’m going shopping Now!
This sounds like a great combo of flavors – in my book, stuffing is what makes Thanksgiving!
Stuffing (or dressing, I suppose, depending on what part of the country you’re in), is my VERY FAVORITE part of Thanksgiving. Even before I was a vegetarian, it was a necessity for my mother to make an extra batch of stuffing to bake in a dish so that everyone could have enough. This recipes sounds amazing, I think I’ll make it as one of my (many!) dishes that I’m contributing to our Thanksgiving feast this year.
I hope you do..and I hope you love it!
Mmmm, stuffing. I am already craving it!
ps – does anything smell better than a newborn’s head?? Maybe a sleeping newborn’s head….
Amen!
While tempeh bacon rather scares me, I love the sound of this! I think it’s what I’ll bring to our mock thanksgiving in a couple weeks. See you next week!
You could leave the tempeh bacon out if it scares you…but I promise it’s delish. See you soon!
I was just stressing a bit last night about thanksgiving and what in the world I would prepare for myself! (I’m the only vegan in our house, so I cook 2 meals every night, one vegan, one not-so-much.) This recipe is everything I love all in one yummy dish. Thank you so much!!!
I hope you love it! I’ll have more Thanksgiving recipes in the next couple weeks too!
Oh my goodness…this recipe turned out great!!! I think I put in too much broth and it turned into a savory bread pudding…but still delicious.
Thank you so much! You’ve made my transition to vegan such a nice road to be on.
That’s wonderful! I thought it was kind of bread pudding-esque myself!
I grew up in a house that smelled like you say yours does. The only time I minded was when it would get into my coat, which in turn stunk up my locker at school. There’s nothing worse than opening your locker to a musty cooked vegetable smell & having the person next to you look at you weird.
I’m trying to prevent that smell from taking over my house now by lighting lots of candles. I don’t think it always works, but at least I try!
Oh yes, we definitely use a lot of candles and orange oil. And I ventilate quite a bit too!
I don’t know what is worse: a goose on the loose or cooked broccoli.
Either way, this dish makes me look forward to smelling Thanksgiving.
That’s kind of a chicken and egg argument, since there is a degree of responsibility involved with the broccoli
Valid point. When in doubt, always blame the broccoli.
Holy yum that looks good!!! Adding to my shopping list…
GAH! Looks absolutely incredible. Now this is the only thing that I’m going to be wanting all day – no other food is coming to live it up to it…
This is my first Thanksgiving as a vegetarian and I SO want to make this & bring it on Thanksgiving. It looks amazing!!!! : )
Happy first veggie Thanksgiving!
Oooh! Thank you, thank you for this! You have no idea what a life saver you are! My entire extended family (and often husband) think I’m an odd duck with all of my “plant food” and I go back and forth between the more discouraged: “well-I’ll-blissfully-keep-my-kale-all-to-myself” and the excited: “I’m-going-to-knock-your-socks-off-with-this-vegan-dish”. I think you will help me knock some socks this Thanksgiving.
Your blog is so delightful and in spite of busy mornings, I can’t help but sneak in a quick read. 
I’m so happy to be a part of your mornings. Thank you!
Yum!!!! Can’t wait to try this one out. I love the idea of sweet and savory in the same dish.
Me too! I hope you love it!
This looks fabulous!! Do you have any recommendations for a homemade tempeh bacon recipe? I can never find it in my grocery store.
You can google and find many “tempeh bacon” recipes. I just kind of winged mine with flavors I like
Umm.. YUM! Maybe I can make this to serve to Kyle’s family when we visit for Thanksgiving.. I love, love, LOVE dried fruit in dressing!
Me too…but for this one, I’d suggest finding as tart of a fruit as possible (hence the unsweetened rec) simply because the cornbread is already sweet.
Will do.. thanks!
This recipe looks great!
One of my good friends is allergic to all pork products. My friend group has a big Thanksgiving potluck every year, and I think I’ll make this so that he can enjoy my dish too! I made Michael Symon’s stuffing last year and it didn’t turn out well at all =(
That’s too bad. You know, him being an Iron Chef and now a TV host and all (I’m just slightly jealous…).
Ummmm – there is no way I am going to be able to wait until Thanksgiving to try this. Looks like I will need a test run
I bet Field Roast apple-sage sausages would be a great sub if you can’t find tempeh bacon. Yummmm!
We actually ate those sausages WITH this last night. YUM!
I just commented on another blog how stuffing is my favorite part of thanksgiving. This smells amazing! Ok I don’t know if it really does but I can literally imagine the smell of baking cornbread with sage and “bacon”….so yummy.
And you bet your bottom dollar I’d eat this as a main dish! Maybe add some kale (un-burnt) on the side and I’m good to go.
You got it! Totally the centerpiece of our menu!
It’s lunchtime right now and all I can think about is stuffing and kale lol. I have a salad with baked tofu, I’m wondering if heating the ‘fu will trick my mind into thinking it’s stuffing.
Sage is such a magic ingredient. I often forget about it during the rest of the year, but it brings such a perfectly Thanksgiving flavor to foods that makes me happy and nostalgic.
Yes! Deb’s been trying to pawn it off on me all summer, but it’s only now that I want it
Veggies sure do provide a different aroma to a house (like when brussel sprouts are on the menu) then one that may cook our friends the animals.
The dressing looks fantastic and I can’t wait to serve it this Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Oooh, Brussels sprouts. I forgot about those stinky little things.
hahaha! As always, I was laughing all through this post
that cornbread stuffing looks incredible!!
Any recipe that smells like Thanksgiving is an A plus in my book. I want to start cooking Thanksgiving dishes already!
Thank you!!!! This looks amazing and sounds so perfect for this year’s thanksgiving (my first as a plant eater
). Can’t wait to bring this to dinner next month!
Yay vegan stuffing! Dressing was always my favourite part of the holidays and I was starting to stress about trying to make my aunt’s recipe vegan. Do you have any recommendations for making up the volume of the mushrooms when I leave them out (allergy)? I’m thinking more bacon, but you are the expert! oooh, wait… maybe chestnuts… I think I just answered my own question! lol
Chestnuts would be great, as would celery!
That looks so delicious!!!! I recently found out I’m allergic to gluten and soy, would have any suggestions for tempeh replacements in the recipe?
You could double up on the mushrooms and just leave it out! Maybe add in some celery too.
Hmmm, I might have to try this … yet tweak at the same time.
I’ve made the Cowgirl Cornbread gluten free and it was a bit dry/crumbly. I need to revamp it and see what I can change.
The prepared Tempeh strips are not gluten free but I can buy the regular plain brand and “make ‘em” bacony ….(ew – that word).
I follow your recipes “as is” a lot of the time (as in not gluten free – since I am the only gf person in my house) – this dish looks way too yummy to leave myself out … this might be our Turkey Day dish (or side dish, we’ll see). Thanks again Mama Pea!!
I actually think the dry/crumbly texture works well in this. I hope all your subs work great!
I do need something to take the “roasted b.sprouts” smell out of the house…this will do
I hope they even each other out. I make no promises.
That looks so amazing! Thanks so much Mama Pea!
Haha it is SO true! Everyone’s house smells so different. I always noticed that about my friends homes when I was a kid. My best friends house always smelled like candy. I would not worry about your home smelling like veggies, at least it does not smell like carcase like most peoples houses!!
I just got home from being gone all day…my house stinks.
haha, aww, well you win some you loose some, right? My house always kinda smells like curry…
OMG that looks wonderful, all rich and browned. I read lots of recipes online, and hardly ever try any of them, but this one, I can’t wait to try.
I hope you do!!!
Ooh..Cowgirl Cornbread, yum! I really want to try that!
I KNEW you would rock the cornbread dressing
This has nothing to do with this recipe- but I came across a display of holiday milks at the grocery store today- and thought about you, since I mentioned something about Rice Nog a little while ago. I took a photo with my phone and just put it on my blog (I would insert it in here if I knew how to do that!) I bought the mint chocolate coconut milk.
Wonderful…thanks, I’ll check it out!
I made cornbread stuffing for our Canadian Thanksgiving. Mine included cranberries, pecans and dried sage. Next year I’m definitely adding the mushrooms!
After making recipes from you for the past couple of weeks I read the title of this post to my boyfriend. He said “I think I like every recipe she posts, when are we making this?”
I think I like your boyfriend.
I’ve been looking for a vegetarian recipe to bring to my parents’ house on Thanksgiving, and this looks perfect! I love that you included the tempeh – it makes a complete meal! By the way, I just tried tempeh for the first time a couple of days ago, and I loved it. Your tempeh tamale pie is amazing – it was a big hit!
Great! I love that tamale pie too. That is definitely Thanksgiving-worthy in and of itself!
Another delicious recipe!!
Where did you get that table runner? I love it;)
It’s actually a dish towel and it’s from World Market
What a delicious recipe!!! And such interesting flavor combinations.
This will be my first Thanksgiving attempting to be a vegetarian. Nobody in my Pennsylvanian, farm-raised family will get it. So maybe this will help! I hope you will be posting more Thanksgiving recipes!
I will for sure…thanks!
My sister has asked me to help her be a better vegetarian, so I offered to make a vegan dinner for us to bring to my family’s gathering. This is so on the menu!
I hope you all enjoy it!
Oooooo that looks SO amazing!!!! I am just starting to plan my Thanksgiving menu – - I’ve bookmarked this for use. Delicious! Thanks for sharing!!!
Whole Foods was out of dried cherries
But that’s good, because I just made this with cranberries and it is DELICIOUS and now I have an excuse to make it again- with cherries. I also couldn’t find the tempeh bacon (shocker–I live in Oklahoma, the land of meat and potatoes but mainly just meat) so I used Lightlife Soy Bacon. It still tasted great, but I can’t wait to read your new book 
I know that your first one just came out, but I’ve already made most of the recipes and can’t wait for the next one! Now I think I’ll start working through every recipe ever posted on the blog…
I’m so very happy you tried making this and that it turned out great! I’m sorry there is such a long wait on the book…even if I handed the manuscript over tomorrow, it would still be another year in publishing it
I think I might try this with Field Roast’s apple sage sausage for Thanksgiving. Would that be a good flavor combination? I know it might be missing a smokey element from the tempeh bacon but I am still not completely on board with tempeh.
Yup, I think it’d be great!
Would you recommend making this ahead of time and reheating it? Or is it better to make the day of?
I really don’t think you could go wrong either way. It was great the first day and great the second!
Is it possible to make this and freeze? If so what would be the best approach?! Thank you & happy thanksgiving!
It should be fine, though maybe a bit mushier? Make sure you give it adequate time to thaw and seal it well so it won’t pick up a freezer taste.
not sure if this is a glitch but when I went to print the recipe it printed 3 other unnecessary pages. i’m adding the cost of paper and ink to my book commission fee.
LOL! Sorry about that!
I made this dressing for Thanksgiving dinner, and it was wonderful! I couldn’t find tempeh bacon anywhere, so I used apple sage Field Roast sausage instead. It turned out great, and everyone loved it (even my meat-loving dad)! This will definitely be made again soon. Thank you so much for the recipe!
That’s awesome, Kerry. So happy you all enjoyed!
Mama Pea- I JUST made this, after having it printed for weeks. WOW, it is so yummy. I can’t wait to bring it to Christmas… as it was requested by my meat lovin’ parents.
Thanks for making it easy to be vegetarian…and to force me to get beyond the name of “Fakin’ Bacon” which made me never want to try it
I’m so happy you enjoyed it!