Paleo Thanksgiving Dressing

A savory spoonbread with all the flavors of cornbread dressing.

For the printable recipe click here.

This post doesn’t need a lot of explanation. When the holidays roll around, you want those familiar flavors, but you don’t always want them in their traditional nutritional packages.

My Gramma's cornbread dressing and giblet gravy were always the highlights of the Thanksgiving table for me. But the dressing in particular holds a place of honor in my heart because crumbling the cornbread and day-old biscuits for the dressing was my job.

While she passed away from Alzheimer's many years ago, recreating my Gramma's dressing and gravy every year makes me feel like I'm right back there in her kitchen, cooking at her side.

Adhering to a paleo diet doesn't have to take those moments away--enter Paleo Thanksgiving Dressing.

This savory spoonbread has all the flavors and textures of the Southern cornbread dressing I grew up on, but thankfully none of the gluten, grains, or dairy.

When I first started dreaming this dish up, I figured I’d make a paleo "cornbread," crumble it up, custard it up, and cook it like my Gramma did. But as I thought about it a bit more, I wondered if I could save a few steps and bake just once. The answer was yes.

While this Thanksgiving dressing is more uniform in texture than its traditional counterpart, it is surprisingly similar. Southern cornbread dressings are generally flatter and more compact than baguette-based dressings anyway!

Now, if you prefer an appearance truer to traditional dressing, you can absolutely make this ahead of time, crumble it into another baking dish, and reheat it for service--no need to add a thing! You’ll get all the nooks and crags and crannies for gravy to coat and cling to. But if you want to bake once and serve, you’ll be good to go that way, too.

Whether you choose to crumble it up or serve as-is, this dressing can be made up to three days ahead if desired. It reheats beautifully and is actually even better the next day.

Now that is something to be thankful for!

Here's what you'll need:

• ½ cup bacon grease, divided

• 4 mirepoix pucks

• 2 cups almond flour

• ½ cup cassava flour

• 2 tsp rosemary salt

• 20 cranks black pepper

• 1 ½ tsp ground sage

• ½ tsp dried thyme

• 2 cups turkey (or chicken) stock

• 1 tsp hot sauce (I use Frank’s)

• 4 eggs

Here's what you'll do:

1. In a skillet over medium heat, sauté mirepoix pucks in ¼ cup bacon grease, stirring occasionally till soft and beginning to brown.

2. Meanwhile, place the remaining bacon grease in a 9x11” casserole dish and allow the grease to melt in the oven as it preheats to 350 degrees F.

3. While it is heating, whisk together the dry ingredients (almond flour-dried thyme) in a large bowl and set aside.

4. When the mirepoix is ready, turn off the heat, add the stock and hot sauce, and stir gently to scrape up and incorporate any browned bits on the bottom of the pan.

5. Whisk the mirepoix mixture into the dry ingredients, then thoroughly whisk in eggs.

6. Remove the preheated pan from the oven, carefully add the dressing mixture, and return the pan to the oven to cook for 40 min or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it.

7. Serve immediately, or make up to 3 days ahead and reheat if desired. For a more traditional, craggy, dressing appearance, make ahead and transfer to a new baking/serving dish, breaking into desired-size chunks as you go. Press down slightly with a spatula and reheat, no need to add extra binders!

For the printable recipe click here.