Cornbread is the perfect side dish recipe next to mains like slow cooker chili or fried chicken. But honestly, top a slice of warm cornbread with a pat of butter and drizzle of honey and you don’t need much else. Definitely try my homemade honey butter with this recipe! If you’re in the mood for other easy bread recipes, then try my cheddar biscuits recipe, easy cornbread muffins, and popovers recipe.
What You’ll Need for This Recipe
Cornmeal — yellow cornmeal is the best option because it is slightly sweeter than white cornmeal. Yellow cornmeal also gives cornbread its signature bright golden color! Don’t use cornflour, as it is far too fine. All-purpose flour — you can swap this out for your favorite gluten-free flour for gluten-free cornbread. Granulated sugar — a ¼ cup of white sugar adds a very, very mild sweetness, which pairs beautifully with savory main meals. But if you want a more savory cornbread recipe, you can reduce the sugar to just a tablespoon or two. Baking powder — without this leavening agent, cornbread will fall flat and be too dense. Milk — whole milk gives the cornbread a moist crumb. Butter — use unsalted butter so your cornbread doesn’t become too salty. Egg — the egg will help the ingredients bind together, as well as adding fluffiness to the cornbread. Vegetable oil — if you would rather use butter instead, just swap out the vegetable oil for an equal amount of unsalted butter. Be aware that butter has a lower smoke point than vegetable oil, so add you skillet to the oven to preheat without anything in it, then add the butter to the hot skillet once the batter is made and swirl until it’s melted.
How to Make This Cornbread Recipe
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Whisk together the dry ingredients — cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and kosher salt — in a large bowl. Set aside.
- In another bowl, whisk the wet ingredients (milk, melted butter, and egg). Set aside for now.
- Lightly grease a 9-inch round cake pan or cast-iron skillet. Once the oven is preheated, add the vegetable oil to the pan and pop the pan into the oven for 5 minutes to heat up.
- Just before the 5 minutes are up, quickly make the cornbread batter. Make a well in the center of the cornmeal mixture and pour in the milk mixture.
- Whisk together until just combined (do not over-mix). And there you have your cornbread batter! So easy!
- Remove the hot skillet or baking pan from the oven and immediately pour in the batter. If you hear sizzling, you are on the right track! That sizzle is very important for the perfect crust. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. For amazing crispy edges, let the cornbread cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring it to a wire rack to finish cooling down. Slice and enjoy at room temperature or slightly warm!
Pro Tips for this Recipe
Use fine- or medium-grind cornmeal. Corn flour (or masa) is far too fine, and will result in a very dense cornbread. Coarse cornmeal is too tough and will have a gritty or hard texture in the cornbread. Measure the flour correctly. Using too much flour is a common reason for dry, crumbly cornbread. The best way to measure flour is with a kitchen scale. (You need 90g all-purpose flour for this cornbread recipe.) If you don’t have a scale, fluff up your flour in the bag and sprinkle spoonfuls into a measuring cup. Level off the top with a butter knife. This will keep you from packing too much flour into the measuring cup. Heat the baking pan or cast-iron skillet before pouring in the cornbread batter. You want to hear a nice sizzle when you pour it in so that you immediately start building that perfect golden crust. A screaming hot baking pan or cast-iron skillet is how you do that! Don’t use enameled skillets. These should not be heated when empty. I seasoned cast-iron skillet is ideal, but a metal baking pan (like a round cake pan) works very well too! For crisp edges, don’t leave the cornbread in the pan for too long once it is baked. After 5 minutes, pop the cornbread out onto a wire rack. If you leave it in the baking pan, steam will cause the edges to soften. Still delicious, but you’ll loose that addictive crunchy crust. Customize your cornbread to your heart’s desire! Adding in fresh chopped herbs, chopped hot peppers, and shredded cheese is a great way to add savory flavor to cornbread.
If you’ve tried this Cornbread recipe, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
