Description
This homemade Southern Cornbread recipe is buttery and full of sweet toasty corn flavor. It's crispy on the bottom, sides, and top with a buttery, pillowy crumb in the middle. And from start to finish, it takes less than 30 minutes to make. This means it can easily be made just about any night of the week. If you don't have buttermilk, see the notes below for how to make faux buttermilk, or homemade buttermilk.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 2 cups white or yellow cornmeal (300g)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (280g)
- up to 1/4 cup sugar, (optional)
- 6 teaspoons baking powder (24g)
- 2 teaspoons salt (12g)
- 1/2 cup grapeseed or other vegetable oil (100g)
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (113g)
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 2 cups buttermilk, room temperature (472g) (sub buttermilk substitute or whole milk)
- (optional) up to 1/4 cup more butter or bacon fat, melted directly in the cast iron skillet, for the cornbread batter to be poured over just before baking.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven. Heat oven to 425°F (220°C) and place a 10-inch cast-iron skillet inside to preheat for 10 minutes.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar (if using).
- Mix the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, and buttermilk (or buttermilk substitute) until combined.
- Melt the butter in the skillet. Carefully remove the hot skillet from the oven and add the butter. Return the skillet to the oven just until the butter melts, about 1-2 minutes.
- Combine everything. Remove the skillet from the oven and pour the melted butter into the wet ingredients, stirring to combine. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and fold everything together with a rubber spatula just until combined—don't overmix. Let the batter rest for 5 minutes while the skillet heats back up in the oven. *For extra buttery or smoky bacon flavor, add up to 1/4 cup (60g) of butter or bacon fat to the skillet before returning it to the oven to melt.
- Bake. Pour the batter into the hot skillet and immediately return it to the oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, Enjoy!
Notes
- To make Cornbread Muffins, pour the cornmeal batter into lined or greased muffin tins, filling them 2/3 full. Bake at 425°F/220°C in a preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. This recipe makes 24 cornbread muffins, but you can halve this recipe to make just 12 muffins.
- You can cut this recipe in half, but it won't be as tall/deep as the photos shown in this recipe unless you use a 9x9x2 baking pan or an 8x8x3-inch baking pan.
- If you don't have buttermilk, you have two options;
- Option 1: Make a buttermilk substitute. If you don't have buttermilk, make your own by adding 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice into a liquid measuring cup and fill it with enough whole milk to make 2 cups of total liquid. Stir it and let it rest at room temperature to thicken for at least 5 minutes and up to 15 and proceed with the recipe.
- Option 2: Make homemade buttermilk. You can easily make homemade buttermilk by first making homemade butter. Place a large quart mason jar into the freezer to get really cold. Add heavy cream to the jar, seal it, and start shaking it vigorously until you start to see butter forming. When all of the butter solids have separated from the milk solids, strain it. The leftover liquid from making homemade butter is buttermilk. Use it in any recipe. Alternatively, you chill a stand mixer bowl, add super cold heavy cream to the bowl and whisk it until the butter solids start to separate. Strain buttermilk from the butter solids.
- Add a smoky bacon flavor to your cornbread by adding 2 to 3 tablespoons of bacon drippings (bacon fat) to the skillet after you've removed the melted butter. Heat the bacon fat directly in the skillet in the oven for 5 minutes while the batter is resting. Add the cornmeal batter to the pan and bake.
- If you don't have a cast-iron skillet, use a buttered 9x13x2-inch baking pan, OR two buttered 9x9x2-inch pans, OR two 8x8x3-inch buttered baking pans, and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
- I used 00 flour since I'm in Italy, but if you use King Arthur AP flour, or a similar flour, the gram measurement may be closer to 240g for 2 cups of flour.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Breads
- Method: Oven Bake
- Cuisine: Southern
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 wedge or slice
