Cornbread is one of the oldest “quick bread” style recipes in American cookery. It’s a southern staple but deserves a place on dinner tables around the country. You’ll like how easy and foolproof this recipe is but absolutely love the flavor of that delicious cornbread!
What You’ll Need for This Recipe
Cornmeal: Stone ground cornmeal is best for this recipe but you can use any fine ground cornmeal. Do not use cornflour or massa harina, these are much too fine in texture.
Buttermilk: This lends a nice tang, delicate crumb, and a bit of lift to your cornbread. If you don’t have any on hand just whip up a substitute; I have a whole post on how to make buttermilk!
Unsalted butter: If you’d like to use salted butter just reduce the added salt by 1/4 tsp.
How to Make Cornbread
1. Place your cast iron skillet into the oven then set to 425F and allow to heat up. Combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, pepper and brown sugar in a large bowl then whisk together and set aside. If your brown sugar is clumped up just break apart with your hands or press through a sifter.
2. Melt the butter in a medium bowl then pour in the room temperature buttermilk and mix until combined.
3. Once the oven is at 425F and the skillet is Hot remove from the oven then add the oil and a tablespoon of butter. Swirl around then return to the oven for about five minutes.
4. Meanwhile, use your hand to make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the wet mixture in. Whisk together until just combined.
5. Remove pan from oven and pour in the batter. Bake at 425F for about 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
6. Allow the cornbread to cool in the skillet for about five minutes then transfer onto a wire rack to cool fully. You want the cornbread to keep that crisp outer crust so don’t let it steam in the pan for too long.
Pro Tips for this Recipe
- The key to a beautifully golden and crisp crust on a loaf of cornbread comes from two things – a very hot skillet or pan and removing it from the pan to cool. Much like searing a steak, the hot skillet begins to immediately cook the batter forming a crust. Letting the loaf cool out of the pan means the loaf isn’t steaming as it sits (similar in method to a pound cake).
- Measure your flour correctly! Adding too much flour to the recipe is the most common mistake. The best, and easiest way to measure flour is by using a scale. If you don’t have one then fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and use a knife to level it off.
- Adapt this recipe by adding additional flavors or mix-ins. Try chopped herbs, spice mixes, shredded cheese, chopped hot peppers, or even top with sliced vegetables and cheese.
- A cast-iron skillet is ideal, but this same technique can be applied to other oven-safe skillets or metal cake pans. Just preheat the pan in the same way as directed in the recipe. The only pan I would recommend against using is enameled cast iron as it shouldn’t be heated when empty.
- Stone-ground cornmeal gives the best flavor, but any fine-ground cornmeal will work (yellow, white, blue, etc.). Do NOT use masa harina or corn flour. This is much finer than cornmeal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you have to use baking powder in this recipe?
Baking powder with react when wet and produce little bubbles of carbon dioxide during the bake. Without this leavening agent your cornbread would be dense and flat.
How do you make buttermilk if you don’t have it?
You can ad two tablespoons of vinegar or lemon juice to two cups of whole milk for an easy substitute to buttermilk.
Do you have to put sugar in cornbread?
No! A traditional cornbread is savory and has little to no sugar. You can make this recipe with just a tablespoon of sugar but I really enjoy the brown sugar.
What can you use instead of a cast iron skillet?
You can use any oven-safe skillets or metal cake pans for this recipe. Cast iron will really give you a nice crisp crust but thee recipe will be delicious either way. Refrain from using an enameled pan as they don’t hold up when heated empty.
IF YOU LOVE THIS RECIPE TRY THESE OUT!
If you’ve tried this Cornbread recipe then don’t forget to leave a rating and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
Cornbread Recipe
Equipment
- 10" cast iron skillet
Ingredients
- 2 cups stone-ground cornmeal or fine-ground
- 1 cup all-purpose flour 120g
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 2½ teaspoons baking powder
- 2½ teaspoons kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper ground
- 2 cups cultured buttermilk
- ¼ cup unsalted butter melted
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Instructions
- Place a 10-inch cast-iron skillet in oven, and preheat oven to 425°.
- In a large bowl, whisk together cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and black pepper. In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, melted butter, and eggs.
- When skillet and oven are preheated, add butter and oil to skillet. Return to oven for 5 minutes. Remove and swirl skillet to coat with oil.
- Make a well in center of flour mixture. Pour buttermilk mixture into flour mixture; whisk together just until combined. Immediately pour into hot skillet. (Batter should sizzle.)
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in skillet for 5 minutes. Remove and let cool on a wire rack.
Notes
- The key to a beautifully golden and crisp crust on a loaf of cornbread comes from two things - a very hot skillet or pan and removing it from the pan to cool. Much like searing a steak, the hot skillet begins to immediately cook the batter forming a crust. Letting the loaf cool out of the pan means the loaf isn’t steaming as it sits (similar in method to a pound cake).
- Measure your flour correctly! Adding too much flour to the recipe is the most common mistake. The best, and easiest way to measure flour is by using a scale. If you don't have one then fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and use a knife to level it off.
- Adapt this recipe by adding additional flavors or mix-ins. Try chopped herbs, spice mixes, shredded cheese, chopped hot peppers, or even top with sliced vegetables and cheese.
- A cast-iron skillet is ideal, but this same technique can be applied to other oven-safe skillets or metal cake pans. Just preheat the pan in the same way as directed in the recipe. The only pan I would recommend against using is enameled cast iron as it shouldn’t be heated when empty.
- Stone-ground cornmeal gives the best flavor, but any fine-ground cornmeal will work (yellow, white, blue, etc.). Do NOT use masa harina or corn flour. This is much finer than cornmeal.
Delicious!!!!
Preppy Kitchen is my go to for recipes. Everything I make/bake is amazing!
Do you have a cookbook?
Aargh, John!!! I was convinced you are one of the folks across the pond who list ingredients in weight. I would love to make this recipe but it always puts me right off if I have to look up how much a tablespoon of butter is for the umpteenth time… I know, I know, I could just print out a conversion chart or memorise it already (floozybrain 🙄), but that’s neither here nor there. Also: is the cornmeal you use similar to polenta?
On a different note: Made your Key lime pie the other day, it turned out super delicious, and all the weights were listed in the video👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻. Made my life so much easier, thanks!!
Oh no, did I forget to add metric to this?