Our 13 Best Cornbread Recipes (2024)

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Wini Moranville

Our 13 Best Cornbread Recipes (1)

Wini Moranville

Food, wine, and travel writer Wini Moranville is the author of "Everyday French Cooking: Modern French Cuisine Made Simple." Over the past 25 years, she has written hundreds of articles, covering everything from Christmas Cookies to Cognac for Better Homes and Gardens, Bonjour Paris, Relish Magazine, and other national publications.

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Updated on September 18, 2022

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Our 13 Best Cornbread Recipes (2)

Here's how to make cornbread any way you like it! This collection includes our best cornbread recipes ever. We start with our classic sweet cornbread recipe, then show you all kinds of variations, including a traditional Southern cornbread recipe, four takes on cast-iron cornbread, and a number of ways to whip up a great buttermilk cornbread recipe. You'll also find plenty of spot-on recipes for cornbread muffins, too.

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Spiced Nuts and Zucchini Cornbread

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Our 13 Best Cornbread Recipes (3)

Here we've added quite a few easy stir-ins to the usual cornbread ingredients for one of our best cornbread recipes ever. Zucchini and applesauce help make this a super-moist cornbread recipe, while the spicy nuts and creamed corn add extra flavor and texture.

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Cornbread Muffins

Our 13 Best Cornbread Recipes (4)

This recipe for cornbread muffins is actually four recipes in one! Check out the variations to make Orange-Cranberry Cornbread Muffins, Honey-Poppy Seed Cornbread Muffins, or Maple-Bacon Cornbread Muffins. Or stick with the basic ingredients for a classic, go-with-anything sweet cornbread recipe.

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Corn and Poblano Spoon Bread

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Our 13 Best Cornbread Recipes (5)

Here's another moist cornbread recipe. In fact, it's so moist you need to scoop it with a spoon! Try it as side dish to barbecue meats. Or serve it in the bowl alongside your thickest chili.

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Peach-Prosciutto Cornbread Muffins

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Our 13 Best Cornbread Recipes (6)

We designed these cornbread muffins as a breakfast treat, but we can't see any reason why they wouldn't go swimmingly with a steaming bowl of soup in winter or a patio-perfect salad in summer. Note that while the list of cornbread ingredients usually includes milk, we've swapped in half-and-half or light cream for extra richness.

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Bacon Cornbread

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Our 13 Best Cornbread Recipes (7)

This pleasantly moist cornbread recipe shows you how to make cornbread in the slow cooker. And with bacon and whole kernel corn added to the list of cornbread ingredients, how can you go wrong?

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Savory Zucchini Cornbread Muffins

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Our 13 Best Cornbread Recipes (8)

Look closer! These are no ordinary cornbread muffins. We've baked a hard-cooked egg inside each one. Indeed, this recipe shows you how to make cornbread into a main dish. Serve with bacon or sausage, and you're set for a great weekend breakfast!

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Cornmeal Blueberry Scones

Our 13 Best Cornbread Recipes (9)

Looking for a sweet cornbread recipe? Maybe what you really want is a cornbread scone! This quick bread has blueberries and two kinds of sugar for extra layers of sweetness. Serve it as a teatime treat or with soup or salad for lunch.

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Pull-Apart Cornmeal Dinner Rolls

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Our 13 Best Cornbread Recipes (10)

What's a dinner roll doing in our list of best cornbread recipes? We couldn't resist! When you have a little extra time, this tender yeast bread is a great alternative, especially when you're serving a crowd—the recipe makes 32 rolls.

  • Our Best Bread Recipes

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Crusty Cornbread

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Our 13 Best Cornbread Recipes (11)

You found it! The buttermilk cornbread recipe you're looking for. Because it has no flour or sugar, it also boasts the hearty texture of a classic Southern cornbread recipe. If you really want to stay true to the South, serve it with molasses instead of honey-butter.

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Cornmeal Griddle Cakes

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Our 13 Best Cornbread Recipes (12)

You might be wondering why we put cornmeal griddle cakes on our list of best cornbread recipes, but we think it makes perfect sense! These satisfying disks are a super-crispy, pan-fried cousin to the usual buttermilk cornbread recipe. Serve them with anything you'd eat with cornbread: chili, red beans and rice, navy bean soup, and more!

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Lemon-Blueberry Corn Cake

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Our 13 Best Cornbread Recipes (13)

If you're looking for a sweet cornbread recipe, this might be the sweetest option in our files! With blueberries and an extra touch of sugar, it tastes like a cross between blueberry muffins and cornbread muffins, making it a great choice to serve with breakfast or brunch.

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Chicken Stew with Cornmeal Dumplings

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Our 13 Best Cornbread Recipes (14)

Here's how to make cornbread without turning on your stove! Cornmeal dumplings taste a lot like cornmeal muffins—the difference is that you steam the dumplings directly on top of a stew on the stove top rather than baking them in muffin cups in the oven. In our book, that means one less pan to clean!

  • How to Make Dumplings

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Pumpkin Cornbread

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Our 13 Best Cornbread Recipes (15)

Here's a textbook case on how to make cornbread moist: Add pumpkin to the cornbread ingredients! PS: Check out the recipe variation if you prefer to make cornbread muffins.

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Our 13 Best Cornbread Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What does adding an extra egg to cornbread do? ›

The yolk will make the texture more dense and smooth, a bit brownie-like, while the fact that your original batter was too thick means that the additional liquid will help the baking powder achieve better leavening, giving you an airier texture.

What's the difference between Southern cornbread and regular cornbread? ›

Northern cornbreads tend to be more cake-like, on the sweet side, with a finer crumb due to more flour in the mixture. Southern cornbread is flavored with bacon grease, and cooked in a cast iron skillet, a perfect side for barbecues, or chili. It also tends to be rather crumbly.

What ingredient keeps cornbread from crumbling? ›

I want to keep the cornbread taste, just less crumbly! I recommend extra egg yolk, adding corn, and using cast iron to bake. Also, try a little lower temperature.

What can I add to cornbread mix to make it better? ›

corn kernels (canned or frozen) chopped jalapeños and or canned mild green chilies, and cheddar cheese all make great additions to cornbread. You can use butter to give the cornbread a special kick to make it taste better. I have used butter to give the cornbread more flavor.

What is the difference between New York cornbread and southern cornbread? ›

Southern cornbread has traditionally been made with little or no sugar and smaller amounts of flour (or no flour), with northern cornbread being sweeter and more cake-like. Southern cornbread traditionally used white cornmeal and buttermilk. Other ingredients such as pork rinds are sometimes used.

Can you use half-and-half in place of milk for cornbread? ›

Cornbread FAQ

Yes, you can, but it may result in a less rich flavor. If you're out of milk, try using cream or half-and-half, evaporated or powdered milk, or even plain yogurt. If you have dietary restrictions, try soy milk or oat milk.

What happens if I put 2 eggs instead of 1? ›

Eggs are responsible for giving baked goods structure, which means the amount you use directly affects the resulting texture. Using too few eggs will make your desserts dense, but using too many will make them rubbery. The explanation for this lies in the fact that eggs are made up of protein.

How to jazz up cornbread? ›

Heat and spices

You can stir in 1 cup of roasted chopped jalapeños or 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes or cayenne into the batter. Or, you can mix in 3 tablespoons of your favorite chile paste. Fields also recommends trying a little NOLA flair by adding a rounded ¼ teaspoon Cajun spice blend to your cornbread mix.

Why do Southerners not put sugar in cornbread? ›

Sugar in the cornbread interferes with the flavor of the vegetables. Don't put sugar in your cornbread! Traditional cornbread isn't sweet, but many favorite recipes have sugar in them.

What is cornbread called in the South? ›

Most people in the South, from white farmers to slaves, made multiple forms of cornmeal breads. Baked corn pones, skillet-baked Johnny cakes, ash cakes and hoe cakes cooked on hoe blades or griddles – “hoe” was an 18th century word for a griddle.

Which cornbread mix is not sweet? ›

Martha White Cotton Country Cornbread

It's flavor is classic, without sweetness or too much saltiness, but it's a white cornbread. Don't expect it to turn golden yellow the way other cornbreads might.

Should you let cornbread batter rest? ›

1Heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Note: We recommend allowing cornbread batter to sit for 10 to 15 minutes before baking, so if you prefer, you can delay heating the oven until you make the batter. 2Melt the butter, and then set aside to cool slightly.

Why does my cornbread fall apart when I cut it? ›

Cornmeal gives cornbread its classic color and flavor, but too much can make your bread crumbly. Try replacing a little bit of cornmeal with flour. The specific measurements will depend on how much cornmeal and flour is in your recipe, but you should try to have more flour than cornmeal in your batter.

Why does my Jiffy cornbread fall apart? ›

Why Is Jiffy Mix So Crumbly? The recipe on the box doesn't give the batter as much moisture as I like in my cornbread, which is why it can sometimes turn out crumbly. Adding in the sour cream and vegetable oil makes a huge difference and makes the best moist cornbread.

Should cornbread batter be thick or thin? ›

The consistency of the batter should be a bit like pancake batter—a little on the thin side. Thick batter can result in dry texture and cornbread that crumbles easily after baking. If you feel your batter is too thick, simply add a splash of extra milk.

Should I use milk or water for cornbread? ›

You can substitute water for milk on a one to one basis in your recipe. It won't be quite as rich, but it will be cornbread. There are plenty of recipes for hot water cornbread. The batter is made with cornmeal, salt, sugar, and boiling water.

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