Best Cornbread Recipe (from Scratch) (2024)

FAQs

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.

Adding about 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of extra butter or vegetable oil can increase the moistness of your cornbread. You can do this even if your recipe doesn't call for butter or oil. Replace milk or water with creamed corn. If your recipe calls for milk or water, try replacing it with creamed corn.

As for the best cornmeal for cornbread, either fine- or medium-grind cornmeal is a great choice. Medium-grind cornmeal will bring slightly more texture and grittiness to the batter, which you may or may not want (it's up to you!). You can use fine or medium cornmeal in these extra corny muffins.

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.

It ranges in texture from fine to coarse. For this recipe, I like to use coarse cornmeal because it adds that traditional cornbread texture.

Let the batter sit before baking.

We found that if you leave the batter to sit at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes before baking it, the cornmeal has some extra time to absorb flavor from the other ingredients and the leaveners (baking powder and baking soda) get a head start.

The extra egg which is increased protein and binder makes the cornbread denser and heavier in texture. Can I add flour to Jiffy cornbread to make more batter?

While not a professional chef, my experience with corn bread, be it packaged or made from scratch is if you over mix it, it's gonna fall! Also, let it sit for 4-5 minutes after gently scraping it into the pan and let the ingredients start their magic reactions. No peeking while baking!! That can make it fall too.

Should you soak cornmeal before making cornbread? ›

Soaking the cornmeal in buttermilk for a few hours, or even overnight, tenderizes the large grains of cornmeal, making the bread more moist and tender. This step is optional, however, and the bread is still delicious without the soaking step.

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.

The thing that distinguishes Southern cornbread from, say Yankee cornbread, or any other cornbread one is likely to eat outside of the southern states, is that it is savory, not sweet, and it is made mostly with cornmeal.

Southerners, on the other hand, tend to prefer white cornmeal. Many people believe that it is because, in the old South, families used white cornmeal as it more closely resembled “fancy” European wheat flour. In any case, today it remains a main component in traditional Southern buttermilk cornbread.

The Difference In Cornbread Lies In These Key Ingredients

Also, Southern-style cornbread should contain very little sugar and flour, and if you can, get your hands on stone-ground cornmeal. If you favor moist, sweet Northern-style cornbread, use flour and sugar liberally in your mix.

In a large mixing bowl, mix dry ingredients: cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; Set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and buttermilk. Pour the mixture into the dry ingredients and mix well. Take the cast iron skillet out of the oven and pour the batter into it.

While on its own, Southern cornbread may be underwhelming, it's neutral flavor and crumbly texture make it the perfect vessel to soak up liquidy foods, like cranberry sauce or turkey gravy. Or, it can be eaten on its own, perhaps mixed with gooey cheese or spicy jalapeños.

Real, traditional, Southern-style cornbread is savory, not sweet, and always has been.