The Best Cornbread Recipe
This easy cornbread recipe is extremely moist, made with buttermilk and real corn, and it comes together in less than 10 minutes. It will become your go-to recipe to enjoy alongside ribs, chili, or any of your favorite meals!
Let’s talk cornbread.
If I go to a restaurant and open the menu and see cornbread listed somewhere, I feel like I’ve hit the jackpot. Bonus points if it’s served piping hot with some honey butter on the side. The absolute best restaurant cornbread I’ve ever had was at Copper Canyon Grill in Rockville, Maryland. I could have eaten the entire pan and made it my meal, but I restrained myself.
When I make cornbread at home, I always turn to this recipe, which has been my go-to for well over 10 years now. It’s an extremely quick recipe to prepare, comes out wonderfully moist every single time, and the leftovers stay fresh for days.
I’ve tried many others, and while there are tons of great cornbread recipes out there, I always come back to this one. It’s simply the best.
How To Make a Cornbread Recipe From Scratch
I know.
It’s super easy to grab a cornbread mix, add a couple of ingredients and toss it into the pan, but honestly? This is not much more involved and it tastes SO much better!
Let me show you how to make fabulous, old-fashioned cornbread without the mix…
If you keep a bag of corn in the freezer and buttermilk in the refrigerator, you will likely have everything you need to throw this together in less than 10 minutes.
All it takes is a bowl, a blender or food processor, and a spatula. That’s IT!
- First, whisk together your dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- Then, bust out your food processor or blender and give the corn and buttermilk a quick spin. Add the eggs and process a few seconds longer.
- Add your blended corn mixture to the dry ingredients and stir together briefly, then add the melted butter (mmmm butter!) and stir until mostly combined. BIG TIP: Do not overmix! You just want to make sure the dry ingredients are moistened, but lumps are okay!
- Spread it into a square pan and pop it into the oven. Done!
The resulting cornbread is crusty on the outside, moist on the inside and loaded with bits of real corn.
It is absolutely delicious all on its own, but I will also never turn down a smear of salted butter (or honey butter if you’re kicking things up a notch!).
If You Like This Cornbread Recipe, Try These:
- Cornbread Muffins
- Cornbread Casserole
- Sweet Corn Spoon Bread
- Sausage Cornbread Stuffing
- Skillet Cornbread
- Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread
Four years ago: Crispy Potato Latkes
Five years ago: Applesauce Snack Cake with Oat-Nut Streusel
Six years ago: Cake Batter & Sprinkles Chocolate Bark
Nine years ago: Peach Crumb Bars
The Best Cornbread Recipe
Ingredients
- 1½ cups (187.5 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (159 g) yellow cornmeal
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon (0.75 teaspoon) table salt
- ¼ cup (55 g) light brown sugar
- ¾ cup (123 g) frozen corn kernels, thawed
- 1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup (113.5 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray an 8-inch square glass baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt until combined; set aside.
- In a food processor or blender, process the sugar, thawed corn kernels and buttermilk until combined, about 5 seconds. Add the eggs and process until well combined (corn lumps will remain), about 5 seconds longer.
- Using a rubber spatula, make a well in the center of the dry ingredients; pour the wet ingredients into the well. Fold the dry ingredients into wet, giving the mixture only a few turns to barely combine; add the melted butter and continue folding until the dry ingredients are just moistened (do not overmix!).
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and smooth the surface with a rubber spatula. Bake until deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then invert cornbread onto wire rack, turn right side up and continue to cool until just warm, about 10 minutes longer. Cut into squares and serve. Leftovers can be stored, covered, at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Notes
- To freeze the baked cornbread, cool completely then wrap well in plastic wrap, then in aluminum foil, place in a ziploc freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Allow to thaw in the refrigerator, then remove the foil and plastic wrap, wrap loosely in aluminum foil and reheat in 350-degree oven until warmed through, 20 to 30 minutes.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
Update Notes: This recipe was originally published in September 2007. It was updated in July 2015 with new photos, then refreshed in September 2018 with more new photos and extensive recipe tips.
[photos by The Almond Eater]
What about just canned corn since I have no frozen or creamed.
Hi! Which flour would you use to substitute so it can be gluten free?
Hi, I may have over mixed in this… what will happen? Dense cornbread??
You are and have been one of my supreme favorite chefs on line
Your recipes are fab and you make them so easy to make with your teaching
Techniques. Plus…they taste so good !!!! Thank you for sharing !!
This recipe is delicious. I followed the recipe exactly, except I thoroughly processed the corn per personal preference. Thank you for such a wonderful recipe!
Made this yesterday along with your Italian wedding soup. This is a great recipe-moist cornbread with great flavor. Will definitely use this recipe again.
I made the corn bread tonight. It came out good, although I think I may have undercooked it a bit.
The next time I make it, I thought about putting either jalapeños in it, or maybe some pepper jack cheese for a little kick. If I did put in the cheese, how much would you recommend ?
Thanks !
Hi Donna, I would probably use 3-4 ounces!
Why dirty the food processor? Use creamed corn instead, you still get pieces of corn and the cream mixture produces a really moist bread. Also, I only use 1 Tbsp. of sugar, the corn is already sweet.
I had a can of creamed corn sitting in the pantry so I gave this substitution a try. It does indeed produce a bread that is so moist that I kept baking the bread (for almost twice as long!) thinking it was underdone. I’ll have to try the regular recipe next as a comparison, but this substitution isn’t bad in a pinch.
If you ever ate at a Tippin’s restaurant, you’d remember their fluffy, sweet, scrumptious cornbread. The copycat recipe for it uses two boxes of Jiffy Cornbread Mix and on box of Jiffy Yellow Cake Mix. When combined per the box instructions, it makes a 9 x 13″ pan of cornbread. I make an 8″ pan using one box of Cornbread Mix & one half box of Cake Mix. You could add corn or cheese if you wanted to. You might give it a try.
I decided to make this cornbread for dinner tonight and I’m glad I did! It is really delicious. This will be my go to cornbread recipe from now on.
Hi Michelle _- Love the idea of not using a corn bread mix! If I wanted to incorporate this with those “Creamy Corn Casserole” recipes that require the corn bread mixes, do you know how I can do this? ~ Many thanks!!
Hi Marie! I would have to do some experimenting to see if just using the dry ingredients would work, although I imagine it might!
Hi…Michelle…this cornbread looks soo yummy & delicious, this is one of my favorite recipe till now as well. i will trying to making this cornbread…..! Thanks for sharing….!
Very popular at the New Years Day meal we had. Fluffy, moist, and tasty! Recipe is Easy to follow and forgiving, I messed up on one of the steps and it still came out tasting great. Hands down the best cornbread I’ve made.
I made this exactly as posted. I didn’t like it because the cornmeal stayed hard even after cooking it. I also felt it needed to be a little sweeter.
Hey, Michelle! Just popping in to let you know I’ve included your cornbread recipe in my mini round-up of cornbread recipes on Taste As You Go. :)
HI!
If I wanted to make this recipe without the corn kernels, should I sub in more flour or cornmeal or some other ingredient? Or just leave them out. Not sure how that would affect the volume or the baking time of the finished product.
Thanks!
Hi Taylor, I’ve never tried to omit all of the kernels, I’m not sure what type of substitution would be necessary, if any.
Hi Michelle and Taylor-
I made this recipe last night and omitted the corn kernels because I didn’t have any. Everything else was left the same including the baking time. It turned out great! Moist and delicious. This is now my go to recipe for cornbread! Next time I will try it with the corn. Thanks Michelle!
Thanks for letting us know how it is without corn kernels. Not something I keep in my freezer for nor do I have the food processor. So glad to know it still makes good cornbread.
Have you ever tried a double batch in say a 9×15″pan? Thoughts?
Hi Kathy, If you double, I would put it in a 9×13-inch pan. Enjoy!
Excellent! I have had several fails with homemade cornbread. I can never get it to taste like what I’ve had in restaurants or in mixes (Trader Joe’s being our favorite!). This one rivals both in taste and texture. Thanks for the recipe!
Nice images. Thanks for sharing the Cornbread recipe.
These photos are making me crave cornbread! :) I have tried various recipes through the years but don’t have one yet that I’m partial to. I am bookmarking this one to try soon; I have never seen brown sugar used in cornbread and am interested to see/taste how it will turn out! :)
I’m laughing…i live close to Rockville, MD. Never have been to the restaurant u mention, now I’m going to have to try it. Anything else you want to recommend here. We can’t find a decent Italian restaurant, but we are spoiled from growing up in Rochester NY
Hi Lisa! My husband lived near there for about six years (and for the first couple of years that we were dating, so I visited often!). I don’t recall ever going to an Italian restaurant, but Vasilis in the Kentlands in Gaithersburg is the best Greek restaurant I’ve ever been to… Jackie’s in Silver Spring is phenomenal.
I live in Australia and I don’t think we can get cornmeal here. Is polenta the same thing? I grew up in Canada, never had cornbread but I still remember coming home at lunch to my mom’s cornmeal muffins. Those were special days!
Hi Wendy, Polenta is made from cornmeal… as long as what you’re buying is the ground corn and not prepared polenta, that will work!
I also use a cast iron skillet. Can’t remember ever making it in anything else.
I’m a big fan of Cook’s Illustrated, but when it comes to cornbread I’m all about the cast iron skillet. Sorry C.I.
They do have a cast iron skillet recipe as well… I don’t know if I just fail every time, but they always come out a little dry for me!
I’m sorry Michelle, I love your recipes but I couldn’t imagine cornbread not made in a cast iron skillet. If only you could replicate that deep golden crust that the bacon fat creates as it fries the batter pouring into the hot cast iron pan, yielding a crisp crust encapsulating an ever moist and delicate crumb – yum!
I was just going to suggest that she heat up oil/bacon grease in the cast iron skillet before adding the mix. That is the way my grandma’s always made it, and I agree, so delicious.
My folks put half a stick of butter in the cast iron skillet, and lets it melt in the oven while the oven preheats. It makes all the difference–you don’t need it to stay fresh more than a couple days, because it won’t be around that long!
Also, I can’t begin to say how wrong adding sugar to cornbread is. To each their own, I guess.
Hi Michelle,
Absolutely great website! I plan on making this corn bread and I wanted to know if I can substitute the butter with sunflower oil?
Hi Sarah, I think that doing so would affect the final the texture and taste.
Thanks Michelle! By the time I got your response I had already decided to use margarine. It was truly fantastic! Everything you describe it to be: crunchy just yum! I made this with your creamy basil tomatoe soup but I used 16 fresh tomatoes cause where I live they are tonnes cheaper and more available. Perfection!! Thanks for these great recipes-My family and I are thoroughly enjoying them-even my LO (9 months) been doing one to two recipes a week and they really give me something to look forward to each week :-) Thankyou so much!!
Hi! Can I double the all- purpose cornbread?
Hi Julie, I haven’t done so, but I think it should work okay.
Any idea how long this keeps for? Id like to make it ahead of time… Friday for a party Sunday. Thoughts?
Hi Trina, It’s definitely best fresh. If you make it two days ahead of time, be sure to wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. You might want to warm it up when you serve it if it seems a little dry.
Recipe looks great, but I can’t pin this because non of the pictures are being isolated there.
will have to try this – mine is similar, but never thought to use brown sugar and I usually bake it in cast iron
HI MIchelle – just to let you know, I’m having a hard time pinning this – it says I need to provide the image url or something.
Hi Courtney, I was just able to pin it without a problem. Maybe try restarting your browser and give it another go.
What about a laye of crumbled bacon, cubed ham, or sliced sausage to the top?
Love your website, Pamela
Hi Pamela, All of those sound delicious!
I made these with a slow cooker chili recipe that I found online. They were good, but I think I might have overmixed my batter accidentally. I just kept seeing so many dry flour clumps everywhere! I was mixing and mixing and mixing… Definitely not “only a few turns”. Whoops!
Just made these with whole wheat pastry flour and they came out great!
Great cornbread recipe! I am having a Halloween party with chili on menu and I can’t wait to whip up the cornbread. Thanks for all the great ideas!
Thanks
This looks and sounds awesome! I will have to keep it in mind for when I make chili this fall/winter.
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I love sugar in my cornbread, but never thought to do brown sugar. This sounds fantastic!
i’ve been looking for a good cornbread recipe, thanks!