Savory Corn Muffins with Bacon, Cheese & Onion

This is it if you're looking for the best corn muffin recipe. Savory corn muffins with bacon, cheese, and onion are perfect for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

This homemade corn muffin recipe yields the most scrumptious muffins you'll ever taste. With or without jalapenos, mini or regular, they're a delight.

The best way to improve already delicious breakfast corn muffins is to add bacon, onions, jalapenos and cheese. These inarguably exceptional cornbread breakfast muffins or treats are very easy to make and they are so good, you'll want to make several batches at a time. Both mini and regular sized.

I'm not even kidding.

If you have a five-pound bag of cornmeal sitting in your pantry and you aren't sure what to do with it, read on for this fantastic savory corn muffins recipe. Not only are they the easiest homemade corn muffins to make they taste amazing and freeze so well.

You'll likely always make a double batch, just like I do.

Corn muffins are the perfect snack or side dish. My son even makes small sandwiches with them for work or when looking for a quick bite to eat. He loves these homemade corn muffins (especially when I make him jalapeno corn muffins!) and wished I could make them into a loaf!

If you love easy muffin recipes like this, you need to check out Air Fryer Blueberry Muffins, and Coffee Doughnut Muffins.

These bacon cheese corn muffins, or corn bacon muffins as my grandson calls them, pair very well with Tater Tot Breakfast Bake, and Loaded Egg Casserole. I like these together for brunch or a special occasion breakfast.

For more muffin recipes check out our Fall Muffin Recipes list of all of our favorites. I think you'll be glad you did.

Why You Will Love This Recipe

• This corn muffin recipe can easily be customized.
• The recipe comes together quickly.
• The whole family will love these corn muffins!
• It is a great grab-and-go breakfast.
• The hearty muffin is a meal in itself.

Ingredients for Savory Corn Muffins

Don’t be intimidated by the list of ingredients in this easy to make loaded cornbread muffins recipe. You probably have a lot of the ingredients in your pantry already. 

• Cheddar Cheese: Fresh grated cheese is always best and you can substitute any kind of cheese or cheese bland you like. Colby Jack, Mozzarella, Provolone or a Mexican Cheese Blend would all work great.
• Bacon: Use bacon that you enjoy. Maple bacon is always a nice option.
• Green Onions: Use diced red, yellow or white onions instead.
• Jalapenos: Or your favorite hot pepper diced, if desired.
• Salt and Pepper - Total flavor enhancers.
• All-Purpose Flour: The foundation of most baked goods.
• Fine-Ground, Whole-Grain Yellow Cornmeal: Necessary to make perfect corn muffins.
• Baking Powder and Baking Soda: Leavening agents to make sure your baked goods rise.
• Eggs: Large eggs add structure and hold your baked goods together.
• Sugar: Adds necessary sweetness.
• Unsalted Melted Butter: Adds richness and allows ingredients to blend together nicely.
• Sour Cream: Adds moisture to your baked good.
• Milk: Both 2% and whole milk work fine here.
• Cooking Spray: Butter will work for greasing too.

Substitutions and Variations

Don’t have the correct ingredients on hand to make these corn muffins or corn flour muffins? Or want to change something up? Here are some helpful tips for you to change this corn muffin recipe.

• If you prefer the tanginess of buttermilk, you can use it instead of the milk. Buttermilk also helps create a moist crumb.
• Substitute the bacon for diced, cooked ham.
• Spice things up! The corn muffin recipe calls for optional jalapenos, however you could also add some diced green chiles or a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes to the recipe. My son enjoys and insists upon adding heat to food. I can't think of any savory food that he doesn't add some sort of hot sauce, sriracha, or jalapeno or serrano peppers too.

How to Make the Best Corn Muffins

Here are the step-by-step photos and instructions for making the best corn muffin recipe. A recipe card with complete instructions for making these savory corn muffins with bacon, cheese and onion is available at the bottom of the page.

1. Preheat oven and prepare muffin pan.

2. Fry bacon until crisp, add green onions, a pinch of salt and pepper, and stir for less than a minute. Allow mixture to cool on a plate.

3. In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine and set aside.

4. Get your muffins ready. This isn't just a good recipe, it's a great one!

5. In a medium bowl grab a fork and scramble your eggs.

6. Add sugar to eggs and whisk until thickens.

7. Slowly add butter, stirring after each addition.

8. Add half the sour cream and milk. Whisk until combined. Add remaining sour cream and milk. Keep whisking until blended.

9. Add cheddar cheese, bacon mixture, jalapenos, if using, to your wet ingredients.

10. Next, add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and combine using a spatula. Do not over mix.

11. With a large spoon, ice cream scoop or whatever you prefer, divide batter amongst the muffin cups, regular or mini. They will form uneven looking mounds, if you will.

Do not flatten the mounds at all. Just gently place cheese on top of each raw corn muffin, as much as will fit.

13. Place corn muffins until a gorgeous golden brown color and a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, between 17 and 19 minutes for regular muffins or 10-12 for mini corn muffins.

14. Remember to rotate baking sheet midway through baking.

15. Allow muffins to cool in muffin pan for 5 minutes before placing on top of a rack for another few minutes to cool.

Serve warm if possible and enjoy every bite, then please leave a comment to let me know if you agree this is the best corn muffin recipe you've ever tried.

If you like recipes like this, you might also enjoy homemade dinner rolls.

Storage

• Refrigerator: Store these savory corn muffins in an airtight container or re-sealable bag. If you are making ahead of time, I recommend that you store it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days and then take out and warm it slightly on the stovetop before serving.
• Freezer: Allow bacon and cheese corn muffins to cool down completely first and then wrap it in a layer of plastic covering the cornbread tightly before placing in freezer safe container. To thaw, place on counter for about 2 hours or until warm to touch.
• Reheat: To heat up, microwave the corn muffins for 30 seconds at a time until warm all the way through. Or you can reheat the muffins in the oven at 325 F degrees for a few minutes, just enough to warm up the cornbread. This should take about 5 to 10 minutes.

Tips for Loaded Cornbread Muffins

• Use freshly grated cheese. Pre-grated cheese contains preservatives that prevents it from melting well during cooking.
• Usually, cornbread is served as a side dish while homemade corn muffins, due to their sweetness are traditionally seen as more of a desert. These corn muffins are very savory and work best as a side dish or even a complete snack (jalapeno corn muffin anyone?).
• How to prevent dry corn muffins. Cornmeal doesn't have the gluten content to hold corn muffins together, so flour is needed to help it combine with the other ingredients. This recipe calls for all-purpose flour, which is easy to find and usually a safe bet. If the homemade corn muffin batter is not thick enough it will need more flour to allow the ingredients to bond better and produce less crumbly cornbread.
• To ensure moist, tender corn muffins be careful to not overmix the batter. Whisk and stir just until ingredients are combined.
• Use an ice cream scoop, to add the batter into the muffin pan. An ice cream scoop is the perfect size for a muffin tin. If you don't have an ice cream scoop, you can use a large spoon, but that's not as easy.
• Alternatively, pipe the batter into the muffin tin using a plastic bag with a corner snipped off. In order to fill the bag, prop it up in a vase or a pitcher. Fold the top over the rim of the vessel and pour, scraping whatever is left from the bowl into the bag.
• Rotate the muffin pan once during baking, to ensure the heat is evenly distributed, resulting in more uniform muffins.

FAQ

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Ready to get cooking? Remember that you can print this recipe if you would like.

This post was originally published August 2022. It has been updated with new images and content.