How to Make Homemade Cornbread

This homemade cornbread recipe combines that traditional cornbread flavor with the perfect amount of sweetness. Top with butter, honey or your favorite preserve.

This sweet cornbread recipe will not disappoint.

Learning how to make cornbread is really a right of passage in the kitchen. I think back to my days of watching others cook and I have fond memories about the smells of a sweet cornbread recipe wafting through the house. 

I just love the way the house smell’s while baking cornbread from scratch inside your oven.

This is probably why I find myself making homemade cornbread up quite often. It’s not only a simple way to make a quick meal hearty but making cornbread from scratch is also a fast way to add an easy side dish option, too.

And stuffing. Our Cornbread and Sausage Stuffing recipe is out of this world good. 

Yes, you can use store bought or box made cornbread but why would you bother when you could make this recipe easily and still have about one quarter of it leftover after making the stuffing.

You definitely get the best of both worlds. Enjoy some of the best fresh cornbread and have the best cornbread sausage stuffing as a side dish for dinner.

Holiday or not you will not be disappointed in either recipe. Neither will your family or guests.

Homemade Cornbread Recipe

I’m always amazed when people tell me that they’re not a fan of cornbread. Honestly, I find this super hard to believe. The only reason that I question this is that maybe they just haven’t found a simple cornbread recipe that they like and have given up much too early. 

That has to be it, right? I say this because there are so many ways to enjoy cornbread and each one makes it taste totally unique and different!

You just have to start with a perfect recipe. Luckily you have found it so adjusting it is so easy.

Cornbread Options

Depending on who you ask, you’ll get different answers on how they like to eat their cornbread. Below are a few of the ways that you can easily change up the taste to enjoy cornbread for a multitude of meals.

Breakfast

Yep, you can totally enjoy cornbread for breakfast. This is actually a great way to use up your leftover cornbread and create a tasty and simple breakfast, too.

Just crumble up the cornbread and top with a little bit of milk and some extra honey or sugar. It’s like a homemade bowl of “cereal” that is full of good ingredients. (It’s also an easy way to create a breakfast that will stick with you all day long.)

Better yet have a look at our Blueberry Breakfast Cornbread which we have been known to enjoy at other times of the day too! The perfect dessert or late night snack on a movie night.

Lunch and Dinner

So many options for lunch and dinner! Eating cornbread by itself is totally a meal so just warm it up and top it with some butter or honey and go about your day.

You can also eat it as a side dish with meats, soups, or any other type of main dish as well. 

My son LOVES to make jalapeno cornbread and he could eat it at any time of day or night. Simply add ½ cup of diced jalapenos. 

Dessert

And yes, if you really wanted to, you could eat your cornbread for dessert. Some homemade jam on a slice of cornbread sounds like a perfect way to end any meal. 

See how many fun ways you can eat and enjoy your cornbread? Not only is homemade cornbread delicious when it’s fresh and warm from the oven but it’s also just as good to eat up as leftovers, too! 

Is corn flour the same as cornmeal?

It’s not but there are some people that treat it the same. Cornmeal tends to have a different texture and will also have a more vivid corn taste as well. This is why using cornmeal in cornbread is really what gives it that overall “corn” taste. 

What can you substitute milk for in cornbread?

If you’re not a fan of adding milk to your cornbread recipe, you can do a use different options instead. Using greek yogurt in place of milk can be one option or you can always use water to thin it out instead.

Keep in mind that if you do use water, it’s going to take away a bit of the flavor. It will also reduce the calorie and fat content of the cornbread recipe as well. 

Ready to learn how to make this simple and easy homemade sweet golden cornbread recipe?

Do you add sugar to cornbread?

There has long been a long standing debate about whether sugar should be added to cornbread and I mean long.

Historically, cornbread was made from stone-ground cornmeal, water and salt and cooked in a covered cast iron skillet or Dutch oven over hot coals. 

No flour and no sugar either. As a matter of fact, most recipes before the turn of the twentieth century did not include flour or sugar.

Never considered that but it does make sense now that I think about it.

With time, that simple, basic recipe has become the cornbread you know today.

Buttermilk, eggs, baking soda and baking powder were gradually experimented with to improve texture. Cornbread became lighter and less dense.

It’s just practically impossible to enjoy cornbread the way it was originally prepared in this day and age. You can’t find ingredients as they were made way back when. Even buttermilk is different and real buttermilk is near impossible to find now.

Since the Great Depression, real, white stone ground cornmeal all but vanished and was replaced with a yellow corn powder until recently.

For the record, I’m from the school where you include sugar. I’ve always enjoyed sweet cornbread just a little bit more than without.

Even if you can add butter, honey or preserves to it. I still prefer a sweeter cornbread. There’s just something about sweet, buttery cornbread that gets me every time.

I have trouble stopping eating it and I know how addictive this homemade cornbread is from scratch once you start. You will likely have the same problem.

How to Make Homemade Buttermilk Cornbread 

Ingredients needed to make southern cornbread