How to Make Homemade Cornbread

A piece or cornbread missing a bite on a white plate.

How to Make Homemade Cornbread

Learn everything you need to know about how to make homemade cornbread that cooks up light, fluffy, and lightly sweet. It's the best traditional, southern-style, buttermilk cornbread recipe from scratch to serve as a side dish or use it to make homemade cornbread stuffing.

Prep Time10

Cook Time35

Cooling Time, divided20

Total Time1 5

Servings:

Calories: 264kcal

Author: Karin and Ken

Ingredients

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup fine yellow cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ cup light brown sugar packed
¾ cup frozen corn thawed
1 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
8 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 stick, melted and cooled slightly

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 8-inch-square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl until combined; set aside.
In food processor or blender, process brown sugar, thawed corn kernels, and buttermilk until combined, about 5 seconds. Add eggs and process until well combined (corn lumps will remain), about 5 seconds longer.
Using rubber spatula, make well in center of dry ingredients; pour wet ingredients into well. Begin folding dry ingredients into wet, giving mixture only a few turns to barely combine.
Add melted butter and continue folding until dry ingredients are just moistened.
Pour batter into prepared baking dish; smooth surface with rubber spatula.
Bake until deep golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 25 to 35 minutes.
Cool on wire rack 10 minutes; invert cornbread onto wire rack, then turn right side up and continue to cool until warm, about 10 minutes longer.
Cut into pieces and serve.

Notes

Be sure to check the full post above for more tips about the ingredients, variations, serving ideas, and more.

Combine dry and wet ingredients separately. This helps prevent over-mixing which can result in a tough, dense cornbread.

Ensure you don't over-bake your cornbread, which can lead to a dry, crumbly final product. Check for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of the cornbread. If it comes out clean, your cornbread is done.

Use buttermilk for a moist and rich flavor. If you don't have buttermilk handy, you can make a substitute by adding a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to every cup of milk and letting it sit for a few minutes before using.

Allow your prepared batter to rest for a few minutes before baking to improve your cornbread's texture. This allows the cornmeal to absorb liquids resulting in a more tender crumb.

Let the cornbread cool after baking for a few minutes before cutting into it to be sure the cornbread will hold its shape and not crumble.

DO NOT over mix your batter! That will make tough cornbread.

Nutrition