Best Cornbread Recipe
Posted Oct 07, 2020, Updated Nov 20, 2024
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The best cornbread recipe you’ll ever eat! It’s sweet and moist with a beautiful crumb, and has bursts of fresh corn in every bite. Plus this Homemade Cornbread is easy to make in 30 minutes – no mixer required.
Cornbread is the perfect companion to so many fall meals, chili (beef chili, chicken chili, turkey chili, etc), soups, etc. and it’s also a delicious holiday side dish.
This is the best cornbread recipe you’ll ever eat! It’s sweet and moist with a beautiful crumb, and has bursts of fresh corn in every bite (also try this corn pudding). Plus this Homemade Cornbread is easy to make in 30 minutes – no mixer required.
Homemade Cornbread Recipe: Ingredients & Substitutions
- Yellow Cornmeal. White cornmeal can be used in place of yellow, the final result will just have a different color.
- All-Purpose Flour. To make this cornbread recipe gluten-free, you can substitute an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend for the all-purpose flour. Bread flour and cake flour also work well.
- Salted Butter. Unsalted butter can be used in place of salted butter.
- Whole Milk. Fat content is important for the this homemade cornbread. You could use 2% milk, or half and half, but I don’t recommend other substitutions.
- Sour Cream. Again, full-fat is best. Greek yogurt can be used in place of sour cream.
- Granulated sugar and honey. I don’t recommend making substituions for the granulated sugar or honey. If you don’t love sweet cornbread you can reduce the amount of sugar but that is all I would recommend.
- Corn. Feel free to use fresh corn (cooked) from the Cobb or frozen and thawed corn.
How to Make Cornbread
People often wonder “How do you make cornbread from scratch?” Well you’re in luck because we’re going to walk through how to make cornbread step-by-step to ensure your success! And don’t forget to watch the video.
In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients (but not the sugar) and sea salt, then set the bowl aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together melted butter sugar and honey, making sure the sugar is completely dissolved. Add, milk, sour cream and eggs and whisk until smooth.
Next, add the dry ingredients to the whisked wet ingredients and stir/whisk until mixture is smooth.
Fold in corn kernels, gently stirring until they are evenly distributed throughout the cornbread batter.
Pour the cornbread batter into a prepared baking dish and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top is set, lightly golden-brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
Serve
Cool for at least 30 minutes before serving. Then serve warm with a generous slather of this cinnamon honey butter.
Here are some of our favorite recipes to enjoy with this homemade cornbread.
- CHILI! We love chili around here, beef chili, slow cooker chili, turkey chili and chicken chili are all great companions for this honey cornbread recipe.
- Soup. this butternut squash soup tastes amazing with a side of this honey cornbread, also try this vegetable soup, beef and barley soup, and this chicken and rice soup!
- This slow cooker pot roast is a great main dish to serve with this sweet cornbread.
- And of course, serve it as a side amongst all your favorite Thanksgiving Recipes.
- Serve it as a Thanksgiving or holiday side dish alongside this Roast Turkey and the best Turkey Gravy!
Store
Store any leftover cornbread in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 5 days. You can also use it to make the best cornbread croutons or this cornbread dressing!
How to Freeze Cornbread
Let the cornbread cool completely. Slice into individual servings and store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 months. If you plan on freezing it for a while, I recommend also tightly wrapping each slice of cornbread in plastic wrap before putting it in an airtight container.
Homemade Cornbread Recipe FAQs
This recipe makes very moist cornbread, if it turns out dry it’s likely that it was over-baked. Next time, shorten the baking time and be sure to use an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is heating to the proper temperature.
This recipe calls for yellow cornmeal, but white can be used as well it will just have a different color.
Yes, double the ingredients and bake in a 9×13″ baking dish.
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Best Homemade Cornbread Recipe
Ingredients
- ¾ cup yellow cornmeal
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ cup salted butter melted
- 1 cup whole milk
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 cup corn kernels (fresh or frozen & thawed)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees f. Grease a 9×9” square baking dish, set aside. (Note, you can use an 8×8” baking dish, you will need to bake a touch longer).
- In a medium bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together melted butter sugar and honey.
- Add, milk, sour cream and eggs and whisk until smooth.
- Add dry ingredients and stir/whisk until mixture is smooth.
- Fold in corn kernels.
- Pour into prepared baking dish.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top is set, lightly golden-brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean.
- Cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.
Video
Notes
- Yellow Cornmeal. White cornmeal can be used in place of yellow, the final result will just have a different color.
- All-Purpose Flour. To make this cornbread recipe gluten-free, you can substitute an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend for the all-purpose flour. Bread flour and cake flour also work well.
- Salted Butter. Unsalted butter can be used in place of salted butter.
- Whole Milk. You could use 2% milk, or half and half, but I don’t recommend other substitutions (with lower fat content)
- Sour Cream. Full-fat is best. Greek yogurt can be used in place of sour cream.
- Granulated sugar and honey. I don’t recommend making substituions for the granulated sugar or honey. If you don’t love sweet cornbread you can reduce the amount of sugar but that is all I would recommend.
- Corn. Feel free to use fresh corn (cooked) from the Cobb or frozen and thawed corn.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
So good and moist! I used canned corn and whoke milk greek yogurt and it worked out perfectly! 10/10
I’m so happy you love it, Jazmyne!
We’ve been making this recipe at least a couple times a month for a while now and it’s addictive!! It’s perfection as is, but have you ever added in bacon or cheese? Just wondering if I would need to adjust any ingredients if I did try it.
It lives up to the name! I hack mine to be GF and use a non-glycemic sugar, etc, but it is the best cornbread ever!!
I rarely comment on recipes but this is a FANTASTIC cornbread. I’ve made it several times now and even with various modifications it’s been foolproof (omitted the honey completely, tried spelt flour, tried whole wheat flour, tried brown sugar instead of granulated, tried kefir instead of sour cream, tried maple syrup instead of honey, etc. etc.). It’s been an absolute hit every time and barely lasts a day in this household. Thin crunchy exterior and soft, fluffy interior.
I’m going to try this recipe for my nephew’s open house, but since I’m needing to make so much, wonder if I can double or triple the recipe and use a sheet pan?
It looks amazing btw, and the great reviews convinced me to try it!
Thanks!
Awsome and sweet. Family loved it.
This is THE BEST cornbread ever! I sub out 1/2 the flour with gluten free flour and cut the honey and sugar in half. It’s still sweet and oh so delish!! Thank you for posting this…it will be forwarded to friends and family.
I made this cornbread on Thanksgiving i received so many compliments, it is moist, I tasted the kernels, a little crunchy, you can cook in advance, for my taste, the best I ever made! Thanks for the recipe!
Made these today for an early thanksgiving side for my family and they were delicious!! So moist and has that sweet and savory kick! Will be making for thanksgiving day to take to family gatherings!