Best Cornbread Recipe
Updated Aug 24, 2026
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This easy homemade cornbread recipe is irresistibly moist, buttery and slightly sweet with a tender crumb. This easy cornbread recipe is made from scratch in 30 minutes with simple ingredients like cornmeal, butter, honey, sour cream and kernels of sweet corn in every bite!
I’ve been making this homemade cornbread recipe for years, and spent many years tweaking and perfecting this recipe to make the very best cornbread ever.
It’s a perfect side dish to serve with cozy dinners in the fall and winter like chili (beef chili, chicken chili, turkey chili, etc) and soup. It’s also a delicious holiday side dish to serve alongside roast turkey, pot roast and all your favorite Thanksgiving recipes. And, if you love corn, try my corn pudding too!
It’s easy to make in one bowl with no mixer, and it’s ready in about 30 minutes. Serve it warm with butter or cinnamon honey butter for a true treat!
Why You’ll Love This Cornbread Recipe
- So incredibly moist. No dry cornbread here, butter, milk and sour cream come in clutch and make the best cornbread ever.
- Perfectly sweet. A combination of honey and sugar gives it just the right amount of sweetness without it being too sweet.
- Rich corn flavor. Cornmeal and whole corn kernels give every bite a delicious flavor and texture.
- Easy to make. The batter comes together in minutes with a bowl and whisk — no mixer required.
- Ready in about 30 minutes. It’s an easy side dish for chili, soups, barbecue and holiday dinners.
I made this a few days ago and it was the best cornbread I’ve ever made! It was so moist and flavorful. It was perfect. I’m deleting all other corn bread recipes.
– Rebecca
Cornbread Ingredients & Substitutions
- Yellow Cornmeal. I use yellow cornmeal for the best color and classic cornbread flavor. White cornmeal works well too.
- 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. Melted butter gives this cornbread a rich, buttery flavor and helps create a soft, moist crumb. Salted or unsalted butter both work well. I don’t recommend substitutions.
- Whole Milk. 2% milk, half and half, or heavy cream work well.
- Sour Cream. Full-fat is best for moistness. Greek yogurt works well too! OR, you can substitute both the milk and sour cream for buttermilk (so a total of 1 ¼ cups buttermilk).
- Granulated sugar and honey. I don’t recommend making substitutions 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. One of the ingredients that makes this recipe special! Use cooked fresh corn or frozen corn that has been thawed.
How to Make Cornbread
This cornbread recipe is easy to make from scratch. Make sure you don’t overmix the batter or overbake the cornbread, which can make it dry. We’ll walk through the process step-by-step, and don’t forget to watch the video.
Begin by combining the dry ingredients (but not the sugar) and sea salt, then set the bowl aside.
Then, whisk the melted butter sugar and honey together in a large bowl (this is the bowl you’ll be mixing the batter in), making sure the sugar is completely dissolved. Then add the 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.
Evenly spread the 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. Let the cornbread cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Tips for Making Moist Cornbread
- Use full-fat dairy. Whole milk, full-fat sour cream and butter are the stars of this show – now is not the time to try to make something light! 😉
- Don’t overmix. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just until the batter is smooth and combined.
- Don’t overbake. This is the most important tip! Remove the cornbread when the top is lightly golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- Measure the flour correctly. I recommend measuring flour with a kitchen scale or using the scoop-and-level method so you don’t accidentally add too much.
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, bacon 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 making sweet corn and chicken soup, 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!
How to Store Cornbread
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.
More Delicious Cornbread Recipes
If you love this homemade cornbread, you’ll love these recipes:
- Cornbread croutons are the most perfect way to use up leftovers.
- This corn pudding is another “skip the mix” recipe made completely from scratch.
- Make single-serve portions with this cornbread muffins recipe.
- For a different stuffing on Thanksgiving, make this cornbread dressing.
Homemade Cornbread Recipe FAQs
The most common cause of dry cornbread is over-baking. Remove it from the oven when the top is lightly golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. You also could have used too much flour, make sure to measure it correctly either by using a scale and weighing in grams – or fluffing, scooping and leveling the flour.
Yellow cornmeal because is best because it gives the cornbread the perfect color and flavor, White cornmeal works in this recipe too, although the finished cornbread will be lighter in color.
Yes, double the ingredients and bake in a 9×13″ baking dish and you may need to increase baking time by about 5 minutes.
There are different styles of cornbread, and whether or not it should be sweet really comes down to personal preference and regional tradition. This is a sweet cornbread recipe made with both honey and sugar. You can reduce the sugar slightly if you prefer a less-sweet cornbread.
Using enough fat and dairy and not overbaking are the best “secrets” to moist cornbread. This recipe uses melted butter, whole milk and sour cream to create a soft, moist crumb. Remove it from the oven when a toothpick comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs and don’t overbake.
Yes. You can substitute the milk for buttermilk, or both the milk and sour cream for buttermilk.
I suggest making my cornbread muffins recipe, they’re super delicious and adjusted perfectly to make muffins!
If you make and love my recipes, it would mean so much to me if you would leave a comment and rating! And don’t forget to follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube – be sure to tag @joyfoodsunshine and use the hashtag #joyfoodsunshine so I can see your creations!
Best Homemade Cornbread Recipe
Video
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 Fahrenheit (204 degrees Celsius) Grease a 9×9” (23 cm) square baking dish, set aside. (Note, you can use an 8×8” (20 cm) baking dish, you will need to bake up to 5 minutes 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.
- Evenly spread the batter into the 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.
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.
Can I put it 10 inch cast iron skillt
It might be a little on the thin side, and you will need to slightly reduce bake time, but it will work.
Just delicious! My friends all loved it and wanted the recipe. I used the kernels from two cobs of corn and dusted them with a little flour so they would remain suspended in the batter. I added a pinch of cayenne for just a bit of heat. I thought the batter seemed a little thin so I added an additional handful of flour. I baked it in an 8×8 and it was done in 30 minutes, so watch it carefully! Super moist and not overly sweet.
I’m so happy you and your friends love this recipe!
I used red field cornmeal, and buttermilk instead of sour cream because that’s what I had on hand. This was very tender and moist. Next time I’ll cut the sugar a little, but I’ll definitely make this again. It was delicious!
Thank you so much Jodi!