Skillet Cornbread
Super moist skillet cornbread provides buttery goodness with a perfect crumb and crispy edges. The right balance of sweet and tang makes an excellent accompaniment to any main dish, soups, and stews. It’s even great as a snack!
How can you pass up those crispy edges and soft and moist center with a beautiful crumb that melts in your mouth? Every time I take a bite, I do a happy dance.
That hint of tangy flavor from the buttermilk complements the sweetness from the honey so well. We love it sweet! And the jalapenos add a pleasant kick, but you can leave them out if you prefer. Sometimes, I eat a couple of big slices of cornbread and forget about the main dish!
Delicious Add-Ins for Cornbread
Let your imagination run wild and add either savory or sweet bits to this easy cornbread recipe. Whole corn kernels, diced bell peppers, olives, sausage, bacon, cheese, and caramelized onions for a savory version.
For a sweeter version, leave the chives and jalapenos out and add a couple of tablespoons of sugar, diced fruit like pears, apples, cranberries, blueberries, ground cinnamon or pumpkin pie spices, and grated cheese for a dessert version.
How to Make Skillet Cornbread
- Whisk the flour, cornmeal, baking soda, baking powder, salt, chives, optional jalapenos, and salt in a large mixing bowl. (Photo 1)
- Add the milk, buttermilk, and lightly beaten eggs to the dry ingredients and mix well. Mix in the melted butter and honey. (Photos 2-3)
- Pour the batter into a greased 10-inch skillet or 9-inch baking dish. (Photo 4)
- Bake for 18-20 minutes or until light golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Recipe Notes
- Make your own buttermilk with a cup of milk and a tablespoon of vinegar.
- Have all ingredients at room temperature for easier mixing.
Making It Ahead
You can store baked cornbread in the fridge for 4-5 days or the freezer for 3-4 months and thaw it overnight in the refrigerator.
What Loves to Pair With Cornbread
The perfect main dishes are beef stew and fried chicken. And collard greens and black-eyed peas are classic sides.
More Mouthwatering Cornbread Recipes to Enjoy
By Imma
Watch How to Make It
This blog post was originally published in July 2018 and has been updated with additional tips, new photos, and a video.
Skillet Cornbread
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups (150g) all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup (110g) cornmeal
- ½ teaspoon (3g) baking soda
- 1½ teaspoons (6g) baking powder
- 2 tablespoons (6g) diced chives, green onions, or other fresh herbs
- 1-2 tablespoons (15-30g) diced jalapenos (optional, but tasty)
- 1 teaspoon (6g) salt
- ½ cup (118ml) whole milk
- 1 cup (236ml) buttermilk
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 8 tablespoons (113g) unsalted butter, melted
- ¼-⅓ cup (84-110g) honey (see notes)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉ (180℃). Spray a 10-inch skillet or 9-inch square baking dish, and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, cornmeal, baking soda and powder, sugar, chives, jalapeno, and salt.
- Whisk in milk, buttermilk, and lightly beaten eggs until well combined. Then, add melted butter and honey and mix well.
- Pour the batter into the prepared skillet or baking dish. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until light golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Tips & Notes:
- Not everyone has a cast-iron skillet, so I adapted the recipe. I also replaced the sugar with honey for a healthier version. Here is the original recipe:
- Feel free to add a tablespoon or two of sugar for sweeter cornbread.
- For one cup of DIY buttermilk, mix 1-2 tablespoons of vinegar OR lemon juice with a cup of room temperature milk (whole, skim, 1% or 2%). Let it stand for 5 minutes before adding it to the cornbread mixture.
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on the ingredients used.
Made this for NY along with the black eyed peas stew, it was really good! My first time making both, and I just might add to my regular rotation. Thank you!
Hi Rebecca! I’m so glad you enjoyed it, especially for New Year’s! It’s an honor to make it into your regular rotation—thank you for trying it out!
I made the Black eyed peas and oh my they are to die for and I don’t even like black eyed peas! I’m making the cornbread now and the batter was a little more liquidy than your video. Is it 8tbspn of melted butter (measured after melted) or 8 Tbspns and then melt it? Still in the oven so if it doesn’t cook through I will try it with only 8 tbspn melted.
There’s not much difference between the two. So many things can affect the batter: humidity, altitude, measuring methods, etc. I would be tempted to add another spoonful of cornmeal if your batter is too thin.
My only difference is I melt a half of stick of Butter, (Not Margarine) in a cast iron fry pan, melt the butter in the oven till it has a brown kind of look, pull it out of the oven add the batter and return to oven cook accordingly ( remember cast iron is really hot when removed from the oven). It gives it a crispy bottom which my husband absolutely loves!
As I sadly do not have a skillet yet, what would you recommend I use for baking. Could a 2-quart dish, maybe a 9″ circular baking pan, or a baking sheet?
Thanks!
Hello Kyle! Yes, you may use a 2-quart baking dish or a 9” circular baking pan, make sure to grease or spray the baking pan before pouring in the batter. 🙂
8 in round cake pan, square works too..
This melted in my mouth! I have been challenging myself to cook more at home to lose weight and save some money but I never knew what to make. I grew up in the Caribbean so was looking for some foods with some flavor (unfortunately the American blogs were not doing it for me). Then I saw your site and saw African and Caribbean recipes. Maybe this is it. It was a winner! Every single thing I’ve made from your site has been amazingly delicious and left me craving more.
I ended up using masa flour for this recipe since that was what I had in hand. I should have added some corn kernels to get a bit more of that corn flavor but even still this was light and fluffy. I was a little sceptical of the jalapeno and chives (I used green onions) but found they enhanced the flavor beautifully without being overpowering. Each week I look forward to making something else from this site. Please keep it up!
Awww. Thank you for the kind words. So glad to have you here. And thank you for trying out my recipes.
I appreciate your blog so much, and your recipes are wonderful Imma! Cheddar cheese would be a great additional along with the jalapenos too!
Oh yesss. Thanks for the input! And thanks for stopping by. 🙂
This looks wonderful, for some reason I stopped making cornbread for about 20 yrs,(family I guess) but now every time I try It comes out flat. I use an iron skillet, but still!! So I can’t wait to try this recipe, and the mention of cheddar cheese sounds great, but would it go flat because of the addition?, Thx Nanci
Hi, Nanci. I don’t think it’ll go flat with the addition of cheddar. I’m excited though on how it turned out for you. Please do let me know. Hope this will bring you back into making more cornbread. Happy new year!
Thank you for sharing such beautiful recipes
Cornbread is delicious
Hello, I couldn’t find a spot to post a comment so just pressed REPLY. Great blog! Is there a way to make cornbread gluten free? I’m trying to reduce or eliminate gluten from my diet, but finding the whole concept of GF baking to be quite stressful…. the various flours that all look and feel the same but are quite different. What would you use here in lieu of regular flour?
Thanks!
You can use corn flour or replace the flour with cornmeal and add an extra egg. An all-purpose gluten-free flour blend should also work fine as it usually has a binder that replaces the work of the gluten.