Skillet Cornbread

This moist and sweet skillet cornbread is a family favorite. Its crisp edges, tender crumb, and buttery, sweet taste make it a great choice for any occasion. Better than Grandma’s cornbread, this will quickly become your go-to recipe.

This skillet cornbread is perfect every time, without being dry and crumbly, with just the right amount of sweetness and crispy edges. If you like this recipe, you must try corn muffins, corn fritters, and cornbread salad, and yes, you can substitute this cornbread in the cornbread salad.

The baking of cornbread stretches back to the discovery of the New World. Back then, settlers referred to cornbread as hoecakes because it could be baked on a garden hoe over an open fire. It was a simple mixture of cornmeal, water, cooking fat, and sometimes salt. It wasn’t until later when additional ingredients became easier to obtain. that butter, eggs, milk, buttermilk, sugars, and leaveners were added, thus turning the dense, flavorless hoecake into a sweeter, lighter corn cake.

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

See the complete list of ingredients below on the recipe card.

• Cornmeal: Yellow cornmeal is more common in cornbread, but you can use white cornmeal, too.
• Sugar: I use a combination of granulated and brown sugar. You do not have to use sugar, but I like my cornbread sweet.
• Milk: whole milk or 2%
• Sour cream: full-fat is best for flavor and texture
• Butter: unsalted. If using salted butter, reduce the added salt to 3/4 teaspoon.

How to Make Cornbread

This is the summary version; for the complete list of ingredients and instructions, see the recipe card below.

First, coat a 9 or 10-inch cast-iron skillet with oil or vegetable shortening and place it in a 400-degree oven.

Whisk the flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Mix the granulated and brown sugars, eggs, milk, and sour cream in a large bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in several increments, alternating with the melted butter. Mix just until combined

Carefully remove the skillet from the oven. Add the cornmeal batter and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Preparation Tips

• If you don’t have a cast-iron skillet, use an 8×8 or 9×9 inch square baking dish coated with oil or vegetable shortening and heat it in the oven just like the cast-iron skillet.
• Use some fat to grease the skillet. Think butter, vegetable shortening, bacon grease, or vegetable oil.
• Mix the batter just until combined. Avoid overmixing to steer clear of tough and dense cornbread.

Recipe Variations

There are several ingredients to add to your cornbread batter for additional flavor, texture, and variety.

• One cup fresh or canned and drained, or frozen and thawed corn.
• One cup shredded cheddar cheese or pepper jack cheese.
• A couple of jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced.
• One half cup finely sliced scallions.
• Six slices of crispy cooked bacon, coarsely chopped.
• One roasted red bell pepper, finely chopped.
• One (7-ounce) can diced green chiles, well drained.

Serving Suggestions

I love to serve this cornbread with ham and beans, collard greens, pulled pork, and Calico beans. Of course, you can never go wrong with crockpot chili, white chicken chili, turkey chili, or Texas chili.

More Corn Recipes

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