Homemade Cornbread in 30 minutes
Homemade cornbread is slightly sweet with a tender crumb. Pair this easy quick bread with chili, soup or serve at your Thanksgiving dinner.
Happy (almost) Thanksgiving, friends! Today I’m sharing a recipe for cornbread. It’s an easy, quick recipe that you can make from scratch for your holiday meal. Just a few ingredients, a mixing bowl and baking pan is all you need to make classic Northern cornbread. Note this is a quick bread recipe, which means it will have the texture and sweetness of bread, not cake!
This will not be an overly sweet cornbread that you often find at your local grocery store or restaurant. It’s moist, light and tastes like corn. Also, notice how I said Northern cornbread. I grew up in New England and I will be the first to admit there is a difference between Northern and Southern cornbread. Northern cornbread calls for melted butter, yellow cornmeal and flour, while Southern cornbread requires bacon drippings, white cornmeal and hot water. Personally I love both types of cornbread!
Overview: How to make cornbread
Cornbread calls for yellow stone-ground cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, eggs, buttermilk, milk and butter.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients: cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- Mix together wet ingredients: eggs, buttermilk and milk in a separate bowl.
- Combine the dry ingredients and wet ingredients. Stir in the melted butter last.
- Bake the cornbread in an 8×8 baking dish at 425 F for 25 minutes. This high temperature will make the outside perfectly golden and slightly crusty while the inside stays moist. Let the cornbread cool for 10 minutes in the pan and serve warm.
Frequently Asked Questions
Cornbread is best when eaten the day it is made (it dries out quickly). However, it can be covered and kept at room temperature for up to two days. I suggest covering it with tinfoil in the 8×8 pan so you can reheat the cornbread when you’re ready to eat.
Homemade cornbread can be reheated in the oven at 350 F for 5 to 10 minutes. Serve warm with butter or as a side to your meal.
Cornbread can be frozen for up to two months if properly wrapped. Let cornbread cool completely and don’t cut. Use plastic wrap to tightly wrap the cornbread. Wrap it again with aluminum foil. When ready to eat, remove wrapping, place cornbread back in the 8×8 pan and bake at 350 until heated through.
Cornbread is supposed to be somewhat dry and crumbly. However, if it is too dry you may have cooked it a little too long. Also, the proportion of flour to cornmeal should be about equal. If the cornbread is still dry, try reducing the cornmeal by 1 to 2 tablespoons and replacing it with flour. See recipe card for high altitude adjustments, which affects moisture in baking.
What to serve with cornbread
There are plenty of meals that you can serve homemade cornbread with. Chili is a popular option. Check out my vegetarian sweet potato chili and slow cooker chicken chili. Other options include leftover turkey pot pie or you can make cornbread into cornbread stuffing (Carl’s Bad Cravings blog).
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Get the Recipe: Homemade Cornbread
crumb. It is a traditional Northern style cornbread that pairs well with chili
and holiday meals.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (120 g) yellow stone-ground cornmeal
- 1 cup (125 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 Tablespoons (25 g) granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup (160 ml) buttermilk, room temperature
- ⅔ cup (160 ml) whole milk, room temperature
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 3 Tablespoons (42 g) unsalted butter, melted and still warm
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425° F. Generously grease a metal 8×8 baking pan with butter. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In a small bowl (or directly in the liquid measuring cup), whisk together the buttermilk, milk and eggs. Pour the mixture into the bowl of the dry ingredients. Whisk just until combined (do not overmix). Add the melted butter and stir just until incorporated.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared pan gently tap on the counter to remove any air bubbles. Bake at 425° F for 23 to 25 minutes, or until the top is lightly golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cornbread cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then cut with a butter knife and serve warm.
8 Comments on “Homemade Cornbread in 30 minutes”
We love homemade cornbread! It’s my little girls absolute favorite. And I adore the idea of serving it at Thanksgiving dinner!!!
I love Southern cornbread and haven’t made a northern version in awhile, so this will be perfect with our bean soup today!
Great idea to add the buttermilk, I bet that makes it so light and fluffy. Also, thanks for the recipe tips – I’m learning a lot!
I had this cornbread last night with a big bowl of chili and it was an amazing combination. Everyone loved it and I can’t believe how easy it was to make homemade. Thank you!
Cornbread is one of my faves, and I love this from scratch recipe.
Hi, Haley!
After getting your recipe for Cornbread (by way of your 52 weeks of baking e-mails, thank you!) I was getting ready to make a batch when I noticed that the recipe calls for “1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder” which is also the same amount you say to decrease to in your High Altitude Adjustments (“Decrease baking powder to 1 ½ teaspoons. Increase both buttermilk and milk measurements to ¾ cup each.”) I’m sure that its just a typo but, if you get a minute, I would appreciate it if you could straighten me out on how much baking powder I should use (I live at a mile in altitude like you do). This guy likes to cook also and I am looking forward to trying this recipe (I was blonde too, but now my tail is Silver).
Thank you! 🙂
CJ
Hi CJ – Thanks for catching that! I live in Denver (altitude 5,280 ft) and I reduced the baking powder by 1/2 teaspoon. Hope this helps!
This is a really lovely cornbread/muffin recipe. Has become the only one I use. My 18 month old granddaughter waits for them to come out of the oven! Thank you!!