Fill your kitchen with the aroma of homemade cornbread! My family has been making this easy cornbread recipe for decades. The crisp golden crust and moist, fluffy center really can't be beat. If you have some cornmeal sitting in your pantry, cornbread is comfort food just waiting to happen.
If you're wondering how to make cornbread, this simple cornbread recipe is what you've been looking for. It makes buttery, perfect cornbread - every time. Plus, it only takes 25 minutes from start to finish! You can make it in a skillet or any baking dish, too.
Homemade Cornbread
This cornbread has been a staple for my family for years and years, but I realized a while back that I hadn’t created a post to share it with you! My family absolutely loves this cornbread and I'm sure your loved ones will too.
This cornbread is EASY. No buttermilk. Bake it in any pan. Ready in 25 minutes!
One of the reasons I love this cornbread recipe is that you don’t need anything fancy to make it. Many cornbread recipes require buttermilk or creamed corn or a very specific kind of pan. By comparison, my recipe is one you can make any day, any time, with what you have on hand. You can use any kind of pan and don't need any special ingredients. With just a few things you probably already have on hand you can make the best cornbread ever!
What Makes this the Best Cornbread?
Well for starters, it tastes DIVINE. It’s sweet but not over the top, soft but not cakey, and crumbly without being a plain mess. I can’t recommend it enough!
Plus, there's a lot of room to play with the recipe. Use melted butter OR oil, use fine OR medium ground cornmeal, use all-purpose flour OR a white whole wheat flour. Don't like a sweet cornbread? Feel free to reduce the sugar to as little as ¼ cup. It's perfect, the ingredients are simple, AND you can make it your own.
Cornbread Ingredients
- All purpose flour: All purpose flour will allow the bread to rise a bit and give it the spongy, caky consistency of bread.
- Yellow cornmeal: A must for cornbread! It give the bread its beautiful golden-brown color and the grainy, delicious consistency.
- Granulated sugar: This gives the bread a touch of sweetness it needs to balance out the corn and bread flavors.
- Salt: Just a pinch to bring out the complexity of flavors.
- Baking powder: To help the dough rise and expand as it bakes.
- Butter: This is a must -- it gives the bread a moist, flaky, rich flavor that is heavenly.
- Egg: This binds everything together and helps the bread to rise.
- Milk: For a rich, moist cornbread!
How to Make Cornbread
Okay, now let's get to the subject of this post: how to make homemade cornbread! You may be surprised to discover that baking a perfect pan of cornbread only requires a few easy steps:
- Grease a 9-inch round cake pan or cast iron skillet well and set aside. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- In a medium mixing bowl, add the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Whisk to combine well.
- Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients and add your oil or butter, milk, and egg. Stir just until the mixture comes together and there are only a few lumps remaining.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until the top is a deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Serve hot.
See! It's that easy. I love a side that comes together in a snap and is on the table in about 30 minutes.
Topping Ideas for Cornbread
Did you know that you can add fun toppings to cornbread that make it even more delicious to eat? Here are some of my favorite topping ideas for homemade cornbread:
- A drizzle of honey
- Butter
- Honey butter
- Jelly or jam
- Ham and cheese
- If you live someplace where you can get your hands on maple cream, that's amazing on cornbread too!
- Or just as it is
Serving Suggestions
I like to serve cornbread with beans or chili. It goes well with lots of things. My favorite thing is crumbling the cornbread into my chili, mixing it in, then sprinkling cheddar cheese on top. So good! It's a great side for any meal that needs a few extra carbs though.
Homemade Cornbread FAQs
What kind of baking dish should I use?
You can make it in a 9-inch round cake pan, square baking dish, or 9-inch cast iron skillet. Bonus! You can also make these into muffins or double the recipe and toss it in a 9x13-inch baking pan. You'll just need to adjust the baking time if you are making muffins or doubling the batch. Muffins take around 15 minutes to bake and a doubled recipe takes 35-40 minutes to bake.
What is the best kind of cornmeal to use for cornbread?
Use yellow cornmeal in this recipe. White works fine, but it just doesn't look the same. Golden yellow cornbread is a must. Also, don't try to sub any of the cornmeals used for making tamales - they are a different grind and the texture doesn't come out the same.
What is Cornmeal?
A lot of readers ask about cornmeal. What is cornmeal? What about polenta? It can be confusing. Cornmeal is dried and ground corn. It’s found in the baking aisle of grocery store. Cornmeal is just dried and then ground field corn and you can typically find it in a fine or medium grind. Both will work well for this recipes. Polenta and grits will also work in this recipe. Corn flour is more finely ground and can also be used.
What Can I Substitute for Vegetable Oil in Cornbread?
Another great thing about this particular tried-and-true cornbread recipe is you don’t NEED to use vegetable oil. You can use any mild oil you prefer, like canola oil, avocado oil, or even melted butter!
Why is My Cornbread Crumbly?
Ugh, isn’t overly crumbly and dry cornbread just the worst? If you’re experiencing just a little bit of crumble, that’s normal. It shouldn’t be true quick bread consistency, but it also shouldn’t be totally dry and feel like wet sand. Using too much cornmeal is one way to dry it out, so don’t skip out on the equal portion of flour.
What Should I Serve With Cornbread?
A lot of people love to pair cornbread with chili… for the obvious reasons (it’s amazing). But I love cornbread with so many other meals, too! It’s great with all kinds of barbecue or grilled meats. Its subtle sweetness makes it a great accent for spicy and meaty foods.
What is the ideal cornbread texture?
This recipe is perfect because it makes a delectable texture: spongy, moist, and soft, and just crumbly enough to sprinkle crumbs over chili. It's buttery and rich with just the right amount of sweetness.
Can I Make This Cornbread Gluten Free?
Yes! I have made this recipe gluten free by simple swapping out the all purpose flour for a gluten free baking blend (often labeled 1:1 gluten free baking blend) and it worked perfectly. This truly is the best cornbread recipe! It can be whatever you need it to be and still come out amazing.
Watch my video showing you how to make this easy cornbread recipe here:
The Best Homemade Cornbread Recipe
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: Serves 8-10 1x
Description
Fill your kitchen with the aroma of homemade cornbread! My family has been making this easy cornbread recipe for decades. The crisp golden crust and moist, fluffy center really can't be beat.
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ⅓ cup neutral oil or melted butter
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup milk
Instructions
- Grease a 9-inch round cake pan or cast iron skillet well and set aside. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- In a medium mixing bowl, add the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Whisk to combine well.
- Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients and add your oil or butter, milk, and egg. Stir just until the mixture comes together and there are only a few lumps remaining.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until the top is a deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Serve hot.
Notes
- You can make it it in a 9-inch round cake pan, square baking dish, or 9-inch cast iron skillet. Bonus! You can also make these into muffins or double the recipe and toss it in a 9x13-inch baking pan. You'll just need to adjust the baking time if you are making muffins or doubling the batch. Muffins take around 15 minutes to bake and a doubled recipe takes 35-40 minutes to bake.
- Use yellow cornmeal in this recipe. White works fine, but it just doesn't look the same. Golden yellow cornbread is a must. Also, don't try to sub any of the cornmeals used for making tamales - they are a different grind and the texture doesn't come out the same.
- To make this recipe gluten free simple sub the all-purpose flour for a gluten free 1:1 baking flour.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Baking
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: best cornbread, easy cornbread, skillet cornbread, gluten free cornbread, sweet cornbread, thanksgiving cornbread, how to make cornbread, southern cornbread, homemade cornbread
After you master this recipe (and you will!), I challenge you to learn how to make biscuits and gravy next. Also a staple in this house 🙂
More Cornbread Recipes:
- Sour Cream Cornbread
- Skillet Cornbread
- Whole Grain Cornbread
- Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins
- Homemade Cornbread Muffins
Easy dinner recipes to serve your cornbread with:
- Classic Ham and Bean Soup (Instant Pot or Slow Cooker recipe)
- Hearty 15 Bean Soup in the Instant Pot
- Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin and Potatoes
- Easy Slow Cooker Chili
- Quick and Easy Chili Recipe
- Side salad with any of these 9 homemade salad dressing recipes (a good dressing makes everything better)
Ohhh see how simple, flexible, and adaptable this recipe is? Now you can whip up a pan of cornbread any time the craving hits. It's so simple and this recipe will turn out perfect every time, just read the reviews!
Eva Madras
While this recipe was easy, I will not make this again. There is too much baking powder in this recipe, leaving an aftertaste with each bite. At 400 degrees for 20 minutes, it was not golden brown, but rather quite dark brown, although the interior of the cornbread was a nice golden colour.
★★
Karen
I messed it up and it was still delicious! I used Masa corn flour because I couldn't find the corn meal, also I didn't read the comment not to do that till afterward. It was harder to get in the pan and bumpy on top, but still so good! Fluffy, sweet. I lowered the sugar to 1/2 cup, which was just right.
★★★★★
Mo
Good recipe. I used two eggs because I was a little over in my dry ingredients. The form can out picture perfect! Also, I plan to cut back in the sugar some as I found it a little too sweet for my liking.
Dan Hutchinson
Hey I’ve done this recipe a few times and always a hit. Last time I did it in my cast iron divider pan that makes 8 wedges and had some left over so I put that in my cast iron pan that make seven small muffins and baked them together. Came out perfect. The kids at the dinner went nuts over the muffins. Needless to say there were no leftovers. Thanks you for the recipe and the tips.
★★★★★
Dorothy payetee
thank you for this best recipes you have for baking all kinds of cornbread. please try and help me my interest is to learn more about it. But now am living in Liberia. I hope that not only that side you willing to stay not carrying it out..Hopping to hear from you.
Monet Dufala
This was sooo delicious and easy, thank you for the recipe!
★★★★★
Michelle
We loved this recipe!! Perfect.
★★★★★
Jean
This was my first time making cornbread and it turned out perfect. Thank you for the recipe.
★★★★★
Lina Bonar
I was looking for a cornbread recipe and came across your recipe.
Let me tell you that I have tried many. But this cornbread is by far the best I have ever had. I will be making cornbread from now on. Thank you xoxo
Melissa
I made it as the recipe described and baked it in muffin tins for 15 mins as suggested. The flavor was SO good but mine came out a little dry. Any troubleshooting suggestions?
★★★★
Karla
This was the best cornbread I ever had and I made it!!!! THANKS
★★★★★
Ash
Just what I was looking for and it did a superb job with some vegan chili. I used oat milk, vegetable oil, and I think I’d recommend a toppled 1/3 cup sugar for people who don’t want it too sweet, came out just as you’d expect. Thank you (:
★★★★★
Melissa
Yay! That's totally why I love this recipe. You can make it vegan, make it gluten free, add cheese, lol and it's always good!
Angela
This is the best cornbread I've had in over 15 years. So easy to make and so moist and fluffy. It was a little bit too sweet for me but that can be fixed by simply cutting down on the amount of sugar called for. My boyfriend ( who LOVES sweet cornbread ) was very happy. This will always be my go-to recipe from now on. Thank you for a wonderful recipe.
★★★★★
Key
Delicious. I used a cast iron where I left it in the oven as it was preheating then let some avocado oil heat up with it (if you do it this way, it kind of fries the edges of the batter when you put it in there to bake).
Dairy-free version (delicious success): I doubled the recipe, used avocado oil, subbed full fat coconut milk for the milk (used only 1 can since I was adding in some canned corn), and I blended a can of corn with the wet ingredients (adding in corn like this was a tip from my southern grandmother).
Took 37 minutes to finish baking. Tastes like corn cake, almost. Super awesome. Thank you.
★★★★★
BobM
Hi - I’ve made this several times now. Great recipe. I always use melted butter and slightly less sugar than called for. It is really a hit in our house - thanks for the recipe!
Mily
It was my first time baking cornbread, so I made sure to follow all of the instructions perfectly. My cornbread was absolutely perfect. I loved it! Can’t wait to make it again soon. Thank you!
★★★★★
Sophia
Thank you. Easy and delicious. Had all the ingredients already. Used a cast iron skillet. I like how you gave alternatives for ingredients and baking dishes. No fuss recipe. My go to recipe.
★★★★★
Janice
Found this recipe about 3 months ago loved it, it was perfect for my family and me. I thought I had it written down and forgot where I had gotten thw recipe from. I googled about a month ago and couldn't find this delicious recipe. Then today I Google and glance over some other recipes and low and behold, I found it. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, reminds me when I was child and would eat Momma cornbread, not jiffy. I was a jiffy lover but this recipe won me over. No need to buy jiffy😊
★★★★★
Alice
Tried this recipe tonight to go with chili. Made it exactly as written. What a hit! I love a slightly sweet cornbread and this was perfect! We didn't even need butter because it was buttery enough. Thank you for sharing your families recipe, it's now going in my recipe box to be passed down through ours. 🙂
★★★★★
Tash
This is the best cornbread I have ever made, the recipe was spot on. For the oil I used coconut oil. Which I also used to grease the pan, otherwise recipe was followed exactly. The softest and most delicious cornbread not made by grandma. Do this recipe exactly as is and you will have amazing results.
★★★★★
Lawrence
I’m using my iPad and some of the words doesn’t come out the way I speak them or it changing them at the last minute on my last comment to the cornbread that I made should have said I should’ve put two eggs instead of one to keep it from getting too crumbly or use a little more cornmeal flavor was 100% on the mark 😋😛😛
Maxwell
I made this recipe using baking soda instead of baking powder and used fat free yogurt mixed 50/50 with the milk instead of just milk alone.
To cut back on calories I used 1/3 cup of Splendor instead of sugar. The results were delicious and I'll definitely be making it again!
★★★★★
Maxwell
I made this recipe using baking soda instead of baking powder and used fat free yogurt mixed 50/50 with the milk instead of just milk alone.
To cut back on calories I used 1/3 cup of Splendor instead of sugar.
The results were delicious and I'll definitely be making it again!
★★★★★