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Hi Bold Bakers!
One of my all-time favorite savory things to bake is cornbread! Full of texture, both salty and sweet, there is nothing like homemade cornbread dipped into a big bowl of chili or slathered with my Homemade Butter and a drizzle of honey! Baked in a cast iron skillet and studded with spicy jalapeños and cheddar cheese, this is my Best-Ever Cornbread recipe! Once you give it a try you will never look at boxed cornbread the same way again.
I would also just like to point out to my fellow Bold Bakers that it took me a while to get to this recipe. I had made many, many cornbreads over the years but I was never happy with the results. They were either too dry or not ‘corny’ enough. This is a perfect balance of sweet, savory, and a little kick of heat from the jalapeños.
How do you make moist cornbread?
One of the things that makes this my Best-Ever Corn Bread recipe is the addition of fresh, blended corn. This adds moisture, texture, and sweetness of the blended fresh corn gives the batter an unmistakable amount of flavor and ensures the final bread won’t dry out even a day or two after it’s baked.
To blend the fresh corn I use a food processor, but you can use a blender or do this by hand with a knife. This, in combination with the gooey cheese, milk, and eggs, take my cornbread to the next level!
What if I don’t have a cast iron skillet?
I chose to make this in my GoodCook 10-inch Cast Iron Skillet, as it makes the bread nice and crisp on the outside and makes for a really fun presentation. If you don’t have an oven-safe skillet, you can always bake this in a 9-inch cake tin — and it will come out every bit as tasty!
How long can I store cornbread — and how?
Cornbread is a great make-ahead bread! After you bake the bread off you can store any leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days, but I highly doubt it will last that long!
What can I add to my cornbread recipe?
I chose to add some kick to this cornbread by adding chopped jalapeño peppers. I love the extra layer of flavor this adds in contrast to the sweet corn and salty cheese. If you don’t like spicy foods, feel free to leave them out.
My Best-Ever Corn Bread can really be dressed up any way you like, I also like to add bacon and chopped green onions for another variation, YUM!
Can cornbread be frozen?
This is a great bread to keep stored in the freezer for up to 8 weeks. I pre-slice the loaf so I can easily grab a slice when the mood strikes me. To thaw the cornbread allow it to defrost in the fridge, then once fully defrosted toast it up or warm in the microwave and enjoy!
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Gemma's Best Ever Corn Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups (9oz/271g) corn, (fresh, tinned or frozen)
- 1 cup (8floz/225ml) milk
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup (2 ½ oz/71g) honey
- 1/4 cup (2oz/57g) butter, divided then melted
- 1 1/2 cups (7 1/2oz/213g) sharp cheddar cheese, grated
- 2 jalapeno pepper, large, chopped
- 1 cup (5oz/142g) yellow corn meal, fine
- 3/4 cup (3 ¾oz/105g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
- First, roughly blend the corn until it is in small chunks. You can do this in a food processor or by hand with a knife. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the milk, egg, honey and 2 tablespoons of butter, melted.
- Next stir in the blended corn, grated cheddar, and chopped jalapeños.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet and whisk together until just combined. Take care not to over mix.
- Place the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter into a 10-inch skillet or cake pan and heat in the oven for 5 minutes.
- Pour the batter into the hot skillet. Bake the cornbread for 35-40 minutes or until it's golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and let stand for 15 minutes before serving.
- Store any leftover cornbread in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. It can also be frozen for up to 8 weeks. To thaw, remove from the freezer and let stand at room temperature until soft. Warm and enjoy.
Recipe Notes
I just made your cornbread in a skillet. Though done, I thought it was a bit pale. Hmmm. A few minutes later, I found the melted butter in my microwave. I had omitted all the butter from the recipe! At this point dinner guests were arriving, so I just poured the melted butter over the still-warm cornbread. Everyone loved it. What a forgiving resilient recipe!
greatest corn bread ever from a 76 year old cornbread lover.
Made this today,,, decided to make a “cornbread pizza” I halved the ingredients and used it as a pizza base,let it finish baking and topped with pesto/cheese/mushrooms and put it back in the oven for five minutes. Also realised I had no corn at home and decided to add some finely grated carrot instead (1 small carrot) worked just as well it was incredibly soft.
This is the best cornbread ever! So moist & tasty. Goodbye dry, boring cornbread!!
I just made your cornbread recipe and it tastes e amazing.. The best cornbread I’ve ever tried.. Thanks, Gemma
Hi Gemma: I am planning on giving my son-in-law this cornbread. He is a cornbread fan and I thought it would be fun to bake up cornbread using a few different recipes. It’s his birthday and we’re celebrating it on Saturday. My question is can I use buttermilk instead of regular milk. I hope you can answer me before Friday.
This one is the best corn bread I’ve had. I’ve made your honey cornbread recipe many times and that was just as good but this one was even better. I baked mine in a 9” baking pan and the bottom and top turned out nice and crisp. Baked it for 40 minutes. I also used frozen corn. Thanks Gemma this was lovely.
Gemma I need your help. If I wanted to make this in a sheet pan for a party and is it possible to get close to the results in the pan? I have made this in the pan and it is wonderful.
The recipe indicates 1 Tablespoon of Baking Powder is to be added to the dry ingredients. Thinking this sounded like much too much baking powder, I watched the video and was able to pause at the point where the baking powder was added. It showed that a 1 teaspoon measuring spoon was used. Please clarify this discrepancy.
I made this for a friend who is gluten-free, dairy-free and sugar-free. I used Coconut Milk and gluten-free flour. The recipe already took care of the sugar by using honey. It turned out great and we both loved it. Thank you for this and many other recipes I have used.