Need a legit Southern cornbread recipe without a dissertation from a stranger first? No childhood story, no scroll of doom. Here it is.
Nine ingredients. One skillet. Thirty-five minutes.
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Still here? Good. This recipe came out of the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook my Mamaw gave me – and Sybil was a true Southern lady from Sledge, Mississippi, so as far as I’m concerned that settles the question of whether it’s Southern.
There’s also exactly one thing that separates real cornbread from the sad pale stuff, and it’s not in the ingredient list.
I’m Heather. I’m a Health Coach. And a mom of three. I usually write about diet, fitness, low carb, keto, and clean eating, but since it’s the holiday season and because, well, because I know life is about more than diets, I’m going rogue with some old school comfort food classics. I’ll be your Southern Cornbread recipe guide for the next, oh, I don’t know, say 5 minutes.
Before I deep dive into cornmeal and flour, I’d like to thank you for being here today. If you have a moment or 30 while the cornbread is in the oven, I’d like to invite you to take a look around my site.
There’s literally something for everyone. We’ve got the BEST Thanksgiving dressing recipe, my family’s go-to Sweet Potato Casserole, Mason Jar gift ideas, Christmas treats, fabulous resources for kids with autism, and a ton of crockpot dinner recipes.
Told you there was a lot going on here!
It’s up to you how you spend your time. Either way, you’ll be glad you came because this cornbread is off the chain.
What You Need to Make Southern Cornbread
1 ½ cups yellow cornmeal
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups buttermilk
¼ cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
Swaps & Substitutions
You can use yellow, white or blue cornmeal.
If you use self-rising flour decrease the amount of baking powder to 1 teaspoon, and omit the salt.
A word about the sugar. There’s one teaspoon in this recipe, and some of you are already typing. Real Southern cornbread traditionally has no sugar at all – sweet cornbread is a Northern thing, and people have strong feelings. One teaspoon isn’t enough to make it sweet; it just rounds out the cornmeal. Leave it out if you’re a purist. Nobody will arrest you either way.
Special Equipment
You don’t need anything special to make this cornbread, but if an oven-proof skillet has been on your I Want That list – this is a grand reason to go ahead and get one!
More Recipes You’ll Love
If you like this Southern cornbread recipe, you’ll love these recipes!
Old Fashioned Southern Thanksgiving Cornbread Dressing Recipe
The Southern Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe That’ll Steal The Show This Thanksgiving
21 Keto Bread Recipes That Are Putting Bread Back On The Low Carb Menu
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Easy Southern Cornbread Recipe with Buttermilk
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
Description
This Southern cornbread recipe with buttermilk is an old family recipe that’s always a hit! Whether you use a cast-iron skillet or a cake pan, this cornbread will not disappoint! Perfect for Thanksgiving dressing or anytime you need an old school favorite.
Ingredients
1 ½ cups yellow cornmeal
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups buttermilk
¼ cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
Instructions
Put ¼ cup Crisco (or bacon grease, or vegetable oil – see below) into a 10-inch cast iron skillet. Put the skillet in the oven and preheat to 450°F. Let the skillet heat with the oven, at least 10 minutes after it comes to temperature.
While it heats, whisk the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl.
Add the buttermilk and eggs and stir until just combined and lump-free. Don’t overmix.
Carefully pull the hot skillet out. It will be very hot and the oil will shimmer. Pour the batter straight in – you should hear it sizzle. That sizzle is the whole point. Don’t miss it:)
Bake 25–30 minutes, until the top is golden and a toothpick comes out clean.
Serve hot with butter.
Notes
What fat should you use?
Bacon grease is the traditional answer and it’s the best one. Vegetable oil works and is what most people have. Butter alone will burn at 450°, so if you want butter flavor use half butter, half oil. Psst:I go old school on this one and use Crisco.
Whatever you use, it goes in the skillet before the oven, not after.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Bread
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 145
- Sodium: 350 mg
- Fat: 6 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 20 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 4g
- Cholesterol: 35 mg
Where This Recipe Came From
My Grandmother gave me a Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, and this is the cornbread recipe out of it. Which sounds like a strange thing to call a Southern family recipe until you know that Sybil was from Sledge, Mississippi – a town of a few hundred people in the Delta, about as deep in it as you can get.
She made this cornbread. It went in the dressing every Thanksgiving. It came out of a cast iron skillet that had been in the family longer than I had. The book was just where the measurements happened to live.
That’s the thing about Southern cooking – the authority isn’t in the source, it’s in whose hands made it.
Making this for Thanksgiving dressing?
Bake it a day or two ahead. Cornbread for dressing needs to be dry – fresh, moist cornbread turns to mush. Crumble it into a large pan and leave it uncovered on the counter overnight so it stales out.
A single 10-inch skillet makes enough for one batch of Southern cornbread dressing. If you’re feeding a crowd, make two.
Storage & Freezing
Counter: wrapped, 2 days. Fridge: wrapped, up to a week, though it dries out. Freezer: wrap tightly and freeze up to 3 months. Freeze it in wedges so you can pull out one at a time. Reheating: the oven, not the microwave. 350° for about 10 minutes brings the crust back. The microwave makes it rubbery.
What To Do With Leftover Cornbread
Crumble it into buttermilk in a glass – old school, and if you know, you know. Cube it, toast it, use it as croutons on a salad or in soup. Dry it out and make dressing. Split a wedge, griddle it in butter, top with an egg.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is my cornbread pale and flat?
Almost always a cold skillet. The pan needs to preheat with the oven and the fat needs to be hot before the batter goes in. If you pour into a room-temperature pan, you get cake instead of cornbread.
Can I make this without buttermilk?
Yes. Put a tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice in a measuring cup, fill to 1½ cups with regular milk, and let it sit five minutes. Not identical, but close.
Can I use a cake pan instead of cast iron?
Yes, and it will taste fine. You just won’t get the crust. Metal beats glass if you have the choice.
White or yellow cornmeal?
Both work. White is more traditionally Southern, yellow is more common in stores and gives a slightly sweeter, more golden result. Blue cornmeal works too and looks striking.
Is this cornbread sweet?
Barely. One teaspoon of sugar in a whole skillet. If you want sweet cornbread, add ¼ cup – but then it’s a different thing, and half of Georgia would like a word.
Can I make it gluten-free?
Swap the half cup of all-purpose flour for a 1:1 gluten-free blend. The cornmeal is already gluten-free
How do I know when it’s done?
Golden on top, pulling slightly from the edges of the skillet, toothpick clean in the center. Around 25 minutes in cast iron, closer to 30 in a cake pan.
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