Easy Homemade Cornbread
Cornbread is a highly underrated side dish. You can whip up this deliciously sweet and moist homemade cornbread recipe with just a few pantry staples, and it makes a perfect side dish for breakfast, lunch, or dinner! Serve it slathered with butter at breakfast, crumbled into your soup or chili at lunch, or as a side with your collard greens and pork chops for dinner. It’s inexpensive, comforting, and seriously easy to make! So toss that boxed mix and let me show you how it’s done for real. ;)
Originally posted 9-5-15, updated 3-6-17
Easy Homemade Cornbread From Scratch
See this recipe in my Easy Thanksgiving Dinner for Beginners meal plan.
What to Serve with Cornbread
Cornbread is a great side dish to go with any thick and hearty soup, stew, or chili. The cornbread can be dipped or crumbled into the saucy stews, where it absorbs all the flavor. I love it with: Slow Cooker Vegetarian Lentil Chili, Weeknight Black Bean Chili, Glazed Pork Chops, Mexican Red Lentil Stew. This cornbread recipe also goes great with eggs for breakfast!
Add-Ins
To make your cornbread a little more fun, consider stirring in some add-ins, like cheddar cheese, roasted corn kernels, diced green chiles, chili powder, or jalapeños, blueberries, or even some cooked sausage!
What Should I Bake Cornbread In?
While this glass pie dish is my favorite dish to bake my cornbread in, you can use just about any baking dish. This amount of batter would fit well in an 8×8 casserole dish, or a 10-inch cast iron skillet (although you should preheat the skillet as the oven preheats). Glass, ceramic, and cast iron work best, but you can also use metal baking dishes.
Can I Make Them Corn Muffins?
Yes, you can pour this batter into an oiled muffin tin, filling each well about 3/4 full. Bake at the same temperature for 16-18 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. This recipe will make about 10 corn muffins (see step by step photos below).
Easy Homemade Cornbread Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal ($0.24)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour ($0.15)
- 1/4 cup sugar ($0.20)
- 4 tsp baking powder ($0.24)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1 cup milk ($0.31)
- 1 large egg ($0.27)
- 1/4 cup cooking oil ($0.08)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and coat the inside of a 9-inch pie plate, cast iron skillet, or 8x8 casserole dish with non-stick spray (or butter for more flavor).
- In a large bowl, stir together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt until evenly combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, and oil.
- Pour the bowl of wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and stir just until everything is moist. Avoid over stirring. It's okay if there are a few lumps.
- Pour the batter into the prepared dish and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the top and edges are golden brown. Cut into 8 pieces and serve.
Nutrition
Equipment
Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Cornbread from Scratch – Step by Step Photos
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and coat the inside of a 9-inch pie plate or 8×8 inch casserole dish with non-stick spray. In a large bowl, stir together 1 cup yellow cornmeal, 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 4 tsp baking powder, and 1/2 tsp salt. Make sure these are really well stirred together.
In a separate bowl, whisk together 1 cup milk, 1 large egg, and 1/4 cup cooking oil.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients…
And stir just until everything is moistened. You don’t want to over stir the batter because that can develop the gluten in the flour and make the end product a little rubbery, so it’s okay if there are a few lumps. No need to stir until everything is completely smooth.
Spread the batter into your prepared dish and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the top and edges are golden brown. The exact baking time may vary slightly based on your dish and your oven.
The top will crack a little and look all delicious.
Or you can pour the batter into an oiled muffin tin, filling each well about 3/4 full. You’ll get about 10 corn muffins.
Bake the muffins at the same temperature, for 16-18 minutes, or until they’re golden brown on top.
Slice it into 8 portions and serve! YUM! Never underestimate simplicity. :)
I never liked cornbread until I found your recipe. Now I make it ALL. THE. TIME! So moist, not overly sweet. It’s perfect. (I have to use gluten free flour and I also use Splenda) Thank you so much for this!
Do u have 2 use baking powder ?
Yes, that’s what makes the cornbread rise and have a nice fluffy texture instead of being dense. :)
Made this in a 10 inch cast iron with unsweetened applesauce instead of oil and it was perfect after 20 minutes. Served with slow cooker black bean soup. 🤤
I think there is something wrong with this recipe. I made it tonight for a dinner side and to say it was “off” is an understatement. The baking soda maybe? Seems like a lot.
If you used baking soda, that’s what made it “off.” :) The recipe calls for baking powder. They’re very different!
Maybe because you used baking soda when it calls for baking powder? 4 teaspoons of baking soda would be verrrrrrry salty and bitter. 😬
Hi! There is a mistake in your recipe, it should be 1 tsp of baking powder, not 4 tsp. I made cornbread according to this recipe and it was awful because of the excess of baking powder.
I wish I had read this comment! I literally just put mine in the oven and as I was making it thought 4tsp was way too much but did it anyways. Oh well!
I totally agree – 4 tsp is too much and I can taste it! Definitely reduce to 1.
LOL–I just put MINE in the oven, and am now reading the comments! I used 3 tsp. baking powder–will comment again once I’ve tasted it.
I used 4 tsp baking powder and mine turned out fine. Couldn’t taste it at all.
So, I used 3 tsp baking powder, because I am in high altitude and usually only use 3/4 of the amount called for. Didn’t notice any “off” flavor, but will cut it to 2 tsp next time because it didn’t rise as much as I would have liked. However the flavor, and texture inside was good. I put the oiled cast iron in the oven to preheat also, and the outside was nice and crispy and crunchy–just the way i like it! 20 minutes was perfect!
I’ve made this recipe hundreds of times over the years and I always use 4 tsp. :) That being said, cooking is highly personal, so if you feel like you like the results better with less, that works too!
Nope, definitely 4.
Hello! I just started using your Site and I’m wondering if I could add a can of cream corn instead of oil?
We haven’t tested adding a can of creamed corn. The oil is pretty key ingredient however.
oooh i can’t wait to make this <3
Great basic cornbread recipe. I’ve used this recipe several times and it never fails. The only change I make is to use a milk alternative such as almond or oat milk in place of dairy milk. Even better when eaten with a generous amount of butter :) Thanks for the recipe!
Can I add something else in place of the oil? Water? What would be the best substitute in this situation? Thanks!
I swap applesauce for the oil in a lot of my baking and it comes out wonderfully.
I made this gluten free and dairy free. 1/2 cup Bob’s red mill cup for cup flour and 1/2 cup brown rice flour. I used unsweetened almond milk. I did have to add some extra almond milk maybe 1/4 cup to the batter because of the absorption of the rice flour. I also used butter instead of oil. (It’s what I had). My family gave it a huge thumbs up. I served it with honey butter and lentil chili. It had a great flavor but was a little crumbly maybe add a touch of xanthan gum if you dont want it crumbly.