25 Easy Cornbread Recipes You Can Make Today (2024)

Let’s put it right out there. We love Cornbread! There is always a battle at our house when we make it over who gets the corner pieces! Toasted cubes of golden perfection that are filling and great to serve alongside a range of dishes.

Oh, and did we mention that it is really easy to make too? We’ve had a browse through our recipe book and assembled a list of our favorite cornbread recipes. Why not take a look and see if there is one that would be perfect for serving alongside dinner tonight?

25 Best Cornbread Recipes

1. Krusteaz Cornbread

Delight your brunch guests with this Krusteaz Country Brunch Cornbread recipe. A perfect blend of simplicity and taste, this cornbread offers the comforting sweetness of honey and the heartiness of Monterey Jack cheese. Customizable and easy to prepare, this cornbread is an ideal addition to any brunch spread.

2. Aunt Jemima Cornbread

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  Aunt Jemima Cornbread

  This cornbread recipe is the best one you will ever find thanks to the Aunt Jemima Corn Meal it uses. It has great texture, flavor and can be served in many different ways.

  23 votes 4.2 Cuisine: American

3. Cowboy Cornbread

Saddle up, partners. It’s about to get tasty! We imagine a guy chowing down on a huge handful of this rich and slightly sweet Cornbread whenever we make this. Bean can in one hand, Cornbread in the other. There are a few subtle additions that make this cornbread special. We like to add half and half cream to create a really dense texture. It is also a little bit of a cheat recipe, as it includes store bought biscuit mix.

4. Cheese and Chive Cornbread

You could serve your Cornbread with a dish that has cheese and chives as dominant flavors. Or, you could just cut out the middle man and include it wholesale in your recipe. We prefer the latter. This one is a real treat. As the cheese bakes, it takes on a real savory flavor.

The inclusion of chives creates little dots of flavor throughout. Be sure to use a mature cheddar to get a really strong cheese taste.

5. Appalachian Cornbread

If you have ever hiked the Appalachian trail, then you’ll know that it takes a lot of energy. Luckily our Appalachian corn bread is absolutely packed with energy and taste! If you’ve ever been out to the midwest or the Virginias, you can’t have missed the rolling cornfields! An ideal recipe to make use of such an abundance! We add a dash of salsa to our batter along with chives and a little cheese to add a flavor that will keep everyone guessing.

6. Corn Muffins with Honey Butter

Moving away from the savory for a while, Cornbread also works well with sweet flavors. Is your mouth watering? Ours is after reading the words’ honey’ and ‘butter’. This Cornbread is full of delicious ingredients, all presented in a gorgeous yellow sponge. We have cream cheese and golden cornmeal, all supplemented with a good old dollop of butter and honey mixed. It’s like nature’s frosting!

7. Honey Cornbread

If butter and honey sound a little too diet unfriendly, cut one of them out. We include honey as part of the baking, and its taste runs through each delicious mouthful of this Cornbread. We find it also serves to make this Cornbread slightly moister. Be sure not to forget to include the heavy cream in this recipe!

8. Sweet Cornbread

If you’ve been to the south (AKA cornbread country), you’ll know that everybody has their own version of Cornbread. This one is slightly sweeter than what we are used to, we aren’t sure how we feel about it, but it goes well with so many savory dishes… Especially salty porked baked dishes like bacon. The sweetness comes from a greater proportion of sugar. Try it, you might like it.

9. Orange Cornbread

Cornbread isn’t a million miles away from cupcake batter, so we thought we’d try a trick and see if orange would work. Spoiler alert: it really does. You might not want to serve this alongside your chili, but it is sublime as a light bite to go with a nice coffee. This contains just a hint of orange… The secret ingredient is to use orange zest!

10. Gluten free Cornbread

No, we want everyone to enjoy a hunk of Cornbread from time to time, and if you are avoiding gluten, then this is the recipe for you. To be honest, it doesn’t taste too different from regular Cornbread. We use amaranth flour in place of corn meal and xanthan gum as a binding agent. You can add a little texture by including canned corn in the batter.

11. Sausage Johnnycake

Want something a little different that will cause a few laughs around the table? Check this out. Sausage johnnycake is great for breakfast! This is essentially a link sausage roasted with a cornbread topping. We serve ours with a slight drizzle of maple syrup. It’s so good that we wish we had a portion waiting for us every morning!

12. Cornbread and Chili

You’ll often find Cornbread served alongside Mexican food, so we thought we’d try and incorporate some complementary ingredients. Now, here’s a warning. This one isn’t for the faint hearted. Catch a chili seed, and you are going to know about it. For the spice lovers among you, this will be the pick of our list.

13. Yogurt Cornbread

This Cornbread is a little more dense than some of the others on our list. Can you guess why? It’s because we use yogurt in place of buttermilk. The reason we include it is because it is a mild acid. We need this to activate the baking soda and make our bread rise! It works, but not quite as well as buttermilk. This one is great if you aren’t the biggest fan of sour tastes.

14. Red Pepper and Sweetcorn Cornbread

We love a good rustic recipe, and we feel like this is a meal all on its own. We add a large helping of jalapenos (don’t rub your eyes) along with a handful of sweet and juicy corn kernels before baking our Cornbread in the usual manner. The peppers and corn sink during the baking process, so you are left with a kaleidoscope of color. This is another fiery one that isn’t for those who don’t like spice.

15. Cornbread with Meat and Pepper

Speaking of all in one meals, this is a dish in its own right! We brown ground beef, along with a few chipotle style seasonings in a cast iron skillet, before pouring in our batter and baking our Cornbread. The result is sublime. If you aren’t full after eating a slice of this, then… Have another slice (if there is any left!)

16. Sausage & Mushroom Cornbread

This recipe isn’t the most conventional, but the best dishes are born out of experimentation. You can make this as a single loaf, but we like to create mini cupcakes. And the best bit? We slice them in half after baking and then top them with chive butter. The mix of savory butter and sweet Cornbread will have you returning to the kitchen, again and again. Go on, have one more!

17. Spicy Cheese Cornbread

This is Cornbread with a difference. It is filled with spicy cheese, chili powder, and green chili. If you want to tone it down, you can use regular cheddar, but we love to go the whole hog and throw in handfuls of spicy Mexicana! We love our spice, so we often supplement it further with a spoonful or two of hot pepper sauce…

18. Chili and Lime Cornbread

If the orange cornbread above appealed to you, why not go a little more citrusy and add lime? It cuts through the richness of the Cornbread. And we don’t stop there! Cornbread can sometimes be a little dry. We make sure that this isn’t a problem by whipping up a large batch of chili and honey butter to slather along with each chunk.

19. Creole Cornbread

Both Creole and Cajun cooking feature cornbread as a staple, so we couldn’t write this list without including at least one creole recipe! This is another variation that has oodles of secret ingredients. Don’t worry, we’ll share… Try adding chopped onion, creamed corn, and, to pad the entire thing out, we also add a large helping of cooked rice.

The batter might be greater in quantity than you are used to, so you’ve got two options… Half the ingredients or buy a bigger baking tin!

20. Corndog Cornbread

We love corn dogs, and we love Cornbread. So we had an idea… Why not combine the two? We make these little muffins all the time, and they are especially great for kids’ parties… They just hoover them up! We cheat a little (as we are so busy) by using store bought cornbread mix, but the recipe will work with your own Cornbread too. Oh, word of warning, it does contain jalapenos, feel free to leave these out.

21. Buttermilk Cornbread

AS you’ll already know, buttermilk is vital for getting a nice fluffy rise to your Cornbread. But buttermilk on its own is, well, pretty boring.

We’ve spiced up this version of the recipe with a few extras. This includes mayonnaise, chopped sweet red peppers, honey, cheddar cheese, and of course, a healthy helping of jalapenos. You’ll notice that this recipe doesn’t contain baking soda or baking powder.

That is intentional. We substitute both by using self rising flour. This comes with baking powder already incorporated, so make sure you don’t add extra, or you’ll get a metallic, sour cornbread!

22. Butter Cornbread

We are struggling to think of any recipe that isn’t improved by adding a knob or two of butter? Any ideas? No, us neither!

This doesn’t include any buttermilk and is a little denser than some of our other suggestions. However, no matter, it is still utterly delicious! We find that the butter works to moisten this Cornbread. It also contains quite a lot of sugar.

Because it is slightly more moist, it might need to bake just a while longer. Use the toothpick test to make sure the center is cooked!

23. Skillet Cornbread

While this recipe is called skillet cornbread, you can bake it in any old tin. We just like the way it looks when we bring it to the table. The skillet isn’t the only difference. Again we’ve got just a few variations going on in here. Like what?

Well, we add some dried herbs to create a unique taste, namely sage, and thyme. We also add a little chopped celery and some sweet chopped onion. As the bread bakes, these release their juices into the bread, adding both a lot of flavors and also some well needed moisture! We occasionally add a small jar of pickled pimiento peppers too. This creates little sweet and spicy pockets dotted throughout the bread.

24. Mexican Cornbread

You’ll find Cornbread in a lot of the southern states, so it’s little wonder that it has managed to cross the border (we actually suspect it came from Mexico somehow). As you’d expect, this has yet more secret ingredients. The key ingredient?

Get this… Bacon dripping! We aren’t messing around! Green onions and honey also combine to produce a taste sensation! Oh, and for an authentic Mexican taste, make sure to include a dash of hot sauce before baking… Carolina Reaper is one to watch! Spicy!

25. Confetti Cornbread

One glance at this delicious cornbread recipe, and you’ll know where it gets its name from. It is full of brightly colored (and rather tasty) chilis.

There’ll certainly be a party in your mouth if you take a bite of this! It contains no less than three different types of chili! And the heat doesn’t end there. We also like to include a small spoon of cayenne pepper, just to make sure that the party keeps going!

Unlike some of our cornbread recipes, this doesn’t contain any baking powder. The reason for this is that we have included eggs in the batter. These work as an excellent binding agent and also work to help the Cornbread to rise.

25 Simple Cornbread Recipes

4 from 3 votes

Recipe by Laura Ritterman

Ingredients

• Cowboy Cornbread

• Cheese and Chive Cornbread

• Appalachian Cornbread

• Corn Muffins with Honey Butter

• Honey Cornbread

• Sweet Cornbread

• Orange Cornbread

• Gluten free Cornbread

• Sausage Johnnycake

• Cornbread and Chili

• Yogurt Cornbread

• Red Pepper and Sweetcorn Cornbread

• Cornbread with Meat and Pepper

• Sausage & Mushroom Cornbread

• Spicy Cheese Cornbread

• Chili and Lime Cornbread

• Creole Cornbread

• Corndog Cornbread

• Buttermilk Cornbread

• Butter Cornbread

• Skillet Cornbread

• Mexican Cornbread

• Confetti Cornbread

• Krusteaz Cornbread

Directions

• Choose your favorite cornbread from our list
• Gather the ingredients
• Serve and enjoy

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What’s the difference between Southern cornbread and regular cornbread?

The primary difference betweenSouthern cornbreadandregular cornbread(often referred to as Northern cornbread) lies in the sweetness and texture. Southern cornbread traditionally has less sugar, resulting in a less sweet, more savory flavor compared to its Northern counterpart. Additionally, it typically uses white cornmeal, which gives it a finer and more crumbly texture. On the other hand, regular or Northern cornbread contains more sugar, thus providing a sweeter taste, and often uses yellow cornmeal resulting in a slightly denser and cake-like texture. Furthermore, Southern cornbread is usually baked in a pre-heated, greased cast-iron skillet which contributes to its distinct crispy, crunchy crust.

What do people eat cornbread with?

Cornbread pairs well with hearty, robust dishes. It is a traditional accompaniment to chili, BBQ meats, and hearty soups or stews, where its unique texture and taste balance the strong flavors. In the Southern United States, cornbread is often served with cooked greens, such as collard or turnip greens, and used to mop up the pot likker. Furthermore, cornbread is a popular component in holiday meals, particularly Thanksgiving, where it’s used as a base for stuffing. Sweeter versions of cornbread can also be enjoyed with honey, butter, or fruit preserves as a simple dessert.

What is the difference between New York and southern cornbread?

The main difference betweenNew York cornbreadandSouthern cornbreadcan be found in their sweetness and texture. New York cornbread, much like other Northern styles of cornbread, tends to be sweeter and more cake-like in texture. It often includes a higher ratio of flour to cornmeal and additional sugar, creating a softer, less crumbly texture compared to Southern cornbread. On the other hand, Southern cornbread traditionally has less sugar, if any at all, leading to a more savory flavor profile. It commonly uses a higher proportion of cornmeal to flour, resulting in a firmer, more crumbly texture. Moreover, Southern cornbread is typically baked in a preheated, greased cast-iron skillet, contributing to its characteristic crispy crust.

Conclusion

Whether you are having a fiesta or have been sitting in the saddle for too long and want something hearty and filling, Cornbread is the answer! We were shocked to discover just how many cornbread recipes there were. These are our favorites. Do you have a secret cornbread recipe? What is it? Let us know, and we might just add it to our list!

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