Sweet Cornbread

Sweet Cornbread
This sweet cornbread is my go to cornbread recipe to accompany any soup, chili or southern meal. It has an amazing sweetness that my whole family just adores. Because of the butter and oil, the cornbread stay moist rather than getting dry and crumbly.

In my opinion, the best way to cook cornbread is in a heavy, cast iron skillet. It adds a crispy crust that is just amazing (be sure to preheat your skillet before placing the batter in it).

If you are in a hurry or are cooking cornbread for a crowd, it’s also fun to bake them in muffin tins. I do this often on weeknights when I want to get dinner on the table fast. 

My favorite dish to serve this alongside is my chipotle chili. The sweet cornbread is the perfect accompaniment to the spicy chili.

I know there’s much debate over whether cornbread should be sweet or not but I don’t care. Sugar isn’t traditional in cornbread in the south but you know what? I want the sugar. Sweet cornbread for life. Well, all cornbread for life, but this one first.

Sweet cornbread is baked in a cast iron skillet to produce a brown crispy bottom which is just perfect to accompany your favorite chili or soup.
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Sweet Cornbread

Sweet cornbread is baked in a cast iron skillet to produce a brown crispy bottom which is just perfect to accompany your favorite chili or soup.
Prep Time5 minutes
Active Time35 minutes
Total Time40 minutes
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Keyword: sweet cornbread

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup cornmeal
  • 1 Tbsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 1/4 cups whole milk
  • 2 large eggs, slightly beaten
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 3 Tbsp. butter, melted and slightly cooled

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F Grease 8-inch square baking pan or cast iron skillet.
  • Combine flour, sugar, corn meal, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Combine milk, eggs, oil and butter in small bowl and mix well. Add to flour mixture and stir just until blended.
  • Pour into baking pan or skillet. Bake for 35 minutes or until wooden pick comes out clean.
  • For corn muffins, spoon batter into muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until wooden pick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans.

 

31 comments

  1. Looks fabulous! I love my cornbread sweet and this sounds like it will fit the bill. Question, what size cast iron skillet do you use?

    1. Thanks Jana! I used a 6″ (measuring across the bottom) cast iron skillet. It took a little longer to bake so using a bigger skillet might be better. Hope you enjoy it!

  2. this sounds perfect, just perfect! so many things you could eat with this, with soup like you suggest, or with a slather of jam… YUM!

  3. There is nothing better than a great skillet of Cornbread. Your Cornbread recipe looks delicious and the photo is awesome! Thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday. Hope you have a great week end and come back soon!
    Miz Helen

  4. Great recipe. My cast iron skillet is 12″, so I did a 1.5x amount on all ingredients. I also added in some corn kernels. Finally, I drizzled a little melted butter and honey on the top of the cornbread. Yummy!

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  6. Looks delish. Is there a specific oil you use? I know in some recipes it makes a difference. Thanks for sharing.

    1. I use either vegetable or canola oil as they don’t lend any flavor to the finished bread. Hope you enjoy it…it’s our favorite cornbread recipe around here.

      1. Thanks for the quick response. Looking forward to making it.

  7. Hi again…I made the cornbread last night and it was delicious! My family loved it too. Thanks so much.

  8. […] you are feeding a crowd, double the recipe and whip up some sweet cornbread to nibble alongside it. Perfect for cheering on your favorite team tomorrow. Go Huskers! Turkey […]

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  10. If I wanted to add a can of creamed corn how would suggest in adjusting the recipe?

    1. I would lower the milk to 1/2-3/4 cup rather than 1 1/4. Start out with less and add more if it seems too thick and dry (the batter should be thick but not too dense). I would also only do 2 tablespoons of butter. Hope this helps! Let me know how it turns out!

  11. Hi Meg! I made this cornbread today for our New Years dinner (black eyed peas, prime rib, garlic brown butter mashed potatoes, gravy, and candied yams) and this is by far the best cornbread I have had!! Kuddos! Everyone enjoyed it, and the husband is a tough sale on anything other than Jiffy and he even said that he likes it BETTER than Jiffy! Thank you!

    1. So glad you enjoyed it! It definitely our favorite around here.

  12. Can i use corn flour instead of cornmeal since thats is all i have in the house?

    1. Yes, you could sub corn flour for the cornmeal. It will result in a fluffier pancake and won’t have quite as much texture but will still taste great.

  13. Thank you for such an amazing recipe! I made it to go with pea soup for supper. This by far is the best cornbread I have ever made. It was so fluffy and moist. I did double the recipie because my skillet is large. I have passed this on to many FB friends to enjoy as well.

    1. I’m so glad you loved it Sally! It’s my favorite cornbread too and I always look forward to it!

  14. Found your recipe on Pinterest… Decided I was going to try a couple of different recipes and decide which we liked the best. I made yours first and my husband said, the search is over!! It was so good!! Exactly what we were looking for!! I used a 6″ cast iron skillet. I put 1 Tbsp of butter in the skillet and preheated it in the oven, when the oven was pre heated, I spread the butter around and poured the batter in. 30min was perfect! We could barely wait 5 min to dive in! Some put butter, some put a little honey, others ate it warm!! Thanks for an easy and delicious recipe!!! Yummmmm

    1. So glad you guys loved it Michele! It makes me so happy to hear from readers so thank you for stopping by and letting me know!

  15. Amazing cornbread! Not at all crumbly, almost cakelike. It was great with homemade chili. This will be my favorite cornbread recipe from now on.

    1. Thanks for stopping by and letting me know how much you love it! So glad.

  16. This is the *only* cornbread recipe I use! It turns out deliciously every time, and I’ve firwarded this blog post to friends/Family who want “my” recipe! Thank you!!

    1. Yay Bethany! This makes me so happy to hear. Thanks for sharing too!

  17. this cornbread is so so good! i love eating it with a warm bowl of chili! I absolutely love the sweetness in it! definitely a wonderful recipe!

    1. Yay! I completely agree. We HAVE to make it each time we have chili. Thanks for stopping by and sharing the love!

  18. Hi I grabbed the wrong corn meal at the store. Can I use white self rising cornmeal with hot rize in this recipe? How would I change it just not add the flour and baking powder and salt?? Thank you

    1. Hi Summer! I’ve never used that product before in this recipe so I can’t promise the results will be the same since I don’t know the cornmeal to flour ratio in the mix. But yes, if I were to try it I would leave out the flour, baking powder and salt and use 2 cups of the cornmeal mix in its place. You may need to add less or more of the liquid depending on how thick it is. Good luck!

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