Southern Cornbread Recipe
The perfect recipe for easy Southern cornbread muffins every time using only 5 ingredients.
Ingredients in Southern Cornbread:
- Martha White Buttermilk Self- rising corn meal mix
- OR Self rising corn meal
- eggs
- buttermilk
- baking powder
- unsalted butter or bacon grease
Equipment to make Southern cornbread muffins:
- Non stick muffin tin or a cast iron skillet
- mixing bowl
How to Make Southern Cornbread Muffins:
- Mix corn meal mix, egg, 1/4 melted butter and buttermilk until just combined- do NOT over mix.
- Grease muffins tins with butter generously. Or heat your cast iron pan in a 425 degree oven.
- Gently spoon corn meal batter into muffin tins until 3/4 cup full.
- Dot remaining butter over top of batter.
- Bake for 15 minutes until tops are deep yellow and bottoms are golden brown.
About Cornbread:
As a fifth generation Floridian now living in Montana, I can attest- Southerners make the best cornbread. Sorry- it’s true. You need a really good corn meal or corn bread mix. You need buttermilk and you need a lot of salted butter. Sugar- absolutely not. This is not dessert.
Use a very hot cast iron skillet or muffin tins. I prefer muffin tins because it is so much easier to freezer leftovers.
Variations to this cornbread recipe:
- Fold in 1 cup of shredded Monterey Jack or pepper jack cheese
- Stir in a can of diced green chilies
- Add in diced jalapeños for bit of spice
- Add in seasonings like cayenne pepper, cumin or cinnamon
- Pour into a pan, bake, cool, cut into squares, toss in melted butter and bake for 5-7 minutes on a sheet pan for the yummiest crouton you’ve ever tasted. Perfect for tomato soup or chili
Substitutions and tips:
- If you cannot find Martha White corn meal mix, use 2 cups of any self rising cornmeal. Stone ground is prefered. OR 1 cup corn meal, 1 cup bread flour, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp baking powder.
- If you do not have buttermilk- use milk and lemon juice or milk and white vinegar
- Make sure your oven is hot!
- Butter is best for greasing your an. Non-stick spray tend to “pool” in the bottom of your tin causing the batter to burn.
- Avoid muffin liners- you will not get that crisp muffin bottom that is desired in southern cornbread recipes.
Recipes to serve with Southern Cornbread muffins:
- The “Good Stuff” Award winning turkey chili
- Southern Shrimp ‘n Grits
- Pulled BBQ Pork with sauce
- Chicken & Sausage Country Gumbo
- Creole Red Beans & Rice
- Meggen’s Shrimp & Cod Seafood Chowder
We eat a lot of corn bread at my house. Pans of it. I whip up muffins to go with my chili, corn chowder, shrimp and grits or chicken & rice. It is the base of my family stuffing recipe. I almost always have a bag of Martha White corn meal mix in my pantry and a small jug of buttermilk in the fridge.
This recipe is about as simple as it gets: eggs, butter, corn meal mix and buttermilk. You just need a hot oven and a well greased pan. When I was first married, I used to buy those little boxes of Jiffy cornbread, but over years, I have found it to be too sweet and too dry. I based this recipe off of the incredible buttery Dillard House cornbread recipe. If you have never been to the Dillard House in North Georgia- add it to your list. They prepare southern food at its best- okra, squash casserole, ham, fried chicken and serve it family style.