Southern Cornbread Recipe

The perfect recipe for easy Southern cornbread muffins every time using only 5 ingredients.

A basket filled with cornbread muffins

Ingredients in Southern Cornbread:

  1. Martha White Buttermilk Self- rising corn meal mix
  2. OR Self rising corn meal
  3. eggs
  4. buttermilk
  5. baking powder
  6. unsalted butter or bacon grease
A blackened six muffin pan filled with golden brown cornbread muffins

Equipment to make Southern cornbread muffins:

  • Non stick muffin tin or a cast iron skillet
  • mixing bowl
a cookbook with a cornbread recipe

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.

a cornbread muffin sliced open revealing its tender interior

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
a glass bowl filled with cornmeal and eggs and buttermilk

Substitutions and tips:

  1. 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.
  2. If you do not have buttermilk- use milk and lemon juice or milk and white vinegar
  3. Make sure your oven is hot!
  4. Butter is best for greasing your an. Non-stick spray tend to “pool” in the bottom of your tin causing the batter to burn.
  5. Avoid muffin liners- you will not get that crisp muffin bottom that is desired in southern cornbread recipes.
A glass bowl with cornbread batter

Recipes to serve with Southern Cornbread muffins:

My favorite Southern Cornbread Muffins

Recipe by Meggen Arthur Wilson
Course: BreadsCuisine: SouthernDifficulty: Easy
Servings

4

servings
Prep time

15

minutes
Cooking time

15

minutes
Calories

130

kcal

Make classic Southern Cornbread Muffins with only 5 ingredients. Perfect as a side to chili, corn chowder, shrimp & grits and more.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups Martha White Corn bread mix

  • 1 1/2 cups buttermilk

  • 1 tsp baking powder

  • 1/4 cup melted salted butter,

  • 2 TBSP salted butter, softened

  • 1 large egg

  • extra butter for greasing pan

Directions

  • Pre heat oven to 425 degrees
  • Grease muffins tins with extra butter well.
  • Mix corn meal mix, baking powder, egg, 1/4 melted butter and buttermilk until just combined- do NOT over mix.
  • Gently spoon corn meal batter into muffin tins until 3/4 cup full.
  • Dot remaining 2 TBSP of butter over top of batter.
  • Bake for 15 minutes until tops are deep yellow and bottoms are golden brown.

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.

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