This buttery skillet cornbread is the best side dish to all your favorite dinner dishes. An easy recipe that gives you homemade golden cornbread with crisp edges and a fluffy middle in half an hour!
Serve this with other fantastic Southern sides for the holidays like southern baked macaroni and cheese, these amazing dinner rolls, my grandma’s southern candied yams, and homemade gravy!
When I first got married, I had a couple of boxes of Jiffy from the commissary and a new cast iron skillet, ready to whip up a pot of beef stew with cornbread for the first time in our first apartment.
Jiffy mixes were something that was always used for cornbread by everyone I knew, but once I started making it from scratch, I had one question:
Why?
Homemade cast iron skillet cornbread -from scratch- is possibly one of the easiest recipes I ever made. No shade, but why even use the boxed mix? You could even make your own out of the dry ingredients in this recipe just to have on hand.
What is the difference between Northern and Southern Cornbread?
Let me make this clear: this recipe isn’t for southern cornbread. This is Northern style, it’s sweeter and more cake-like. My family prefers it this way and Jiffy mix users are used to this type.
Southern cornbread is so good, too. It’s more savory, uses coarser cornmeal in the batter, and you’ll often see bacon fat used as well.
The Southern version is often seen as a side for chili, and it’s a custom to crumble it up in milk and eat it like that, though I love my Northern-style with milk as well.
What is in Homemade Cast Iron Skillet Cornbread?
To make your buttery, tender skillet cornbread you’ll need…
- Butter. Unlike in most of my baking recipes, it won’t matter if you use unsalted or salted butter for this recipe.
- Fine ground cornmeal. Don’t think that this is a one-use type of ingredient. I also use cornmeal whenever I make English muffins and deep-dish pizza!
- All-Purpose Flour.
- Baking Powder.
- Granulated Sugar. Depending on how savory you like your cornbread, decrease the amount as you like.
- Kosher Salt.
- Buttermilk. Buttermilk isn’t just a great and classic ingredient in cornbread, it’s a needed ingredient. The acid in buttermilk reacts to the baking powder in the batter, creating bubbles, adding lift and lightness to your cornbread. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can mix whole fat milk and a teaspoon of lemon juice or a bit of white vinegar.
- Eggs.
- Turbinado Sugar. This is optional, but I love sprinkling this over the batter before baking. It’s a sweet little surprise!
How to Make Cast Iron Cornbread
- Mix the batter: In a large bowl mix all the dry ingredients together. Mix in all the wet ingredients well.
- Get that Cast Iron Sizzling: Melt the butter in your cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat on your stove, not your oven! This helps create a perfectly crisp bottom crust. And there’s nothing like hearing that batter pour into a sizzling hot skillet!
- Bake your cornbread: Bake in a 400-degree oven until beautiful and golden brown, about 20-23 minutes.
A super simple and easy recipe that’s ready in half an hour!
Jazz it up with…
- Add that classic southern flavor by heating up the cast iron with bacon fat or leaf lard.
- Chopped jalapenos and cheddar cheese. When my husband was still in the military, a few sergeants would request it with jalapenos and cheese. Those plates were completely gone in 15 minutes.
- Add chopped bacon! This is one of my favorite additions to cornbread!
- Herbs. For Thanksgiving, chopped fresh rosemary, thyme, parsley in the batter is a perfect flavor combination.
What to Serve with Cornbread
- I love serving cornbread as a side with any hearty meal: Southern Fried Chicken, Short Rib Ragu, Corned Beef Hash, Spatchcock Chicken, etc.
- With a bit of honey butter or Texas Roadhouse style cinnamon honey butter.
- On the side of many soups and stews.
- Barbecue like Ribs, Pulled Pork, Baked Beans, etc.
Can Cornbread be Made Ahead?
Events like Thanksgiving or a summer cookout can be really busy, especially the day of. You can make your cast iron cornbread up to a week ahead if you keep it wrapped well in your fridge.
How to Freeze Cornbread
To freeze, wrap it in two layers of plastic wrap or aluminum foil, then put it in a large freezer-safe zip-top bag.
Cornbread keeps in the freezer for 3 months.
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Cast Iron Skillet Cornbread
This buttery cast iron skillet cornbread is the best side dish to all your favorite dinner dishes. An easy recipe that gives you homemade golden cornbread with crisp edges and a fluffy middle in half an hour!
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp (25 g) butter
- 1 cup (140 g) finely ground cornmeal
- 1 cup (140 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp (15 g) baking powder
- 1/3 cup (63 g) granulated sugar
- 1 tsp (5 g) kosher salt
- 1 cup (240 mL) buttermilk
- 2 large eggs
- 4 tbsp (50 g) butter, melted
- Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
- Melt the butter in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat.
- While butter is melting, mix together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large bowl.
- Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the buttermilk, eggs, and melted butter. Mix until the dry ingredients are just combined.
- Pour the cornbread batter into your hot skillet and generously sprinkle the top of the batter with turbinado sugar.
- Bake the cornbread for 20-23 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for at least 5 minutes before slicing and serving.
- Serve warm with extra butter!
Notes
Make-Ahead Cornbread
Events like Thanksgiving or a summer cookout can be really busy, especially the day of. You can make your cast iron cornbread up to a week ahead if you keep it wrapped well in your fridge.
How to Freeze Cornbread
To freeze, wrap it in two layers of plastic wrap or aluminum foil, then put it in a large freezer-safe zip-top bag.
Cornbread keeps in the freezer for 3 months.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 133Total Fat: 2gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 47mgSodium: 96mgCarbohydrates: 24gFiber: 2gSugar: 1gProtein: 4g
Eden Westbrook is the recipe developer, writer, and photographer behind Sweet Tea and Thyme. A classically trained chef, Eden has inspired home cooks into the kitchen with cultural comfort foods, easy family-friendly eats and sweets, and glorious spreads for date night and entertaining since 2015.
Hi Eden! I loved this recipe! So fun to make in a skillet and it was delicious. Thank you for the recipe!