Southern Cornbread Recipe

Professional Tips for Making Moist Cornbread

• Watch carefully to avoid overbaking. The bake-time will vary widely depending on the dish you choose. Baking it in a sheet pan or a cast iron skillet will bake faster than a glass dish, for example.
• For crispy edges pre-heat the pan. If you want those buttery, crispy edges, preheat a cast iron skillet with the oven, add butter or bacon drippings, then add your batter to the hot pan.
• Finding crème fraiche is worth it! Crème fraîche has more fat, is thicker, and less tangy than sour cream, which makes a more moist and flavorful cornbread. This is a deviation from the traditional but it is really wonderful.

Ingredients & Substitutions

• All Purpose Flour
• Granulated Sugar: You can omit the sugar, if desired.  
• Cornmeal: In the restaurants we used finely ground, mass-produced yellow cornmeal not self-rising cornmeal mix! That is what is most readily available and affordable, so that is what I used here. You can substitute artisanal, stone-ground cornmeal such as Bob’s Red Mill and omit the granulated sugar. It will be fabulous. Medium or finely ground will be best. White cornmeal will also be fine.
• Baking Powder: I use baking powder rather than baking soda for a more even rise and tender crumb.
• Kosher Salt
  Large Eggs
• Unsalted Butter
• Milk: I use whole milk for this recipe, but any cow’s milk or almond milk will work. The resulting cornbread will be less moist.
• Crème Fraîche or Sour Cream: Crème fraiche makes the best cornbread because it has a higher fat content and lower moisture than sour cream. It is also less tangy. That being said, sour cream or even full-fat Greek yogurt will also work well in this recipe. If that is what you have on hand, you can feel good about substituting them.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

Possible Variations

• Use coarse cornmeal: If you want to use coarse cornmeal in this recipe, add about 2 tablespoons extra cornmeal. The consistency should be like a thick pancake batter. Every single brand of cornmeal is different, so don’t stress.
• Make it crispy Southern cornbread: Preheat a cast iron skillet, melt a tablespoon (or 2!) butter or bacon grease in the bottom, add the batter to the hot skillet. This will improve rise and make those nice buttery crispy edges.
• Mix-up the flavors with additions. You can add up to 2 cups of add-ins to the batter and it will be awesome. I’ve made bacon cheddar, corn (canned corn and frozen), cheesy jalapeño, all the chopped herbs, and I’ve even added this BBQ chicken recipe shredded. Oh, and one time the line cooks made me use hot dogs. They thought it was awesome.
• Bake it into muffins: Divide batter between 12 buttered standard muffin tins and bake until a toothpick comes out clean. It will only be 8-10 minutes.

How to Make Southern Cornbread

Use these instructions to make moist, savory cornbread every time! Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below.

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350°F and butter an 8-inch baking dish or cast iron skillet. If you are making crispy cornbread, pop that pan in the oven.

Step 2: In a small saucepan or in the microwave, melt the milk with cubed butter. I find this easiest to do on the stovetop. Be sure it is just melted and not too hot, or you’ll need to let it cool before combining with the eggs.

Step 3: In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (all-purpose flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder and salt). Set aside.  

Step 4: In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until no streaks remain, then whisk in the crème fraiche.

Step 5: Slowly pour the melted butter mixture into the egg mixture. Do this slowly while whisking constantly, because it’s a little warm and you don’t want to cook your eggs.

Step 6: Gradually whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Adding it slowly in the beginning will keep the dry ingredients from clumping.