This Classic Southern Cornbread has a beautiful golden crust with the perfect crumb on the inside. This savory cornbread recipe is the perfect side for your favorite meal.

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You’ll find the full recipe with ingredient amounts and instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. Be sure to check out the blog post itself for extra tips and tricks!

Southern cornbread in a cast-iron skillet with a slice served on a plate.

Southern Cornbread Flavor Snapshot

How it tastes

Savory, barely sweet
Crisp golden crust
Soft, tender crumb

Difficulty

Simple

The hot skillet is the key step. Pour the batter in as soon as the skillet comes out of the oven.

This cornbread recipe is the one my family loves when it comes to southern-style cornbread. It’s not sweet, but I do add a little bit of sugar to round out the taste. The sugar is optional in the recipe. If you're looking for a sweeter cornbread, try these cornbread muffins.

I've tested this recipe with fine, medium, and coarse cornmeal, and fine is my favorite. It bakes up soft and tender, with a crisp crust from the hot skillet.

There’s a whole long history and debate when it comes to cornbread in the South. The biggest debate is whether or not sugar belongs in Southern cornbread. That’s not a debate I’m looking to get into, but you can read more about the history of Southern cornbread if you like, it’s quite interesting.

Happy Cooking,
Tanya

What Makes Cornbread Southern

Southern cornbread is savory first. It is traditionally made with white cornmeal, buttermilk, eggs, and very little or no sugar, then baked in a cast-iron skillet that has been heated with fat until it is smoking hot. The batter sizzles when it hits the pan, and that is what gives Southern cornbread its crisp, golden crust.

A few things set it apart from the sweeter, cake-like cornbread many people know:

Cornmeal. Southern cooks traditionally use white cornmeal, while yellow is more common in Northern-style cornbread. I use yellow cornmeal in this recipe.
Little to no sugar. The corn flavor is the star. My version has an optional two tablespoons of sugar to round out the taste, and you can leave it out.
Buttermilk. It adds a gentle tang and keeps the crumb tender.
A hot cast-iron skillet. Preheating the skillet with fat is the step that makes the crust.
Fat in the pan. Bacon drippings and lard are the old-school choices. I use butter, but you can swap in bacon drippings for a smokier, more traditional flavor.

In the South, cornbread is served next to a pot of greens, beans, or soup, where it soaks up the pot likker. Leftovers go into cornbread dressing.

Tools to Gather

10-inch cast-iron skillet
Oven
Large bowl and a medium bowl
Whisk
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons

Tip Mix the dry and wet ingredients in their separate bowls while the butter melts in the skillet. The skillet handle will be hot, so keep an oven mitt nearby.

How to Make Southern Cornbread

Step 1: Melt the butter in the skillet. Preheat the oven to 425°F (218°C). Place 1 tablespoon of butter in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet and put it in the oven on the middle rack for 5 minutes, or until the butter has melted. Take the skillet out and swirl the butter to coat the bottom.

Step 2: Make the batter. While the butter melts, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar (if using), and salt. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, melted butter, and buttermilk. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and whisk until smooth.

Whisking together the ingredients in a bowl

Step 3: Pour the batter into the hot skillet. Pour the batter into the buttered skillet right away while it is still hot. This is what gives the cornbread its crisp crust.

Step 4: Bake. Bake on the middle rack for 20 to 25 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

What do you serve with it?

You can serve this savory cornbread as an appetizer, side dish or by itself as a tasty snack! It's great served with soups, stew and chilis as well as grilled meats. It works great with fried chicken too! Try it with:

Do you have to cook cornbread in a skillet?

I love to use my cast iron skillet for this recipe. It distributes the heat evenly and it's easy to move in and out of the oven. If you don't have an oven safe skillet, you can make the bread in a pyrex dish or a greased tin.

What's the best cornmeal to use?

I've made this recipe with fine, medium, and coarse cornmeal, and fine-grind cornmeal is my favorite. It gives the cornbread a soft, tender crumb that holds together when you slice it.

Grind	Texture in cornbread
Fine (my favorite)	Soft, tender, and even
Medium	Tender with a little more texture
Coarse	Gritty and crunchy

All three work in this recipe, so use what you have or what you like.

Stone-ground cornmeal. Stone-ground cornmeal keeps more of the corn kernel, so it has more corn flavor. It also spoils faster, so store it in the refrigerator or freezer. Regular cornmeal from the grocery store keeps longer in the pantry.

Self-rising cornmeal mix. I don't use self-rising cornmeal mix for this recipe. It already contains leavening and salt, and this recipe is written for plain cornmeal.

The cornbread in a skillet and a sliced served on a plate

Recipe Notes and Tips

Make sure your skillet is hot when you add the batter to get a nice crust.
The cornbread is ready when the top is golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Once cooled, place the cornbread in an airtight container. It will keep for up to 2 days at room temperature and up to a week in the fridge.
To freeze, wrap the bread in foil or plastic wrap and place in a freezer bag. It will keep frozen for up to 6 months and can be thawed at room temperature.

More Easy Bread Recipes

cornbread with slice cut from it and butter on top

Tanya Harris