Southern Cornbread

A slice of cornbread with butter on top.

5 from 2 votes

There's nothing better than a slice of hot buttered Southern Cornbread! It's made with a simple 5 ingredient batter. My grandma has passed our traditional Southern recipe down through the generations, it's a tried-and-true family recipe we make dozens of times a year.

Prep Time10

Cook Time20

Total Time30

Course: bread

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bread

Servings: servings

Calories: 189kcal

Ingredients

2 cups self-rising flour white cornmeal mix
¼ cup self-rising flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups whole buttermilk
¼ cup butter or bacon grease

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450ºF.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cornmeal mix, self-rising flour, and baking soda until well combined.
Pour buttermilk into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Be careful not to overmix, as this can make the hoecakes tough.
Heat a 9-inch cast-iron skillet or griddle over medium heat. Add ¼ cup butter or bacon grease to the surface.
Once the skillet and grease is hot, pour in the batter.
Bake 20-25 minutes or until cooked through and golden brown.
Run a knife along the outside of the cornbread then invert and flip onto a serving plate. Slice and serve with toppings.
Serve the cornbread warm, either plain or with your favorite toppings such as a pat of butter, drizzle of honey, cane syrup, or maple syrup, with a schmear of jam, or crumbled in a glass with milk or buttermilk.

Video

Notes

- Preheat the skillet: Make sure your cast iron skillet or griddle is properly preheated before adding the batter. A hot surface helps to create a crispy exterior and prevents the batter from sticking. You can also use a non-stick skillet if you don't have a cast-iron skillet or griddle.

- Use bacon grease: Traditional cornbread is often cooked in bacon drippings, which adds a rich and savory flavor. If you don't have bacon grease, you can use butter or vegetable oil instead.

- Don't overmix the batter: Mix the batter just until the ingredients are combined. Overmixing can lead to tough and dense cornbread.

- Pan Size: The amount prepared from this recipe will make 1 9-inch cast iron pone of cornbread or 8-10 hoecakes. You can also bake this batter in a 9"x9" pan. It's also fun to make these into corn sticks.

- Homemade Self-Rising Flour: To make your own self-rising flour at home, simply mix, 1 cup all-purpose flour with 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder and ¼ teaspoon salt.

- Cornmeal Mix Substitute: If you don't have a self-rising cornmeal mix in your grocery store, you can substitute those 2 cups with 1 ¾ cups corn meal (finely ground), 6 tablespoons all purpose flour, 2 tablespoons baking powder, and ½ teaspoon salt. You can use white or yellow cornmeal.

Nutrition