How to Make Southern Cornbread A Classic American Recipe

A classic Southern cornbread recipe needs five things: cornmeal, buttermilk, eggs, a little fat and a cast iron skillet heated until it's properly hot. The batter hits the pan with a sizzle, and that's what gives homemade cornbread from scratch its crisp, golden edge. The catch in Ireland is that American recipes assume ingredients that go by different names here. One of them, cornflour, is sitting in almost every Irish cupboard, and using it will ruin your cornbread.

Southern cornbread is savoury, with a toasted corn flavour, a crumbly centre and a crust that crackles when you cut it. It eats more like warm soda bread than cake. Its roots go back to Native American corn cooking.

What Cornmeal Should You Use for Cornbread in Ireland?

Cornmeal is dried, ground maize. Irish shops sell it as polenta or maize meal, and older Irish kitchens called it yellowmeal or Indian meal. For cornbread they're the same thing, so when a recipe asks for yellow cornmeal, polenta works.

Grind is what changes the result. Fine cornmeal gives a soft, even crumb, while coarse polenta gives a rustic, nubbly texture. The Biona organic polenta on our shelves is a coarse bramata grind that bakes into a crumb with real bite. Many Southern recipes call for self-raising cornmeal (sold as self-rising in the US), a pre-mixed product you'll rarely find in Ireland. This recipe uses plain polenta with baking powder and bread soda, which does the same job.

No polenta? Maize meal works exactly the same way. Without some form of cornmeal, though, you won't get cornbread, so it's worth tracking down. Our guide to American pantry staples covers the other ingredients that get lost in translation.

Can You Make Cornbread with Irish Cornflour?

No. In Ireland, cornflour is the fine white powder you use to thicken gravy and custard. Americans call that cornstarch. When an American recipe mentions corn flour, it usually means a finely ground cornmeal, which is a different product altogether.

Swap in Irish cornflour and you won't get cornbread. You'll get a pale, gummy slab with none of the corn flavour.

With the right bag in the cupboard, the rest of the shopping is simple.

What Goes into a Southern Cornbread Recipe?

This recipe makes one 25cm skillet. If you're converting from American measures, 1 cup of cornmeal is roughly 150g.

Method: oven, in a 25cm cast iron skillet heated to 220°C (fan 200°C, gas 7).

• 225g polenta or cornmeal, fine or coarse

• 60g plain flour

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• ½ teaspoon bread soda (bicarbonate of soda)

• 1 teaspoon fine salt

• 2 large eggs, at room temperature

• 400ml buttermilk, at room temperature

• 60g butter, melted, plus 1 tablespoon for the skillet (or 1 tablespoon bacon fat)

The small amount of plain flour, all-purpose flour in US recipes, holds the crumb together.

Buttermilk gives Southern cornbread its tang and, with the bread soda, its lift. Irish bakers have a head start, because the same carton of Irish buttermilk you'd use for soda bread is exactly right.

Butter keeps it rich and buttery, while bacon fat gives a smokier, more traditional flavour. Good Irish butter suits both the batter and the pan. Check your baking powder is fresh too, because a tired tub is a common reason cornbread comes out flat.

How to Make Cornbread in a Hot Cast Iron Skillet

Skillet cornbread is the Southern default because cast iron holds heat far better than a thin tin, so the cornbread starts cooking the moment it touches the pan. That's how you get the crisp base and edges that set Southern cornbread apart. The method itself is quick, and most of the time is spent waiting for the oven. No skillet? A metal tin works too, and the note below the steps shows how.

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C (fan 200°C, gas 7). Put a 25cm skillet in the oven while it heats and leave it there for at least 10 minutes.

2. In a large bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together: the polenta, flour, baking powder, bread soda and salt.

3. In a jug, whisk the eggs into the buttermilk, then stir in the melted butter.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir with a spatula until just combined. A few lumps are fine. If you're using coarse polenta, leave the cornbread batter to rest for 10 minutes so the grains soften.

5. Carefully take the hot skillet out of the oven. Add the tablespoon of butter or bacon fat and swirl it around the base and up the sides so the cornbread doesn't stick. It should sizzle straight away.

6. Pour the batter into the skillet and smooth the top. You should hear it hiss as it hits the pan.

7. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. The cornbread is done when the top is golden brown and a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean.

8. Leave it in the skillet for 5 minutes, then cut into wedges and serve warm.

No skillet? A 23cm square metal tin will work if you heat it in the oven the same way, though the edges won't be quite as crispy. Avoid glass dishes, which heat slowly and leave you with a pale, soft crust. To bake cornbread as muffins, divide the mix between a greased 12-hole muffin tin and bake for 15 to 18 minutes.

Which Mistakes Make Cornbread Dry or Flat?

Most dry or flat cornbread comes down to five small mistakes. Avoid them and you're on your way to the best cornbread you've had, perfectly moist in the middle.

Putting Batter into a Cold Skillet

A lukewarm pan steams the base instead of frying it, taking most of the crust with it. Give the preheat its full time.

Overmixing the Cornbread Batter

Stir until the dry flour disappears, then stop. Any more develops the gluten and turns a tender crumb tough.

Overbaking Until the Cornbread Dries Out

Start checking at 20 minutes and take it out once the skewer test passes. It keeps cooking in the hot skillet, so the centre stays moist and tender.

Using More Flour Than Cornmeal

Tip the balance towards flour and the crumb drifts towards cake. Keep the corn in charge.

Baking with Fridge-Cold Ingredients

Cold buttermilk and eggs make melted butter seize into lumps, so take them out 30 minutes early.

How Is Southern Cornbread Different from Sweet Cornbread?

Cornbread varies from region to region across America, but most versions lean one of two ways. Sweet cornbread, associated with the northern states, uses plenty of flour, a generous cup of sugar and regular milk, and bakes up soft and cake-like. It's what boxed mixes such as Jiffy produce.

Southern cornbread leans on cornmeal and buttermilk, keeps sugar to a minimum and bakes in a greased skillet. It's denser, more crumbly and far more savoury, which is also what makes it so easy to pair.

The recipe above has no sugar at all. For a touch of sweetness, add a drizzle of honey at the table rather than turning it into a sweet cornbread recipe.

What to Serve with Southern Cornbread

A bowl of chilli is the classic partner, because the crumbly cornbread soaks up the sauce. It's just as good with soups, beef stew, beans or a green salad.

Barbecue is the other great match. A wedge beside BBQ pulled pork is about as Southern as dinner gets, and the savoury crumb cuts through the sweet sauce.

For the top, you can't beat butter and honey. Beat a spoonful of good Irish honey into soft butter and spread the honey butter over the cornbread while it's warm.

For a kick, a chipotle chilli and smoked paprika butter melts into the crumb and gives you smoky heat with no extra effort. Finish with a few flakes of hand-harvested sea salt from Donegal, just up the road from our Sligo shop, so every bite of buttery crust gets a little crunch.

What Can You Add to Savoury Cornbread?

Once you've made the basic recipe, it takes additions well. Fold 100g of grated mature Irish cheddar and three finely sliced spring onions through the mix for a cheese and onion version that browns and crisps wherever the cheddar touches the pan. A handful of sweetcorn kernels adds bursts of sweetness and texture, while a few spoonfuls of creamed corn make the crumb softer and even moister.

If you like heat, one finely chopped jalapeño is enough to warm the whole pan without overpowering it. For the most Southern version of all, fry four rashers of streaky bacon until crisp, crumble them into the mix, and use the bacon fat to grease the pan.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Long Does Cornbread Keep?

Once it has cooled completely, keep cornbread in an airtight container on the counter for up to two days, or a few days longer in the fridge. It firms up as it sits, so warm slices briefly in the oven or a dry pan before serving.

Does Cornbread Freeze Well?

Yes. Wrap cooled cornbread tightly and freeze it for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge, then warm it through in the oven before serving.

What Can You Do with Leftover Cornbread?

Plenty. Crumble it into cornbread dressing, the American version of stuffing, or cut it into cubes and toast them as croutons for soup. Slices fried in a little butter make a proper breakfast.

What Can Replace Buttermilk in Cornbread?

Soured milk does the job. For a quick buttermilk substitute, stir 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar into 400ml of whole milk and leave it for 10 minutes. If you use plain milk instead of buttermilk, the cornbread will still work, but it will be less tangy and slightly flatter.

Does Cornbread Contain Gluten?

This recipe does, because of the plain flour. Cornmeal itself comes from maize, which doesn't contain gluten, but always check the label of every ingredient if you're baking for someone who avoids it.

Everything You Need to Make Southern Cornbread at Home

Once the skillet's out, the rest of the table is easy to build. Everything on the ingredient list is on our shelves in Sligo and online, and our American foods range has plenty more to go with it. Make this cornbread a couple of times and you'll stop needing the recipe. You'll know the batter by feel and the crust by the sound it makes when it hits the pan.