The Best Cornbread Recipe

This Easy Cornbread Recipe is a classic. It can be made in a flash, resulting in a sweet, moist cornbread (using real corn!) that goes great with chili or ham and beans.

I’ve noticed a trend in the food world lately. Every recipe or image that I see pop up on Instagram from my foodie friends shows a more outlandish pic than the last. Overflowing cheese boards, intricately decorated cakes, and pies, amazing-looking donuts dripping with caramel or chocolate sauce.

Don’t get me wrong – I hit the like button on Every. Single. One. of these images. They’re stunning photographs and look insanely delicious. And, they inevitably leave me filling up my notes app with the many recipes I want to try (someday!).  

But sometimes, despite their humble appearances, I find that some of the best recipes are the most classic. The tried and true recipes. The ones you go back to again and again. And that’s exactly what this easy cornbread recipe is.

Making The Cornbread

This cornbread recipe is from my Grandma’s collection. It was passed down to me from my dad that’s bursting with all sorts of old-school gems.  And while many of her recipes were cut from magazines, this one was handwritten and, by the looks of it, was made many times over the years. 

I have made just a couple of alterations to the original recipe. I use butter instead of shortening. And I add in a cup of canned corn to give it just a little something extra.

This cornbread recipe is so easy to make! The instructions as written on my Grandma’s recipe card were literally just a few lines.  Here's how they went:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place a tab of butter in the center of a baking pan, and place it in the oven for 10 minutes, then remove.
2. Meanwhile, mix your dry ingredients (nothing special here - cornmeal, flour, salt, baking powder, sugar). Make a well in the middle of this mixture and add a beaten egg, buttermilk, and the melted butter from your pan.
3. Add your canned corn (my addition), mix well, and pour the batter into the preheated pan to bake for about 25 minutes.

That's it! Let it cool for a few minutes after you take it out and you're done.

Tip For Success

When making this cornbread, you may wonder why you need to melt the the butter in a hot pan, in the oven, and then pour the rest of the batter into the hot pan. This is actually a key step in the recipe and is what will give you the best cornbread ever.

Melting the butter in the pan, then pouring the batter into the hot, butter-greased pan, gives the cornbread an incredible crisp buttery edge while still keeping it moist in the center. 

It’s truly the easiest and best Cornbread Recipe I’ve tried and turns out a sweet and moist cornbread that goes great with a cup of chili, or ham and beans. Or, if you’re like my kids, a slab of soft butter and a dollop of honey works well with it too.

More Delicious Side Dishes

• Hot Honey Roasted Carrots
• Roasted Garlic And Cauliflower Mash
• Roasted Garlic
• Chopped Zucchini Salad With Parmesan And Herbs
• Tomato Salad With Grains, Mint, And Feta