Savory, rich, buttery cornbread is a classic side dish that can be enjoyed any time of year. It is old-fashioned comfort food at its finest. This recipe uses simple ingredients you likely already have in your pantry and comes together in just a few minutes.
The result is a moist, delicious cornbread that pairs well with just about anything. Serve it alongside chili beans or beef barley soup for a hearty meal, or enjoy it as a snack with some honey or strawberry fig jam.
This is an old-fashioned, savory cornbread recipe with butter. It is a quick and easy recipe with classic flavors. If you want to play around with the flavors more, you can brown the butter as we did in our brown butter cornbread or check out our jalapeno cheddar cornbread.
We have adapted other cornbread recipes to fit in casseroles like our Mexican cornbread casserole or our chicken casserole. It is such a versatile recipe.
Here is Why This Recipe Works
- Baking the cornbread in an extra hot oven gives the top a nice crunchy crust (just like cornbread should be).
- We added just the right amount of butter to give a rich, buttery flavor without weighing down the batter.
- A small amount of optional sugar helps bring out the natural sweetness in the corn without making the cornbread taste sweet.
- Sour cream enhances the richness of the butter and makes the cornbread moister.
- We provide several options for flavor additions so you can customize the recipe to your heart’s content.
Cornbread has a rustic, sometimes crumbly texture that is perfect with hearty soups like our lamb soup and our pork chili beans. It is also great crumbled up and tuned into stuffing. If you love this recipe, you will love the flavor and rustic texture of our quick barley bread as well.
The Ingredients
- Cornmeal. For best results, use medium to fine ground cornmeal.
- All-purpose flour. The flour helps bind the ingredients. If you only use cornmeal, the bread will crumble and fall apart.
- Sugar. The sugar is optional. Some people don’t think any sugar should be in cornbread but we think a small amount enhances the flavor without making it sweet.
- Baking powder and baking soda. Used as leavening. Check the expiration date and make sure they are fresh.
- Salt. Enhances the flavor.
- Milk. Whole milk will give the cornbread a richer flavor.
- Sour cream. Use full-fat sour cream for best results.
- Butter. You can use salted or unsalted butter. The small amount of salt in salted butter will not through the recipe off.
- Eggs. Eggs give the cornbread structure and bind everything together.
Medium to fine ground corn meal will make the best cornbread. Albers® Corn Meal is a popular brand in the stores near us. It doesn’t say anything on the box but their website says it is finely ground cornmeal. If you use coarse ground cornmeal, the cornbread will be more crumbly and have a rougher texture.
How to Make Cornbread with Butter
Here is a brief overview to get an idea of what to expect with this buttery cornbread recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card for all the details
Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Whisk to get out any lumps in the flour and baking soda. If you want to add additional herbs and spices, add them here. See the recipe notes for suggestions.
Combine the wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
Tip: Let the milk, eggs, and sour cream sit at room temperature and let the melted butter cool down a bit before combining them. If the butter is too hot, it will scramble the eggs and if the milk and sour cream are too cold, the butter will solidify when you add it to the cold ingredients.
Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just until combined. It is ok if there are a few lumps. If you want to add cheese, corn kernels, or chopped peppers, add them in this step.
Spread the batter into a 10-inch skillet. You can also use a 9 x 9-inch square pan.
More Easy Quick Bread Recipes
- 19 Easy Quick Bread Recipes
- Sour Cream and Onion Biscuits
- Morning Glory Muffins
- Sour Cream Biscuits
- Navajo Fry Bread
Tips for Success
- A cast-iron skillet will create crunchy, golden brown edges with a more crusty texture. If you like the crust softer, use a cake pan.
- If you use an 8 x 8-inch square pan, you will have extra batter to make about 3 muffins.
- Don’t stir the batter too much or the cornbread will get tough. Just fold the ingredients together until they are combined.
- If you want sweet buttery cornbread, increase the sugar to 1/3 cup.
- For a bit more Southern tang, replace the milk with buttermilk.
Frequently Asked Questions
This is mostly a personal preference but we like the rich flavor that butter brings to cornbread recipes. Oil will make cornbread slightly more tender and moist while butter makes baked goods more flavorful but dense and firm.
This recipe uses butter and sour cream which gives the cornbread a fantastic flavor while adding tenderness and moisture from the sour cream.
Cornbread will naturally get firm when it cools down. If you warm the cornbread up slightly, it will get softer and have a more tender texture. If you warm it in the microwave, wrap it in a damp towel and zap it in 10-second increments until slightly warm.
You can also heat it in the oven at 300°F for 10 to 15 minutes. Either way, make sure you don’t heat it too much or it will dry out.
Adding too much flour or cornmeal or baking cornbread too long will make it dry and crumbly. Pull the cornbread out of the oven when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or, preferably, with a few crumbs still clinging to the toothpick.
If you want to be more precise, use an instant read thermometer and bake the cornbread until it reaches 200°F in the center.
Our cornbread with butter and sour cream delivers on flavor and texture. The base recipe is easy to adapt and we provided several variations in the notes section on the recipe card.
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Buttery Cornbread
Ingredients
- 1-½ cups fine to medium ground cornmeal 234 grams
- 1-¼ cups All-purpose flour 150 grams
- 2 tablespoons sugar optional
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup whole milk room temperature (227 grams)
- ½ cup sour cream room temperature (113 grams)
- 10 tablespoons butter melted (141 grams)
- 2 eggs room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F
- Grease a 10-inch cast-iron skillet or a 9 x 9 square baking dish.
- Add the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to a medium-sized bowl and whisk to combine. If you want to add herbs and spices, add them here. See the notes for suggestions.
- In a separate dish, combine the milk, sour cream, melted butter, and eggs. Whisk to combine well. Add the dry mixture and fold together until just moistened. It is ok if there are a few lumps. If you want to add cheese, jalapeno peppers, or corn kernels, fold them in at this point.
- Pour into the prepared baking skillet or dish and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Notes
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- cumin
- chile powder
- taco seasoning
- corn kernels (fresh, frozen, or canned)
- grated cheese
- chopped jalapeno peppers (fresh or pickled)
- chopped olives
C bird
Monday 22nd of August 2022
My grandmother would laugh at this recipe. Cornbread is made with WHITE stoneground cornmeal. No.flour or sugar. Heat the oven. Pour in a little oil and heat it till HOT then pour in the batter. It should sizzle. That’s what makes the CRUST . Of course, only use a cast iron skillet otherwise you just have a corn and flour cake. Might as well add frosting.??
Ophelia
Saturday 18th of November 2023
@C bird, You do you. Absolutely no need to be so rude. Some of us don’t like white cornmeal.
Dahn Boquist
Monday 22nd of August 2022
That is also a great way to make cornbread, and it is a Southern version. This recipe is a Northern-style cornbread. We like both versions up here ;)