Nothing is simpler and more delicious than genuine Southern cornbread with eggs and country ham. Use sorghum molasses in place of the honey in this recipe if you can locate it.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 30 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 cup self-rising cornmeal
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon self-rising cornmeal
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). In an 8 inch cast iron skillet, heat vegetable oil over low heat.
- In a medium bowl, mix together cornmeal, buttermilk, egg and honey. Carefully stir in the hot oil. Sprinkle skillet with remaining 1 tablespoon corn meal. Spoon mixture into skillet.
- Bake in preheated oven for 22 minutes, or until firm. Serve hot.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 154 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 21 g |
| Cholesterol | 24 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 3 g |
| Saturated Fat | 1 g |
| Sodium | 378 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 7 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This is great every time! The secret is to put the skillet into the oven as it preheats. Then pour the heated oil into the batter. If you coated the skillet with the oil it should fall out easily!
Do I have to use buttermilk ? Or is regular milk ok ?
I omit the honey (I prefer it as a topping, if I decide to use it at all). I use rendered bacon fat instead of vegetable oil, and increased the buttermilk to a cup, plus a pinch of salt. My husband could eat the entire pan if I let him. Nice and crispy and incredibly easy to make.
5 Stars with a couple of adjustments. I left out the honey – most southerners prefer that cornbread taste more like bread, less like cake. I also used butter instead of the oil. Very simple yet delicious recipe.
I am a Southerner – growing up in Mississippi and now living in Alabama. Most of us Southerners in my family and friends don’t like sugar or honey in our cornbread as we don’t like it sweet. That makes it more like bread – great with chili.
As a Southerner, I prefer my cornbread with all cornmeal and no flour. I really like that about this recipe. What I don’t like is sweet cornbread, so I omitted the honey. Since this is February, I decided to put some fun into tonight’s dinner by making the cornbread in heart shapes. We ate it with Basic Ham and Bean Soup from this site.
It is my fault that I didn’t realize I didn’t have self rising corn meal. Don’t make my mistake and I’m sure it will be fine because the flavor was good even though it was flat as a pancake.
I made the recipe per directions, substituting a glass baking dish. While I liked the texture and speed of prep and baking, I miss the taste of butter and will use butter instead of vegetable oil in the future. For the record, I am a Southerner and the son and grandson of two of the best cooks in Alabama! Thanks.
This was just like my Mom’s cornbread. Unfortunately, it never occurred to me to learn her recipe. After she passed away, I thought I would never have any like it again. Perfect texture and flavor. Thanks for helping me recreate a happy memory to share with my family.
Easy and delish! Crispy on the bottom, fluffy on the inside. I made it without the honey…
This recipe is dry and cakey and too sweet.
Wow I could eat this whole pan of cornbread! I did as other sugg. and used sorghum molasses and I subbed out the oil in the recipe for melted butter flavored shortening. Now it’s a true southern cornbread! Better than my Momma’s, and that’s saying a lot 😉 I baked it in my heated cast iron skillet 400 degrees for 18 minutes & it was perfect! Crisp outside and moist and tender inside, not dry like some other recipes I’ve tried on this site 🙂 This is my new “go to cornbread” from now on!
This was NOT a true southern recipe. NO ONE puts molasses in the mix. Maybe as something eaten with the bread. Just a disappointment.
This is excellent and if I could rate higher than 5 stars I would. I followed the ingredients exactly using honey and not molasses. I placed the oil in my cast iron 8″ skillet and then preheated the oven with the skillet on the middle rack. I left the skillet in the oven while I prepared the cornbread. I removed skillet from oven and sprinkled the tablespoon of cornmeal on the bottom of the skillet. I then poured the cornmeal mixture in the skillet and it sizzled slightly. I placed in the oven and baked for 21 minutes. Removed and coated top with butter. Recipe did not specify white or yellow cornmeal – I used white! This is not a sweet cornbread! Outside is crisp and golden inside is moist! Excellent with honey butter! Thank you Mason for sharing!
I made this about a week ago for myself and my parents to serve with chili, and it went perfectly. It’s moist, perfectly sweet, and not too crumbly or gritty. I appreciate this as a classic sweet cornbread recipe. I’m on here right now because I’m making it again for dinner, and I thought I should go ahead and give this guy some props. Swipe some butter on it and it is true southern goodness.
I don’t use the honey, just a little dab of sugar. I heat my 8×8 glass baking dish (with oil in it) while oven is preheating and about 5 min after oven is fully heated. I spoon the mix into the dish never taking dish out of oven. Bake at 425 for 20-22 mins. Result: perfect cornbread on inside and crispy outside crust. It’s exactly how us Tennesseans love our cornbread!
This is delicious!! I doubled the recipe tonight for a 10″ skillet….it was perfect. It made a crispy crust and crispy on top. I set my oven to 450 degrees, though. This is now my official cornbread recipe for my family!!
Not to my taste… very flat and dense.
Wonderful! You won’t miss the regular gluten-laden version of Southern Cornbread. I live in the South and my friends and hubby LOVE this. I also tried it with coconut oil instead of vegetable oil, and coconut milk instead of buttermilk because of food allergies and it was AWESOME! Thank you for the recipe!
Of all times for me to go on a low carb diet! My husband loved this recipe! Will make again. Instead of using oil and then mixing it in the batter, I did what my mom does. I take bacon grease (I know) and heat it in the skillet. Then I slowly add the mixed batter to the skillet. If you pour slowly it will push the oil out and really make the edge of the crust crispy.
I loved the dense consistency of this cornbread. I like mine a bit sweet so I added 2 tbsp sugar instead of honey, but that’s not necessary.