| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 hr 40 min |
| Active: | 30 min |
| Yield: | 8 to 10 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 cups cornmeal
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 strips center-cut applewood-smoked bacon
- 2 jalapeno chiles, seeded, deveined and finely diced
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 8 ounces white Cheddar, shredded (about 2 1/2 cups)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
- Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Combine the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
- Arrange the bacon strips flat in a single layer in the bottom of a 12-inch cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Cook until rendered and crispy, about 8 minutes. Transfer the bacon to one end of a paper-towel-lined plate to drain (save room for the jalapeno!). Add the jalapeno to the bacon drippings and cook until softened and slightly browned, about 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the jalapeno to the plate next to the bacon. Roughly chop the bacon and return to the plate.
- Carefully remove 2 tablespoons of the bacon drippings from the pan, leaving the rest. Keep the pan at the ready for baking the cornbread.
- Whisk together the buttermilk, oil and eggs in a medium bowl. Add the buttermilk mixture to the cornmeal mixture and use a rubber spatula to fold the dry ingredients into the wet until completely incorporated. Mix in the Cheddar, bacon and jalapeno.
- Using a pastry brush, spread the bacon drippings up the sides and around the bottom of the pan. Heat the pan over medium-low heat until the fat just starts to sizzle. Pour in the cornbread batter, allowing the heat to quickly set the bottom crust.
- Put the pan into the oven and bake until golden brown and a wooden skewer inserted into the middle of the cornbread comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Remove from the oven and baste the top crust with the butter. Cool for 20 minutes before serving.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 10 servings |
| Calories | 681 |
| Total Fat | 38 g |
| Saturated Fat | 11 g |
| Carbohydrates | 69 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Sugar | 24 g |
| Protein | 17 g |
| Cholesterol | 86 mg |
| Sodium | 486 mg |
Reviews
This was so good with our Navy beans. It made a lot. Used the rest to make stuffing it was delicious. Will make this again.
This cornbread was amazing. I had never started my cornbread in a cast iron pan on the stove top before. But now I’ll never go back. All the recipes the Smollett family has made on Food Network that I’ve tried have all been delicious.
This cornbread came out looking very beautiful but unfortunately was too dense and too dry to enjoy. A real disappointment given how much work went into it. It may be that the eggs in my batter started cooking when I put the melted butter and bacon grease in…not really sure. The end result was a dry cornbread where most of the ingredients (jalapeno, cheese, bacon) were completely lost in the bite. Next time I have decided I will just use a good cornbread mix and instead use my time to candy some bacon, which I think will taste even better when paired with jalapeno and cheddar inside the cornbread.
I didn’t care for it at all. Tasted like maple syrup, a lot of maple syrup was in it. Not a do over for me
Awesome Cornbread…..I have made this my signature recipe….thanks Journey,
Loved It!
This was the BEST cornbread that I have had in a very long time