- 1/2 cup margarine (1 stick)
- 1-1/2 cups buttermilk (powdered buttermilk is fine, or even yogurt or sour milk would work)
- 2 medium eggs
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
You really need an iron skillet to make this, but if you just don’t have one, a nine inch square or round cake pan will do. Get your large iron skillet, or 9″ pan and put the margarine in it. Put the pan into the oven at 400° allowing the margarine to melt, and the pan to heat.
In a large bowl combine the buttermilk, eggs, sugar and salt. Use a whisk to mix it up really well. Pour in the melted margarine, leaving about a tablespoon of it left in the hot pan. Be careful pouring so you don’t get burned. Beat everything up again. Finally add the cornmeal, flour and baking soda. Whisk again until the batter is mostly smooth. Turn the batter into the hot skillet or pan, on top of the little bit of margarine you saved in it. Carefully put the skillet back into the oven. Bake the cornbread at 400° for about 25 minutes. It will be golden brown and the edges will pull away from the sides of the pan. Remove the pan from the oven and let it cool a little while before slicing into 8 or 12 wedges.
The iron skillet gives this cornbread the traditional crispy hillbilly crust. Another pan will still cook it, but it will not be quite the same. The buttermilk and sugar make the cornbread very tender and sweet. A perfect accompaniment for spicy dishes like Chili and stew. This is the best cornbread I have ever eaten, there is another recipe though, of a heartier and coarser nature, which is a little easier to make, Plain Cornbread.
If you’re not in the mood to make a whole bread, try this cornmeal muffin recipe instead
Your website is gorgeous and really kind.
With regard to corn bread recipes perhaps this would be helpful. The fastest and best recipe I have ever made. It literally takes 2 minutes to make and 15 to bake.
One package of Jiffy cornbread add an extra egg to the directions mix until eggs are well blended with milk then add to dry just until wet. Put it in a small well greased cast iron skillet sprinkle with a tiny bit of sugar. Bake at 400. It costs about 42 cents or 25 cents if you can catch a sale.
I made this recipe in a regular baking pan as I don’t have a cast iron skillet. I have to tell you, it was to die for. This is by far the best cornbread my family has ever tasted. Now when I make it, I make a pan for each of my grown sons to take home as well!
And since hubby and I can’t eat a whole pan ourselves, I freeze the leftovers.I wrapped each individual piece in wax paper, then put it in a ziplock freezer bag. It freezes nicely and we can take a piece out at a time when we want it and just warm it in the microwave.
Also, my guys like spicey stuff, so I added some diced jalapeno and a handful of shredded cheddar cheese to the batter, they went wild!
Thanks so much for sharing this awesome recipe!
Your cornbread recipe is one of the best I have ever tasted and I am African American and have been baking cornbread for most of my 53 years. I ran across it while looking for a recipe that called for yogurt because I ran out of milk. It is right up there with many recipe inherited from my mother and grandmother. Great recipe!!!
I found this recipe by searching Google for “best cornbread”, and it really lives up to the promise. I’ve been cooking this regularly for the last year or so and everyone adores it. I love it as an accompaniment to American comfort food, but it also goes great with everyone else’s comfort food too!
We made it last night with a Moroccan vegetable stew (similar to this one, but with chicken instead of squash: http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/01/squash-and-chickpea-moroccan-stew/ )
I also like it with more-salt/less sugar for a savorier approach. I was making it with some kids last year, and discovered that it was just fine even though the 12-year-old used a tablespoon instead of a teaspoon of salt! I thought it might go poorly, but it was great!
This has become my standard, go-to dish for potlucks and other occasions. Thanks for sharing the awesomeness.
Made a random search for cornbread and googled hillbilly cornbread.
got on your website and instant luck
got my iron skillet out and didn’t have buttermile so I added vinegar to my milk and let it stand for 10 min.
DELICIOUS ANDi SERVED IT WITH BISON STEW…..YUMMY……
I have never made cornbread in my life, but I tried it last night to go with some turkey chili I made, and this is a definite keeper. It really is the best tasting cornbread, ever! The texture was perfect and it was nice and moist, but also had an excellent crust, even though I didn’t use a cast iron skillet (I used a 9″ round cake pan instead). I also used butter instead of margarine. Next time I’ll try to spice it up with some chopped jalapenos and maybe a little shredded cheddar. This was so easy and so delicious, thank you!
Do I use self-rising or all purpose flour?
Cornbread is a staple in my household. Yesterday, I wanted to try a different recipe and I found yours. I loved it. Tender and wonderful. I agree the hot skillet makes that crust that is hard to replicate.
Ive recently been obsessed with using my cast iron skillet to cook and found this recipe. I tried making this the other day except I used bacon grease instead of butter and it didn’t come out very good so I just tried again today and followed the recipe exactly and it is fantastic. My husband keeps going on about it saying it was the best cornbread he’s ever had and made it a point to tell me to make sure I write this one down. Thanks so much for posting this!
This was by far and without a doubt, the best cornbread I’ve ever eaten. And being a southern girl, I’ve eaten my share of cornbread!!! Thanks for the recipe!!!
This is the best cornbread, I have ever eaten and I have made a lot of cornbread.
I used stone ground cornmeal, which make it even better, real butter and I cut the sugar to 1/4 cup. The cornbread was excellent!
Thank you for the recipe.
I have tried the “My best Cornbread” recipe and the “Plain Cornbread” recipe and I love both. It is difficult to say which is the best. They are both good. I will never use another cornbread recipe again. I cannot improve on these two recipes. Marilyn-Down South
I stumbled across this cornbread recipe this evening. I have converted to growing my own food as much as possible on 5 acres and baking everything from scratch. I made this cornbread tonight along with gumbo. This was excellent!!! I think Ellen missed the reason you were posting this. From scratch, no added preservatives. Jiffy doesn’t even come close. Thanks again.
I have been trying different cornbread recipes for quite some time without liking any of them, I am so glad I finally tried yours! It is definitely the best I have made or eaten! My husband even said it was better than Cracker Barrel’s corn muffins which he loves. I have been trying to refrain from using prepackaged food whenever possible but mixes and prepackaged foods were what I was taught to cook at a young age, so your site has helped me start feeding my family healthier without ingredients that I cannot say in our foods! Thank you so much!!
This is so much like the cornbread my mama made when I was growing up. I use real butter instead of margarine and it’s entirely possible my mom used lard or bacon grease as those were staples in our house.
I use my 6 inch cast iron skillet and cut the recipe in half (unless we’re having company, then I make the big skillet full). Half the recipe makes plenty for me and dh to go with our stew or beans for a few meals. I like the idea of freezing it too. Thanks so much for sharing this great recipe!
Oh, if you’ve never had leftover cornbread for dessert, you’re missing a real treat. Warm it up, add butter and maple syrup and you won’t believe how great it is. When a friend first told me that she grew up eating it for dessert, I was skeptical until I tried it. Yum!
I’m happy to report that your hillbilly cornbread was awesome! I used a half cup org unbleached flour and a 1/2 cup wheat four instead of just white. I used butter instead of margarine. Baked it in a recycled pie tin and voila´! Amazing- Hubby loved it too:)
THANKS!
I just have to say that this cornbread is amazing!! we moved far away from home recently and our son had been asking for red beans and rice. Well, you cant have that without cornbread of course. Since my grandmaw isnt close enough to make the cornbread for me, I had to do it on my own….for the first time. I guess I lucked out when I came across this website, this cornbread recipe came out simply fabulous!! I’m pretty sure I ate more cornbread then the red beans and rice!! Thanks so much
I loved the hillbilly cornbread! Please find a way to make your recipes into printable format! I tried to print this and got everything in the blog also.