Easy Homemade Southern Cornbread Muffins Recipe (2024)

These fluffy homemade Southern cornbread muffins are easy to make from scratch and ready for the oven in under 10 minutes! This recipe yields savory andmoist cornbread muffinswith just enough sweetness to complement the cornmeal! They’re best served fresh from the oven and are aperfect side dishfor chili or or barbecue. Don’t forget to make a batch of these for Thanksgiving too!

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When you think of classic Southern side dishes, cornbread is sure to be near the top of the list! That moist, crumbly, slightly sweet bread is the ideal companion for a hot bowl ofturkey chilior a classic Southern meal ofpulled porkandfried okra.

I love a big wedge of thiscast iron skilletbuttermilk cornbread(made withmelted butter, buttermilk, andbacon grease).

But homemade cornbread inmuffin formis easy to grab for a perfectly portioned serving – essential for potlucks and holidays. And no Thanksgiving spread is complete without a heapingbread basketfull ofdinner rollsand cornbread muffins!

I hadn’t made these in a while but it’s only because I forgot how stinkin’ easy they are to make! While I love a box ofJiffy cornbreadmix, it really takes no time at all to make cornbread muffins from scratch.

The batter takes about five minutes to throw together with the simple of instructions of don’t overmix and don’t overbake. Seriously, don’t overdo or overthink these and they’ll be just fine!

These classic savory cornbread muffins have just enough sweetness to complement the cornmeal. They come out with super high domes, a lovelygolden brownexterior, and are moist and airy when you break them open.

Ingredients

Theseeasy cornbread muffinshave just 8 simple ingredients. Many ingredients can be swapped out, but this is a great base recipe and is how my mom always made cornbread!

While I do love cornbread made withbacon grease, I’m much more likely to have cooking spray in my pantry. Don’t have to cook bacon? That’s one fewer obstacle between you and a delicious golden cornbread muffin fresh from the oven.

Ingredient substitutions and adjustments

• Buttermilk for milk:You may substitutebuttermilkor make a buttermilk substitute. To make “clabbered milk,” start with 1 tbsp white vinegar in your measuring cup, then fill the rest of the cup with milk. Wait about 5 minutes for the milk to sour and curdle a bit. You may also dilutesour creamwith milk until it has the consistency of heavy cream.
• Butter for oil:Replace the oil with the same amount ofmelted butter.
• More or less sugar:For a less sweet cornbread muffin, reduce the sugar to 1/4 cup. Forsweet cornbread muffins, increase to 1/2 cup.
• Bacon greasefor cooking spray:Grease your muffin tins withbacon greasefor extra flavor.

Recipe Variations

This is agreat recipefor customizing! Here are a few things you can add into your cornbread muffins to make them your own!

• Cornbread withcreamed corn:Add a can of undrainedcreamed cornto thewet ingredients.
• Jalapeno cornbread muffins:Add 2-3 finely diced, seeded jalapenos. You can usehatch chilestoo! Add a cup of shredded cheese for jalapeno cheddar muffins.
• Bacon cornbread:Crumble a few slices of bacon into the batter before mixing, and use thebacon greaseto grease the muffin tin.
• Cheesy cornbread:Add 8 oz. shreddedcheddar cheese.
• Honey cornbread muffins recipe:Substitute 1/4 cup honey for the sugar.

How to makehomemade cornbread muffins

Step one: Mixdry ingredients.
Add cornmeal, flour, salt, andbaking powderto alarge bowl. Mix well with a whisk.

Step two: Mixwet ingredients.
In amedium bowl, combine egg, milk, and oil.

Step three: Combine wet anddry ingredients.
Add thewet ingredientsinto the bowl with thedry ingredients. Mix until just combined. Don’t overmix!

Step four: Bake.
Fill a greased muffin tin about halfway withmuffin batter, and bake at 400 degrees for 13-17 minutes until the tops aregolden brownand a toothpick comes out mostly clean. Don’t overbake!

To makemini muffins:Bake for 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean. This recipe will make about 30-36mini cornbread muffins.

To make in acast iron skillet:Heat the empty skillet in yourpreheated ovenfor 5-10 minutes. Remove and add 2 tbspbacon greaseor butter and swirl it around until it’s melted and coats the interior of the skillet. Then add your batter and bake for 20-25 minutes. Try my favoritecast ironskilletcornbreadrecipehere!

Expert Tips for the Best Cornbread Muffins

• Don’t overmix! Overmixing cornbread batter will result in dense, tough cornbread muffins. Mix the batter until just combined: it’s okay if there are some lumps.
• Measuringdry ingredients:Be sure to spoon and level your flour and cornmeal rather than scooping with the measuring cup itself. That means spoon the flour into the measuring cup, then level with the flat of a knife. Scooping with the measuring cup can make the flour more densely packed, giving you toomuch flourin the recipe.
• Baking powder:Forbest results, use an aluminum freebaking powder(like Rumford).Baking powderthat contains sodium aluminum sulfite (like Clabber girl) or using old or expired powder can result in a bitter or metallic taste or flat-topped muffins.
• Baking powdervs.Baking Soda:Using the properleavening agentis very important!Baking powderandbaking sodaare not interchangeable:baking sodarequires acid to be activated, whilebaking powderis better for recipes with little to no acid. Once I used 4 teaspoons ofbaking sodainstead ofbaking powderin this recipe and it looked beautiful but was about the worst thing I’d ever tasted in my life. However, if you’re swapping the regular milk in this recipe for an acidic ingredient like buttermilk or dilutedsour cream, you may swap the 4 tspbaking powderfor 1 tspbaking powderand 1 tspbaking soda.

See Also

The Best Gluten-Free Thanksgiving Recipes {Dairy-Free Options}

What to serve with cornbread muffins

• Serve withbig bowl of chili
• Enjoywarm muffinstopped withhoney butter(or topped with regular butter and adrizzle of honey)
• Crumble into a glass of milk or buttermilk
• Serve alongsidepulled porkor other barbecue
• Have as a side forshrimp and grits

More cornbread recipes to try

• Cast iron skilletbuttermilk cornbread
• Southern cornbread dressing