Being born and raised in South Carolina, cornbread is a must. Cornbread is also one of my absolute things to make. In this post, I am going to show you how to make some of the best southern-style homemade cornbread.
I’m just going to be honest with you from the start. Yes, I am from South Carolina and unfortunately, I do not have a “Grandma’s homemade cornbread recipe” to share with you. Nope, it’s sad but this southern girl does not (insert tear).
What I do have is the recipe from the back of Yelton’s self-rising cornmeal bag that is damn near just as good as my Grandma’s cornbread.
Yes, my mom and Grandma would make homemade cornbread on the regular. That’s how I learned to cook, by just sitting and watching them do their thing.
But for some reason, I just can’t seem to get my cornbread to come out the same (insert eye roll).
It’s whatever, I found a recipe, it’s just as good and I am going to share it with you.
When it comes to certain things and the recipe on the back of the box (made-from-scratch things I would watch my mom make WITHOUT looking at a recipe) I typically don’t care for it.
I immediately assume it won’t be the same. And I usually end up tweaking it in some way to make it come out the way I remember it growing up.
So one day (after several failed dinner attempts at making my Grandma’s cornbread) I said eff it, I’m going to just make the recipe from the back of the bag of cornmeal and see how that turns out.
I swear it was all kinds of different from the way my mom and grandma would make it but it sure as shit tasted the same.
My memory tends to suck after having that 3rd kid so maybe I just didn’t remember it correctly. I don’t know, it is what it is and I’m okay with that.
Moving on!
Ingredients
- Self-rising cornmeal
- 1 egg
- Shortening
- buttermilk
How To Make Cornbread
The key to making some of the best southern-style cornbread is using a cast iron skillet. So if you don’t have one, get one.
I promise you won’t be disappointed. It’s the only way. (J/K it’s not but it does make a difference in my opinion.)
First things first, pre heat your oven to 450° and grease up your cast iron pan real well. After it’s greased go ahead and place it in the oven to get good and hot while you mix all the other stuff up.
In a medium size bowl beat 1 egg.
Add 1 1/2 cups buttermilk and beat some more.
I almost never have buttermilk whenever I actually want to make cornbread so instead I use regular milk.
It’s not quite as good but it’s close enough, gets the job done and I’m ok with that.
What it really boils down to is I don’t want to stop by the store just for one freakin item.
So if you find yourself in the no buttermilk pinch just replace it with regular milk. I do.
Then add 1 3/4 cups of unsifted cornmeal and beat it even more. (It can be any cornmeal, it doesn’t have to be Yelton’s. That’s just the brand I typically pick up cause it’s their recipe I use).
Add 3 tbsp shortening and ever so slightly chop it in. It will look lumpy, but that’s ok. You don’t want to mix it in thoroughly.
Before we move to our next step I feel the need to say be very careful because your cast iron pan will be extremely hot.
If you zoom in on my picture below you can actually see bubbles where it’s sizzling after I poured my cornbread mix into it.
For some reason the thought of “I know there’s a complete dumbass out there so I better add this in” crossed my mine.
No offense if you happen to be that dumbass, I still love you, I’m just sayin. Be careful. Use a potholder.
Pull out your cast iron pan from the oven and pour in your cornbread mix immediately. Then put it all back into the oven which should already be at 450° and bake for 30 minutes or until it is slightly brown on top.
That’s it, you’re done. Fix a bowl of soup with it and enjoy the hell out of that fine-ass homemade cornbread. It’s the freaking best.
I’ve even eaten my cornbread like it was a bowl of cereal. Crumbled it up in a bowl and poured milk over it.
When I told my daughter this she looked at me like I was crazy and disgusting. I just laughed. Kids today are so weird and too picky (all three of mine are included in that statement).
My favorite soups to serve on the side are potato soup, vegetable soup, or chili. And it just so happens you can find all 3 recipes on my blog. You’re welcome! Here are those links:
Enjoy!
Southern Homemade Cornbread
Equipment
- 12" cast iron skillet
Ingredients
- 1¾ cups self-rising corn meal
- 1 egg
- 1½ cups buttermilk
- 3 tbsp shortening
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450°
- Grease cast iron skillet and place in the oven to get hot while you mix ingredients.
- In a medium size bowl beat your egg
- Add buttermilk and beat again, mixing well
- Add un-sifted corn meal and beat some more, until well mixed
- Add shortening, slightly mix into cornmeal but just a little
- Take cast iron pan out of the oven and pour your cornbread mix in immediately. (Be very careful doing this, the pan will be very hot)
- Bake at 450° for 30 minutes or until cooked through and the top is slightly a golden brown.
- Enjoy!