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    Home » Breads

    Southern Buttermilk Cornbread

    Feb 24, 2006 · Modified: Dec 27, 2020 by Andrea · This post may contain affiliate links · This blog generates income via ads ·

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    Southern Buttermilk Cornbread - Andrea Meyers

    I grew up on my mother’s and grandmothers’ Southern buttermilk cornbread, and I’m devoted to it. Southern cornbread has no sugar and is cooked in a cast iron skillet, which renders a lovely crunchy crust. You can eat it by itself with butter or apple butter, or you can eat it with beans or chili and spoon either on top of a slice.

    This is another recipe that I’ve played around with. Many cornbread recipes call for 1 cup cornmeal and 1 cup all-purpose flour. However, all that extra flour seems to detract from the corn flavor in my opinion. So I split the difference and I like the results.

    If you do not keep buttermilk on hand (I usually don’t), you can make your own using white vinegar and milk. The ratio is 1 tablespoon of vinegar to 1 cup of skim milk (minus 1 tablespoon). So for this recipe, I use about 1 tablespoon plus ½ teaspoon of lemon juice. About 10 to 15 minutes before you make the cornbread, put the lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup. Add milk to the 1-¼ cup line and allow it to sit at room temperature.

    [Updated January 2011.]

    Southern Buttermilk Cornbread - Andrea Meyers
    Print Pin

    Southern Buttermilk Cornbread

    Prep Time20 mins
    Cook Time25 mins
    Total Time45 mins
    Course: Bread
    Cuisine: American, Southern
    Diet: Vegetarian
    Keyword: corn meal, quick breads
    Servings: 8 servings
    Calories: 235kcal
    Author: Andrea Meyers

    Equipment

    • mixing bowl
    • 9 or 10-inch cast iron skillet

    Ingredients

    • 1½ cup cornmeal
    • ½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
    • 1½ teaspoon baking powder
    • 1 teaspoon baking soda
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • 1 egg (beaten)
    • 1¼ cups buttermilk
    • 4 tablespoons vegetable oil (or bacon drippings if you happen to have any)
    US Customary - Metric

    Preparation

    • Preheat oven to 400° F.
    • Stir together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in mixing bowl. Add the beaten eggs and the buttermilk, stirring just until all the dry ingredients are wet. Do not overmix.
    • Add vegetable oil to the cast iron skillet and place in the hot oven for 3 to 4 minutes. You want the skillet hot, but you don’t want the oil to start smoking.
    • Remove hot pan from oven. Make sure that the pan is thoroughly coated with the oil, bottom and sides, then pour the excess oil into the batter and stir. Pour batter into the hot pan.
    • Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly browned.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 235kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 25mg | Sodium: 477mg | Potassium: 238mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 92IU | Calcium: 80mg | Iron: 1mg
    Tried this recipe?Share in the comments!

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. tony says

      January 06, 2010 at 4:21 pm

      Now this is REAL cornbread!!! This is exactly the way my grandmother taught me to make it way back when... I always use a cast iron skillet and bacon drippings. I put a dollop of bacon drippings in a 10" cast iron skillet and place in the oven while it preheats. When the oven is preheated I pull the skillet out, roll the grease around to coat the inside well and pour the extra into the batter and stir in before put the batter into the skillet. You know the skillet is right if you hear sizzling when the batter hits the hot skillet. Hmm good stuff!!!

    2. Barbara Putnam says

      December 30, 2010 at 1:02 pm

      You are soooooo right . . . Southern corn bread does not have sugar! Only the yankees could do such an awful thing as sweeten it - yuck. Your recipe is wonderful and I recommend it to all my friends. I love corn bread for dessert with Alaga syrup warmed and poured over it. DEElicious. Alaga syrup is good old pure corn syrup with a real southern flavor. I think it's a little too thick for pancakes, but it sure is good for soppin biscuits and cornbread!

    3. Amy says

      March 19, 2011 at 6:52 pm

      I am SOOO excited!!!! After years of looking I finally found a recipe that tastes exactly like the cornbread my grandma used to make!!!! This is the best cornbread ever. Thank you for ending my search.

    4. Georgia says

      September 11, 2011 at 11:37 pm

      I love this cornbread, and so does my husband. I am so tired of "cornbread" that smells and tastes like cake. Thank you for posting it.

      • Andrea says

        September 12, 2011 at 7:16 am

        Thanks Georgia! It's always good to hear from others who feel the same way about their cornbread. 🙂

    5. Susan says

      November 15, 2011 at 12:28 pm

      Thank you sooo much! my Texas Grandma made this cornbread but the I was too young to remember exactly what went in (of course it was never written down!). Now i can share with my first grandbaby!

    6. Andi Burdick says

      January 13, 2012 at 7:40 pm

      This mix was very dry when I made it. I added another 1 or 11/2 c buttermilk??? Haven't tasted it yet. When I use the aweful cornbread mixes, with sugar YUCK, the masa is much wetter when you put it in the baking dish. It's hard to remember, as I am now 62, but it seemed like my granmma's was a little thicker than pancake mix & she cooked it on top of the stove & flipped it. Everyone says to put it in the oven, sooo..
      It also seems like she said half flour & half corn meal & "a little" baking soda, a little salt, some bakon grease, & buttermilk to the right consistancy. As you can see, no real recipe, & nobody in the family has been able to duplicate hers.

    7. A.E. Ray says

      September 30, 2012 at 12:57 pm

      Try crumbling up your cornbread and pouring buttermilk over it, this can't be beat!

      • Allen says

        November 18, 2018 at 8:10 am

        Yes, you are right grandma's cornbread and some buttermilk oh how I remember eating that as a kid.

    8. Tom says

      October 27, 2012 at 2:47 pm

      All good here... like this recipe. but my grandma's (one Southern Miss and one Southern Ala) did not believe in baking powder. got in the way of the corn, they said. Instead, the mixed the whole thing, as above-- with a pinch MORE baking soda-- and then let the 'buttermilk and the soda' rise, sitting on top of a warm stove, for half an hour or so...(covered with some towels) and then, once you see bubbles in the batter and it raises a bit, they gently poured that batter into the skillet, and then turned up heat on the stove and baked that in their skillets.

      so there is the tradition from here. Now, , here is my own tip from our days. replace that half a cup of 'regular unbleached flour'-- since you want to taste the corn-- replace that with fine ground yellow grits....(Ok, I admit, I use a bag marked 'fine ground Polenta grits'.) If you wanna go a little more fusion be sure to use olive oil, not veg oil, and throw in some fresh thyme... Hey, my granma's boys from Miss married Southern Italian here in New Orleans!

      • Transplanted Southerner says

        November 27, 2013 at 4:09 pm

        My family hailing from the Carolinas, I have tried LOTS of cornbread recipes. This is by far the best! I followed Tom's suggestions and they were spot on! Now I live in Maryland, and around here, Marylanders think cornbread should taste as sweet as cake. I'm glad to find a recipe that is true to Southern tradition.

    9. Jill says

      March 16, 2014 at 4:12 pm

      As a transplanted southerner I always told people that sweet, yellow, cake-like cornbread is NOT real cornbread. My mother always made authentic southern cornbread without a recipe, relying on experience and the consistency of the batter (I never learned the knack). Also, she used self-rising corn meal, which I can't find where I live. Thank you, Andrea, for providing the amounts of each ingredient.

      If you don't have a cast iron skillet I've found that a shallow Corningware casserole dish is a decent substitute. My mother says that egg is optional, but I suspect she added more leavening when she didn't use egg. Also, my mother always sprinkled a little cornmeal into the oil when pre-heating the skillet. She said that browning a little cornmeal before adding the batter made a crispier crust.

    10. James Westmoreland says

      December 05, 2014 at 12:38 am

      This recipe sounds like the "real" cornbread my mom made just about ever day when I was growing up. I selected this one since it doesn't call for a lot of flour and definitely no sugar. My favorite "one dish" meal is a bowl of good southern style cornbread and cold buttermilk mixed in the bowl. What do you think about adding a small amount of real mayonnaise to the mix? If so, how much? I ask this because my mom and my sister has continued doing this with her cornbread mix which I really like. I would appreciate your opinion in response. Thank you and keep up the good work. Regards, Jim Westmoreland.

      • Andrea says

        December 05, 2014 at 8:05 am

        Hi James. It sounds like your mom was a good cook. I've never added mayonnaise to cornbread, but I imagine adding a couple tablespoons, or even up to 1/4 cup, would make it more moist. Let me know how it works for you.

    11. Nancy says

      March 14, 2016 at 7:06 pm

      Thank you for this recipe. I grew up eating this and can't stand the sweet stuff served everywhere these days. I couldn't remember the proportions so this is great!

    12. Gigi says

      November 28, 2016 at 2:52 am

      This cornbread was great! Thank you!

    13. Gigi says

      November 26, 2017 at 12:48 am

      Every Thanksgiving this is my go to cornbread recipe for my dressing. As a true Southern California gal I didn’t grow up eating traditional, true southern cornbread. I grew up on Jiffy. Over the years as I strive to be a better cook, I’ve learned that dressing is best from true unsweetened, homemade cornbread made from scratch. Thank you for a recipe that never fails me...no matter what baking dish I use. Today I am using a cast iron skillet and I’m excited. Thanks again!

    14. Carol says

      October 07, 2018 at 4:04 pm

      I’m 76 and finally found a recipe my Mamaw and mother made. The sweet cornbread is called desert. Too sweet! I’m making the real recipe tonight with homemade green pea and ham soup. Probably won’t have sweet tea though.

    15. Joyce Sligh Stephenson Augustson Originally Nashville, AR says

      November 19, 2019 at 4:58 pm

      I am 80 and find it necessary to serve my mother's original cornbread dressing to my grown children this year. Thank you immensly for sharing this great recipe.

    Trackbacks

    1. Cheesy Chili Cornbread | Never Enough Thyme says:
      November 10, 2010 at 3:16 pm

      [...] Southern Buttermilk Cornbread from Andrea Meyers [...]

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