Southern Skillet Cornbread with Honey Butter

This weekend, I made skillet cornbread twice. Yup, twice. I haven’t made cornbread that often — the last time being a couple years ago—so I was arguably making up for lost time. So this weekend, I was inspired to make some a Southern-themed dinner party we hosted on Friday, where the cornbread was quickly demolished. The second time was to pass out to our neighbors since we only recently moved into the building. What better way to show that you’re a good neighbor than providing fresh homemade cornbread? If the neighbors liked it as much as my boyfriend did, then I’m guessing I’m in their good graces now.

I prefer my cornbread slightly sweet (I know, this makes it not truly Southern), served with a side of honey butter. It should be soft and moist in the middle with a nice golden crunchy crust on the outside. And baking cornbread in a piping hot cast iron skillet is a sure fire way to get the perfect crust every time.

The ingredient list is fairly simple – primarily revolving around butter, cornmeal, flour, sugar and eggs – and the recipe is easy for even non-bakers to not mess up. I like to tell people I’m not a serious baker because I’m not big on measuring as I cook, and tend to season based on taste. But thankfully, cornbread is still very much in my repertoire. I loosely adapted my recipe from this Serious Eats recipe, with a few modifications based on my testing.

The secret to the deliciousness of this cornbread is truly the browned butter. It adds a lovely light nuttiness that somehow elevates the taste of the finished product to an even more delectable level. So please, don’t be scared about the amount of butter. I promise you, it’s worth it. You’re worth it.

Getting started

Place oven rack in center position and preheat oven to 425°F. Once the oven is heated, add butter to a cast iron skillet and transfer the skillet to the oven. Heat until the butter is melted and well-browned, 10-15 minutes.

Mix your ingredients

While your butter is browning, you can combine your ingredients. In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, and buttermilk until all ingredients are well combined. Then whisking constantly, slowly drizzle in reserved browned butter to the wet ingredients. Be sure to leave about 1 tbsp of browned butter in the skillet to coat the pan. Then combined the wet ingredients into dry ingredients until all ingredients are well incorporated in a batter.

Transfer the batter and bake

Swirl the remaining tablespoon of butter in the skillet to coat all sides of the pan. Spoon batter into the coated skillet and spread out evenly through the bottom of the pan. Transfer the skillet to the oven. Bake until light golden brown on top and a wooden skewer inserted into cornbread comes out with no crumbs, abou 18-20 minutes. Remove the skillet from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.

Serve and enjoy the cornbread

Cut up the bread and serve directly in the skillet. I love serving honey butter as an accompaniment, which is a simple mixture of butter and honey, as it brings out the slight sweetness of the cornbread. This recipe is a true crowdpleaser and goes great with any Southern meal.