Place 8-inch skillet in oven with rack in the middle position. Preheat oven to 425°F.
Place ½ cup of cornmeal in a small bowl, add the hot water and stir to create cornmeal mush.
In a medium-sized bowl, place remaining cornmeal (1¼ cup) and flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar and salt and stir to combine. Set aside.
Whisk eggs, milk and sour cream together in a third bowl. Add cheese, jalapeño and chives and combine. Pour wet ingredients into the cornmeal mush and stir together. Add to dry ingredients and stir until just combined, about twelve strokes.
Using an oven mitt, carefully withdraw hot skillet from oven. Add butter to skillet and swirl the pan until it melts. Pour melted butter on top of mixed ingredients in bowl. Add chorizo, stir together, then pour cornbread mixture into hot skillet. Return skillet to oven and bake for 20 minutes or until the top and edges are golden.
Remove from oven and immediately invert onto a wire rack. Cool for at least 5 minutes before cutting and serve warm.
This SKILLET CORNBREAD RECIPE is addictive and delicious – nothing wrong with that!
We first posted this SKILLET CORNBREAD RECIPE and story a few years back. Although we always considered it mighty tasty, we never imagined it would become one of our most popular, most requested recipes ever. You’ll want to PIN the recipe to a favourite board and share it with friends too.
This is one of those never-fail recipes I often turn to whenever I need a flavourful add-on to a meal. Yes, it’s delicious on its own, still hot from the oven, with a pass of butter and a spoonful of homemade strawberry jam, but I’ve also served it next to soups and chowders, salads, and even on side plates as the bread with dinner.
If you enjoy the flavour of classic cornbread, feel free to omit the enhancements I mention below. But you know me, I’m forever trying to create new and interesting taste sensations by adding in unexpected ingredients.
Here are some things to keep in mind:
TAKE THAT!
In a way, I always marvel at the simplicity of this bread recipe. Take a bit of this, a smidge of that and the next thing you know, something fragrant and appetizing is baking away in the oven.
For this version, I also added chorizo, chopped jalapeño, chives, and cheddar. These four add-ins take this cornbread to a whole new level.
MUSH!
I had the pleasure of meeting a lovely lady while visiting Tennessee years ago. She and I got to talking about classic Southern recipes and she shared a family secret. If you ever wondered how to make cornbread so that it doesn’t get dry, add mush. A portion of the ground cornmeal used in our recipe is mixed with boiling water before we start to create a mush. This easy step keeps the cornbread moist – mushy music to my ears.
SKILLSET
Let’s start with the essential tool, the skillet. I used to use a cast iron skillet that I inherited when I purchased the cottage, but it has a whopping 14-inch diameter and weighs a ton; the cornbread came out too thin. I’ve now started to use my trusted 8-inch non-stick. Do as I did and experiment until you find the pan that works for you.
HOT! HOT! HOT!
The recipe requires that we heat our skillet in a hot oven right before we melt butter and pour in the batter. PLEASE remember, oven mitts must be worn, so keep them at the ready. Sometimes I get so excited with a recipe my hands work faster than my mind (or I’m getting more forgetful in my old age, whaa?!). Keep those mitts on hand to prevent injury from the hot skillet handle.
Finally, a conversation about how to best enjoy this beloved bread. For me, it’s all about butter and jam like NANCY’S APRICOT JAM or our heavenly GOOSEBERRY JAM. That said, it also begs the question, how do you enjoy eating cornbread? Add your thoughts and suggestions on different flavour combinations and ways to eat it in the comment section at the bottom of this page.
It might very well be the ultimate one-pan wonder; this SKILLET CORNBREAD RECIPE is marvellous!
[…] to serve with it? How about our BUTTERMILK CHEESE BISCUITS or our HOT SKILLET CORNBREAD. Don’t shoot the messenger, but we think soft, creamy butter should be offered next to […]
[…] kitchen, more time down at the dock with guests. We started with our SIMPLE SALAD paired with our SKILLET CORNBREAD RECIPE, with the butter for the cornbread served at room temperature in a small nappy in the Candied Sky […]
Place 8-inch skillet in oven with rack in the middle position. Preheat oven to 425°F.
Place ½ cup of cornmeal in a small bowl, add the hot water and stir to create cornmeal mush.
In a medium-sized bowl, place remaining cornmeal (1¼ cup) and flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar and salt and stir to combine. Set aside.
Whisk eggs, milk and sour cream together in a third bowl. Add cheese, jalapeño and chives and combine. Pour wet ingredients into the cornmeal mush and stir together. Add to dry ingredients and stir until just combined, about twelve strokes.
Using an oven mitt, carefully withdraw hot skillet from oven. Add butter to skillet and swirl the pan until it melts. Pour melted butter on top of mixed ingredients in bowl. Add chorizo, stir together, then pour cornbread mixture into hot skillet. Return skillet to oven and bake for 20 minutes or until the top and edges are golden.
Remove from oven and immediately invert onto a wire rack. Cool for at least 5 minutes before cutting and serve warm.
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[…] to serve with it? How about our BUTTERMILK CHEESE BISCUITS or our HOT SKILLET CORNBREAD. Don’t shoot the messenger, but we think soft, creamy butter should be offered next to […]
[…] kitchen, more time down at the dock with guests. We started with our SIMPLE SALAD paired with our SKILLET CORNBREAD RECIPE, with the butter for the cornbread served at room temperature in a small nappy in the Candied Sky […]