Sweet Cornbread
This homemade Sweet Cornbread is simple and made with real honey. Bake it up in a cast iron skillet or baking pan. Moist and sweet!
A DELICIOUSLY SWEET HOMEMADE CORNBREAD RECIPE
Since first publishing this recipe on the site in January 2011, I have learned that people feel very strongly about cornbread. Basically, folks seem to either love sweet cornbread or they don’t. I love it all! In fact, this particular recipe remains the most popular recipe out of all the cornbread recipes I have here on the site. It really is SO good! Please note: nowhere in this post do I call this a traditional southern cornbread and I know someone is just dying to comment that this is corn cake, not cornbread – that is fine but please refrain from commenting how this isn’t southern cornbread – no one is calling it that. However, if you are looking for a more traditional Southern Cornbread with no additional sweetness, I have a recipe for that too! I even have recipes for Bacon Cornbread and Mexican Cornbread! There is something here for everyone!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Some Northern folks might refer to sweet cornbread as Johnny Cake or Sweet Corn Cake. It’s all the same thing but folks just call it different things depending on where they’re from.
In this recipe, I use both to give it a good depth of flavor along with moistness. But you could certainly use all honey instead of sugar.
This particular recipe can be served a couple of different ways. You can serve it with traditional meals like like CrockPot Chili, Crock Pot BBQ Chicken, or Fried Chicken. But because it is sweet (but not super sweet) you can also be serve as a dessert with toppings like honey, sweet cinnamon butter or sweetened strawberries and whipped cream!
I have a recipe for a more traditional, savory Southern Cornbread made in a cast iron skillet that is perfect to serve with some Appalachian Soup Beans (my favorite!)
This recipe can be made in a similar size cast iron, pie pan or square pan.
Sweet cornbread will last for 2-3 days at room temperature if stored in an airtight container. It can also be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week, or frozen for up to 3 months.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED (SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW FOR THE FULL RECIPE)
- honey– measuring honey can be difficult sometimes. Here’s a tip for getting the honey out of your measuring spoon. Spray the spoon with nonstick spray first. Then pour in honey, this will help keep the honey from sticking.
- egg – if you have time (of not, that is okay) allow the egg to come to room temperature, it helps it to incorporate into the batter easier.
- butter – you could also use margarine but I think real butter is best.
- milk – you want a milk with some fat in it so I would use 2% or higher milk fat.
- water
- sugar – I haven’t tried it but I don’t see why you couldn’t make this with a sugar substitute.
- yellow corn meal – see my ingredient image below, you don’t want self-rising cornmeal. We are already adding baking powder. However, if you can only find self-rising cornmeal then just leave out the additional baking powder in this recipe.
- all-purpose flour – do not pack the flour into your measuring cup. This will ensure that you end up with way too much flour. It is best not to measure from the flour bag. Dump it into a separate bowl and stir it up. Dip your measuring cup into the flour and shake off any excess then take the flat side of a butterknife and gently scoop off any excess.
- baking powder
- salt
HOW TO MAKE SWEET CORNBREAD:
Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray an 8-inch or 9-inch (square or round) baking dish with nonstick spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together honey, egg, melted salted butter, milk and water until fully combined.In a separate bowl, combine all your dry ingredients: sugar, corn meal, flour, baking powder and salt. Give it a stir with a whisk or a fork to combine.
While whisking, slowly add your dry ingredients to your wet until all combined. Batter may be a little lumpy, that’s okay. Pour mixture into greased baking dish.
Bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until set in the middle and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Note: depending on the size of baking dish you use will depend on how long this takes to cook. My favorite way to eat it is with a big pat of butter and drizzled with honey!
CRAVING MORE RECIPES?
Originally published: January 2011
Updated photos & republished: July 2024
Sweet Cornbread
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons honey
- 1 large egg
- 4 Tablespoons salted butter, melted
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 cup yellow corn meal
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ Tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray an 8-inch or 9-inch (square or round) baking dish with nonstick spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 Tablespoons honey, 1 large egg, 4 Tablespoons salted butter, melted, ½ cup milk and ½ cup water until fully combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine ½ cup sugar 1 cup yellow corn meal, 1 cup all-purpose flour, ½ Tablespoon baking powder and ½ teaspoon salt. Give it a gentle stir with a fork to combine.
- While whisking, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet until all combined.
- Pour mixture into prepared baking dish.
- Bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until set in the middle and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Note: depending on the size of baking dish you use will depend on how long this takes to cook.
Video
Notes
- Please refer to my FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions) and ingredient list above for other substitutions or for the answers to the most common questions.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
I just made this, it came out great. It has the perfect balance of sweetness and is very moist. Thank you for the great recipe!
Since I am a type 2 diabetic, I use a sugar substitute. I use either 3 pkts or about 3 Tbs of sugar substitute. Or replace these with just honey.
I’ve been making your recipe for years, my son will eat the entire thing himself if I let him! Very delicious, thank you for sharing!
This is a super easy recipe and came out light, moist, and delicious! I used a cast iron skillet and it all came together beautifully.
Delicious corn bread! It will be part of the family recipes. I did the recipe without modifying it. Thanks much!!
Could you make this in a muffin pan? Thank you!
Hi Ashley, you sure could. Just keep an eye on the baking time. I always just make it in a pan so you will probably cut the time down a little with muffins. 🙂
I’ve found my favorite cornbread recipe! Sweet and moist!
Love hearing this – thank you! I get a lot of comments that it is more of a cake than cornbread but always nice to hear when others love it!!
Born and raised in Fl, now living in Tenn. Cornbread is for sure a staple here in Tn. Mainly we butter it and smother it in pinto beans or any bean you like. Or as you do I love to butter it and pour honey over as a dessert. Either way, you can’t go wrong. Another cornbread I make is 1C of cornmeal mix to 2C of boiling water. (You can up that to 2C cornmeal, 4 cups boiling water) depending on mouths to feed. Mix carefully as it’s hot. You can let it cool a little to where you can handle it and make patties or drop it by the spoonfuls into a hot skillet of oil Heat skillet with enough oil to fry the cornmeal patties. Fry till golden on both sides. These are good with beans over them. They soak up the bean juice really good. And of course, both kinds of cornbread need onion chopped up on top. That’s how Southerners eat cornbread. Oh and sweet tea!
I enjoy reading your recipes and think one day I will make some of them. However, sugar is considered a wet ingredient not a dry one. I have noticed several bloggers making that mistake. Just thought I would point that out so you can make the correction. I will continue enjoying your blog.
It’s a dry ingredient. It is only considered “wet” in certain techniques when you’re combining it with other actual wet ingredients as opposed to adding it to the dry ingredients
I used to be in the not sweet camp for cornbread. As far as ice tea it has to be sweet for me. But can I ask, is there a reason for both water and milk in this recipe? I usually see just milk or buttermilk. So anyway, I’ve been adding sugar to my cornbread lately as well as upping the ratio of flour to cornmeal. We all really like it that way! And I’m going to have to try your recipe.
Aileen, using the mix of the water and milk keeps this from being too dense while still maintaining that tenderness. If that makes sense. Ha!
It does! Thank you Brandie!
Hi lovely lady is corn meal critical in this recipe? What can I replace it with as we don’t have it here in South Africa
Hey Jessi! That is a really good question and I am honestly not sure to be honest. Are you able to find corn flour or polenta flour near you?