Skillet Cornbread

Golden and fluffy, this Skillet Cornbread has a crunchy delicious crust, that comes from baking it in a hot cast iron pan.

One of the main ingredients in this Skillet Cornbread recipe is bacon fat.  Don’t close the tab on your browser - bacon fat can be your fun friend.  I’m not asking you to use bacon fat in everything you cook (then you would be my Grandma Olga Mae, and that’s real weird) just occasionally, like now.  

Olga mae, as many of you recall, was my Grandmother from Mississippi. For the most people tend to cook things the way their parents, or grandparents cooked them. Olga Mae liked her cornbread sweet, all the better to eat crumbled up in a bowl of buttermilk, cereal-style. So that's how I make mine. Sweet and smoky.

This Skillet Cornbread gets its unique smoky flavor and dramatic crunchy crust because of the addition of bacon fat and that little bit of sugar.  Yes, you can be “good” and use melted butter or even oil in its place, or leave out the sugar, but then then I’ll have all the fun.  Join me and be a little naughty.  Just this once. It’ll be fine.

Griddle it! For a delicious change of pace, try frying dollops of batter in a hot cast iron pan. My Southern Hoecakes are a treat to make for breakfast or as a savory side.

Looking for more recipes you can make in your cast iron?

• Cast Iron Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie
• Mini Cast Iron Dutch Babies
• No-Knead Rosemary Garlic Focaccia Bread
• Mixed Fruit and Basil Crisp

📖 Recipe

Skillet Cornbread

Golden and fluffy, this Skillet Cornbread has a crunchy delicious crust, that comes from baking it in a hot cast iron pan.

5 from 1 vote

Author: Cynthia Christensen

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 40 minutes mins

Course Bread, Breakfast, Brunch, Dinner

Cuisine American

Servings 12 servings

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Ingredients

 

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• ▢ 1 cup cornmeal (you can use yellow or white. I prefer yellow because it just screams cornbread to me)
• ▢ 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ▢ ¼ cup granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ 1 teaspoon fine grain salt
• ▢ 1 cup buttermilk (full fat if you can find it)
• ▢ 2 large eggs
• ▢ 6 tablespoon melted bacon fat (yes, you can use melted butter here. Don’t judge me, it’s a whole new tasting cornbread with the bacon fat 😳)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 425° and put a 10-inch cast iron skillet in the oven on the middle rack.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking, soda, and salt.
• In a large glass measuring cup, or medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs, and 4 tablespoons of the bacon fat. Pour over the dry ingredients and stir using a rubber spatula until just combined. Don’t overmix. A few small lumps are fine.
• Remove skillet from oven and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of bacon fat. Pour the batter into the hot skillet. Some of the fat might look like it’s pooling on top of the batter and that’s normal. It will all be okay.
• Bake at 425° for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick or knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Resist your baser instincts and wait 5-10 minutes before slicing and eating.

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