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Simple Southern Cornbread

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If you’ve ever lived in the south, you know we love our cornbread.

simple southern cornbread

Now, you might be tempted to buy yours from a store in one of those little boxes, but Don’t Do It.

It’s way too easy to make this simple southern cornbread, and your family and guests will love the delicious taste of homemade. Enjoy!

Simple southern cornbread

Most people don’t realize that making your own cornbread is super simple.

Typically, one goes to the grocery store and picks up a box of pre-made cornbread mix.

Don’t do this.

simple southern cornbread

It’s not nearly as good, trust me.

We like to enjoy our freshly baked cornbread with a bit of butter and honey on it. YUM!

homemade cornbread

With a few simple ingredients and just a few minutes of your time, you can have some delicious homemade cornbread that is sure to please a crowd.

What You Need To Make Simple Southern Cornbread:

  • Bacon drippings or oil
  • Self rising cornmeal mix
  • Buttermilk
  • Large eggs, lightly beaten
  • Baking soda
  • Sugar
  • Salt
simple southern cornbread

How to Make Simple Southern Cornbread:

Place drippings or oil in a cast iron skillet in a 400 degree oven.

Mix remaining ingredients and pour into the heated skillet.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

simple southern cornbread

Pro Tip: Want to turn this simple southern cornbread into a spicy side? Add some spicy jalapeño sausage (no more than 3/4 cup) and top with cheddar cheese and sliced jalapeños.

Simple southern cornbread

Simple Southern Cornbread

If you’ve ever lived in the south, you know we love our cornbread. Now, you might be tempted to buy yours from a store in one of those little boxes, but Don’t Do It. It’s way too easy to make this simple southern cornbread, and your family and guests will love the delicious taste of homemade. Enjoy!
4.43 from 100 votes
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Author: Mary Duncanson

Ingredients

  • ¼ cup bacon drippings or oil
  • 2 cups self rising cornmeal mix
  • 1 ½ cups buttermilk
  • 2 large eggs lightly beaten
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions

  • Place drippings or oil in a cast iron skillet in a 400 degree oven.
  • Mix remaining ingredients and pour into the heated skillet.
  • Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
  • Pro Tip: Want to turn this simple southern cornbread into a spicy side? Add some spicy jalapeño sausage (no more than 3/4 cup) and top with cheddar cheese and sliced jalapeños.

Tried this recipe?Mention @totallythebomb or tag #totallythebomb!

Eat up. Because this cornbread is delicious.

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69 Comments

  1. In the south corn bread doesn’t have sugar corn mill muffin’s have the sugar. Which is corn bread batter with sugar added. So you see the south has both but we have different names for them.

  2. Just a thought folks: Does anyone besides me think it might be a good idea to know what size skillet to use for the recipe listed?

  3. Well I am a yankee and this is not yankee cornbread ?. We put like 1/2 to 3/4 cups of sugar in and it is more like corn cake. This is very similar to how my husband’s grandmother (born and raised in the south) made hers. Just a smidge of sugar to give you that crust. You can’t really taste this small amount. This is a fantastic recipe and thank you so much for sharing ❤️

  4. Authentic Southern Cornbread does not have sugar in it. Yankee cornbread has sugar in it.

  5. Why do you place a quarter-cup of oil in the skillet and then add the mixed cornbread batter on top of the hot oil before returning to the oven to bake the cornbread? It would seem that the bottom of the bread will be saturated with oil. I would like to try this recipe, but I’m reluctant to do so because of all the oil in the bottom of the pan. Please advise.

    1. When you get the oil good and hot the batter will literally fry when you pour it in. It just gives you a nice crust. You only want enough to cover the bottom of the pan in order to keep it from being saturated with oil.

      1. I don’t pour batter in hot oil. The best crust I Eve got was when I grease the skillet with solid crisp and sprinkle with cornmeal until evenly coated. Pour out excess (just like greasing and flouring a cake pan). Pour in batter and bake at 425/450 until browned. Best crust ever

  6. My father was southern and my mother was northern, I didn’t have sugar in corn bread until I left home. I like them both! The southern cornbread we made was for cornbread and buttermilk so it wouldn’t of been good with a sweeter cornbread. It had tons of eggs and hot bacon grease in it and usually burnt on the bottom. Lol. But I always ate cornbread and buttermilk for desert with my dad while everyone else had ice cream. Good memories. Dont know if that helped or not. lol

  7. There will never be ANY SUGAR in true southern cornbread !!!! In 50 year’s of cooking I have never put sugar in my cornbread . My Grandmother and my mother taught me to cook . No sugar in the cornbread, ever !!!

    1. No sugar or flour in my mom’s cornbread either!

  8. Grew up with awesome southern cooks .. NO SUGAR!
    This recipe makes yummy individual fried cornbread. Let the mix set for a little while, cook in bacon greese. Tummy yummy ?

  9. Where are you from?
    You have never heard of self rising corn meal.
    Have you ever made cornbread before?

  10. You haven’t had corn bread if you don’t put bacon grease and SUGAR in your mix. One tablespoon it will make it so brown on the bottom and sides man its good!

    1. Doesn’t need sugar it’s great without.

  11. Sorry can’t find self rising cornmeal mix here. Can I sub something for this like cornmeal like baking powder?

    1. Yes regular cornmeal add 1 1/2 tablespoon of baking powder and everything else will work

      1. Does it matter if it’s yellow corn meal or white corn meal? My meme uses white but stores are out of it..

  12. What! I am a southerner, and in all my 56 years I have never met a southerner that didn’t put a little sugar in their cornbread regular of hot water fried cornbread. This recipe is very good, and I loved it.

    1. In my 68 years, no one I know has EVER put sugar in their Southern Cornbread (Alabama)

      1. I’m with you on this ……never

      2. Cornbread with sugar is cake, at least that’s how I was raised. Save the sugar for the tea 🙂

    2. REALLY never had sweet corn bread until I went to college in Ohio when I discovered Jiffy.

  13. You do NOT put sugar in Southern cornbread. Period.

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