The Best Sweet Cornbread
The Best Sweet Cornbread – soft, tender moist cornbread recipe that’s sweet just like I like it. Reminds me of Marie Calendar’s cornbread. If you need a sweet cornbread to pair with chilis or soups, this is the recipe you need.
THE BEST SWEET CORNBREAD
I’ve been searching for the perfect cornbread.
I was at a church function and our friends said his mom was famous for her cornbread so of course I had to try it. It tasted like cake. I like cake.
Turns out it was actually made WITH a cake mix – go figure. So yes, I like my cornbread sweet but not quite that sweet. Almost. Next recipe.
I’ve tried recipe after recipe and almost settled on one.
Until I happened to be at my friend’s house and her mom was telling me how good her cornbread recipe was and that it was sweet like Marie Calendar’s.
It was kind of like when I was trying on wedding dresses. I found a lot that I liked but didn’t LOVE. They were all just missing that little something.
Then I tried on the dress meant for me.
The dress was discontinued (or as I like to look at it – one of a kind), inexpensive, modest, and the perfect mixture of satin and detail.
I knew there wasn’t any reason to look any further. I just knew.
So then I as I left my friend’s house I knew I had one more recipe to try. My husband looked at me like I was a little crazy when I went into the kitchen at 10pm to make cornbread…yet again.
But I had to know. The result? I said YES to the cornbread. YES!!!
Soft, tender, flat top – no weird bubbling (don’t ask), sweet and moist with just the right amount of texture. Hope you love it like I do! You can even freeze this if you want to make it ahead of time.
HOW TO MAKE CORNBREAD
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×13 baking dish.
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In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and salt and mix until combined. Add the buttermilk and mix until thoroughly combined. Next, add the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix to incorporate.
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Pour into prepared baking dish. Bake until golden. This will be different for every oven. START checking it for doneness at 25 minutes and bake longer until golden if needed (up to 35 minutes)
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Serve warm with butter and honey.
BUTTERMILK SUBSTITUTE
If you don’t have buttermilk you can add 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to each cup of milk and let it sit for a couple of minutes.
CAN I ADD CORN TO THIS CORNBREAD?
In my opinion, cornbread should be made in its purest form without corn. When you add corn it turns into a spoon bread, corn pudding, or Corn Souffle.
CHILI RECIPES:
Here are some chili recipes to eat with this cornbread.
- Easy White Chicken Chili
- Buffalo Chicken Chili
- Healthy Spicy Beef and Black Bean Chili
- Pizza Chili
- Slow Cooker Chicken Quinoa Chili
- Green Enchilada Pork Chili
- Mom’s White Chicken Chili
The Best Sweet Cornbread
The Best Sweet Cornbread - soft, tender moist cornbread recipe that's sweet just like I like it.
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter , softened
- 1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups buttermilk (see Note for easy substitution)
- 1 1/4 cups fine cornmeal (found by the flour)
- 2 3/4 cups flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 baking dish.
-
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and salt and mix until combined. Add the buttermilk and mix until thoroughly combined. Next, add the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix to incorporate.
-
Pour into prepared baking dish. Bake until golden. This will be different for every oven. START checking it for doneness at 25 minutes and bake longer until golden if needed (up to 35 minutes)
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Serve warm with butter and honey.
Recipe Notes
Buttermilk Substitution: If you don't have buttermilk you can add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to each cup of milk and let it sit for a couple of minutes.
This can easily be halved and baked in a 9x9 pan.
Source: my friend Rachel's mom, Kim Smith who got it from her church cookbook. Original author is listed as Cheri McClean.
All you people complaining about the recipe must have never baked before. Jeez! I like that you can throw it all together without dirtying 2 bowls. I have a small oven that always bakes slowly, so mine went 10 min more… Typical for my oven. Loved this recipe more than any other. Had the leftovers for breakfast!
Haha. Thanks for the back up!
This cornbread is fabulous! I’m not sure why people were worried about the clumps. Baking has certain rules and you follow them.
What I did a little difference is turned the heat to 375. First put Pam in a 11 1/2 in cast iron skillet, then added 4 Tablespoons butter to skillet and melted butter in the oven in skillet until a sizzle. Pored the batter in immediately and baked approximately 35 min. Crusty outside, moist inside. The best I ever made! DELICIOUS
Thanks for the tips!
This cornbread is delicious! Yes, the wet ingredients are “lumpy”, but it is no matter…the batter becomes smooth when the dry ingredients are added. It makes a very large batch, the batter filled up the 13×9 and it rose very high. If you are looking for a sweet cornbread, this is the one!
Thank you!!!!
This is EXACTLY how I like cornbread. Definitely, the best recipe that I’ve come across yet. After reading the comments I was nervous about this being soft in the center. However, mine was perfect. Having said that, I did make a couple of small changes. I only had self-rising cornmeal. Therefore, I omitted the baking soda and baking powder. I didn’t have buttermilk so I made homemade with half and half and vinegar. Also, I’m not sure what type of baking dish everyone was using, but the only 13×9 dishes I had were glass. I’ve not had a lot of luck with glass and cornbread in the past. I used a non-stick throw-away aluminum pan. I baked it at 400* for 30 minutes and it was PERFECT. I will definitely be saving this one as my new go-to for cornbread.
Melissa,
Thanks! I love hearing your feedback.
I did a rough estimate for halving the ingredients and used the buttermilk substitute. Honestly I did not expect much from the recipe. The bread came out very moist and not too sweet which was a plus.
Thanks for the wonderful recipe.
thank you!
This was delicious!! My husband and kids devoured it! I divided the recipe in half. I placed a greased cast iron skillet in the cold oven and let it preheat with the oven to 350 degrees. I poured the batter into the hot skillet and baked it for 25 minutes. It was perfect!
For those who had lump issues- I had lumps in the beginning with the wet ingredients, but once I added the dry ingredients, it all blended together. A stand mixer or hand mixer could also help smooth out the lumps when creaming the butter and sugar together. I just stirred it all by hand because I was too lazy to pull out my stand mixer. 🙂
Wonderfull!!!!! i made a half batch since it was just 2 of us, used a 11×7 pan and 2/3 sugar instead of the 3/4 (for the half batch), and used regular whole organic milk. Delicious!!!!!!!! Baked for 22 min at 350 came out perfect! thanks for a great recipe!
I mixed the recipe exactly as written. The only substitution I had was I used salted butter. Yes, the mixture was thick and clumpy, but the cornbread came out perfectly. I used my cast iron frying pan and a cupcake pan. This batter was enough to fill the skillet and make six muffins. I did cook it about 15 minutes longer than stated. It was delicious! This is now my cornbread recipe.
Ooh I love hear that.
This was my first time making cornbread from scratch. Everyone loved it. I will be using this recipe all the time now.
Thank you!
This is definitely the best cornbread I’ve ever made. I halved the recipe and baked it in a square 9×9 glass pan. It took 30 minutes and it was perfect!! Thanks!
Love, Love hearing that!
I made the cornbread for dinner and it was a big hit. I love this cornbread and so did the family. I followed your instructions and had no problems. This was easy to make. I will be making this cornbread instead of traditional way. Has just the right amount of sweetness. Thank you for posting this recipe.
Carol H
Texas
Thank you Carol. That means a lot!
This wasn’t bad for a sweet cornmbread recipe. My son asked for sweet southern cornbread to go with our collards and stir fried pea shoots for lunch. I felt this was too sweet for me (he loved it) and the texture was a bit too smooth for me as well. I halved the recipe and baked it in my cast iron skillet. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Sounds great! It is on the sweet side but that’s how I like it.
This is the best cornbread recipe EVER! My family loved it. Just the perfect amount of sweetness and the texture is wonderful. This recipe is definitely a keeper. I’m making it again today and can’t wait to eat it. As mentioned by others, my batter also was a bit lumpy but I just cooked it anyway. Turned out great! Btw, I had to extend the cooking time as well.
Thank you and glad you loved it!
being that I’m trained in pastry i treated this recipe like a cake. dry together, wet together and cream the butter and sugar. I am currently still in the oven so i can’t attest to its taste but it is taking WAY longer than 25 min. I increased the heat per other commenters recommendations. Im at 375 for another 10 min so heres hoping. But I have to agree the the instructions aren’t written very clearly. Here’s hoping!
Thanks for your input.
GET THAT CORN OUTTA MY FACE!
So easy, the directions were great and easy to follow. Loved this recipe and we make it again! Thank you so much!!!
Thank you Marti!
This is the best corn bread ever!! I don’t know, maybe ignorance is bliss but I just followed the instructions. I saw some lumps but hey, maybe they were supposed to be there, I don’t know.🤗 So I continued on. I used a 9 x 13 glass dish and it took about 40 minutes but it was worth the wait! The best golden corn bread you ever saw. Moist, just the right amount of sweet, texture was beautiful. Although, I must say, every recipe I have I have made from “the-girl-who-ate-everything ” has been delicious! Thank you!!😋
Mine came out great sprinkled a little more sugar on it before I baked it was amazing
You are way too kind and I’m so grateful this turned out for you too! Thank you Joyce.
OK, I never write reviews, but this time I had to. I also had the clumpy batter problem (I had not read the comments beforehand) and was so concerned that I threw away my first mixture right after I added the buttermilk and eggs. But because I’m a perfectionist and have never had a recipe defeat me, I started over. My initial thought was that my butter was too warm and I had curdled either the buttermilk, eggs, or both. The second time I halved the mixture, softened the butter the correct way and proceeded as the directions were written, and yet again the mixture was clumpy, BUT I kept going, and added the remaining ingredients. I used coarse cornmeal and went ahead and put it in the oven (lumps and all), and guess what, it turned out wonderfully! The lumps could be masked by the coarse cornmeal but who knows, the taste is so great you don’t notice. It’s sweet but not too sweet! I think the next time though I would try mixing the eggs and buttermilk together prior to adding to the creamed sugar mixture to see if that makes a difference? REGARDLESS, DON’T LET THE CLUMPS SCARE YOU, PROCEED ON!
Another comment, I made these into muffins and they were perfect. I did 350 degrees for 17 minutes!
How many muffins did you get from the full recipe?
Hi Julie! I just made muffins today, and ended up with 24!
This is the absolute best corn bread we’ve ever had in our lives.
We’re using a Temptations 9×13 dish, and have to cook it 40 mins, and it turns out with a light crust around the edges, which is simply divine.
As to the lady that has lumps in the mixture, are you sure you’re using softened butter?
Or maybe you’re not mixing it enough. I use a KitchenAide mixer, and it turns out perfect
Thank you David! I’m so glad to hear that.
I had the same outcome as several others here. Wet mixture was incredibly lumpy, I followed the recipe to a T and it still was a flop. 🙁 Hate wasting ingredients, especially butter as it’s very expensive where I live.
I’m so sorry to hear that. We have made this many times and it always works out.
I had to pop it back in the oven even after 35 minutes and at 375 degrees. Any idea why there seems to be so much variability with the temperature? I followed the recipe exactly and baked in a 9 x 13 pan. My oven is pretty accurate with temperature.
I have no idea why?
This was absolutely delicious,I’ve never hear cornbread before. However, I had cook this for over an hour and the center was still very wet. Any suggestions?
I halved the recipe and had the same problems.
Same problem with having to bake for an hour or so…I think oven temp should be 400 degrees instead of 350 degrees like other corn bread recipes…That may help with the slow baking.
Just pulled my second try out of the oven. I kept the oven temp at 350 degrees…I chickened out on the 400 degrees…It still took longer to bake than recipe says. This time it took 35-40 minutes. Looks really good though. With all the different types of ovens on the market nowadays, you are just going to have to watch it close and judge temp yourself and with a pick poked into the center to check to make sure it’s done.
Did you bake in a 9×13 pan?
Do you think I can use a can of creamed corn somewhere in here??
I would just stir it in and increase baking time.
Absolutely delicious! Easy to follow directions, it came out perfect!
Thank you!!
These instructions are terrible. Maybe you should edit it to say that you mix the butter and sugar before adding anything else. Then the eggs and remaining wet ingredients. Combine dry ingredients then add to wet ingredients. I live in an area where the ingredients are expensive and I am not happy to have wasted them!
Angela,
These are the exact directions from the recipe. I’m sorry you had issues. What happened to yours?
My mixture became very clumpy. I would guess it’s because of the cold buttermilk and eggs. Did anybody else have that problem?
I just tried to make these and had the same problem. I have to start over now
No need to start over. I had that same issue, but after I poured in the flour, cornmeal and the rest of the stuff, I mixed it on high speed for a min and it got very smooth. Turned out delicious!
How did it turn out?
Nope. I didn’t have buttermilk so I sub w milk and vinegar as stated. Came out awesome
I had that same issue, but after I poured in the flour, cornmeal and the rest of the stuff, I mixed it on high speed for a min and it got very smooth. Turned out delicious!
I’ve made this several times following your exact directions… comes out perfect every time! I LOVE this cornbread!
Maybe I missed this but do you melt the butter before combining it or just mix it softened? Thanks
Sorry. Yes, just mix in softened butter.
I melted mine a little but still lumps of butter for more buttery.
Just made this and it turned out very well. Just the right amount of sweetness.
Woo-hoo!
hey girl this looks so tasty!
Thank you. It is!
I’ve never wanted some butter and honey so bad in my life. I mean I’m sure the cornbread is good too…. 🙂
Haha. It is. I promise.
Yes! I have been looking for a sweeter cornbread that didn’t use the cake mix or was as sweet and sticky.
What type of cornmeal did you use? I have coarse and fine milled, and also white. Not sure why I have white!
I used coarse but I’m sure the others would work well too.
Do you know the recipe for halfing it
Just cut all the ingredients in half.
I am not a huge baker but my daughter and I were craving cornbread a real one. This is the best Recipe!! I’ve made it twice in the past 2 weeks now! We don’t even put anything on top it’s perfect the way it is. Thank you so much!!
I agree. It doesn’t need much!