Moist, tender, slightly sweet, deliciously salty and perfectly cheezy – quite simply the best Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread you’ll ever have!
So… What’s cornbread supposed to be, anyway? I mean, is it typically Mexican, or is it more of an American dish? And are you supposed to eat it *with* something, or it is supposed to be a meal on its own?
Sure, I guess it makes for an excellent “side” and would accompany just about any meal brilliantly, but the way I see it, cornbread is so super loaded with all kinds of good things and is so crazy filling that it practically qualifies as a meal as a whole.
Or well, at least this Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread does!
But none of that really matters now, does it? What’s really important is that this stuff is seriously yummy!
It’s moist, it’s tender, it’s fluffy but sorta kinda dense, at the same time; it’s tasty and cheesy, it’s slightly sweet and deliciously salty, it’s all of this, all at once. It’ll have your taste buds sing in unison. You’ll want to have it for (and/or with) breakfast, snack, lunch and dinner!
Heck, you’ll want to get up in the middle of the night to have a piece.
And you know what the best part is? This Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread is so easy to make, you could probably do it with your eyes closed. And it doesn’t require a whole bunch of hard to find ingredients, either. In fact, most of them you probably already have in your kitchen, right now!
Well, except maybe for the jalapeño peppers, but I’m sure you can get your hands on a couple of them real quick, right?
Right!
So, what do you say we whip one up right this instant?
STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS AND PICTURES
Preheat your oven to 400°F degrees; grease and lightly coat a 9″ baking dish with corn meal; set aside.
In a bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk, melted butter, honey and eggs; reserve.
While you’re at it, it might be a good idea to grate your cheese, prep your jalapeño peppers and get your corn kernels ready. You can throw all those into the same bowl, but you’ll want to save a handful of the cheese and jalapeño to garnish the top of your bread.
Finally, in another mixing bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt; mix that really well with a whisk until fully combined.
And that’s it! You’re practically done. All that’s left to do now is put everything together.
Add the grated cheese and chopped jalapeño (except for the handful of each that you saved to garnish the top of the bread) as well as the corn kernels to the flour mixture.
Now about the corn kernels: it doesn’t matter whether you use fresh, canned or frozen. Just make sure that you drain your corn well if you have to, so it’s good and dry when you add it to the flour mixture. If using frozen, you don’t even need to cook it; just thaw it and then drain it real good.
Oh, and if you need to thaw your corn in a hurry, you can do so by rinsing it under cold running water or by throwing it in the microwave for a few seconds.
Mix the corn kernels, grated cheese and chopped jalapeño into the dry ingredients until they are completely coated.
Coating them in flour like this will help prevent them from sinking straight to the bottom of the batter.
Now pour the buttermilk mixture over the dry ingredients…
… and stir delicately with a spoon until just combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly all the way to the edge.
Sprinkle with the handful of chopped jalapeño and grated cheese that you saved earlier…
Now bake your cornbread for 25 minutes or until the top gets nicely golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Wait ’til you smell this… your nostrils will be making a little dance, I’m sure of it!
Allow your cornbread to cool for a few minutes and then cut it into 9 pieces.
You could also do 16 smaller pieces if you wanted to, but I’m not sure that would be such a good idea: you’d probably end up having 2 pieces instead of 1!
Last but not least: serve warm, with butter.
Lots of butter!
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 cup (200g | 7oz) yellow corn meal
- 1 cup (130g | 4.5oz) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt (I use Himalayan salt)
- 2 large jalapeño peppers, seeded and finely chopped (save a handful to garnish)
- 1-3/4 cup (175g | 6.2oz) grated sharp cheddar cheese (save a handful to garnish)
- 1 cup (170g | 6oz) corn kernels (fresh, frozen or canned)*, drained well
- 1-1/4 cup (300ml) buttermilk
- 1/3 cup (80g | 2.8oz) butter, melted
- 1/3 cup (110g | 3.9oz) liquid honey
- 2 large eggs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F degrees; grease and lightly coat a 9" baking dish with corn meal. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt; mix well with a whisk until fully combined. Add the grated cheese and chopped jalapeño (save a handful of each to garnish the top of the bread) as well as the corn kernels to the flour mixture. Mix delicately until well coated.
- In a separate bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk, melted butter, honey, and eggs. Pour over reserved dry ingredients and stir delicately with a spoon until just combined. Pour into the prepared pan and sprinkle with reserved chopped jalapeño and grated cheese.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until the top is nicely golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow to cool for a few minutes and cut into 9 pieces. Serve warm, with butter.
Notes
*it doesn’t matter whether you use fresh, canned or frozen. Just make sure that you drain your corn well if you have to, so it’s good and dry when you add it to the flour mixture. If using frozen, you don’t even need to cook it; just thaw it and then drain it real good.
Awesome recipe thank you for it….My family loved it
Happy to hear, Chrystal! And thanks for taking the time to let me know, I greatly appreciate that! 🙂
Delicious , just made them ! Added spring onions and Parmesan cheese on the top and spelt flour instead of all purpose
This is a great recipe. I bumped the recipe up and added 1 and 1/2 of all of the ingredients( just because we like thick cornbread) and baked it 10 min. longer @375. The batter was so fluffy when putting it in the pan. This is a fun,easy, and yummy recipe!
Thanks for sharing!
You are very welcome, Janine, and thank YOU for taking the time to leave this awesome feedback! Real happy to hear that the cornbread was to your liking! 🙂
If I were to substitute whole milk for the buttermilk, what would be the effect on the consistency and/or flavor?
I think that your best bet would be to make your own buttermilk by adding a tablespoon of lemon juice to a cup of whole milk and letting it stand for 5 to 10 minutes. You could then use this mixture just like you would regular buttermilk.
Thanks! I made this last night and used equal parts sour cream to water as a buttermilk substitute. It was delicious! Thanks for the great recipe. I’ll definitely grab some real buttermilk for next time. 🙂
Awesome! That’s real good to know. Thank YOU for the great tip, Jacelyn! 🙂
Thanks for the tip didn’t know that
I am making this recipe this weekend to serve with chili! Thanks for the easy to follow recipe. It was the cornbread recipe I picked.
That would fit a double recipe. You may need to bake longer – probably 30 to 35 minutes.
Love the recipe and the concept behind this site. My grandmother (Mamasan) added bacon to her jalapeño cornbread. Could that be done here?
Why absolutely!!! I even strongly encourage it! Add as much as you like! 😀
Could this be made in an iron skillet?
Probably, although I suppose you’d have to adjust the cooking time slightly…
Can you use cream corn if you do not have whole kernel corn?
I’ve never tried it… but I really don’t have a good feeling about that one. I think it would add way too much extra moisture. I’d stick with the kernels.
I’ve made this recipe using creamed corn. I simply adjusted the buttermilk to only be 1 cup. I also had added in 2 stalks of green onions thinly sliced on bias for more flavour. Simply elegant, rich & delicious! This recipe is a wonderful compliment to any fancy fish dish. I use a biscuit cutter to remove a perfect round to place my trimmed perch, cod or trimmed flounder upon. It is a caterer’s dream plate come true!
Definitely thaw your corn. I put mine in frozen and the cornbread still isn’t cooked in the middle after 55 minutes….
Yeah, definitely! It does say in the post that you need to thaw and drain that frozen corn well. Perhaps I should add a note in the recipe card, too!
Yes! Please add a note in the recipe card. My corn bread is not done either after 55 minutes. A reminder would be very helpful.
Done! 🙂
I substituted 1/3 cup sunflower oil for the butter & didn’t use quite as much honey. I also used whole wheat flour instead of white. It came out very moist, very tasty & quite filling. Could definitely be a main course garnished with salsa accompanied by a salad or vegetable side. Definitely my new corn bread recipe.
Thanks a bunch.
If I don’t have linguistics honey cami substitute it with regular honey?
Absolutely!
So good. Wanted a recipe to use the jalapenos I grew on yhe patio. Absolutely delicious and easy. Thanks for the recipe.
Glad to hear it was to your liking, Reba! And thanks much for the great feedback, I sincerely appreciate that! 🙂
Hi, could I please get nutritional values for this recipe?
This was delicious! I didn’t have real peppers, just used the jalapeños in a jar and used an 8×8 Pyrex dish. I usually like my cornbread sweet but this was perfect. This will be in rotation in our home!
Awesome! Happy to hear, Nancy, and thank you for the kind words! 🙂
I used your recipe to make some muffins and they just came out of the oven. FLAWLESS. Moist, tangy, slightly sweet, spicy, perfectly balanced. Trying to keep hubby (okay, and myself!) from devouring them all before the cornmeal-crusted pork chops are ready is the real challenge now! 😉 (The only substitution I made was sour cream for buttermilk because it’s what I had and if it works for banana bread…why not? Oh, and I omitted the salt.) Thanks for my new cornbread go-to!
Haha, you are very welcome, Roni! And thank YOU for the awesome feedback, it’s always thoroughly appreciated! 🙂
How would you convert the quantities for a 9×12 baking pan?
making this tonight, very much appreciate your providing metric measurements, to be even extra helpful oven temperature and pan size conversions would be great too!
I roasted the corn kernals and the jalapeno before adding it to the mixture…it came out absolutely amazing!!!
That was absolutely GENIUS!!
Can I use Jiffy cornbread mix for this recipe?
I wouldn’t recommend it…
Could I double the recipe and bake in a 9×13 pan? How long would you recommend baking it for?
I can’t really say for sure without having tried it first, Melanie… but I really wouldn’t see why not. Of course, baking time will be a little longer, but keep a close eye on thing and you should be fine!
Hello! What should the consistency of the batter look like? Mine appeared really thick
Hi ! I was curious about making this the night before? If I do – can I just put it in an air tight container and then… warm it up in the over right before? Or microwave?
Thanks!
I think warming it up should work just fine, but I would definitely steer clear of the microwave, it would probably ruin the texture. The oven would be a much better option!
Fabulous recipe! And it lends itself quite nicely to immediate tweaks due to Covid-19 shortages in my area! I used 1 can “Creamed Corn” which, of course…I did NOT drain. I then only added 1/2 cup of 1/2 & 1/2 to it so as to not make it too wet. I added in chopped sweet onion plus I shredded up 4 oz of Monterey Jack Cheese to add to the 8oz of shredded Sharp White Cheddar cheese. The results were FANDAMNTASTIC! Moist, rich southern style cornbread! The likes of which, I’d never have had if your recipe hadn’t been so easy to work with & adapt! The honey was an ingenious idea! It kept it from becoming overly sweet as so many others using sugar, often do. The reason for the extra cheese are the cheese lovers I made this luscious, luxurious cornbread for. The sweet onion is just a flourish I use in all my bread recipes. Sorry about that! So…THANK YOU SO COMPLETELY for your amazing recipe! Once all shortages from this virus are over, I plan on making this recipe again…only it will be EXACTLY as you specified! G-d Bless You! Stay safe & healthy always!
Can I use this recipe in a cast iron pan? Any changes if so?
This was amazing! My husband has been asking me to make a jalapeño cornbread recipe for awhile. This was my first attempt and he was blown away. It turned out perfect and was easy to follow.
We also loved the ingenious idea of using honey and no sugar, thus it wasn’t overly sweet. Thanks for the winning recipe. We may try adding bacon next time, but this will definitely be going in our regular cycle of popular recipes.
Can I use jarred Jalapenos in this recipe?
I wouldn’t see why not, although the flavor will be slightly different. Also, be sure to drain them really well, and even dry them up if you can!
It’s preferable not to let the batter sit once it’s ready to bake, so ideally, you want to bake all 3 pans at once.
What if you don’t have honey? What could be substituted?
I am asking for clarification for part of the directions. It says 1- 3/4 cup of butter milk. Does this mean (1) 3/4 cup of butter milk or does it means 1 and 3/4 cup of buttermilk. Thanks
Love this but wish the note about thawing the cord was earlier in the recipe 😀