Honey Butter Cornbread
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Sweet honey butter cornbread has been a family favorite for years. This from scratch recipe celebrates the moist bread and sticky sweet top I loved as a child.
Cornbread is a divisive food. There are those that swear it should be dry, have no sugar, or only cooked in a cast iron pan. There are others who won’t stray from that box of jiffy mix.
For me, the cornbread I grew up with was with that jiffy box, but my mom doctored it up, made it more moist and it always had a sweet, sticky top that was so good with warm meals like oven baked ribs or sweet and spicy oven fried chicken.
This honey butter cornbread celebrates my childhood (and adult) love for that style of cornbread. It’s sweet, moist, and makes a huge batch, so everyone can feel free to take a second serving with their homemade chili and soup.
Ingredients for Homemade Honey Cornbread
Here on The Flour Handprint I focus on making everything from scratch because it tastes better, but also because I genuinely don’t see any reason to buy a box of cornbread mix when I already have cornmeal and everything else to make it on hand. Odds are, you do too.
- All purpose flour
- Cornmeal – I use a fine to medium grind, so it doesn’t have a gritty texture.
- Brown sugar
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Milk
- Butter, melted
- Honey
- Eggs
See? It’s so simple to make, and by buying cornmeal instead of the box, I can also make my cornbread muffins with corn, hush puppies, fritters, polenta and more.
Variations on Flavors
This cornbread is sweet by nature. It’s not cloying, like you’re eating cake, but it definitely has a sweet edge to it, especially when you bite into that sticky top that I love so much.
If you’re looking to add some different layers to the sweet honey cornbread, you can add spicy peppers, finely diced, like a jalapeno. You could also add bell peppers if you like, white cheddar cheese or a nice smoked gouda.
How to Make Honey Butter Cornbread
This is a very simple quick bread at its core. Start by combining all the dry ingredients into one bowl. Whisk it so the flour and cornmeal are well combined.
Then, in a small separate bowl, melt the butter. Add the honey to the warm butter and whisk or stir with a fork to help the honey melt too. Pour the milk into a measuring cup and crack the eggs right into that, then whisk until the eggs are broken down a bit.
Pour the warm honey butter and milk egg mixture into the dry ingredients and fold until it comes together in a thick, smooth batter with no dry streaks of flour.
Then your homemade honey cornbread gets baked in a lightly greased 9×13 baking dish and baked for 25-30 minutes. Once out of the oven and cooled, it will stay good for up to 5 days on the counter once covered.
FAQ’S
I always try to answer questions I might have while reading a recipe like this. If I missed yours, please ask in the comments so I can answer you!
Yes, you can bake cornbread as muffins by simply scooping the batter into prepared muffin cups, no more than ¾ of the way full, and baking for 20 minutes.
Yes, you can easily substitute maple syrup for the honey in this sweet cornbread recipe.
No, I don’t recommend leaving out the flour. It’s important to use some flour and some cornmeal to achieve a fluffy, moist consistency to the final baked homemade honey cornbread. Otherwise it would be gritty.
Serving Suggestions
Once your honey butter cornbread is cooled (mostly) go ahead and slice and serve. It’s perfectly moist already but you can certainly add a pat of butter if you like! I wanted to quickly share some of my favorite ways to serve it, both on it’s own, and the dishes I pair it with.
No matter what you choose to serve it with, or if you just eat it all by itself, sweet honey cornbread is a winner for anyone who loves a good moist cornbread. I don’t know what tradition this recipe is most like, but I know it’s a family tradition we’ll keep around for my kids too.
Honey Butter Cornbread
Ingredients
- 226 grams all purpose flour 1 3/4 cups
- 190 grams cornmeal, fine* 1 cup
- 200 grams brown sugar 1 cup, packed
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 10 ounces milk 1 1/4 cups
- 6 ounces butter 3/4 cups
- 4 1/2 tablespoons honey
- 3 large eggs
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and lightly grease a 9×13 baking dish.
- Combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl and whisk it to evenly combine everything.
- Melt the butter and whisk in the honey until it's melted as well.
- Crack the eggs into the milk and beat lightly to break down the eggs.
- Pour the milk and egg mixture, and the honey butter mixture, into the dry ingredients and fold to combine.
- Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information and cooking times are provided as a best estimate. Values may vary based upon ingredients and equipment.
I love sweet cornbread/muffins and this recipe grabbed my attention when I was reading your Asiago cheese bread post. I have medium grind cornmeal because I like that texture. Can I use that is your recipe? Also, if I choose to do muffins, would it yield 12? Thanks!
Hi there, you can use a medium grind cornmeal. It does add more texture to the batter but we like it! You can let the batter sit for 5 minutes before baking to help soften the denser cornmeal too.
I haven’t tried to make muffins with this recipe, but my guess would be that it yields between 12-18. Enjoy!
Such a lovely recipe! We made it two days ago and we still are enjoying the leftovers, really worth to try recipe!
I’m happy you and your family enjoyed it and decided to try it out! I like having leftovers too, even for breakfast! 🙂
Seriously the best cornbread I have ever made. It is delicous!
You just made my day! I’m so glad you liked it that much, I hope you’ll give some other recipes a try too!
Love cornbread in any way, but this honey butter version was so comforting and delicious. I added a small amount of vanilla and it sent the flavor over the top. So good!
So glad you enjoyed the cornbread and found it not on delicious but comforting as well. The addition of a little bit of vanilla is an interesting idea and one I will have to try.
There is no other way to make cornbread after making this! It turns out so good. Everyone loved it.
Thank you Katie, I enjoy hearing when families love a recipe. I find I love the cornbread not only with a meal but as a snack or even for breakfast.
Crazy as it sounds, I’ve only ever had regular butter on cornbread. This was my first time using honey too and WOW…I am hooked!
We love it this way and will never go back. I’m glad you are hooked and enjoyed it so much. I enjoy hearing that others love the recipes I share!
Tell your mom she made a masterpiece. This honey butter cornbread is delicious, thank you!
Natalie thank you, she will love hearing that. I’m glad you enjoyed as much as my family does!