Our homemade cornmeal muffins with buttermilk recipe is a fun morning treat, side dish with chili or any other dinner idea. Moist and savory with a bit of sugar sweetness to them.
If you love a tasty side dish to go with your ribs or chili, these cornmeal muffins with buttermilk are them! During the holidays these are a must make for little hands to enjoy. Just one of many of the best muffin recipes we have on our site, because we’re kinda’ obsessed with grab and go.
Sweet Cornbread Muffins Recipe
I don’t know about you but I LOVE Famous Dave’s cornbread muffins. I mean, I kinda’ dream about them and they bring me back for meals time and time again. You can totally make copycat recipes at home if you have a good recipe and this one is it! Follow it to the tee and you may never use another homemade cornbread recipe other than this one again.
What’s the difference between cornbread and corn muffins?
Typically the latter is much sweeter. This version uses 1/2 cup inside the corn meal batter and raw sugar on the top. Like if you’re making a batch of our air fryer cornbread I don’t add sugar to that. Instead I include a can of diced chiles. Both are fantastic but up to your taste buds as to which is your favorite.
If you have only used a boxed mix to make this popular Southern side dish you’re in for a treat! Yes Jiffy is great to make our cream corn casserole but for bread you really need more moisture added to make it fluffy and tender.
Ingredient Notes
You are going to want to start with some medium grind corn meal, this is best for the ideal taste and consistency if you ask me.
We used a bit of Turbinado raw cane sugar was used on top to give them some sweetness inside and you could add a sprinkle to the top.
- All purpose flour too but make sure you measure flour properly or they will be too dense.
- Egg added at room temperature will help make them fluffy when baked.
- Room temperature or melted butter is needed, a dairy free substitute will work
- White and brown sugar makes that savory sweet flavor you want.
- Milk and lemon juice together make buttermilk
- Baking powder will allow it to rise properly and a bit of salt
Substitutions
You can choose to use gluten free cornmeal if you need to as well. If you needed this dairy free you could use almond milk instead with some lemon juice to sit in order to make an alternative buttermilk which is thicker to make them as moist as possible.
Want to make these spicy? You could add diced green or hatch chiles or jalapenos like we did with our Jiffy Corn Muffins with Sour Cream.
with Buttermilk
No you don’t have to go to the store for a carton, you can make buttermilk with milk and lemon juice yourself! It’s way easier because you will likely always have these two items in your fridge at all times. Let’s skip more trips if we can shall we? Cornmeal muffins will need:
If you wanted to add a bit of heat you could make a version of jalapeno cornbread muffins pretty easily. Just grab 1 large one, remove the seeds and dice really fine. Add half or the whole thing to make them spicy to these or our Cornmeal Biscuits.
Beyond this I use non stick cooking spray OR baking paper liners inside the muffin tin. If you want some honey or melted butter when they are served you’d want those on hand too. You can add hot dogs and make these as corn dog bites too.
How to Make Honey Cornbread Muffins
First you’ll want to spray muffin pans or put in paper liners. Set oven to 400°. Create buttermilk by stirring lemon juice into milk. Set aside while mixing wet ingredients in another.
- In a large bowl whisk dry ingredients: flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and sugars. Stir in egg, and melted butter. Stir in buttermilk.
- Fill muffin tins 3/4 full with batter.
- Sprinkle course sugar on top of muffins, if using.
- Bake 15 minutes – 18 minutes.
- Mini muffins would take closer to 8-10 min to get lightly golden brown
- Toothpick inserted or cake tester should come out clean when inserted into the top of the muffin.
The recipe below will make 12, if you needed 2 dozen you could easily double it and use two pans or bake in batches.
Cornmeal Muffins Recipe
Equipment
- 2 bowls
Ingredients
- 1 c buttermilk, or 1 cup milk + 1/2 tsp lemon juice, mix and sit to thicken
- 1 1/4 c all purpose flour
- 1 c cornmeal
- 1 egg
- 1/4 c butter, melted
- 1/4 c brown sugar
- 1/4 c white sugar
- 1/2 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- course sugar, for topping, Turbinado used
Instructions
- Spray muffin pans or put in paper liners. Set oven to 400°. If you need to create buttermilk by stirring lemon juice into milk, do so first. Set aside while mixing ingredients.
- In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients: flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and sugars. Stir in egg, and melted butter. Stir in buttermilk.
- Fill muffin tins 3/4 full with batter. Sprinkle course sugar on top of muffins, if using. Bake 15-18 minutes. Toothpick or cake tester should come out clean when inserted into the top of the muffin.
- Allow to cool slightly before removing from pan. Serve warm!
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
How to Store Leftovers
Once the muffins have completely cooled, place them in an airtight container or resealable plastic bag with a piece of parchment paper between layers to prevent them from sticking together. To add or retain moisture, you can place a slice of bread or a damp paper towel in the container.
How do you keep cornbread from drying out?
NO good, there is a trick to avoid this and we will explain all of this here. I mean it makes sense that ground corn would be pretty dry if you didn’t use some sort of thickener and not use it in it’s entirety. A mixture of flour and this is a much better choice.
First off do not bake longer than needed. Start with the least amount of minutes and check with toothpick. Also, I like to remove all muffins from the pan immediately so they don’t overcook and get drier. Place on a cooling rack when done and then serve them from there.
If you wanted these sweeter, drizzle of Whataburger honey butter on top of each one immediately after taking them out. Allow corn meal muffins to cool slightly before removing from pan if you just sprayed it or immediately if you used papers. Serve warm! If you want another fun savory muffin creation, give our pizza muffins a whirl too.
FAQ
You must not have used OUR recipe if this happened to you. 😉 If you replace some cornmeal with flour and use buttermilk instead of just milk this won’t happen. These can be quite dry if not prepared properly, and/or baked too long in the oven. Taking out just in time is the key too.
I mean who knows the exact reason, I am sure the answer would be different across the board depending on whom you asked. It is said though that these were cheap to make and popular during the American Civil War. I guess it stuck with people in that generation and passed on.
You can serve our cornmeal muffins whole or crumble one on top of a bowl of chili for a fun way to serve it. I did this once and my kids raved over dinner proclaiming me “so smart”, so I just smiled and went with it. LOL
Other easy cornbread recipes you’ll love
Looking for other great recipes like this to make in your pressure cooker and stovetop? Try our Jiffy cornbread in cast iron skillet and Instant Pot cornbread versions too. You can throw them together about 20 minutes before your 5 ingredient Crockpot chili is done.
Printable recipe card is below with nutritional information included too. They take about 30 minutes total to prep and bake.
Have you ever heard that there is a distinct difference when you travel and are served sides like these? You might assume that to be so but I have lived in many states and for sure there is. I guess I am more of a Southern girl if I had to describe my taste buds in general.
