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 cornbread muffins 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.
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 cornbread 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.
You want to include some All purpose flour too but make sure you measure flour properly or they will be too dense.
Your large Egg should be added at room temperature will help make them fluffy when baked.
Room temperature or melted butter is needed, a dairy free substitute will work as well but in that case I would add a pinch of salt because that doesn’t have a lot of flavor.
White and brown sugar makes that savory sweet flavor you want. You could certainly use sugar free substitutes if needed.
A bit of Baking powder will allow it to rise properly and a bit of salt
Milk and lemon juice together make buttermilk if you don’t have any at home, an easy kitchen hack I do often.
How to Make Moist Jiffy Cornbread Muffins
If you wanted to use that blue and white boxed mix to speed things up you could. In that case you will want to tweak it a bit. Instead of milk necessary to make the batter you should use buttermilk, Greek yogurt, mayonnaise or sour cream instead to add moisture like we did with our Jiffy Corn Muffins with Sour Cream.
How to Make Spicy
If you wanted to add a bit of heat you could add some chiles or jalapenos like we did with our Jiffy Mexican Cornbread. Just grab 1 large one baby, remove the seeds and dice really fine. Add half or the whole thing to make them spicy.
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 Long to Bake Cornbread Muffins
First you’ll want to spray muffin pans or put in paper liners. Preheat oven to 400°. Fill muffin tins 3/4 full with batter and bake for 15 minutes – 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean with moist crumbs attached.
Mini Cornbread Muffins
How long to bake mini muffins is faster of course and great for little hands for sure. They would take closer to 8-10 min to get lightly golden brown. The recipe below will make 12 regular sizes or 24 mini. If you needed to double you could easily do that with two pans or bake in batches.
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!
Cornbread Muffins Recipe
Equipment
- 2 bowls
Ingredients
- 1 cup buttermilk, or 1 cup milk + 1/2 tsp lemon juice, mix and sit to thicken
- 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/2 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 sprinkle 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
Notes
Mini Cornbread Muffins
You only need 8-10 minutes to bake these. I recommend spraying the pan with non stick spray vs. using muffin liners as they will stick and you will lose some of your muffin.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.
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.
