This honey cornbread recipe is hearty and robust. It’s rustic with plenty of cornmeal, yet tender and moist. Sweet, buttery cornbread that’s baked in the skillet or cast iron for a soft interior and a slightly crispy golden exterior.
Sweet Honey Cornbread Recipe
Cornbread is one of the little golden joys in life. I’m a sucker for for a great cornbread recipe, and apparently, so is the rest of my family. We break out the homemade cornbread whenever we have an excuse to have it.
Whether our super moist cornbread is paired with this Chunky Homestyle Chili, White Chicken Chili, Slow-Cooker Chili with Sriracha, or Baked BBQ Ribs… honey cornbread has a well deserved, permanent fixture next to them all…
This Sweet Cornbread smells irresistible
Just the sweet aroma of honey and cornmeal wafting throughout the kitchen and home is enough to tempt everyone’s taste buds.
The sight and smell of freshly baked honey cornbread gets everyone racing to the dinner table, and I don’t have to ring that dinner bell more than once.
In fact, they’re usually tasting sweet pinches of honey cornbread before they even sit down at the table.
Cast Iron Skillet Cornbread for hearty results
This honey cornbread is baked in a cast iron skillet, which gives it much more of a hearty and rustic quality. This is not an airy, light, cakey type cornbread, though it is sweet and tender. It’s a real cornbread-cornbread.
This skillet cornbread boasts a crumb that lets you know the goodness of old fashioned cornmeal is in every bite. It’s dense, rich, and moist. Not at all dry. This honey cornbread comes out beautifully thick, does not sink, and is wonderfully sweet and buttery.
Hint: right after this golden skillet cornbread comes out of the oven, smother the top with melty butter and serve while it’s warm; you’ll be dubbed the world’s most epic cornbread maker.
Fresh out of the oven with butter on top
Let’s re-emphasize the fact that honey cornbread is simply delectable when eaten freshly baked, still warm, with a drizzle or pat of butter on top to soak into the luscious bread. Drool worthy.
This cornbread is still great the next day, as long as it’s wrapped airtight and left at room temp. Give it a little microwave zap, wrapped well in damp paper towels, and it returns to melt-in-your-mouth delicious. I would recommend eating it all up within the first or second day. (Not a problem in our house!)
If you prefer to make sweet cornbread muffins, these ones are the ultimate favorite of ours…everyone who’s tasted them agree they are the best and moistest cornbread muffins around!
You may want to save this recipe, too:
Prep Time:
Yield:
Category:
Method:
Cuisine:
Print
PinDescription
This honey cornbread is tender and moist, while slightly crisp on the exterior, thanks to the cast iron skillet! Simply amazing fresh out of the oven. Perfect with chili, soups, stews, or BBQ!
Ingredients
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 TB baking powder
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp table salt
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 large eggs, room temp
- 6 TB salted butter, melted
- 1/3 cup real honey
- 2 tsp real vanilla extract
- additional butter for drizzling or serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F, with rack on lower-middle position. Grease your cast iron skillet and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Whisk together well.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, butter, honey, and vanilla. Gently fold wet and dry ingredients together until just incorporated; do not over-mix or over work the batter.
- Pour batter into greased cast iron skillet and bake 20-30 minutes until golden brown (bake time will depend on size of your skillet.) If top browns too quickly, cover loosely with foil and continue baking. Be sure to start checking for doneness after 20 minutes. Cornbread is done when toothpick inserted in center has a couple of tender crumbs attached to it. Not completely clean, or it might turn out dry.
- Drizzle melted butter over the top, allowing it to soak into the cornbread, and serve while warm. Or serve with pats of softened butter on top.
- * For muffins, bake 13-15 minutes in lined muffin tins, just until toothpick comes out with tender crumbs attached.
Notes
If you enjoyed this skillet cornbread, please come back and give it a review 🙂
Keywords: sweet honey cornbread, skillet cornbread
My all-time favorite, never fail recipe for Sweet Cornbread Muffins that’s moist and tender every time is this recipe, adapted from Cooks Illustrated:
How about no-fail, crowd-pleasing Chunky Chili to go with the cornbread?
White Chicken Chili in the Slow Cooker is one of my favorite things to make for new moms, new friends, potlucks, etc. etc.
Anytime we have sweet cornbread, BBQ Baked Ribs are a perfect match. This one is oven-baked to perfection, so no need to fuss with the grill on a rainy day!
Yum!
Thanks, and happy Easter weekend, Tamara 🙂
Thank you for the nice recipe. Happy Easter to you and your family.
Happy Easter, Liz, and thanks for coming over! 🙂
I love honey in cornbread recipes. I have lost my master corn bread recipe. That’s what happens when you have had a long campaign to reorganize ‘stuff’. Moist is the name of the game with me in regard to corn bread too. A lot of it is dry. Okay I think we have a go here. Happy Chocolate Bunnies to you—–
First time I made these they had a metallic flavor, too much baking powder so I backed off to 2 tsp the next time I made them and they are much better.
Thanks, Susan! 🙂
The cornbread was absolutely wonderful! Thank you.
I wasn’t sure how this would turn out. I needed a quick recipe and I do like a little sweetness to my cornbread but I thought this might be a little too sweet with both honey and sugar. Imagine my surprise and delight when this turned out to be one of the best cornbread recipes I’ve ever made! Perfect amount of crumbness and sweetness!
So happy to hear it!! Thanks, Zennie!
Best cornbread I’ve ever had. Thanks!
What size skillet do you use for this recipe? I’m in a pinch and need to find a substitute pan using my handy baking pan substitution chart. Thanks!
So delicious! This came out perfect. Ate it with chicken chili while handing out candy during trick-or-treating. So great for a cool fall day.
★★★★★
I do love cornbread and always wondered how to get the sweet I have tasted at some places. This is a recipe I am pinning Thanks you
I love this sweet corn honey cornbread and make it my dessert of the day. Thanks for the recipe.
★★★★★
Oooh that sounds like good cornbread! I live in the south, so it’s all about the cornbread down here. I’ve never had it with honey in it before. I can’t wait to try it.
★★★★★
It’s the sweet style cornbread…different from the South, but super moist and tender. Enjoy, Stacie!
What a desire to try this recipe and feel this taste!
★★★★★
Omg, this cornbread looks absolutely amazing. My mom used to make some from scratch and hers was always my favorite, but the honey sweetness in this sounds so good.
Cornbread with Turkey this Thanksgiving is always my go to!
★★★★★
Oh your cornbread looks and sounds wonderful! I’d love a slice toasted right now…perfect for the upcoming holidays!
★★★★★
The honey makes it super moist and tender!
I am such a fan of cornbread. YUM! I can’t wait to try this recipe.
Oh this looks so yummy! The cornbread looks so moist and delicious.
Cornbread with a sprinkle of honey sounds delightful! Can’t believe I never thought of this pairing before!
Yum!! Love corn bread but have never tried making it at home. This recipe sounds perfect to try! Thanks so much for sharing!
You’re so welcome! You can really taste the difference between boxed and homemade…good thing it’s super easy to DIY 🙂 🙂
I love cornbread, need to try this recipe for my next potluck at work, it looks delicious
Cornbread is my bread of choice if I want to feel full right away. Thanks for sharing.
I have never tried cornbread, looks so delicious and yummy! I am definitely going to try out your recipe soon ☺
Oh yum. Delicious cornbread! I like that meal suggestion of pairing it with chunky chili. I will add that to our menu plan for next week!
It’s perfect for meal planning!
We never tried Cornbread but it sounds so versatile and the perfect accompaniment to most dishes!
★★★★
Corn Bread is one of the best side options! It is so soft and delicious! I am making this for my roommates soon!
You’re an awesome roomie!
Oh wow, this looks amazing. I defiantly want to try making this over the holidays 🙂
It’s super moist and tasty!
This makes me Hungry. Thanks for Sharing
This is amazing you had made in iron cast skillet yet it is so moist butter on top makes it more special and feel like melting in mouth yummy
Corn Bread is the best. I love it with just a little pat of butter.
All of this looks so good. My mouth is watering at the moment. I would love to try making it this weekend.
★★★★★
I love cornbread but never made it with honey before, Your cornbread looks like it has risen well and not dry so I would love to try making it
★★★★★
This sounds delicious! Cornbread might be a good alternative to biscuits this Thanksgiving, as we are cooking on our own without help. I’ll have to save your recipe.
I’ve definitely got cornbread on the holiday menu! 🙂
Oh yummy! This sweet honey cornbread looks so good! I’ll try it out.
I love cornbread. It’s on all of my holiday menus regardless of what else is being served
Same! It just goes with everything and is soooo good!
I love cornbread and now that the weather is getting cold, I need to bake some for my family
I love sweet cornbread! I am going to have to try this recipe out this Thanksgiving. I know it’s going to be good since it has honey in it.
I think you’re going to love it, Jasmine! 🙂
Omg, this cornbread looks absolutely amazing! I’m saving this for later – thank yoU!
This recipe is my family’s go to with chili every time! They beg for it! It’s moist and the sweet honey taste is perfect! AND making This cornbread in the iron skillet is the only way to go! It’s soooo amazing!
Thank youuuu!
Yay, I’m super happy your family enjoys this cornbread so much 🙂 Thank you sooo much for coming back to let us know! Happy continued cooking & baking!
Best cornbread ever. Honey gives it the perfect sweetness and baking it in the cast iron skillet gives it those crispy edges and makes it extra special in my opinion
★★★★★
So happy you loved this cornbread, Nicole