American
Cast Iron Skillet Cornbread
Crispy-edged, golden and barely sweet — the universal Southern accompaniment.
Recipe by Cyman Huang
Cooked, styled and photographed in his kitchen.
Southern cornbread differs from Northern cornbread in one fundamental way: it is not sweet, or barely so.
The Southern tradition, rooted in Indigenous corn cuisine and African American cooking, uses coarser cornmeal, less flour, and relies on the fat of the cast iron skillet for that signature crispy, almost fried bottom crust.
Watch it come together
Ingredients
Cornbread
- 1½ cups stone-ground yellow cornmeal
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp sugar (optional — Southerners debate this passionately)
- 2 large eggs
- 1½ cups buttermilk
- 4 tbsp (half a stick) unsalted butter + 1 tbsp for the pan
Method
- 1
Preheat oven to 425°F with a 10-inch cast iron skillet inside. The skillet must be screaming hot before the batter goes in.
- 2
Whisk together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar.
- 3
In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and buttermilk. Melt 4 tablespoons butter, cool slightly, and whisk into the egg mixture.
- 4
Fold wet into dry until just combined. A few lumps are fine — do not overmix.
- 5
CRITICAL STEP: Remove the hot skillet. Add the remaining tablespoon of butter and swirl quickly to coat. Pour in the batter — it should sizzle aggressively. That sizzle is the crispy bottom crust being created.
- 6
Return to the oven immediately. Bake 20–25 minutes until the top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.
- 7
Cool 5 minutes, then invert onto a board or serve from the skillet in wedges. The bottom should be spectacularly crispy.
Substitutions
- Chef's Tip: The hot-pan technique is the essential secret of Southern cornbread. Cold batter in a cold pan produces a pale, steamed bottom. Do not skip it.
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