Brown Butter, Honey and Jalapeño Skillet Cornbread
Irresistible honey and brown butter skillet cornbread made from scratch. It's crispy on the edges, full of fresh corn and peppers and topped with cheese.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on June 28, 2024
I kind of hate myself for publishing another summer recipe that requires the oven. I hope you don’t hate me for it (but I understand if you do).
After 26 years in Oklahoma, I associate August with oppressive, unrelenting, oven-banning, 100-plus degree heat. And sweat. I don’t know if you can see the picture of me in the sidebar right now, but I have a whole lot of hair on my head. I feel like I’m wearing a wool turban at all times, which is to say that I’m not so cute when it’s 100 degrees outside. I’m mostly just cranky.
The past two summers in Kansas City have been pleasant by comparison. This summer in particular has been gloriously mild. It’s seventy-eight degrees outside right now!
I don’t hate summer up here. I actually like it. No, I love it. I love the long days, the sunshine and the infectious energy in the air. This week, I got a hankering for some cornbread and turning on the oven didn’t seem like such a bad idea. Why not?
Now, I know that Northerners and Southerners have conflicting opinions about what cornbread should taste like. The cornbread I grew up eating in Oklahoma came from a blue box, so I don’t feel qualified to join the debate. As such, I came up with my own ideal cornbread.
Here it is: brown butter and honey skillet cornbread studded with summer peppers and fresh corn from the cob. It boasts crispy edges and a balanced sweet-and-savory flavor. I have a whole skillet’s worth to myself. Ha!
Feel free to play with this recipe to turn it into your ideal cornbread. The cheese in this cornbread is just an accent flavor, so if you want legitimately cheesy cornbread, double the cheese. For sweeter flavor, increase the sweetener to 2/3 cup. Next time I make this cornbread, I’ll go the extra mile and roast my corn and peppers in the oven beforehand (tossed with a little olive oil and salt) for some caramelized flavor. For basic cornbread with extraordinary texture and flavor, just skip the fresh corn and peppers.
Whatever you do, don’t reduce the amount of butter. I firmly believe that cornbread, like brownies, should contain high quality ingredients, exceptional flavor and plenty of butter. Great cornbread or bust!
Brown Butter, Honey and Jalapeño Skillet Cornbread
Brown butter and honey cornbread baked in a cast iron skillet for crispy edges. This cornbread features fresh summer corn, bell pepper and jalapeño.
Ingredients
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 ½ cups medium grind cornmeal, preferably stone ground
- 1 ½ cups white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour or flour of choice
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt or 2 teaspoons regular salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- Few twists’ freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup shredded Jack or cheddar cheese, divided (for cheesy cornbread, use 1 cup cheese)
- 1 ½ cups buttermilk (or 1 cup plain yogurt mixed with ½ cup water)
- ½ cup honey
- 3 large eggs
- 1 large corn on the cob, shucked (to yield about ¾ to 1 cup corn kernels)
- 1 red or orange bell pepper, finely chopped
- 2 medium jalapeños, ribs removed and finely chopped
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit with a rack in the middle of the oven. Place the stick of butter in a 10 to 12-inch cast iron skillet or 9-inch square baking dish and place in the oven to melt for the next 5 to 10 minutes.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and black pepper. Stir in about half of the cheese. In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, honey and eggs until smooth. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until moistened through.
- When the butter is melted and golden brown but not burnt, carefully remove the sizzling skillet from the oven and swirl to coat with butter. Add the corn kernels and chopped peppers to the skillet, stir and let them sizzle for about 30 seconds. Pour the entire contents of the pan into the batter and stir just until incorporated.
- Pour the batter into the hot skillet or baking pan. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Return the skillet to the oven and bake until the bread is brown around the edges, springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean with just a few crumbs, 25 to 35 minutes. Invert the bread onto a wire rack to cool. Slice into squares or wedges. Serve with more butter, preferably salted, on the side.
Notes
Recipe adapted from my cranberry maple skillet cornbread, which was adapted from Aida Mollenkamp’s Keys to the Kitchen: The Essential Reference for Becoming a More Accomplished, Adventurous Cook.
Make it gluten free: I suspect that using a gluten-free flour blend in place of the whole wheat flour would make some great cornbread. Please let me know if you try it.
Serving suggestions: I think this cornbread would be a pretty epic accompaniment to my butternut chili, sweet potato chili, spicy black bean soup or tortilla soup.
Storage suggestions: This cornbread should keep well in a sealed container for a couple of days. For longer-term storage, store slices in a freezer-safe bag in the freezer. It should keep well in the freezer for a couple of months.
Change it up: Sub maple syrup for the honey. Play around with the mix-ins. Add more cheese. You can’t go wrong here.
Recommended equipment: 12-inch cast iron skillet.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
What an awesome version of cornbread, loving all you put into it!!
Looks tasty! I love all the colors. We needed a good recipe to go with chili.
Nothing beats a good cornbread recipe. And if there are leftovers, I love it for breakfast! Definitely worth turning on the oven for :)
Um, GIMME DAT BREAD. Gorgeous, friend!
Skillet, southern and easily adjustable recipe. You hit a home run here Kate! I just suggested skillet recipes in your last post with questions about recipe types. I’m all for happy coincidences.
I definitely understand the concept of unrelenting summer heat. During the summer months in Australia, I try to use the oven as little as possible (as every time I turn the oven on in my apartment, I feel like I’m in a sauna). BUT… in saying that, this cornbread looks wonderful enough to endure the heat. I love a bit of jalapeno heat in my cornbread and those crispy edges… ah! Yum!! Definitely making this as soon as I get home. P.S I have missed so much goodness here Kate!!! Sporadic internet access (and no kitchen – sad face. I am craving salads!) have made blogging super hard!! xxx
Based on the ingredients, I think I’d adore your version, Kate! I have to admit that I didn’t have my first taste of cornbread until I was in my early 20s – clearly I am not from the South! But I totally don’t mind oven recipes right now because it’s unseasonably cool here (as in it hasn’t been much warmer than about 70 degrees this week) and I strongly dislike being cold. Have a wonderful weekend!
That looks amazing! I agree, cornbread with lots of buttery goodness is the best. I love the use of honey AND browned butter in here, sounds like the ultimate quick bread treat. :)
I am such a huge cornbread fan and this sounds perfect! I love the combo of sweet and spicy!
I’m from Tulsa and live in Kansas City now too! Found your site recently and am excited to try this yummy cornbread!
Thanks, Corbett! Hope you love it!
I’m wondering if you would alter anything if omitting the cheese in this recipe? Maybe a little less honey?
I’m wouldn’t change anything else about it!
This looks so damn yummy! I totally need to make one of your ‘skillet’ recipes!
Can’t wait to make this. It looks like a meal ; ) My Mother, who is from the south, made cornbread in the oven in her cast iron skillet or stove-top in same skillet – pouring and flipping pancake style. The stove-top was definitely the preferred method if she wasn’t heating the oven for anything else, or if it was hot. I love both styles, but especially love that the pancake cornbread had lots of crusty edge goodness.
Interesting! I’ve never made cornbread pancake style, but it sounds fantastic. Crusty edges make for great cornbread!
In a world of seemingly constant engagements/weddings/baby showers (I guess that’s your twenties for ya), it’s always nice to be reminded that single lady status does have its perks. Whole skillet of cornbread to myself? YES, PLEASE.
Oh, I hear you. Single lady status is pretty great, though—I do what I want, whenever I want! Cackle!
Yummm, the flavours in this corn bread sound so amazing! Beyond the tempting jalapeño/browned butter/honey combo, the fresh corn sounds like such a delicious addition, even more so roasted first. You are great, thanks for this recipe!
Thanks, Tess! Hope the cornbread turns out great for you!
A lovely, creative combination…looks delicious…love it in the skillet, too.
Love the brown butter and jalapeño, so good!
Oh my god, this looks so amazing. I’ll definitely be trying it soon!
Thank you for posting this. It has definitely whet my appetite for proper cornbread again! It is hard to find it here, across the pond…
This looks so yummy! Cornbread is not a major thing here in the U.K but I aiming to change that :)
I am completely unqualified to judge cornbread as an Aussie, but when it involves brown butter, honey, corn and jalapenos it must be good!
I can’t wait to make this with some fresh summer corn and serve it up with some chilli, or maybe just on it’s own with some extra butter for a summer-deck lunch.
Also, even though I live in one of the warmer places in the world (we are all about 100+ days here in summer) I have no problem sweating in the name of a glorious baked good :) Thanks for the recipe Kate!
I like your attitude, Amy! It’s pretty much impossible to go wrong with brown butter, honey and corn, I agree! Hope you love it!
This looks like the best cornbread ever!
We are cornbread LOVERS here on Long Island… can’t wait to try this one, and yes, worth turning the oven on for!!!! Thanks!
Thanks, Kim! Hope you all enjoy the cornbread!
I love coming here and looking at your pretty photos of tasty food! This is great cornbread. All those veggies must add amazing texture and flavor! I wouldn’t have thought of it myself and I love it!
Thank you, Sophie! :)
We are in total cornbread concordance! All the good stuff, with a little bit of spice and cheese. Or bust.
First of all, it’s been far too long since cornbread has appeared in this kitchen, which is something that obviously needs to change… especially if it’s cooked in cast iron! Bravo.
And now to a more technical question: How did you tweak your EasyRecipe plugin to feature the same font and style as the rest of your blog posts? I am working to implement a blog as part of my website, and couldn’t get the plugin to generate a recipe “card” that fit well aesthetically. Ended up deleting it; however, if there’s a back-end tweak or something you can recommend to achieve the clean, simple look you’ve managed to achieve, it might get a second chance. Any suggestions you have are greatly appreciated. Thanks, Kate, and cheers!
Hey Heather, Easy Recipe has a live formatting option that makes it pretty easy to adjust the display of the recipes. I think I had to edit some CSS in the Easy Recipes settings to make it look just the way I wanted it to, though.
Thank you, Kate. I’ll have to give it another look and mess around some more. Cheers!
Its so funny to hear you call Kansas City “up here” to me Kansas City has always been “down there” either way I love this cornbread! Pinning!
Haha, that is funny! It’s all relative…
Your cornbread looks and sounds delicious! I live in Florida so have eaten it all my life. The only thing I will leave out is jalapeños. I will use jack cheese for a kick flavor. Thanks for the recipe. Cast iron is really the only way to cook GOOD cornbread!
Agreed! Cast iron is the way to go!
I made this last night! I only put jalapenos in half (put them on the bottom with the corn then poured the batter over them). It turned out great, everyone loved it!
Yay! Thank you, Sarah!
Yess, I love an extra something something in my cornbread
Hi Kate!
I’ve only ever made sweet cornbread – never tried adding in savory ingredients to the cornbread I make so far..
But, I’ll be sure to keep your recipe in mind for when the savory mood strikes!!
Thanks, Felicia! I’m a big fan of savory cornbread and hope you will be, too!
Thanks for another great recipe Kate! It was my first time making cornbread and the recipe was really easy to follow. I’m an Aussie who lived in Texas for a while and I loved cornbread there, so it was really nice to be able to recreate it! We had it for dinner tonight with your butternut squash chili. Delicious!
Hooray! Thank you, Holly!
Ok Kate. I stumbled across this cornbread recipe while searching for a chile recipe for my first Friday Card Party (my turn to host). My friends could not stop eating it! It was all the rage. I kept all the ingredients except I added more cheese and small bits of crispy spicy sausage to it……it was delish! Plus, using my grandmother’s old cast iron skillet was so rusting and pleasing to the eye when delivered to the table. Thank you so much…
Your newest fan!
Hi Patrick! Thank you for saying hello. So happy this cornbread was a hit with your friends! Yes!
Love this recipe! We don’t eat much sugar at all so next time will only do 1/4 cup honey and more peppers. This is so very good! Thanks so much for posting the recipe.
Thank you, Rachel! Glad to hear it!
Question – it’s not corn season and I can’t get fresh corn. I’m not a fan of canned corn or canned anything really so what about frozen corn. Have you used frozen corn.
Hi Stacy, I hear you on canned corn. I haven’t used frozen, but I think it would work just fine. I’d probably defrost it and drain off any excess moisture first.
When your father the chef looks at a dish you’ve make and says, “Wow!”, you e done something right! This turned out so well! I adjusted a bit for the ingredients I had on hand; instead or fresh corn I added a jar of Trader Joe’s Corn and Chile Tomato-less Salsa. I also added a bunch of green onions, omitted the bell pepper and used regular white flour. The smoky cheddar cheese I used gave the bread wonderful depth. No one needed butter with this bread! It was moist and delicious! A keeper for sure, thank you so much for sharing this with the world!
Such a compliment, Kristin! And I am ADDICTED to that corn and chile salsa from Trader Joe’s. That sounds like a delicious addition.
This recipe is amazing! I have made cornbread a number of times over the years, but it always turned out too dry. This cornbread is beautifully moist. It’s easy to make and delicious. I highly recommend this recipe.
I am happy you think so, Alison! Thank you.
Mmmm….this is the first time a coming across cornbread recipe.what measures should on take to ensure that it is soft during storage?
This cornbread should keep well in a sealed container for a couple of days. For longer-term storage, store slices in a freezer-safe bag in the freezer. It should keep well in the freezer for a couple of months.
Any thoughts on subbing almond milk for buttermilk? Or coconut milk maybe? Just trying to use something I already have on hand. Thanks!
You could try it! I didn’t try it with this one, but let me know if it works. I would think almond milk + lemon juice might work best.
Update to my question about using almond milk — I used almond milk in place of buttermilk or the yogurt combo. The bread still turned out delicious. However (and this may be unrelated), I was NOT successful turning it upside down to cool on a wire rack. Still delicious, just wanted to post in case anyone else wants to try almond milk – might be best to let cool in the pan. =)
Thanks for sharing, Laura!
This is my go to recipe when making cornbread. All my family raves about it! Thank you for sharing!!!!
Great to hear, Claire!
This is delicious! Served in skillet and removed leftovers easily once cooled. Very happy with this recipe. Will make again!
Great to hear, Laura!
Hey, I created a gluten-free version by substituting quinoa flour. I also used grits instead of cornmeal and coconut oil instead of butter! I created buttermilk by adding 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice to 1 1/2 cups of plain soy milk. I was nervous about how all these substitutions were going to work but it turned out great!
I have made this cornbread recipe 4 times so far and am making it again tomorrow for my son. Soooo yummy! Use the best honey and cheese you can. Most delicious cornbread ever. It’s always gone in a day.
Delicious and pretty!
This cornbread is absolutely divine — arguably the best I’ve ever had. I made some minor modifications based on what I had on hand: I left out the bell pepper, used 2 ears of corn, and 4 serranos instead of jalapeños. I also threw in about 1/4 cup of cotija cheese in addition to the pepper jack. 25 mins was the perfect baking time for my 12-in skillet. Thank you for this recipe! It’s a keeper.
Made this last night. It was perfect. Added butter and honey to the finished product.
Great texture. Not too sweet.
I’m going to eat it with chicken chili.
Thank you!
Hi Kate! I am newer to cooking and don’t have a cast iron skillet or 9 inch baking dish. I have a Dutch oven, circular casserole dish (both 10-ish inches), and an 8×8 baking pan. Do you think any of those would be good substitutions? Thanks!
Hi Katy, You could try it, but I can’t say for sure since the pan can impact your result. The 8×8 would likely be too small.
Absolutely delicious! Only had almond milk so subbed it for buttermilk and took your advice and roasted peppers & corn in oven too!
Wonderful to hear, Terri!
Should have listened to my instincts but instead I followed the recipe – 1 tbsp of kosher salt rendered this bread completely inedible. Waste of time and ingredients, it went in the trash!!!!
Oh no! Yes, kosher and fine sea salt aren’t the same.