These homemade cornbread muffins are simple to make and taste so much better than a boxed mix! Serve them alongside your favorite soups, stews, and chilis for a meal everyone will love.

A pile of cornbread muffins in a towel-lined serving bowl.

If you’ve been making cornbread muffins using boxed mix your whole life, it’s time you tried making them from scratch!

These homemade cornbread muffins are incredibly easy to throw together and slightly sweet, but not too sweet. They’re also super moist thanks to the melted butter and buttermilk in the batter. Leftover muffins can be stored on the counter for a few days and they freeze well too.

Make sure to save this recipe for the next time you make a big pot of soup, stew, or turkey chili. I guarantee you won’t go back to the store-bought version after you try this recipe!

An overhead view of the ingredients needed to make cornbread muffins.

Recipe Ingredients

  • Cornmeal: I used yellow cornmeal in these muffins. Make sure not to buy self rising cornmeal by mistake (it already has baking powder and salt added to it!).
  • Flour: I’ve found that using an equal amount of flour and cornmeal creates the perfect cornbread! Just make sure to use the spoon and level method when you are measuring your flour, otherwise you could end up with too much. If you’re new to baking, I highly recommend reading through my post on how to measure flour correctly.
  • Baking Soda & Baking Powder: The baking soda reacts with the buttermilk to help the muffins rise and the baking powder gives them even more lift.
  • Butter: As always I used unsalted butter for this recipe (if you’re curious why, you can refer to my post on salted vs unsalted butter). If you only have salted butter on hand, just reduce the salt to 1/8 teaspoon.
  • Granulated Sugar: To sweeten the muffins. If you like your muffins less sweet, you may reduce the sugar slightly.
  • Honey: Sweetens the batter and also adds more flavor.
  • Buttermilk: Makes for a tender crumb and keeps the muffins moist. If you’re out of buttermilk, you can make a buttermilk substitute using just vinegar or lemon juice and milk.
  • Eggs: To bind everything together. Make sure to bring your eggs to room temperature before mixing them into the batter as well.
An overhead view of the dry ingredients mixed together in a glass mixing bowl.
An overhead view of the wet ingredients for cornbread muffins in a glass mixing bowl with a wire whisk.

How To Make Cornbread Muffins

  1. Whisk together the dry ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. No need to break out your electric mixer for this, a regular whisk works perfectly!
  2. Whisk together the wet ingredients: In another mixing bowl, whisk together the melted butter, sugar, honey, eggs, and buttermilk.
An overhead view of cornbread muffin batter in a glass mixing bowl.
Baked cornbread muffins in a muffin pan.
  1. Combine the wet and dry ingredients: Add the dry ingredients to the wet and whisk until just combined. Let the batter rest on your counter for 10 to 15 minutes.
  2. Bake: Divide the batter between 12 muffin cups that have been greased with non-stick cooking spray or lined with cupcake liners. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
A marble serving platter with several cornbread muffins sitting on top.

Recipe Variations

This honey cornbread muffin recipe is a fantastic blank slate for any number of mix-ins! You could easily add one or more of the following to the batter:

  • Cooked and crumbled bacon
  • Chopped ham
  • Finely chopped jalapeños
  • Canned green chiles (drained well)
  • Shredded cheddar cheese
  • Chopped scallions or chives
  • Sweet corn kernels (fresh or canned)
An action shot showing honey being drizzled over a stack of sweet cornbread muffins.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is polenta the same thing as cornmeal?

No, cornmeal is much more finely ground than polenta. If you used polenta in this recipe, your cornbread muffins would turn out grainy in texture.

Can the honey be substituted in this recipe?

You may be able to replace the honey with maple syrup, but the flavor of the muffins will be slightly different. Maple syrup is also thinner than honey, which might affect the texture of the finished muffins.

Can the cornbread muffin batter be used to make regular cornbread?

Yes! Follow the baking instructions in my classic cornbread recipe if you don’t have a muffin pan or simply don’t want to bake the batter as muffins.

How do you make cornbread muffins fluffy rather than dense?

There are a few tricks I use to keep the cornbread muffins from being too dense. I use equal parts flour and cornmeal to prevent the batter from being too heavy and let the batter rest on the counter for 15 minutes before baking. I also add both baking soda and baking powder to give the muffins some serious lift in the oven.

A pile of cornbread muffins in a towel-lined serving bowl. The top muffin has been split in half and slathered with butter.

Baking Tips

  • If you want your muffins to be even more buttery, you can increase the butter to 6 tablespoons (85 grams).
  • Bring the eggs and buttermilk to room temperature before getting started with the recipe. This will prevent the melted butter from solidifying and ensure that they incorporate easily into the batter.
  • Don’t over mix your batter! This can lead to denser muffins that don’t taste very good. Make sure to only mix in the dry ingredients until just combined.
  • Let the muffin batter rest. This allows the cornmeal to absorb some of the moisture from the wet ingredients and gives the leavening agents time to activate and incorporate more air.
A bowl filled with several cornbread muffins.

Cornbread Muffins

5 from 1 rating
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Resting Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Homemade cornbread muffins are simple to make and taste so much better than the boxed mix! Serve them alongside your favorite soups, stews, and chilis for a hearty meal everyone will love.
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Ingredients

Servings: 12 muffins
  • 1 cup yellow cornmeal (150 grams)
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour spooned and leveled (125 grams)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ cup unsalted butter melted and slightly cooled (60 grams)
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar (50 grams)
  • ¼ cup honey (85 grams)
  • 2 large eggs at room temperature
  • 1 cup buttermilk at room temperature (240 ml)

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). Grease the cavities in a 12-count muffin pan well with nonstick cooking spray or butter or line each one with a cupcake liner.
  • In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until well combined.
  • In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together the melted butter, granulated sugar, honey, eggs, and buttermilk until fully combined.
  • Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together until just combined.
  • Let the batter rest for 10 to 15 minutes before proceeding with the rest of the recipe.
  • Evenly distribute the batter between all 12 cavities in the muffin pan, filling each one about ¾ of the way full.
  • Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean.
  • Allow to cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes, then carefully remove from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly before serving.

Notes

Storage Instructions: Muffins may be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to four days.
Freezing Instructions: Muffins will freeze well for up to 3 months. Wrap each muffin in plastic wrap and store in a large freezer bag. Thaw to room temperature or reheat slightly in the microwave before serving.
Cuisine: American
Course: Side Dish
Author: Danielle
Did you make this recipe?Mention @livewellbakeoften on Instagram or tag #livewellbakeoften.

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