Skip the store-bought batter, this whole-grain cornbread recipe is delicious. My daughters love this cornbread so much they would happily eat it for dessert. I happen to be more of a dark chocolate girl, but I do love the fact that this version of cornbread has actual bits of corn in the batter. It pairs perfectly with chili on a cool night for dinner.
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This recipe would be a great addition to any Thanksgiving spread, but could easily be served as a side to dishes like chili or other soups throughout the year.
And if you like to switch things up consider adding some jalapeno bits or other spices to the batter or you could also add Swiss or Parmesan cheese instead of the cheddar. Don’t be afraid to make it your own!
Whole-Grain Cornbread
Skip the store-bought batter, this whole-grain cornbread recipe is delicious. My daughters love this cornbread so much they would happily eat it for dessert. I happen to be more of a dark chocolate girl, but I do love the fact that this version of cornbread has actual bits of corn in the batter. It pairs perfectly with chili on a cool night for dinner.
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Servings: 6 people
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Ingredients
- 2/3 cup whole-wheat flour (+ 1 extra tablespoon)
- 1/2 cup whole-grain cornmeal ((I used Arrowhead Mills))
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 3/4 cup corn ((I used unthawed frozen ones))
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup cheddar cheese (sharp, grated)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Whisk 2/3 cup whole-wheat flour together with cornmeal, baking powder and salt.
- In a small pan over medium heat melt the butter. Whisk in 1 tablespoon whole-wheat flour and keep whisking until it begins to brown. Add the frozen corn kernels and let thaw in pan for a minute. Pour in heavy cream and whisk entire mixture together until it thickens (should only take a couple minutes). Mix in tablespoon of maple syrup and remove from heat.
- Add creamed corn mixture, eggs, sour cream and grated cheese to dry flour mixture. Blend together well without overmixing.
- Pour batter into a square or round glass baking dish.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Notes
We recommend organic ingredients when feasible.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition Facts
Whole-Grain Cornbread
Amount Per Serving
Calories 305
Calories from Fat 216
% Daily Value*
Fat 24g37%
Saturated Fat 14g88%
Cholesterol 122mg41%
Sodium 220mg10%
Potassium 338mg10%
Carbohydrates 18g6%
Fiber 2g8%
Sugar 4g4%
Protein 8g16%
Vitamin A 870IU17%
Vitamin C 1.2mg1%
Calcium 211mg21%
Iron 0.9mg5%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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I just love this recipe as does every member of my family. Tonight I accidentally omitted the maple syrup, but even without the sweetener, it was still delicious! I use a bolted white corn meal milled at a local mill with cone grown in our state.
Growing up, I always loved Jiffy cornbread. Now that I’m older I cringe at the list of ingredients!! ICK!! SO anyway, tried your cornbread recipe last night to go with our 9 bean soup- subbed honey, and used buttermilk instead of heavy cream (because I had some frozen on hand). This cornbread was AWESOME!! I will NEVER make cornbread out of a box again! haha!! Thanks!!!
Hi there! I wanted to let you know that stopping at step #3 of this recipe makes REALLY good sweet creamed corn. My fiancé says its even better than our local BBQ place! :)
Can I use corn flour instead of corn meal…Corn flour is all I found at the grocery store…it’s Bob’s Red mill organic Whole Grain Corn Flour Stone Ground. Thanks!!!
Hi Christy. Corn flour, usually ground much more finely, will create a more dense, cake-like product. The texture will not feel like cornbread. ~Amy
Making this tonight to go along with some homemade bison (grass-fed) chili! Will sub honey for the syrup, since we don’t have any in the house right now. Can’t wait to see how it turns out!
I can’t find organic corn meal at my grocery store.. Is “polenta” the same?
Hi Alyssa. Manufacturers think they can charge a bit more for a package labeled polenta but it is usually just plain old cornmeal. Technically, polenta is a dish. :) ~Amy
just put it in the oven… completely forgot to add the cheese and maple syrup though ( a bit ditracted…) hopefully it will be edible! I can do some syrup or honey on top at the end… and might prefer it without the cheese anyway… fingers crossed! LOL!
Question: Do you think I could substitute honey for the maple syrup?
Hi Heather. Absolutely. ~Amy
made some tonight for my family. It was a BIG hit. Thanks for sharing.
first time commenter. have been making several of your bread recipes. your whole wheat sandwich and whole wheat raisin breads are a staple in our home. i have been added a variety of seeds and oats into the sandwich bread for some variety and it’s so tasty.
anyways, this is the best corn bread i have every had! loved it. i used king arthur’s white whole wheat and this bread turned out so fluffy and moist. will definitely be making it again. thanks so much!!
I use plain, organic kefir in mine instead of the cream and it makes it really tasty!
Tried this recipe last night – and the whole family LOVED it! Thank you!!
I have a batch in the oven now. My daughter saw the cornbread muffins on the lunch roundup, and has been begging me to make them. I can’t wait to see how they turn out. Keeping my fingers crossed!
Tried this tonight. Wonderful – my family didn’t even know that it was whole grain.
We loved this recipe!!
I made this cornbread last night and think something must have gone wrong in my baking process. The cornbread I made was almost a spongy consistency… not “dry” like most cornbreads I’ve had. Is this how yours is normally and just how you eat it? Or do you have any ideas as to what I maybe did wrong??
Hi Morgan. I wouldn’t say it is cake like or spongy. I’m not sure what might have went wrong. Sometimes using really large eggs will add additional moisture, so, not sure if that might possibly be an issue. Jill
I always buy large eggs and I don’t recall them being super large or anything — they were organic, which in my opinion, tend to be a little smaller. My whole-wheat flour and baking powder were on the older side though… I’ve since bought new/fresh and I’m going to try it again this week. Hopefully it turns out better! Thanks for the getting back!
I can’t seem to find heavy cream in my area without any additives…even The Fresh Market doesn’t have it!
I am not able to find Arrowmills Whole Grain Corn Meal, the 2 options I have found hae way more than Whole Grain Cornmeal and I don’t even think they said that – I just noticed that Bob’s Red Mill has some cornmeal that I might have better luck finding – but he has fine, medium and coarse ground. I would really like to make this – sounds great!!
Hi Alana. I have discovered that you can almost always find any of these products online at Amazon. I can’t guarantee it, but, I know I’ve bought sugar and flour through them before. Good luck. Jill
I can’t find the Arrowmill Corn meal within 100miles from where I live, and teh 2 options at the store have more than just Whole Grain Corn – Not sure if I even saw Whole Grain Corn…any suggestions? I really want to try this – but I can’t find Corn Meal :(
This was good! I wasn’t expecting it to be, we’re used to homeade cornbread with sugar. ha! We’re in Texas and might add bits of jalapenos next time to mix with the cheese.
Sounds great. Would you mind sharing your chili recipe too? Thanks!
Hi Noelle. The chili recipe is not one that’s been shared. Jill
Made this tonight! It was a huge hit! Even better with just a little honey drizzled over it! MmmmMmmmMmmm! My one year old who is very hesitant with any kind of new food gobbled it down then wanted some more. I froze the leftovers.
Thanks so much for the recipe!
This was a big hit with my whole family. Thanks!
Hi there- just a note to anyone about to try this- I left out the cheese (because cheese is really expensive where I live, out of the US) and it came out a bit bland. I know its not fair to judge the recipe based on my change! its a good recipe but if you are going to make the same change I did, then make sure to substitute something else with some flavor, even if its just addt’l salt/maple syrup, some jalepenos etc.
We thought this was delicious. I used skim milk instead of cream because that’s what I had on hand and omitted the corn because we were having cornbread with vegetable soup which had corn. Instead of step 3, just added melted butter. Light and delicious.
I love cornbread and this looks great, just found your website.
I made this recipe for a tailgate today, and everyone loved it! Thanks so much for a great cornbread. My husband loves to make chili, and this recipe will make me much more excited for those nights!
I’ve been trying to find healthy recipes for Thanksgiving. This is perfect!
We made this the other niight to have with our beef and barley stew. DELICIOUS!
You can grind your own cornmeal from popcorn. It works great. Thanks for the recipe.
This looks great! I’m so glad you did a sugar-less cornbread recipe! Thanks & Happy Thanksgiving!
is this a sweeter corn bread…I had a real sweet one that was really good…am sure it was made with foods I don’t want to know where in there…
Just made this…it was AMAZING! We had to use whole milk and just a little bit of cheese due to just using what we had on hand, but it was still delicious. Went perfectly with our split pea soup. Your recipes have never failed me…we LOVE them!!
Yum! This recipe is perfect timing because I made chili and need some cornbread
Joani,
I normally use buttermilk in my corn bread instead of yogurt, so I guess you could sub that. There is supposed to be a reaction between the baking powder (or soda) and the yogurt (or buttermilk) that creates bubbles to help it rise. I would think if you didn’t put something acidic in, the cornbread would be a bit flat. More details on how baking powder works: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baking_powder OR http://chemistry.about.com/cs/foodchemistry/f/blbaking.htm
If you can’t do dairy, you may be able to substitute a little lemon juice or vinegar to get the acid, but I an not sure what that will do to the taste. :-)
Stacey
Can you substitute something for the sour cream?
I tried plain greek yogurt….it worked but they were a bit bland…
What kind of cheese did you use?
Hmmm…maybe plain yogurt, but I have not tried it yet myself.
love this cornbread recipe! btw, you can’t even imagine how wonderful cornbread is with FRESHLY-milled cornmeal from a grain mill. beats any kind of store-bought!
Sounds great!! Any suggestions on how to modify to not have whole corn? Trying to get my husband to like cornbread & I know that isn’t going to work for him.
Most of the cornbread recipes i’ve seen don’t have corn kernels in them. There is also a “Hot Water Cornbread” that you can look into. It’s made with same amounts of hot water and cornmeal (it’s supposed to be self rising cornmeal, but you can just add baking powder and flour to your cornmeal, I believe) then you fry it up in a little oil. I have yet to try it, but am going to very soon! I’ve heard it’s YUMMY! Good luck :-)
You could just leave the corn bits out…should still work just fine!
You could just leave out the corn kernels and it would probably still turn out just fine.
This looks yummy, I will try this recipe next. I just made cornbread last night, it was a lil simpler, but also had fresh corn in it! I can’t wait to see your other “Holiday Recipes”!! Thanks for continuing to share your knowledge.
I like cornbread for breakfast AND dessert now!! :-P
Looks yummy, but being a Southerner from Alabama, I probably would just leave out the maple syrup. They say you can tell you are in the south because your tea is sweet and your cornbread isn’t. :-)
Stacey