Cornbread muffins are light, fluffy and a perfect side dish to any cold weather dinner. This is a small batch recipe for just 6 corn muffins. You can double it for a larger batch and add any flavors you wish!
These Cornbread Muffins are the perfect addition to Chili season
With chili season upon us, we have a big need for a small batch of cornbread muffins. If you've wisely made my ground beef chili for two, these corn muffins are the perfect thing for dunking. They're also great alongside my instant pot taco soup or vegan black bean burrito bowls. And to be honest, I love a cornbread muffin dripping with butter for breakfast, and so do my kids--a fried egg with one of these is savory breakfast heaven!
Also, if you're making my Southern cornbread dressing as part of my Thanksgiving for two, this is the base for it!
This corn muffins recipe is special because you can use stone-ground cornmeal, if you prefer. Since the batter is cut with regular flour, it can handle some stone-ground cornmeal, but regular cornmeal is totally fine, too! I've even used blue corn meal with beautiful results.
Corn Muffins Ingredients
Besides buttermilk, I always have the ingredients for this recipe on hand. You'll need:
- cornmeal
- all-purpose flour
- granulated sugar
- baking powder (make sure to use aluminum-free baking powder for baking)
- baking soda
- fine sea salt
- one large egg
- buttermilk (can substitute milk with a splash of vinegar)
- melted butter
Corn Muffin Recipe variations
These corn muffins are great with these modifications:
- stir in some grated aged cheddar and ½ teaspoon chili powder
- stir in pickled jalapeño or fresh jalapeño slices (add up to 1 tablespoon of pickled jalapeño juice)
- leftover crumbled bacon is welcome (up to 2 tablespoons)
- fresh herbs like chives, cilantro or even thyme are great stirred in
How to make Corn Muffins
- First, whisk together the dry ingredients: the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Next, stir together the wet ingredients: the egg, buttermilk and melted butter.
- Combine the ingredients, adding any additional flavor options (below) that you may like.
- Line the muffin pan with liners, but also spray the inside of those liners with cooking spray--cornbread is sticky!
- Bake in a 400-degrees F oven for 12-15 minutes, or until the muffins are done.
Tips for making Cornbread Muffins
My best tip for making cornbread muffins is spraying the liners with a small amount of cooking spray before adding the batter. This prevents the muffins falling apart right when they’re done.
My method for allowing the batter to rest for 15 minutes before baking ensures that the cornmeal soaks up the liquid ingredients. This way, your cornbread muffins are always moist and never dry!
What to serve with Corn Muffins from Scratch
I have never met a bowl of chili that didn’t love a corn muffin alongside! My best main dishes that love corn muffins are:
- Beef Chili (small batch)
- White Chicken Chili
- Crockpot Chili with Beans
- Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili
- Vegetarian Chili Slow Cooker
How to store Corn Bread Muffins
In our house, these 6 muffins happily feel like just enough cornbread for two, but in my single days, I would freeze half of the muffins for another night. If you freeze half, make sure you label them in a freezer-safe bag, because it's not fun finding random muffins in the freezer and not knowing if they're savory or sweet--been there, done that!
Cornbread is one of the many reasons I always keep buttermilk in my fridge. For ways to use up leftover buttermilk, try these recipes:
- Lemon Buttermilk Pudding Cakes
- Tamale Pie
- Small batch Blueberry Muffins
- Red Velvet Cake and Red Velvet Cupcakes
- Cakes without Egg recipes
Corn Bread Muffins
Cornbread muffin recipe that makes a small batch of just 6 muffins.
Ingredients
- ½ cup cornmeal
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ¾ teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 large egg, beaten
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and ensure a rack is placed in the center position.
- Place 6 muffin cup liners in a muffin pan, and then spray the liners lightly with cooking spray--cornbread is sticky stuff!
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a separate small bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk and melted butter.
- Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients, let set for one minute before scooping it into muffin cups and baking for 12-15 minutes. The muffins are done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Serve immediately with extra butter.
Notes
1. You can use blue corn, white corn, or regular yellow cornmeal here. Stone ground cornmeal is welcome, too, since we're cutting it with flour.
2. My favorite buttermilk substitute is milk with a splash of vinegar. Use the same amount of milk as the recipe calls for, and splash in 1 teaspoon per cup of milk.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 132Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 42mgSodium: 259mgCarbohydrates: 18gFiber: 1gSugar: 5gProtein: 3g
Maria says
I added shredded cheese and jalapeños which put it over the top. You're website is always my go to for small portion and this recipe is definitely my new go to for cornbread! Thanks!
Kathleen says
I doubled the recipe because I have a muffin tin with large cups (bakery size) and also substituted regular table salt. They came out perfect. Has anyone tried this recipe substituting maple syrup or honey for the sugar? If so what is the measurement conversion? Thank you.
Mary B. says
We had corn on the cob last night, so I immediately thought of this recipe as we had a leftover cob. I sliced off the kernels and tossed them into the batter. Can't wait for brekky!
Cindy says
Fantastic! I added a bit of shredded cheese and chopped jarred jalapeños. Was a hugh hit with my hubby. Thanks!
Barb Hanson says
I made these last week to go with Black Bean chili and they were light and moist. Perfect. Question, why do you recommend aluminum-free baking powder?
Cathie Johnson says
Love your website & these muffins... made them to go with my Black-Eyed Peas for New Year's Dinner!
JJ says
Christina saves the day again! Needed a small batch cornbread to go with dinner for just the 2 of us. So of course I go right to the source, Christina. This was excellent perfect amount of sweet, corn, moist, goodness.
Agatha says
Used avacado oil instead of butter, reduced sugar to 1/2 tsp., used unsweetened soy milk with a 1/4 tsp. of apple cider vinegar instead of buttermilk. And couldn't find my soda, so used a slightly rounded full teaspon of baking powder. They turned out well. Most corn muffin recipes that use white flour and corn meal use equal amounts of both. I like that this tilts the balance in favor of corn meal. And six muffins is plenty.
Valerie says
I used a regular cupcake tin, and got 10 little cupcakes. They came out great!
Miss M says
The cornbread muffins were perfect with a few changes.. I did not have buttermilk but I had buttermilk powder so I put 2 Tbsp. buttermilk powder in the dry ingredients and used 1/2 c water. I also reduced the sugar to 1 Tbsp. I sprayed the muffin tin and put 1/2 tsp salted butter in each cup(no liners). I put the pan in the oven to get the pan and butter hot to create crusty bottoms and sides. When it was smoking hot, the batter was dished into the 6 cups. The batter was thinner than I expected but went with it and that was the best. This was a perfect size batch for us old empty nesters. Thanks for a great recipe!