My Grandma’s Coveted Crispy Crust Moist Skillet Cornbread

Another one of my southern grandma’s was best known for her crispy crust, moist skillet cornbread. I recall many New Year’s Days growing up eating it with a bowl of her vegetable soup and black-eyed peas with a side of hog jowl for luck. While many people have their own cornbread recipe, I find my grandmother’s somewhat unique due to the combination of a crispy crust and moist center. Contrary to most traditional southern cornbread recipes, she used yellow instead of white cornmeal which is quite unexpected but incredibly good. I’m very happy to share that recipe with you. 😊

My Family’s Generational Cornbread: Thanks Mamaw!

Baking moves across generations and with all of my grandmas in my family. My sister and I were blessed to grow up with three grandmas and three grandpas. As with my grandma’s yeast rolls (mom’s mom), my grandma’s pie crust (dad’s mom), I’m delighted to now share my grandma’s cornbread (dad’s stepmom). I’m thrilled that all three of my wonderful, southern grandmas are now acknowledged for their incredible baking abilities.

My family had lots of good southern comfort food when I was growing up. This grandma learned to make cornbread from her mother, so this recipe goes back multiple generations. In addition, in this blog post, I’m sharing the many tips and tricks on how to achieve a cornbread with a crispy crust and a moist, soft center. Let’s delve into that recipe with those tips.

My Grandma’s Cornbread Ingredients

For my grandma’s cornbread ingredients, you’ll need bacon grease or pork fat (if you have it), shortening or lard, self-rising yellow corn meal, baking powder, salt, buttermilk, and eggs. What a simple recipe, right? The success lies with the tips!

Why Self-Rising Corn Meal?

Self-rising corn meal is actually a corn meal mix. Whether it’s self-rising white or yellow corn meal, most companies add regular flour to the ground corn along with salt and a leavening agent like baking soda (with other ingredients) or baking powder. The mix is like self-rising flour as it contains ingredients that allow making cornbread easy since you don’t technically need additional salt or leavening agent. But you’ll see in my grandma’s cornbread recipe, she added more leavening and salt. In fact, you can make your own self-rising corn meal mix for a cleaner version. Hmm… I’ll have to create and share a recipe. More to come! 😉

Yellow Corn Meal Versus White Corn Meal…

You may have seen both yellow and white corn meal in your local grocery stores and wondered like me… “why?” My first thoughts or questions were… ugh! “Can you make baking more complicated? Which do I need? Does it matter?” Well, the answers are… hmm, depends and sort of but not really… not helpful, right? American southern bakers traditionally used white corn meal in their cornbread because it is thought to resemble more of a European white flour.

Martha White (the flour company) has an Opinion (or is that Fact?)…

According to Martha White, the only true difference between yellow and white corn meal is the color. There is the thought that white corn meal is a slightly finer ground than yellow, but maybe that depends solely on the individual companies that mill them. There is also a belief that one is sweeter than the other; some say yellow, and some say white (I throw my hands up!). Yellow is thought to have higher beta carotene due to the yellow pigment, but is there enough to matter? However you look at it, both work well and are interchangeable. With that, why not make blue corn cornbread? Hmm???? 😉

The True Answer Lies in Tradition

When it comes to cornbread, it really is based on tradition. You often find yellow corn meal used in the northern states and New England along with Texas. Hmm. The south will continue to swear by and use white corn meal, not my southern grandma, though! Traditions are rarely set in stone and often change with time and preferences, even just a little. So, go with the corn meal or even mix of corn meals that strike your fancy. Maybe keep a tradition but with a little twist.

Cornbread Making Time: Prepare the Skillet

This is a quick recipe to make with delightful results. Begin with a 9- to 10- inch cast iron skillet. Add 14 grams (1 tablespoon) of bacon grease (shortening or lard). Use whatever solid fat you have. My grandma always had bacon grease near her stove. She added a tablespoon of bacon grease to most everything she cooked. In addition to that fat, place another 42 grams (3 tablespoons) of shortening or lard.

TIP: My grandma used a combination of bacon grease and shortening because bacon grease can be overpowering in flavor, so one tablespoon is just enough. However, I highly recommend either bacon grease or pork fat (which is what I use), because those contribute to a deeper flavor than shortening alone.

Preheat the Oven

Place the COLD skillet in the COLD oven with the SOLID fat. Preheat both the oven and skillet with the fat to 500˚F (260˚C). YES! A very hot oven! A screaming hot oven and skillet is the key (or one of them 😉) to crispy cornbread.

Combine the Dry & Wet Ingredients

Mix Together the Dry Ingredients

In a large bowl, add 240 grams (2 cups) of self-rising yellow corn meal. You can certainly substitute yellow corn meal with self-rising white cornmeal, which is more common in southern cornbread, but that’s not what my grandma used. 😊 To the cornmeal, add 8 grams (2 teaspoons) of baking powder and 3 grams (½ tsp) of salt. Stir the dry ingredients until well combined.

TIP: While it may not make a difference, I use a large fork to mix my ingredients. I have found a fork mixes ingredients quickly and easily without over mixing while still leaving small lumps. To each his own, though!

Add Eggs & Buttermilk to the Dry Ingredients

Make a well in the center of the dry corn meal mixture. Beat 2 large eggs in a small bowl and pour them into the well. Pour in 420 milliliters (1¾ cups) of buttermilk. Use a fork and mix just until combined, no more. Allow the batter sit for 10-15 minutes without disturbing it giving time for the corn meal to soak in some liquid.

TIP: Buttermilk has a thick consistency and tangy flavor adding both sustained moisture and flavor depth to cornbread. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can simply mix 1-part plain yogurt or sour cream with 1-part water or milk. This yogurt and milk or water mix is my go-to for cornbread, pancakes, weekly sandwich bread made in my bread machine, biscuits, and waffles. It a simple a cheap buttermilk alternative.

Remove Hot Skillet & Grease…

Once the oven has preheated, use oven mitts to remove the hot skillet. Swirl the grease around in the skillet to coat it well. Pour half (~2 tablespoons) of the melted grease into the batter. Give the batter a quick stir and pour the batter into the hot skillet with remaining grease. The grease will sizzle when poured into the batter and when poured in the skillet. This is also what makes the crust crispy and adds flavor to the batter. Return the skillet to the oven. Reduce temperature to 450˚F (232˚C) and bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Baked! Time to Invert…

When the cornbread exits the oven, immediately invert it onto a serving plate (the crust softens at is sits in the skillet due to the enclosed steam). Cut the cornbread into 8 pieces like a pie. Split each piece and serve hot slathered with salted butter. The crust will soften once wrapped to eat later, so eat it as soon as you can. Leftovers are still good; they just won’t be crispy.

A Closer Look

Notice the brown top and dark brown bottom. Even with yellow cornmeal, the crumb is still moist. Most people, particularly southerners, prefer white cornmeal because it might be a bit finer than yellow, but as you can see here, yellow cornmeal can totally compare.

Serving Suggestion

This cornbread is best eaten the day it’s made as the crust softens once it’s enclosed in a sealed container or bag. You can make this cornbread ahead of time and use it as an ingredient for your holiday cornbread dressing or stuffing; that’s what my mom does. You can serve it as a I remember eating it on New Year’s Day with black-eyed peas. It’s also fantastic with soup or chili any time of year. My favorite way to eat this cornbread is to split it while hot, add two pats of butter to the center, return the top piece and wait a few moments for the butter to melt. Heaven!

Buttermilk Alternatives or Substitutions

The acid in each of the following options when added to milk creates the buttermilk reaction and mimics the buttermilk tang.

If you don’t have buttermilk, you can easily use one of the following options…

• add 1¾ tablespoons of any vinegar OR lemon juice to 1¾ cups of milk,
• fill half of 1 ¾ cup measuring cup with sour cream OR plain yogurt and fill the rest with milk or water,
• add 2¾ tsp of cream of tartar to 1¾ cups milk.

Personal note, I always have Greek yogurt on hand and rarely buy milk. I almost always just mix ½ Greek yogurt with ½ water or milk to get a buttermilk flavor and texture for my cornbread, weekly biscuits, pancakes, waffles, and weekly bread maker sandwich bread. Good and cheap!!

Tips for a Crispy Crust Moist Cornbread

For a Crispy Crust:

• Use a cast iron skillet: a heavy cast iron skillet can be heated to a high temperature and maintains a consistent heat temperature during baking
• Preheat cold skillet with a solid fat in a cold oven: cast iron is very thick and heavy; it takes time to heat through; the hot melted fat helps to solidify the cornbread batter when it hits the hot skillet
• Screaming hot oven: a super-hot oven seals the cornbread batter bottom immediately on contact and prevents a soggy bottom
• Immediately invert the baked cornbread: the air helps to maintain the crispy cornbread bottom as steam is allowed to escape
• Eat the same day it’s baked: once the cornbread is sealed in a container or bag, the crust softens. Granted, the cornbread is still good!

For a Moist Center:

• Use buttermilk or substitute: the thick consistency helps the corn meal maintain moisture as it bakes and deepens the flavor,
• Rest batter for 10 minutes or so: corn meal is thick and needs time to soak up some of the moisture before baking,
• Use more wet than dry ingredients: cornmeal is coarse and grainy (more than flour) and needs more liquid,
• Add eggs: the thick consistency of eggs provides and maintains additional moisture and flavor. They also aid in achieving overall baked cornbread height.

Grandma’s Crispy Crust Moist Skillet Cornbread Final Thoughts

My family and family friends who ever ate my grandma’s cornbread thought it was the best cornbread they had ever eaten. I honestly don’t know if mine tastes exactly like hers because we all know that grandma’s cooking had an ingredient, we can never replicate… that perfect amount of love. A friend once told me that you can actually tell when food is made with love, and it always tastes good. I think maybe that’s why grandma’s food in any of our families will never compare to any other. While I included lots of little tips for making a great crispy crust, moist skillet cornbread, the most basic key elements are high heat, a skillet, and an appropriate amount of moisture; the love, well, that will always be lacking. I will continue to try to cook and bake like my grandmas, but I’m sure I will never reach their level of love in my baking. Here’s to trying!

Baker’s Perspective

Homemade cornbread is a simple and easy bread to make. It’s a great fresh homemade bread to bake for the holidays even if you’re not a baker. This recipe only requires a few simple ingredients and a little time. Overall, it’s the tips that make this cornbread successful in achieving a crispy crust and moist center. If you’ve never made homemade cornbread, you should give it a try. Nothing beats hot bread fresh out of the oven… says the bread lover! I hope this recipe and tips are helpful in your future cornbread making experiences.

Taster’s Perspective

Every time I taste that crispy crust, salty, buttery, soft, moist-center cornbread, I’m transported back in time. As an adult, baking my family’s recipes during the holidays is about as reminiscent as I can get recalling my childhood and happy holiday family memories. After all, many of us love the holidays, not just for giving, but to be reminded of that childhood hope, fantastical spirit, and excitement the season brings. I get that in baking, particularly baking my maternal grandma’s rolls and my paternal grandma’s cornbread. My “taster’s perspective” here obviously revolves more around family memories than actual taste. We, well many of us, know what cornbread tastes like… this is like that with a crispy crust and moist center. If that’s what you’re look for in a cornbread, try this one. It makes a great Thanksgiving or Christmas cornbread stuffing or dressing, too!

Check out my YouTube Video on making my grandma’s cornbread. “My Grandma’s Crispy Crust, Moist Skillet Cornbread: Serve Hot with Butter or Use in Holiday Stuffing”.

Check out these holiday recipes.

Canadian Tourtière: Holiday Meat Pie

Austrian Apple Strudel

3 Simple & Flavorful Pie Crusts

Phyllo Dough

Sweet Potato Swirled Babka Bread

Cinnamon Rolls

Venezuelan Pan de Jamón (Ham Bread)

Grandma’s Yeast Rolls (The Berry Family Recipe)

French Pain d’Épices (Spice Bread)

Crispy Ginger Snap Cookies

Greek Vasilopita New Year’s Cake

Spanish King Cake (Rascón de Reyes Epiphany Bread)

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please share it. Check out my YouTube Channel as well to see videos of kitchen tips, blog bakes, and dishes.