Dixie Cornbread With Buttermilk
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You may think this is a bold statement, but this Dixie cornbread with buttermilk is the best cornbread recipe you’ll ever try. If you want the moistest, classic Southern cornbread, you need this recipe.
I got an email from a reader, Terri (who is originally from Georgia, go Dawgs!) telling me she made world-famous cornbread. I was intrigued. Then she told me that her husband said she made better cornbread than his Mama. I was stunned. Then she told me that her cornbread recipe included two cups of buttermilk. My jaw was hanging open.
Clearly, my life would not be complete without trying this Dixie buttermilk cornbread recipe. Fortunately, she graciously shared the recipe with me. Let me tell you my personal experience with this cornbread: everyone in my family gobbled it down.
That might not seem like a big deal until I tell you that before I made this, cornbread had not ever passed the lips of either of my children (they are weird). My husband (who has extremely strange aversions to staple Southern dishes despite being born and raised outside of Atlanta) even ate a rather large piece and came back for seconds.
I have never had cornbread so moist in all of my born days. I am flabbergasted and feel certain that no small amount of my existence has been wasted up until tasting this. Soft and unbelievably moist on the inside with that classic crunchy cornbread crust, I can’t wait for you to try and fall in love with this buttermilk cornbread recipe too.
So without further fuss, here is Terri’s Dixie cornbread recipe!
What You’ll Need to Make Dixie Cornbread:
Ingredients:
- White cornmeal
- Buttermilk (or put a tablespoon of lemon juice in whole milk)
- Egg
- Baking soda
- Flour
- Salt
- Bacon grease (or melted butter)
- Shortening
How to Make Dixie Cornbread With Buttermilk:
Preheat the oven to 450. Slather a cast-iron skillet with vegetable shortening (Crisco). If you really want to make this and don’t have a cast-iron skillet, you can use a cake pan. Do the same thing with it.
Stick the skillet (or pan) in the oven while it preheats so it will be good and hot.
Whisk your cornmeal, flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl.
Add melted bacon grease (or melted butter).
Add your egg…
And buttermilk.
Like so. Now we’re going to stir it all up until it looks like this.
Now get your hot skillet from the oven (carefully) and pour in the batter. It should be hot enough that the batter sizzles when it comes into contact.
Place the delicious in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until you can’t stand the waiting any more!
Remove your Dixie cornbread from the oven and turn it out onto a plate. Eat it hot with butter or honey.
Take a bite and see if you don’t yell out “Go Dawgs!”
Storage
- Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge for up to 1 week. Reheat it quickly in the microwave, oven, or air fryer.
- You can also freeze cornbread portions for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating as above.
Recipe Notes
- Remember to not overmix the batter. You just want to mix the ingredients together until the dry ingredients are just moistened and there are no big lumps (about 1 minute of whisking will do it). Overmixing cornbread batter can lead it to be tough.
- The key to Dixie cornbread is preheating the skillet or baking pan, as that’s what gives the cornbread its crunchy crust.
- For sweet cornbread, you can add 1/4 cup of white sugar, brown sugar, or honey to the batter.
Recipe FAQs
What do you serve with Southern cornbread?
Skillet cornbread is such a deliciously versatile recipe!
- Serve it with butter and honey for breakfast.
- Substitue boring bread for sensational and serve it with your favorite chili, stew, or soup.
- Enjoy it the Southern way alongside your favorite BBQ meat, like Southern-style air fryer wings, crockpot pulled pork, tender beef ribs, or slow-roasted beef brisket.
- Make another Southern staple: red beans and cornbread.
- Use it to make other recipes, like crockpot cornbread dressing or cornbread salad.
- Serve it alongside other classic Southern side dishes, like collard greens, fried okra, mac and cheese, and green bean casserole.
Can I make Dixie cornbread in advance?
Yes, you can definitely make cornbread up to 2 days ahead of time and store it, covered, at room temperature. I recommend serving it warm though, so quickly reheat it in the microwave, oven, or air fryer.
Check out these other scrumptious cornbread recipes:
Cornbread Chicken Pot Pie Made From Scratch
Jiffy Cornbread Casserole With Ham and Cheese
Jalapeño Cornbread Muffins with Cream Cheese
Homestyle Broccoli Cheese Cornbread
How To Make Hot Water Cornbread
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups cornmeal enriched white
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons melted butter or bacon grease
- 1 tablespoon solid vegetable shortening
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450.
- In a 10-inch cast-iron skillet, add a tablespoon of shortening and preheat.1 tablespoon solid vegetable shortening
- Sift together the dry ingredients, then add the wet ingredients (buttermilk, egg, and bacon grease/melted butter). Mix just until the dry ingredients are moistened.1.5 cups cornmeal, 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 2 cups buttermilk, 1 egg, 2 tablespoons melted butter
- Pour the cornbread batter into the now-hot prepared pan or skillet. Bake in the preheated hot oven at 450 for 20-25 minutes.
- Serve warm with butter.
Nutrition
Christy & Terri Go Dawgs, I do not even have to try this recipe, cuse I already knew it from my mother, her mother and so own, I would just like to tell you this about the bacon grease cup in my fridge, When it gets down to about 1/4 cup, my daughter who lives with me says “Mom, we need to eat some bacon this week-end “the cup” is gettin low. It is one of the main staples in my house. Love your blog!!!!!
This sounds like the recipe I have used for years( I am transplanted from Alabama to Oklahoma). I sometimes take a shortcut and use either Aunt Jemima’s white cornmeal mix. It is almost as good but always use buttermilk. That is the secret to moist baking.
No egg please. My mother’s recipe is: 1 c white cornmeal, 1/2 c flour, pinch of soda, 1 tsp salt, 3 tsp baking powder, buttermilk and little water, (1 tsp of sugar helps to brown). Heat iron skillet in oven with enough Mazola Oil to cover botton and a little to put into the cornbread mix. (Mazola is corn oil and enhances the cornbread) Put enough buttermilk to make it a little thin and also add some water. Brown in a very hot oven – 425 degrees for @30 mins. This is the best cornbread you’lll ever eat. I’m from right on the Mason-Dixon line – KY/IL.
I make mine sort of like this recipe, but I grease the skillet with bacon grease instead of solid shortening and I don’t use any flour, just the wonderful cornmeal (never a cornbread mix). You can use yellow or white cornmeal, plain or self-rising. If you choose to use self-rising, reduce the baking soda to a large pinch (about 1/4 tsp. and the salt to 1/2 tsp. It’s okay to add some ground black pepper for a kick, but it’s not at all necessary. Anybody who puts sugar in cornbread needs to move back up north.
Looks a lot like my Mama’s cornbread, except she always used self rising cornmeal and flour. She also put about 3 Tlbs bacon grease in the cast iron skillet and let it heat while mixing the cornmeal, flour, egg, and buttermilk ( usually her homemade clabbered milk), then she swirled the hot bacon grease around the bottom and sides of skillet to grease it good and poured the rest in the mix. No need for shortening. Makes the best crust on that cornbread.
I made this, and it was wonderful!!
I tried this tonight. Unfortunately it didn’t come out too good. Hubbs said it tasted good but the middle wasn’t quite done. My batter was a very runny and I’m wondering if I did something wrong. When the top was good and brown I poked the middle and it still had liquid pooled in there! I put it back in for a bit but finally had to take it out to prevent burning. I don’t have an iron skillet or metal cake pans so I used a glass baking dish (pie dish maybe). I will try it again though!
Hi Monica, Thanks for trying this great recipe. I must say that the “Main Thing” about making cornbread well is the seasoned Cast Iron Skillet. As a newly-wed, I failed over and over (about 8 batches) and threw it out into the woods behind my house, till I asked my MIL the secret. So pick up a skillet, even at a yd sale etc and try it again. Good luck!
I had a similar problem!
Mine cooked quickly on top and too slow nearer the bottom, though the very bottom looked perfectly brown. I attributed it to a few things when I re-tried today. I was using the buttermilk shortcut instead of the genuine article, and it’s much less thick and I think it made a huge difference. Today I ended up using about a cup and a half of the faux buttermilk instead. I also cooked it at 400 instead of 450. The bread came out even, unburnt and solid all the way through. The only funky thing I found is that the egg flavour is REALLY strong. the bottom tastes like scrambled eggs haha. Other than that it’s delicious 🙂