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
love how you wrote this up, hahah. I’ve never actually tried bacon grease in a cornbread, but I might have to give it a try!
I can’t believe NO bacon fat. It’s essential.
I put it in my Skillet and in the 450 oven.
Remove and put the Skillet on the stovetop on HI and
and add the batter.
Get the skillet HOT and add the batter. It will cook the
surface of the cornbread to be Crispy. Good stuff.
We take a little bit of that melted grease and pour it over in the batter. Just a tad. Makes it moist.
Oh Cornbread! We were dirt poor when I was growing up and cornbread was frequently on the menu, as a good, cheap way to fill tummies. I used to complain about being so poor and eating the things we ate, but as the years pass, my complaints have morphed into nostalgia. To this day one of my favorite things to eat for breakfast is cornbread and milk. Take a big chunk of cornbread and break it up in a bowl, then pour milk over it, just like cereal. Delicious. Even though I’m better off financially now, I keep a 5 gallon bucket of beans in my pantry at all times. I’ll never be too snooty to eat beans and cornbread and do so every chance I get!
I have certain foods I feel the same way about Adriane!! Isn’t it funny how we despised them growing up because we thought it was a status of being poor but now they are a big comfort.
This is off the subject but I was reminded when I was a little girl the wealthier people had beautiful artificial Christmas trees while we had a real one. Now the wealthier people have real ones and we use our artificial tree (although beautiful) every year. Don’t get me wrong, tho, I had an idyllic upbringing and cherish how my parents raised us and all they taught us. I’m very grateful for my life now too, just commenting on how perceptions change.
Yes!! Born in Springfield… Raised in Texas.. Poor family… But to this day.. Veggie Stews.. W/ our gardens Veggies) Pinto beans (frijoles) green/red chili (from NM where parents were from) corn bread.. Chicken & dumplings… zucchini w/ corn ( Calibacitas con maiz) enchiladas ( rolled & flat) ( taquitos) To this day are my favorites!! & Flour tortillas (fresh) .. We cooked & baked from
Scratch!! Still have one of those bacon drippings speckled blues are mini buckets.. No drippings! Cholesterol & triglyceride issues!! That’s what you get when you have a Cardiologist as a little sister!! Ha ha!! Flashing back to my childhood memories!! Pleasant! !!
Oh my goodness, it all sounds delicious!!
Have had high Cholesterol all my life but no heart issues until I was 75 then because a doctor would not give me an antibiotic for an infection caused when he took out stitches and one tore in a place on my body that would get infected unless kept bandaged and antibiotics. So long story short it damaged my mitral valve in my heart and had to be replaced at 76, I am now 78 and feeling great with a pig mitral valve now in my heart and still eating and using bacon grease. I have eaten like this since my wee childhood and all my adult life. I think this is not what makes us ill, I think it is all the additives they are adding almost daily to our food and all the weird pop and drinks that are on the market. Drank whole milk and coffee as a kid and still do, except the milk is now pasteurized and wasn’t as a kid..my moral is drink and eat as close as you can as when you were a kid (close to my age group that is) and have fun.
What we do t realize when growing up poor and eating beans, cornbread, and oatmeal is these were very nutritious meals and actually helped give us a good foundation in our physician development. I love greens, beans and cornbread!
Sorry, this should read “What we don’t realize…”
This is how my KY mama has made cornbread for years! She didn’t have a recipe when she taught me, but had the same ingredients. There’s one difference…she buttered it right out of the skillet, so the butter would soak in. Where she was from, cornbread served with pinto beans is a staple. People would eat it several times a week. I actually was raised in the north where everybody makes sweet cornbread & I keep telling them that is not cornbread, it’s what we’ve always known as johnnycake. Anyway, your recipe has made me crave cornbread, so I guess I’ll have to make it this wk. My stomach will be thanking you!
DEB C. I agree with you, this was made by my Mom all the time, We are from KY> and this is the way they made it all the time,, Never mind that sugar ,that some people put in it,, just mix up, havE your iron skillet ,very ,very hot, pour in and bake,, great with beans and greens, sliced onions on the side, and Mom even put cracklings in it if she had some it is the best in the world .. and always have a cold, glass of butter milk with it also, we even broke up pieces of corn bread and mixed in our glass of butter milk,, GREAT EATING
Oh I love hot cornbread in a glass of cold buttermilk and put a few onion pieces in it if you have it. Heaven! I am loving this cornbread post so much. Fun to see what everybody has to say.
hiya christy!…..must b fate!! im just now catching up on emails and the lady i got a cornbread recipe from used 2 cups of buttermilk. have had a hankering for cornbread so i made it!! hers (which i have never ever done!!!) was put in a cold skillet!! i had eaten her bread at a church function and it was wonderful….mine was good but not wonderful…will probably go back to my moms recipe of almost no measure….tehe……have a blessed and happy new year!!
I was interested in your recipe when you said you use bacon grease(gravy) for your cornbread but then you say to use shortening for the pan. We use bacon gravy for the recipe and the pan. The only sacred rule is Do Not Put Sugar in it. We don’t want sugar in our mayonnaise or our cornbread which leaves enough for our tea!
Hear, hear!
Aye!
Exactly!
Obviously those who are horrified at bacon to cook with, are not from Texas. I keep my jar of bacon drippings in the refrigerator How does they season green beans?
I have bacon drippings in my fridge for cornbread and once upon a time I used for green beans. But now I use chicken cubes for green beans. I realize that may increase my salt intake but I do not add salt so may work out the same. I did not believe it would work!
Oh, you are so right! I am Alabama born and bred and my parents were from Alabama and Mississippi. I read a recipe for “Southern Cornbread” and it had sugar in it. My daughter and I had a fit! Oh no! Southern cornbread does NOT have sugar in it! I do wish that companies that make mixes would make cornbread mixes without sugar for emergencies.
The best quick mix I have found is Martha White Cotton Country cornbread, but it still doesn’t have that thick crunchy dark brown crust on bottom like my Grandmas.
Chrissy, do you put your mix into a hot cast iron skillet coated in shortening that you have preheated in your oven? That will give you a nice crunchy crust. 🙂
never put suger in cornbread. I tell people here in Chicago real cornbread dose not have suger yuk.
I agree 100%!!!
I second that as a Tennessee native we do not put sugar in the cornbread.
Absolutely agree about the sugar. This is my mother’s recipe for cornbread which she made every day when we were at home. She used several tablespoons of water with the buttermilk, no egg and 1/2 tsp baking powder. Crusty and wonderful in her iron skillet!
Gosh….I thought all of us in the south made their cornbread this way…….
My only change is to melt the bacon grease in the iron skillet as it preheats.
Then pour the hot grease in the batter and stir before pouring into the hot skillet.
I have made this cornbread several times. I follow the directions exactly, and it comes out perfectly. My husband is crazy for it. Thank you for sharing such delicious and easy recipes.
I am so glad you like it Leslie!!