Dixie Cornbread With Buttermilk
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
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
Hey Rob! Happy Thanksgiving! I’m jealous, you getting to start your holidays early! I hope you have a great one up there in the great country of Canada!!!! Wish I could step another toe in that snow y’all have!
Anonymous: Well bless your sour little heart!
Honey, I hope things get better in your life soon.
Remember, happiness and kindness are choices you make every day, they don’t just come to you by sitting around turning sweet milk sour with your expressions.
I started to read through what looked like a good cornbread recipe. But after the fourth ‘Go Dawgs’ I gave up.
Q: How annoying was that?
A: Very annoying.
If you care that much about some random team that you have to put it in your recipes (and repeat it a gazillion times) then you are in serious need of an actual life.
Just so you know Anonymous, I say “it” in fun to associate me with Georgia, my beloved home state for 40 years and it keeps my homesickness at bay, in a small way since moving to the northeast U.S. Combined with the facts that there were/are other SP ladies named “Terri” who comment and Mama and Daddy were Univ. of Ga grads. I have a lovely “actual” life filled with blessings, happiness, success and love……which I suspect you have none of in your life. It is a delicious, amazing recipe and pity you won’t ever taste it since you get irritated easily. Go Dawgs :-O
Bless their heart.
Maybe you need to just sit awhile and sip some sweet tea. You’re obviously working toooo hard. Lighten up.
BOOMER SOONER!!!!!
Well it’s Thanks Giving this weekend in Canada. I will have to give this corn bread a try. Oh yes, and I’ve had empty soup cans with Bacon grease on my stove for many years 🙂
Thanks for this amazing site!
~pulls Yankee aside and whispers~ “Shh, just do it and don’t tell anyone. It’ll be just fine. Your secret is safe with me” ~ grins and winks as she hands Yankee a Kevlar vest “just in case”. She smiles reassuringly.
Seriously, it won’t hurt it one little bit!
Ok, please don’t shoot me. I understand that Southern cornbread isn’t sweet. I made the recipe and it came out great. Perfectly golden brown and crispy. However, it turns out that this native Maine boy, despite years in the South and Southwest, prefers a sweet cornbread. Any idea on what would happen if I added some sugar, aside from the universe collapsing in upon itself? 🙂
Shyla One of these days I’ll blog about the time I got lost in Murfreesboro….my mother still laughs about it.
Would not give you the recipe? Ugh, what a shame! It also puts you in an awkward spot when you go to the trouble to compliment someone so much on a dish that you want to make it for your family and then they won’t share it. To me, its one of the highest forms of flattery to be asked for a recipe to something I made! Well, y’all probably know my stand on the whole sharing recipe thing.
The cookbook I was talking about is the best of Georgia or the taste of Georgia, I’m not sure the exact name but I’ll have to go get it and I’ll put a photograph of it in my next newsletter. My daughter is asleep in my room now and that’s where the cookbook is.
Shyla, I hope this cornbread ends up tasting even better to you than that sweet little old lady’s.
I sincerely hope, for her family’s sake, that she has written it down and taught it to someone.
Sugah ~grins~ I just love how you talk! I know Terri loves you, too, despite her fault of being a bulldawg!
Thank you for reading Southern Plate!
Gratefully,
Christy
De cornbread is yummy! We luv Terri’s cookin’ even if she is a bulldawg! Geaux Tigers!!!