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
Hey Yawl!
Sumthin’ my Granny Thomas taught me was, if you want a moister and slightly denser consistincy, substitute 1/3 of your cornmeal with old fashioned Oats. The oats will dissapear in the final product, but the moisture content and a nuttier flavor are readily apparent!!
Thanks for sharing this recipe.. But we all know that the GO DAWGS is for Ms State 🙂
Love you and Thank you much for all you do!
Marian
Crisco? Use 3 tablespoons of bacon grease. Or 2 1/2 if some yankee is watching you. Put all the bacon grease in the skillet and stick it in the oven and turn on the oven to pre-heat. Assemble all the ingredients in a bowl and stir together.
Now put one pot holder on the counter and use another to pull the skillet out of the HOT oven. Pour most – but not all – of the grease into the bowl. Set down the skillet and stir that bowl just enough to mix in the grease.
Pour the whole thing into the skillet – there should be about 1 tbsp left in the skillet. The grease should sizzle as the mix goes in – that’s the secret of a crisp crust.
Sugar should NEVER be put into cornbread in the South – sacrilege!
And don’t be using a glass jar for the grease. That’s scary – the glass could shatter when you pour in the grease.
Do they still make those metal containers with filters for grease? I’ll bet they don’t anymore. I bought mine as a bride 35 years ago – still got it. Still use it.
I know this is almost a year old, but I want to point out that canning jars are designed to have boiling hot liquids poured into them so I doubt bacon grease would shatter it.
You make it just like I do. I work in the Gulf of Mexico in the oil fields, and all those “cooks” use Jiffy mix……YUCK!
Cornbread don’t have sugar in it!
And, well…at my house (‘causin’ of my cast iron skillet) Pie R round….cornbread R square.
I MAKE A SIMILAR RECIPE BUT MY RULE IS ONE CUP SR MEAL TO ONE CUP BUTTERMILK TO ONE EGG. I ADD ABOUT THREE HEAPING TEASPOONS OF MAYONNAISE TO A DOUBLED RECIPE AS I USUALLY DO DOUBLE THE RECIPE. I MELT THE OIL IN AN IRON SKILLET IN OVEN AND WHEN IT IS HOT I POUR THE OIL IN THE SKILLET AND STIR QUICKLY TO BLEND. THE COMBO OF THE OIL AND THE MAYO MAKE A CAKE LIKE CORNBREAD THAT MELTS IN YOUR MOUTH. I BAKE IT (DOUBLE RECIPE) IN A 450 OVEN IN 10 INCH IRON SKILLET TIL BROWN. THEN I TAKE IT OUT AND INVERT IT ON A PLATE. WILL NOT STICK IF YOU HAVE KEPT YOUR SKILLET SEASONED WELL.
Make this cornbread even better by letting your mix sit for 30 minutes after you mix it all up and then add about 1/8 cup more buttermilk and stir right before you pour it into the hot greased cast iron skillet.
You can simplify this recipe by using self rising cornmeal.. and if you don’t save your leftover grease (shame on you.haha) you can use any vegetable oil, do not use butter..that’s against the law in mixing up a batch of corn bread…butter is for spreading on it after it’s done. I’m gonna try this recipe but will probably stick to my own since my husband says I make better corn bread than his mother, she said so too…I’ve been making mine since I was nine years old (my mother worked)that’s 56 years I’ve been making this recipe that I made up myself:
1 1/2 cups self rising cornmeal
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 egg (sometimes I use 2 eggs..depends on the mood)
2 tablespoons drippins or vegetable oil
Grease iron skillet ( I use a papertowel and dip it in the shorting can and spread it on the inside of the iron skillet that way no mess on hands) You can either put into the oven to preheat and melt shortening or not..just pour directly into grease skillet and put into oven @ 450 degress till top is brown approximately 35 40 minutes. Invert onto a plate…slice and now you can put your butter on it or in a slice…yummmmmmmm