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
Bacon grease is the spawn of the devil. And of course you HAVE to have it for good Southern cornbread! When I got married (back when the earth was still cooling), one of the kitchen items on my list was a grease keeper. It’s a small metal container with a filter and a lid. When I cook bacon, I pour the grease into the keeper. Everyone once in a while, I wipe the filter out, and about once a year, I dump the whole thing, put the keeper and parts in the dishwasher and then start collecting grease again.
I figured these had gone the way of dial telephones, but I saw one the other day! Mama kept hers on top of the stove and used a little every day, but I keep mine in the fridge.
For cornbread, I put 2 to 3 tablespoons of bacon grease in the iron skillet and put it in the pre-heating oven. Once I get the batter assembled and the oven is at the right temp, I pour all but about 1/2 tablespoon of grease into the batter and stir like heck. Then I pour the batter into the skillet. The batter sizzles as it oozes into the grease. That gives you a nice brown crust.
Daddy would crumble leftover cornbread into a glass of milk (or buttermilk) and eat it all with a spoon. My kids used to dip their nacho chips into the milk…sort of the same thing!
i have a question… i have Celiacs, and I’m trying to be more strict about following the rules (no wheat, rye, barley or oats… sob sob wah wah blah blah) –the basic rule, as i’ve come to realise is, if God made it, I can eat it. the corollary (ack! a math term!) is: If it tastes good, I can’t eat it.
I digress (so like me!)– can I use CORN FLOUR (not corn meal) in lieu of the AP Flour.
please please please please say yes, and I will promise to even buy real buttermilk! 😛
Diane from Central FL
Hi Diane,
I was just looking at the comments and noticed some had questions. I sure hope you don’t mind that I try to help, since Christy is so busy looking at a Feb. 1st deadline for writing her new Southern Plate cookbook.
I am so sorry that you have Celiacs and salute your effort to keep your health by changing your ingredients. I see that Carole, two comments up from yours, might have the solution for you with just using cornmeal. Search the internet if you can’t get the cornmeal at your local stores, or ask a store manager to order some for you.
Good luck and let us hear how it turns out. ~crosses fingers~
Terri
Christy, I wish you and your family a happy New Year! I am so thank-ful I came across this website (the southern plate). I am in Tennessee and grew up on cornbread and beans (we weren’t poor), but everyone has passed on already, and I never actually learned how to make cornbread from scratch (I know, shameful) so, I had alway’s used the Martha white cornbread mix in the bag and it was perfect. after reading all your reviews on your cornbread I decided to give it a try. I have to admit 2 cups of buttermilk sure did sound like a lot, but let me tell you this, I made the cornbread and it was absolutely the best ever! My husband didn’t want me to throw out the leftover. Can you eat leftover cornbread? anyways, I am so thrilled to have found your website. I would love to purchase your cookbook, but when I went to the link there was only information on the book, not anyway to order it. could you please tell me how I could order the new book? also, next I am going to try your chicken and dumplings recipe.
Hi Carol,
Thank you so much for saying this Dixie Cornbread is the best ever! I was just tickled pink!!! I was glad your husband loved it too. You were brave to try something you have never done before and the accomplishment and success must feel mighty fine too. Since Christy has to finish writing her new SP cookbook Feb. 1st, I thought I would help and answer your question about the leftover cornbread. Yes, leftover is fantastic, if you slice each serving piece long-ways from tip to crust, and lightly toast under a low broiler setting. We put butter on it and the light crunchiness makes us love it all over again.
The new Southern Plate Cookbook will be completely written by Feb. 1st and will be available for sale late summer or fall, I think Christy said. I promise, she has worked on the book so hard, she will be sure to let you know when and how to order copies. Her first cookbook sold out several times and is not available any more.
Be sure to join in the fun on Southern Plate’s Facebook page and keep up with all the action regarding creating Christy’s cookbook.
Till then, keep cookin’. Terri
psst, the ckn and dumplin’s are my favorite.
I use the same ratio as Patti – 1 cup buttermilk/1 cup cornmeal/1 egg. Double this for a skillet full of cornbread. I do not add flour, but I use old fashioned stone ground fine white cornmeal (Dixie Mills brand which is milled in Tifton, GA and sold at Winn Dixie). Each cup of buttermilk requires 1/2 tsp baking soda, so that’s 1 tsp per batch. I use only 1/2 tsp salt, but 1 tsp is standard amount. I use the same method as Kathy, placing the skillet in the oven with the grease or oil (not butter) to preheat it; pouring the hot fat into the batter while stirring rapidly before pouring it into the hot skillet. The result will be moist, cohesive cornbread encased in a lovely, brown crust.
I just blogged about this delicious cornbread. I will be adding a post about the dressing very soon as well. Thanks for being a gastronomic part of my family’s Thanksgiving the 2nd year in a row.
Well,
Mebbe not. But I double dawg dare ya to try the oatmeal trick…..=-) betcha cain’t tell by lookin!
But if’n you really wanna keep him close , stir in about a 1/2 cup of fresh cracklins into your batter once in a while……ahm jes sayin’….;-)
Oh Yea,
about the sugar, I married a Yankee gal and she thinks that “cornbread” only comes from the “Jiffy” boxes too, so, by way of compromise, I sometimes add either add either 1/4th cup dark brown sugar, “raw” sugar or even better, sorghum molasses to mine. The brown sugar gives it a sort of a smoky flavor.Its really is quite tasty even with beans or stew, and it is heavenly with cow salve butter and honey!
Thanks Bobby and everyone who gave their own tips about my Mama’s fav recipe for Dixie cornbread…..we all have our family traditions ~nods to moms/grannies of the past~. (Cathy…I often use bacon grease instead of Crisco too).
But, at my house, my honey pie hubby would trade me in for a new model if I changed this recipe one teensy bit. Now, we wouldn’t want that, would we ;} ? Happy Thanksgiving Christy and all the SP readers.