Sweet Homemade Cornbread in a Cast Iron Skillet

My recipe for sweet cornbread gets its moist, tender texture from a whole can of sweet creamed corn added to the batter. This is an easy cast iron cornbread skillet recipe, but if you don't have a cast iron skillet, you can use a 9" round or square cake pan instead. I also have a version that you can bake as easy corn muffins.

No matter what pan you use, it's so quick and easy, I just know you'll love making this cornbread all winter long!

To really emphasize the sweetness of the creamed corn, I top my cornbread with brown sugar, which also adds such a nice texture to the top. When you slice it up, inside you'll find bits of whole corn kernels which are a nice little treat!

I know in the south cornbread skews more savory, but I grew up in the northeast with Boston Market (née Chicken) cornbread as my frame of reference so that's what I'm channeling here.

It's bright yellow, it's sweet, and it's the perfect side dish with roast chicken and homemade gravy, creamy mac and cheese, or a hearty beef stew.

Personally, I think it's great with a soft pat of my popular whipped homemade honey butter.

This is really such an easy cornbread recipe. You don't even need a mixer to make it. It uses simple and easy-to-find ingredients, including a whole can of cream-style sweet corn, and takes just 10 minutes to mix the batter together and pop it in the oven. No fussing with brown butter, no forgetting to pick up buttermilk at the store—in fact there's no dairy in this cornbread at all.

Special Ingredient Notes

Here you can see all the ingredients that you'll need to make my easy sweet cornbread recipe! See the recipe card (at the end of the blog post) for ingredient quantities.

Canned Corn - My cornbread recipe uses a whole can (14.5 oz) of sweet creamed corn, which is sometimes also called "cream style sweet corn" or "sweet corn cream style". I've tested this recipe with a bunch of different brands of sweet corn and all of them have worked just fine.

Yellow Corn Meal - I've tested this cornbread with both stone-ground and fine-ground yellow corn meal, and while I prefer the fine ground corn meal, both work in this recipe. You'll get a little bit of a gritty texture if you use the coarser stone-ground corn meal, which may or may not bother you.

Brown Sugar - Light or dark brown sugar will both work here. I prefer the more intense flavor of dark brown sugar, but you do you!

Mix well, but do not over mix

This cornbread is a simple, quickbread recipe that is made using what's known in baking as "the muffin method". When you follow the muffin method, you mix your dry ingredients, then mix your wet ingredients, and then you mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until combined. It's super important that you don't over mix the batter or else your cornbread will end up tough, dense, and dry.

And before you yell at me for mixing the brown sugar with the wet ingredients, in baking, sugar is often considered a "wet" ingredient because of the way it dissolves into a liquid when combined with other wet ingredients.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix (say it with me) just until combined. Basically, stop mixing as soon as you can't see any streaks of dry flour in the bowl. The batter should be lumpy.

I like using a dough whisk for this step if you have one. A coiled wire dough whisk is meant for mixing wet and sticky bread doughs but it's also super efficient for whisking quickbread batters without over mixing them.

If you don't have a dough whisk, use a spatula and gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Use the edge of the spatula to cut through the center of the batter to make sure there's no sneaky pockets of flour hiding inside.

This cornbread bakes at 350°F for about 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. You're looking for an internal temperature of at least 195°F for doneness.

Practical Tips and Recipe Notes

• If you don't have a 10" cast iron skillet, you can use a 9" square or round cake pan instead. For a big batch, double the recipe and use a 9x13" rectangular pan. You may need to increase the bake time slightly!
• I grease my skillet with non-stick spray, but you can also brush or rub the surface with olive oil using a pastry brush or paper towel instead.
• Let the cornbread cool almost completely before serving, otherwise it will crumble apart on you when you slice it.
• Cornbread is best served within 24 hours of baking. After that it starts to dry out a bit. If you prefer your cornbread warm, it can be reheated in the oven at 350°F for 5-7 minutes.

📖 Recipe