Honey Cornbread Muffins
Table of Contents
Slightly sweet with a moist cake-like crumb, these flavorful Honey Cornbread Muffins are a heavenly side dish. Ready in just 30 minutes, these pair well with chilis, BBQ, salads, and so much more!
A Sweet & Easy Cornbread Recipe
Cornbread was not a way of life for our family when I was growing up. It would occasionally show up at a gathering, and I’d always try it. But I would never return for seconds, as it was always dry and rather flavorless. Then, as an adult, I discovered moist, sweet cornbread at a barbecue restaurant. I was in love!
This Honey Cornbread Muffins recipe is the result of my later-in-life discovery of my perfect cornbread. And now this is the only cornbread muffin recipe my family wants to eat. We love to serve the muffins with chili in the winter and with anything that comes off the grill in the summer!
Honey cornbread muffins get their rich flavor and moist crumb from buttermilk and butter. If you haven’t liked cornbread in the past, because all you’ve had was dry and crumbly and bland, I beg you to give this cornbread recipe a try. This moist, flavorful version is sure to win you over.
And the big bonus? These sweet cornbread muffins are super easy to make, with a simple ingredients list. From start to finish, this cornbread can be on your plate in 30 minutes!
What You’ll Need
I always keep yellow cornmeal on hand, so I can make these muffins any time I want!
- Yellow cornmeal – This cornbread muffin recipe incorporates equal parts all-purpose flour and yellow cornmeal (affiliate link). I love this 50/50 ratio that gives the muffins their tender, moist texture.
- All-purpose flour
- Sugar – These muffins are just slightly sweet.
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Buttermilk – Buttermilk helps create the moist crumb that prevents these cornbread muffins from being dry and bland.
- Butter – Melted butter also helps keep the muffins moist while also adding rich flavor.
- Eggs
- Honey – Honey adds just the right amount of additional sweetness and another layer of flavor to the muffins.
How to Make Honey Cornbread Muffins
These muffins are so easy to make. I can whip these up and pull them out of the oven, in just 30 minutes!
- Prepare the batter. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. In another bowl whisk the remaining ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed.
- Bake. Divide the batter into a greased muffin pan. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden. Enjoy warm.
Tips for Success
For soft, tender cornbread muffins keep these things in mind.
- Don’t overmix the batter. Once you combine the wet and dry ingredients, stir until just combined.
- How to tell when the muffins are done. The tops of the muffins should be golden and a toothpick inserted should come out with minimal crumbs. If there’s still wet batter attached to it, cook the muffins a bit longer.
- Don’t overbake the muffins. While you do want to ensure that the muffins are cooked through, you also don’t want to overbake them. Baking them too long will amount to dry muffins.
What to Eat with Cornbread Muffins?
We make these cornbread muffins most often when there’s a pot of chili waiting for us. This summer chicken chili is wonderful, incorporating fresh zucchini, yellow squash, sweet corn, and herbs. And this slow cooker chili has been a longtime family favorite.
Cornbread muffins are also great companions to anything slathered in barbecue sauce, and nearly anything that comes off the grill. Think beer can chicken, chipotle orange salmon, or chili lime pork tenderloin.
How to Store & Freeze
- How to store. You can store any leftover honey cornbread muffins at room temperature for up to 2 days. Store them in an airtight container or ziploc bag.
- Can I freeze cornbread muffins? Yes, you can freeze these muffins. Allow to cool completely then transfer to a freezer bag or container. Freeze for up to 3 months. Allow to thaw on the counter – then reheat in the oven or microwave until warm, if desired.
More Side Dish Recipes:
- Pumpkin Buttermilk Biscuits with Candied Ginger
- Apple-Orange Cranberry Sauce
- Creamy Mashed Potatoes
- Sourdough Popovers
Honey Cornbread Muffins
Slightly sweet with a moist cake-like crumb, these flavorful Honey Cornbread Muffins are a heavenly side dish. Ready in just 30 minutes, these pair well with chilis, BBQ, salads, and so much more!
Ingredients
- 1 cup yellow corn meal
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup honey
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375° F. Spray a standard muffin pan lightly with cooking spray, or line your pan with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, mix the corn meal, flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, butter, eggs, and honey. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed.
- Divide the cornbread mixture into your prepared pan. Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden. Remove pan from oven and let muffins rest in pan for 5 minutes before placing on a rack to cool.
Notes
from a farmgirl's dabbles
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 191Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 52mgSodium: 157mgCarbohydrates: 26gFiber: 1gSugar: 16gProtein: 3g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by Nutritionix. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee accuracy. If your health depends on nutrition information, please calculate again with your own favorite calculator.
This post was previously published in 2010, and then updated in 2018 and 2021.
I love browsing your website for recipe ideas – the cornbread muffin recipe was particularly scrumptious! I have a rather unusual request for you as regards permission to link to your website.
I am a fantasy fiction author and I am looking for a web link with a recipe for cornbread muffins with honey to add to my latest blog post. My latest novels feature brownies (a type of house elf from Scottish folklore). According to folktales, brownies enjoyed being left corn muffins and honey as a gift to thank them for their help in homes. It would be lovely if I could include a link to your recipe as I’m sure that readers would enjoy discovering your website, which I have been following for a while.
Let me know if it will be all right to include a link in my blog post?
Best wishes,
Holly Merry
That would be sweet. Thank you, Holly Merry!
Brilliant – thank you so much. Wishing you best of luck with creating more lovely recipes.
I used corn flour instead of corn meal (it’s just what I had) and think I should’ve baked a little longer as a result, but still good! Will try less sweetener next time.
I made these lovely sweet corn muffins exactly by the recipe and baked them for the recommended 15 minutes. They turned out absolutely wonderful. So sweet and moist and not dry at all. I only have one question before I maybe try it myself next time. Is it possible if I increased the baking soda from a half a teaspoon to a teaspoon that they might rise a little bit more?Just wondering, especially since we’re not using any baking powder. And that probably is the only thing I can think of, I wish they would have risen a bit more. But if increasing the baking soda will change the taste of the muffin, then I don’t wanna do that for sure. Because I’m very pleased with the texture and taste of these.
These are super delicious and easy to make!
I have made these almost every day since I pinned it 3 weeks ago, and every time they are gone in minutes!
I use butter instead of oil for my muffin tin,, that’s the only change I made.
Thank you for the delicious recipe!
I used gluten free flour, ghee instead of butter and reduced sugar to 1/3. I baked the cornbread in mini bread loaves and wrapped them individually as treats for friends and neighbors. They were a big hit! I’ve tried a lot of versions but a farmgirl’s dabbles Is now my go to recipe. Thanks!
Good call on the ghee. I was thinking to use cassava flour or amaranth flour. This would be my first time trying either. Any recommendations?
I have tried SO MANY cornbread recipes but these were beyond a doubt the best EVER! I am so glad I found your amazing recipe!
Great recipe. I added 1/4 cup of applesauce for the butter. It keeps them moist but has less calories. My friends truly enjoyed them with taco turkey chili.
I made these and substituted whole wheat flour. Also had to bake for 20 minutes. They turned out wonderfully and delicious with just the right amount of sweetness. Can’t wait to make these again!
Loved these. They a nice dense and not crumbly muffin. The sweetness is perfect. I had to bake mine for 20 minutes instead of the recommended 15. Will make these again.
I am so glad you liked this recipe, Pam. Thanks for coming back to let me know!
I have been looking for a cornbread recipe I really like for a while now, trying things with milk vs buttermilk, butter vs lard, cornmeal and flour vs all cornmeal, and so on. It has been surprisingly difficult to find a recipe that ticks all my boxes. It probably sounds like I’m going to say “This is finally the one!” Sad to say, this recipe still wasn’t the one, but it was pretty close! I think it was just a little too saccharine for me. I think that paired with the flour reminded me too much of a cake, and the corn flavor wasn’t coming through much.
I might try this again with a higher cornmeal ratio (or all cornmeal), half the sugar, and possibly lard instead of butter. Maybe a tiny bit more salt, too (I used salted butter and measured a tad less salt to compensate, so I may have put less than intended).
By the way, this recipe works fine in a 10″ iron skillet instead of muffins. It’s also the first time I’ve managed to turn the bread out onto a plate in one perfect piece!
P.S. if you’re worried about the lack of baking powder: Baking powder is just baking soda + an acid to activate the soda. Buttermilk is already acidic, so you don’t need the additional acid from baking powder.
Max – to get more corn flavor and less sugar, you can put a small can of whole kernel corn in the food processor, cut honey in half and fold in corn. It might give you more of what your looking for. Also, if your cornbread is sticking to your iron skillet, the skillet isn’t seasoned enough…..brush with canola oil and throw in oven on 300 for 20inutes. Brush again and heat oven to 400 for 10 minutes.
This recipe is perfect just as it is. Thank you for a great contribution to my favorite recipes. If someone wants to change everything about a recipe then post comment write a recipe book. Total recipe changes to a posted recipe are not appreciated.
These are sooo good! This will be my go to recipe from now on.
Hi Luann – thank you so much, so happy you like the muffins! :)
These are the best corn muffins ever!
I have made them many times, and they’re always perfect.
The amount of sweetness, to me, is just right.
We had them tonight with crockpot ham and bean soup; it was a satisfying meal on a rainy fall night in Ohio.
Thanks for a superb recipe!
So glad to hear this, Mavis – thank you!
Best ever! Will never use another recipe!
Wonderful! Thank you!
Made these today. All I have to say is WOW! They are delicious. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Yay! Thanks for coming back to let me know, Mary. :)
Excellent, delicious muffins. Only variation, I used canned coconut milk instead of buttermilk. Definitely a keeper of a recipe. Thanks
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing about your variation!
Hi Brenda! Do you have a favorite brand and type of yellow corn meal? Do you prefer degerminated or stone-ground/whole grain? Would these be better with fine ground or coarser cornmeal? Looking forward to your suggestions before I make them! Thanks!
Just made them. I used 1 1/2 cup corn meal and 1/2 cup flour. Haven’t tried them yet. Still hot.
Then why did you post?
I swapped some of the gradients to make a more healthy muffin: i used medium ground corn meal, self rising- Unbleached white flour, 1/4 c honey, ,baking soda,salt, ,whole milk , Olive oil instead of butter, two ripe bananas, two eggs, walnuts.
The muffins were moist and delicious.
If you want a sweeter muffin, you can add the sugar or more honey.
This is my breakfast.
They’re great for breakfast!!
I have been making cornbread for 30 + years and today I wanted to find a sweeter, moister recipe to go with chili. I think I’ve found my keeper! I was sceptical at first when i saw baking soda instead of powder and the recipe was thinner than i usually get. No worries, they are great!