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This Whole-Wheat Cornbread stays nice and moist thanks to a trio of ingredients—olive oil, honey, and buttermilk. Plus, it’s made in a cast-iron skillet, which means the sugars from the honey and kernels of corn caramelize and deepen the overall flavor of the bread. I’m telling you, this whole wheat version is as crave-worthy as the original.
Being from the Midwest, cornbread is in my blood. It’s great all year round with soups, proteins, salads…pretty much everything. And I love baking with whole-wheat flour. But I’ve never seen a whole-wheat cornbread recipe. So, I set out to create a whole-wheat version that’s just as flavorful and moist as regular cornbread.
Reader Review
“Absolutely perfect recipe! Very easy for a novice baker and delicious – a big hit when entertaining. Thank you!”
– Marissa
Reader Review
“Wonderful recipe with great flavor!!! Used a little more corn (1 cup). Very moist. Love cooking with cast iron! Will definitely make again!”
– Melanie
Why You’ll Love This Whole-Wheat Cornbread Recipe
For starters, it’s wildly easy to make. I usually have everything on hand and can whip this up in about 30 minutes. The blender or a food processor makes quick work of brining the batter together.
Secondly, the batter is made with whole-wheat flour, honey and olive oil. A cornbread made with good ingredients is a cornbread I’ll make time and time again.
And finally, it actually tastes like corn. So many recipes for cornbread are just cake. This cornbread has actually corn kernels in it which give it a nice boost of flavor, texture and sweetness.
Honey Cornbread Recipe Ingredients
Good news! This skillet cornbread recipe has only 10 ingredients, and most of them are probably already in your kitchen.
- Whole wheat pastry flour: whole-wheat pastry flour is one of my favorite ingredients in baking! I reserve it for tender bakes like this cornbread and my Blueberry Lemon Muffins. Find whole-wheat pastry flour near the other flours.
- Baking powder: this recipe uses quite a bit of baking powder—an entire tablespoon. This is key to giving the bread a lot of lift.
- Baking soda: just a touch of baking soda is needed for a well-rounded lift and some browning.
- Buttermilk: an essential ingredient! Buttermilk activates the baking soda and adds savory flavor to the bread. It’s a great way to impart buttery flavor without using butter.
- Frozen corn kernels: you can also use fresh but I find frozen is more practical. This simple addition elevates the cornbread and gives each bite beautiful pops of fresh sweetness!
- Large eggs: Make sure to use egg labeled as “large.” If you’re using farm-fresh, you can weigh the egg (out of shell) to verify you have the right amount. It should weight 50 grams.
- Honey: you’ll need ¼ cup of honey for this recipe, plus a bit more for brushing over the baked bread. Honey adds more flavor than white sugar would, and helps to keep the bread nice and moist.
- Olive oil: it’s key to use olive oil here! This is what gives the cornbread so much moisture. I like to use extra-virgin olive oil, but any regular olive oil will work too.
- Flaky sea salt: you can also use kosher salt, but flaky sea salt adds a nice bit of crunch to the top of the baked cornbread.
Ingredient Notes to Make Corn Bread with Whole-Wheat Flour
- Instead of all-purpose flour, use a whole-grain flour. And since cornbread is more delicate than most “breads” opt for something that won’t weigh it down too much. The answer: whole-wheat pastry flour.
- Instead of butter, swap in olive oil. Olive oil is key to creating a moist cornbread that stays moist for a few days.
- Use a liquid sweetener. Most recipes call for granulated or brown sugar. But to add more moisture to the batter, I recommend using honey. It adds moisture and more flavor than regular sugar would.
- Use buttermilk instead of milk. Buttermilk adds a nice tangy flavor and activates the baking powder. This recipe uses cornmeal and whole-wheat flour—two heavy ingredients. The more lift we can encourage, the better!
How to Make Cornbread in a Skillet
Pulse together the wet ingredients and corn. Add the wet mixture to the cornmeal mixture and mix to combine.
Swirl oil into pre-heated skillet.
Spread batter into preheated and greased skillet.
Bake until golden around edges and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Brush with warmed honey and sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
Expert Recipe Tips
My main goal with this cornbread recipe was getting the buttery flavor while using olive oil instead of butter. After numerous recipe tests, here are a few ways I did that:
- Bake the bread in a preheated cast-iron skillet. The moment the batter hits the hot cast-iron skillet, the maillard reaction occurs. What is that? It’s the reaction of food browning, aka flavor.Here, the milk (buttermilk) and sugar (honey) caramelizes and the grains (flour and cornmeal) toast. Together, these ingredients and the maillard reaction combine to create a flavor that’s very similar to butter.
- Finishing with flaky sea salt. Even if you use unsalted butter, there’s a certain savory, salty flavor that butter adds to baked goods. To maintain that salty bite, I finish this bread with flaky sea salt. Why not just add it to the batter? Well I do that too, but finishing with a sprinkle of sea salt is a surefire way of bringing that flavor to the forefront.
- Add frozen or fresh corn to the batter. I always add actual corn to my cornbread. The benefits are three-fold; fresh corn adds flavor, texture, and moisture. For this recipe I call for frozen and thawed corn. But you can definitely use fresh, just be sure to steam it before using.
How to Store Cornbread
- Don’t store the cornbread in the cast-iron skillet. Once baked you can serve the bread right out of the skillet. But I don’t recommend keeping the bread in the skillet for longer than 12 hours. After that, the bread starts to absorb some of the iron flavor from the skillet.
- General storing: Remove the cornbread from the skillet. Wrap in plastic wrap or store in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge. This recipe keeps well for 4 days.
- For the freezer: This recipe freezes like a dream. Cut the bread into individual servings. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for 1 to 2 months. To serve, be sure to thaw completely at room temperature for several hours or overnight before serving.
- Reheating: Microwave for 20 seconds or so until warm or place in a 200ºF oven for 5 to 10 minutes.
Easy Cornbread Recipe Variations
The best part about this recipe is it’s a base to add so many other delicious ingredients to create endless flavor combinations. Try adding:
- Jalapeno. For a little bit of a kick.
- Cheese. Add grated cheese, any kind will really do. I love cheddar or pepper Jack.
- Scallions. Gives a great light onion flavor.
- Fresh or dried herbs. I love chopped rosemary paired with the honey in this recipe.
Serving Suggestions for Honey Cornbread
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Easy Cornbread Recipe FAQs
Absolutely! Simply swap it in for the frozen corn.
That amount is correct. Cornbread is made with a lot of heavy ingredients, first and foremost being cornmeal. The key to getting a nice lift and tender cornbread is to use quite a bit of baking powder.
Yes, you can swap a dairy-free milk like oat milk or coconut milk for the buttermilk and a flaxseed egg for the large eggs.
Yes, you can use a dairy-free milk like almond milk or oat milk for the buttermilk and flaxseed eggs for the large eggs.
I haven’t tested this, but it should work just fine. Do not preheat the glass dish. Just add the batter to a greased 9-inch square baking dish and bake as directed. Keep an eye on it, it may need a few more minutes of time in the oven.
Typically, Polenta is referred to as a porridge-like dish made from a very specific cornmeal. The porridge can also be cooled and cut into patties or batons and fried into crispy cakes or polenta fries.
At the grocery store, cornmeal labeled as “polenta” is generally more coarse in texture and is made from a type of corn originally cultivated in Italy.
For cornbread, opt for fine or medium-grind cornmeal instead of polenta.
The long and the short of it: all polenta is cornmeal, but all cornmeal is not polenta.
Honey Cornbread
Description
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Ingredients
- 1½ cups (160g) whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 cup (136 g) yellow cornmeal
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- ¾ cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons honey, divided
- ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
- Flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Set a 10-inch cast-iron skillet on middle rack of oven; heat oven to 400°F (204ºC).
- Whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a food processor or blender, pulse together buttermilk, corn, eggs, ¼ cup honey, and ¼ cup oil until combined, 15–20 pulses (corn lumps will remain).
- Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in wet ingredients into well. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold mixture just to combine (small pockets of flour are OK.)
- Carefully remove cast-iron skillet from oven; pour remaining tablespoon oil into skillet, swirling to coat bottom of skillet.
- Pour batter into skillet and smooth top with spatula.
- Carefully return skillet to oven and bake cornbread until golden on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 24–25 minutes.
- Microwave remaining 2 tablespoons honey, in a microwave-safe bowl, for 30 seconds on medium power.
- Brush warm honey over surface of warm corn bread; sprinkle with sea salt. Let cool 15 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
This was delicious! I’m not usually a cornbread fan but I had a craving, wanted a healthy version and am so glad I found this one. I’ve made it twice in the past two weeks XD
Hi Amanda, I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Love turning baked goods into healthier versions!
I prefer to use pure ground white self rising cornmeal, without eggs or flour or suger, also prefer buttermilk. Adjustments may need some modification in cooking. I start out with very hot oiled cast iron skillet, basically, just guess. But get lots of comme8. Thanks, Betty Modaff, Asheville, NC
I’m going to make this soon and was wondering if anyone has tried adding a can of green chilies? I’m a southwestern gal and we usually add them to our cornbread, especially when serving it with chili. This looks great and the reviews are all so positive. Just wondering how the extra liquid from the green chilies would alter the recipe. Thanks so much.
Oh I love this idea!
Here’s what I would recommend doing: drain the juice from the green chiles into a liquid measuring cup then add enough buttermilk to the measuring cup to measure 1 cup. Add the green chiles to the food processor with the corn, buttermilk (and other wet ingredients) and blend as directed. (Or you could fold the green chiles into the batter right before baking if you want large pieces.)
Let us all know how it goes!
pastry flour??? what crap!!!!!
It’s whole-wheat pastry flour, is that a problem?
Thank you so much for such a wonderful and healthy cornbread recipe! I was looking for a recipe without sugar and a lot of fat and I found it!))
It turned out very tasty bread with a complex aroma. My husband also really appreciated the contrast of honey and salt.
I added the flavor of butter on my own by greasing a hot frying pan with a small piece of butter and then brushing the top of the hot bread. It added just the right amount of flavor without the guilt.
I prefer a little more moisture in the bread. I think it might be my whole wheat flour, I’ll try it with a different flour next time. Or I should have taken the bread out of the oven a little earlier, maybe 20 minutes in my oven would be enough.
Hi Alina! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this cornbread, I bet the little addition of butter in the pan and brushed over top was delicious! A couple additional tablespoons of buttermilk might do the trick for upping the moisture in the bread.
Thanks for your comment! 🙂
Could I use almond flour instead of whole wheat or all purpose?
Hi Christine, unfortunately almond flour acts differently from whole-wheat or all-purpose so it cannot be swapped out. I have a gluten-free version of this recipe here: https://zestfulkitchen.com/gluten-free-cornbread-recipe/
The cornbread looked so yummy when coming out of the oven. It was quite dry though. I am wondering if i messed up on the ingredients somehow given the great reviews. I might try again.
Hi Lisa,
How do you measure your flour? If the measuring cup was used to scoop up the flour, it’s likely there was too much flour in the batter. For accurate measuring, I recommend using a spoon to spoon the flour into the measuring cup and then leveling it off.
My second thought is your oven may run a bit hotter than it says (most are off in some direction!). I place a small oven thermometer in my oven to ensure it’s heated to the correct temperature.
The third thing I’m thinking is it may have been slightly overbaked, next time I’d start checking it at around 20 minutes.
I hope these tips help!
Can’t wait to make this! Just a quick question. I don’t have a 9 inch skillet, but do have an 8 inch and a 10. Which would you think best for the recipe? Thank you! I love your recipes.
Hi Linda! Great question. After giving it some thought, I recommend using the larger 10-inch skillet. My concern with the smaller skillet is that the increased time it will take for the cornbread to cook through will cause the bottom to burn. The larger skillet will definitely make for a shorter/thinner cornbread, but you can guarantee it won’t get burnt on the bottom. I would starch checking for doneness as 12 or 15 minutes. Let me know how it goes!
Jumbo,
I have had multiple heart attacks and I am trying to choose healthier meals, I am allergic to honey so I am wondering if I can replace the honey with maybe molasses or some other heart healthy sweetner
Hi James, great question. Molasses will be a bit too bold and bitter. Instead, I would try maple syrup. If you can’t have maple syrup, then I would try Sugar in the Raw. I hope that helps!
I can’t lie, me and my family did not like this one. I am giving it 5 stars though because it’s a very good, easy to follow recipe and it very well could be our personal tastes. Especially with all the other comments raving about it. I just think we were expecting something that tasted more like regular corn bread.
Hi Sarai,
I’m sorry to hear this cornbread wasn’t what your family was looking for. So bummed to hear that! I really appreciate the comment and the kind rating. Your feedback will help other readers determine if they want to make this. I agree it’s not like regular cornbread—not as sweet or tender like regular cornbread. Great for others to know. Thank you!