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Baking

Skillet Cornbread with Charred Honey Butter

This is the one I make whenever the weather turns. The pan goes on the burner until it smokes, the butter goes in and hisses, and the whole thing takes less time than it takes to argue about what's for dinner. Get the pan genuinely hot and the crust does the rest.

NVWords by Nora Vance · 26 September 2026
Overhead of golden skillet cornbread in a black cast iron pan with honey butter melting on top

Total time

45 min

Serves

8

Level

Easy

Reading

6 min

01

The Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1½ cups (190g) fine cornmeal
  • ½ cup (70g) plain flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp fine salt
  • 1 tbsp caster sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1¼ cups (300ml) buttermilk
  • 3 tbsp honey butter, plus more to finish
  • 2 tbsp neutral oil

Serves 8 · 45 min in total

Method

  1. 01

    Heat the oven to 425°F/220°C. Set a 10-inch cast iron pan on a burner until it is smoking hot, then drop in the honey butter and swirl to coat the steel.

  2. 02

    Whisk the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a wide bowl. In another, beat the eggs into the buttermilk.

  3. 03

    Pour the wet into the dry and fold until just combined — a few dry streaks are fine. Over-mixing is how cornbread turns to chalk.

  4. 04

    Toss the oil into the hot pan, pour in the batter, and bake 20–22 minutes until the top is deep gold and the edges pull away from the pan.

  5. 05

    For the charred honey butter, set a small pan over high heat, add the honey butter and let it darken until it smells of toffee, about 2 minutes. Spoon it over the hot cornbread.

  6. 06

    Rest 5 minutes, cut into wedges, and add another spoon of honey butter on top.

A note from the kitchen

Cornbread waits for no one. Have the pan hot and the buttermilk out before you measure anything.

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