Honey cornbread muffins recipe that’s easy, fast and will be the perfect complement to any feast. These golden muffins have cornmeal and sweet honey in each bite.
There’s something about freshly baked cornbread muffins that makes me smile. Do you feel the same? I crave those sweet corn cakes. Breakfast, lunch, or dinner, there’s never a wrong time for them. When feeding a crowd, especially for a busy holiday feast like Thanksgiving, individual servings are the way to go.
I pop these cornbread muffins into the oven about 30 minutes before serving so that they’re nice and warm. Using the magical ingredient baking powder, allows the batter to rapidly rise and bake into light and tender muffins. The balance of sweet honey nectar with savory cornmeal makes for a delicious side dish that will disappear faster than it took to make!
The first time I ever had cornbread muffins was in second grade (yes, going way back!). My class was having a Thanksgiving party, and I vividly recall someone’s mom dropping off a platter of cakey golden squares. My eyes turned to saucers, and I couldn’t wait to try it. It happened to be the recipe from the back of a Jiffy box, and I’ve been hooked ever since. Now I enjoy my homemade version crumbled on top of some turkey chili!
Can’t forget the Honey
Each cornbread muffin is packed with sticky sweet honey. This makes the flavor even more delicious and the cake super moist. Honey is a humectant, which means that it attracts water and keeps the cakes from becoming dry. This is my absolute favorite cornbread recipe, and I’ve made it countless times. I’ve even experimented with gluten-free flour as the base. I swear you can barely notice the difference in textures compared to wheat flour.
Tiny pieces of ground yellow cornmeal provide a nice crunch and are a welcome contrast to whole pieces of sweet corn kernels. Adding some rosemary, thyme or even grated citrus peel can make the flavor even more interesting. Make sure to let some butter come to room temperature, and then get ready to drizzle honey on each irresistible bite.
More Muffin Recipes
How to make tender cornbread muffins
Cornmeal is dried kernels of corn that have been ground down, but it can be pretty dense. To make these muffins cakey and moist add flour and eggs to the base. This process will help give the muffin structure from the proteins. The honey and sugar not only sweeten the muffins but tenderizes them as well. Using a leavening agent like baking powder (sodium bicarbonate and cream of tartar) helps the muffins to rise. The acid and base in the baking soda react in the presence of water to create gas bubbles. When baked in the oven, the carbon dioxide formed gets trapped as the heat helps the batter set. You know what I’m talking about, those cute little muffin tops.
Honey Cornbread Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup (163 g) yellow cornmeal
- 1 cup (142 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon (12 g) baking powder
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon (5 g) kosher salt
- 1 cup (240 ml) reduced-fat milk, or whole milk
- 2 large eggs
- 4 tablespoons (60 g) unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup (120 ml) honey
- ¾ cup yellow corn kernels, cooked (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F (204ºC).
- In a large bowl mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, butter, and honey.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed. Gently fold in the corn.
- Lightly spray the muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray. Skip this step is using paper liners. Fill the muffin tins ⅔ full with the batter.
- Place the muffin tin on a sheet pan and bake in the center rack of the oven. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden and toothpick inserted in the center, comes out clean.
- Allow muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the pan, and then transfer to a cooling rack. Do not leave the muffins in the tin longer than 5 minutes. Otherwise, they will become soggy as it cools.
Special Equipment
Recipe Video
Notes
- 48 mini cornbread muffins can be made with this recipe. Grease the inside of the muffin tins and fill 2/3 full, about 1 tablespoon of batter. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes, 24 muffins at a time. Cool in the pan for 2 minutes, and then remove.
- To make the cornbread muffins less sweet and more savory, reduce the honey to 1/4 cup and sugar to 1/4 cup.
Yup, I’m pretty much powerless in the face of a plate of fresh, sweet cornbread, and these muffins are no exception! Their color is practically mesmerizing!
Thank you CakePants! Yes, these muffins get a nice golden brown. I think these will definitely be on the thanksgiving menu this year 🙂
Hi Jessica..thanks for sharing your recipe and just in time for Thanksgiving! These look delicious and I also love the addition of honey. Curious…would a light brown sugar work in this recipe and can the recipe work as mini-muffins if I reduce the time? Thanks for any tips : )
Hi Lainey! Yes you can use light brown sugar too. I have made them as mini muffins, I would try one small batch first and check after 6 minutes. It may take between 6 and 8 minutes. I would keep checking every minute after 6 minutes in case you need longer time. Allow to cool for 2-3 minutes in the pan instead of 5 minutes. Let me know how they turn out!
Jessica…they came out just perfect and I used 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup white sugar (I may reduce the salt to 1/2 teaspoon on my next batch). This will be my cornbread recipe of choice this year for thanksgiving! Thanks again for the inspiration!
Yay Lainey! So happy to hear they turned our great 🙂
Cornbread and corn muffins are my weakness. No–they are what gives me STRENGTH to be awesome. And these look particularly awesome – love the niblets of corn. Yumz.
I love it Cakespy! Cornbread does make you AWESOME 🙂
I made this recipe a week ago and the muffins were delicious. I froze the leftovers and used them tonight with beef chili. They stayed moist and were almost as good as last week. My muffins were a little too dark on the sides although the tops were perfect. I’ll try to take them out of the oven a minute or two sooner next time. I’ve been looking for a good corn muffin recipe and I think I’ve found it! Thank you.
Those look beautiful and just the right size. I can see myself making those along with a nice pot of pinto beans that cooked all day. Yummy.
Thank you Jessica
Judy
Thank you Judy! I love this recipe and make it for my family all the time. Beans sound like a perfect pairing 🙂
Can these be made a day ahead?
Hi Faith! I personally like them fresh from the oven. However you could bake them the day before, and then reheat briefly in the oven before serving 🙂
Hi there! How should you reheat in the oven?
Hi Leni- I would add them on a sheet pan an reheat at 325 degrees F until warmed through. I would check at 10 minutes, and add more time as needed.
Made these to pair with the turkey chili. Crispy on outside, and moist in middle. 15 minutes @400 is perfect cooking time. Great muffin consistency.
Aren’t they the perfect pair? So glad you gave the muffins a try!
I have to say, I was impressed with the taste of these! Will definitely bookmark this page!
Whoo hoo! It’s one of my favorite recipes. Thank you for giving the muffins a try!
These are the best, I have tried variations of corn bread muffins and bread but this recipe rocks – so well that the entire office has a copy and this is now a family staple. They also work so well for lunch boxes.
Jessica I have to just say that as a working mom, your recipes look amazing, I have printed a whole stack & cannot wait to try them.
Thank you for your feedback Georgina! I appreciate your feedback and feel so happy knowing that the recipes are helping you provide a tasty meal to your family and friends!
Any thoughts on incorporating creamed corn in place of the corn kernels? I was thinking maybe decrease the milk to compensate?
My family loved these. I made them with Gluten free flour and coconut
Hi Sarah- Yo can definitely substitute creamed corn for corn kernels. I think it’s a good idea to decrease the the milk amount to ensure that the muffins don’t become soggy. If possible, I would strain the creamed corn to see how much liquid is retained. Measure out that amount and reduce the input of milk by the quantity. Let me know how it goes!
These came out perfectly!! Thank you so much for sharing. I also whipped some honey butter up to spread on top. Goes great with homemade Chili too.
Whoo hoo! Great job Cassidy, I’m loving the addition of the honey butter 🙂
I just made these they came out perfect! I am in love 💗 I think I will make more for my friends too ! Thank you so much and the only change I made was using 1/2 cup of butter and 1/4cup of honey that’s it and the baking time is perfect 👍🏻
Can I use self rising cornmeal?
No, I would use regular cornmeal since I’m not sure how much leavening agent is the self rising cornmeal.
I’ve now made this recipe a few times (most recently for Thanksgiving) and they are such a crowd-pleaser! So moist, sweet and delicious….and easy to make! This last time I made them into mini-loaves, which were so fun!
Thank you for making the recipe! I love the idea of making them into mini loaves. Did you have to adjust the bake time?
I had been buying a honey cornbread mix in a box. We moved from VA to CO, and I cannot find the boxed mix anywhere. Since I had all the ingredients at home, I figured why not make my own instead of buying a mix? Really enjoyed these. They were not overly crumbly (some corn muffins are). They were a bit sweet for me and my husband, so next time I’ll try the 1/4 cup each of sugar and honey, as you suggest. You mention adding rosemary, thyme or grated citrus peel as interesting additions for flavor. How much would you add of any of these?
I would like to try this recipe but is there a substitute for the eggs?
To replace two large eggs mix 2 tablespoons ground flaxseeds with 6 tablespoons water, allow to sit and thicken for 5 to 10 minutes. The cornbread will be a little denser without the eggs.