This quick and easy cornbread muffins recipe features corn kernels and sweet honey flavors in every bite. It’s the perfect addition to any meal!
Recipe Science
- Honey sweetens and tenderizes the muffins. As a humectant, it attracts moisture to keep it soft.
- Cornmeal is made from dried, ground corn kernels and can be dense. Adding baking powder keeps the batter light.
- Baking at 400°F encourages a beautiful domed top on the muffins, thanks to a quick rise, while creating a golden-brown crust.
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Featured Comment 56
“These are the best! I have tried variations of cornbread 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.”—Georgina
Why It Works
Something about freshly baked cornbread muffins brings a smile, doesn’t it? Those sweet, tender corn cakes can be enjoyed any time of the day. To serve a crowd, you can make skillet cornbread or prepare it in a pan, to slice and share. However, individual servings are the way to go when feeding a crowd, especially for a busy holiday feast like Thanksgiving.
This is my favorite sweet cornbread recipe, and I’ve made it countless times. I’ve even made a dairy-free and gluten-free cornbread muffin version. Before serving, I pop them in the oven for 30 minutes, so they’re nice and warm. The balance of honey with savory cornmeal makes for a perfect side dish.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Cornmeal: Cornmeal is dried kernels of corn ground down for a hearty and dense ingredient. Select yellow cornmeal for a golden hue in the muffins.
- Corn: I like to add whole pieces of corn kernels to the muffin batter for an interesting texture with each bite.
- Flour: The mild protein level of 10 to 13% in all-purpose flour provides structure while keeping the muffins soft.
- Leavening Agent: Using a leavening agent like baking powder (sodium bicarbonate and cream of tartar) helps the muffins rise. Eggs add richness to the batter and help bind the cake together.
- Sweetener: The honey adds a lingering sweetness to the muffins and keeps them moist. Granulated sugar adds sweetness and contributes to browning, helping create a golden crust.
- Butter: The fat reduces gluten formation for tender muffins, and the milk solids accelerate browning.
- Milk: Helps to dilute the batter to make it pourable.
- Salt: Enhances the sweet and savory flavor of the cornbread muffins.
See the recipe card below for all ingredients and measurements (US and metric).
Ingredient Substitutions
This sweet cornbread muffin recipe is easy to customize! Try these tasty options:
- Reduce the Sweetness: To make the cornbread muffins less sweet, reduce the amounts of sugar and honey to ¼ cup each. This will give them a more savory taste. Maple syrup is a good substitute for honey.
- Seasoning: Adding rosemary, thyme, sage, or grated citrus peel can enhance the cornbread muffins’ aromatic flavor.
- Fruit: Stir in fresh or dried cranberries, blueberries, or strawberries for a fruity taste.
- Cheese: Add shredded cheddar cheese, Pepper Jack, Monterey, or Mozzarella. Add ½ to 1 cup. Cooked bacon is also a delicious savory option to mix in.
- Spice: Make jalapeno cornbread, cayenne, chipotle powder, or use hot sauce for a spicy kick!
- Compound Butter: Soften butter to room temperature, then whip in pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon and spread on top. Make honey butter for extra sweetness.
How to Make Cornbread Muffins
Step 1: Heat the Oven
Position the oven rack in the center to ensure even heat circulation for uniform baking. Preheat the oven to 400°F (204ºC), the ideal temperature for creating a perfectly golden crust on your cornbread muffins.
Step 2: Combine Dry Ingredients
The batter base comprises dry ingredients: flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and granulated sugar. Mix those in a large bowl to distribute the fine powders evenly.
Step 3: Combine Wet Ingredients
The wet ingredients help bind the batter, adding fat for tenderness and moisture to prevent the cornbread muffins from drying out. Mix milk, eggs, melted butter, and honey in a medium bowl.
Ingredient Chemistry: The honey sweetens and tenderizes the muffins. Honey is a humectant, which means that it attracts water and keeps the cakes from becoming dry. The natural acids in the honey react with the baking soda to create gas bubbles. The carbon dioxide gets trapped as the batter sets, making light and tender muffins.
Step 4: Make the Batter
Add the wet ingredients to the cornmeal mixture, then gently mix the batter until the flour is hydrated. This prevents a chewy texture. Don’t overmix the batter!
Step 5: Prepare Muffin Tin
To avoid the muffins sticking to the pan, lightly coat the insides with cooking spray. Alternatively, add muffin liners to make them easy to remove. Fill each cup about two-thirds full, and this will give it a domed top.
Step 6: Bake
Bake for about 15 minutes until the surface is golden brown, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Step 7: Cool After Baking
I let the muffins cool in the warm tins for 5 minutes to complete carryover cooking, then immediately transfer them to a wire rack. I always serve them warm with a drizzle of honey so the butter slathered on top melts.
Once you take a bite, you’ll find that the tiny pieces of ground yellow cornmeal provide a nice crunch and are a welcome contrast to whole pieces of sweet corn kernels.
Frequently Asked Questions
Corn muffins are made in a muffin pan to give individually portioned pieces. Cornbread is a similar batter baked in a larger pan or cast iron skillet and then cut into pieces of the desired size. Cornbread often adds sweet fruit or savory ingredients like cheese or spicy peppers.
Either there is too much flour, which makes it fall apart, or there are not enough binders, like eggs. If it’s very dry, you may need more fat from melted butter or vegetable oil.
Cool the muffins completely, then individually wrap them in plastic. Transfer the muffins to a large resealable plastic bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
Traditional cornbread muffins aren’t gluten-free because they usually contain all-purpose flour, which provides structure and helps them hold their shape. However, you can easily make them gluten-free using a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend instead of wheat flour.
More Muffin Recipes
If you tried these Cornbread Muffins, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
Honey Cornbread Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup reduced-fat milk, or whole milk
- 2 large eggs
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup honey
- ¾ cup yellow corn kernels, cooked (optional)
Instructions
- Heat the Oven – Set the oven rack to the center position. Preheat oven to 400°F (204ºC).
- Combine Dry Ingredients – In a large bowl, whisk the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
- Combine Wet Ingredients – In a medium bowl, whisk the milk, eggs, butter, and honey.
- Make the Batter – Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed. Gently fold in the corn.
- Prepare Muffin Tin – Lightly spray the muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray. Skip this step if using paper liners. Fill the muffin tins ⅔ full with the batter.
- Bake – Place the muffin tin on a sheet pan and bake in the center rack of the oven. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool After Baking – 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.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Make Mini Muffins: 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.
- Reduce the Sweetness: To make the cornbread muffins less sweet and more savory, reduce the honey to ¼ cup and sugar to ¼ cup.
- Storing: Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- Freezing: Individually wrap in plastic, transfer to a large resealable bag, and freeze for up to 3 months.
Nutrition Facts
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000-calorie diet. All nutritional information is based on estimated third-party calculations. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods, and portion sizes per household.
Karen says
Making these tonight. Thinking of adding green chilies and reducing sugar/honey.
Hope they are as good as everyone says!
Jessica Gavin says
I can’t wait to hear what you think!
Jerry says
Making these cornbread muffins tonight with smoked ham hocks and beans and fried potatoes. I am going to substitute molasses for the honey because that is what I have on hand.
Thanks
Jessica Gavin says
Let me know how the molasses tastes in the cornbread recipe!
Dialyn says
I only have self rising cornmeal and AP flour. Do I adjust the baking powder? Thank you!
Jessica Gavin says
Yes, I would start by omitting the baking powder, and if the self-rising cornmeal also contains salt, reduce or eliminate it. If you’ve had the product for a while, you might want to add some fresh baking powder, I would start with 1 teaspoon. You’ll have to play around after making the first batch if the cornbread doesn’t rise enough or doesn’t have enough salt. Let me know how it goes!
Elizabeth says
Absolutely delicious! Followed the recipe exactly, which I don’t usually do. So moist and sweet. This one is definitely marked as a favorite ❤️
Jessica Gavin says
Thrilled to hear that the cornbread will be enjoyed again!
Denise Y says
Oh my goodness, these were so easy to make and turned out beautifully ? The only change I made was using KA Gluten Free flour. This is definitely going into my all time favorite recipe box ? Absolutely delicious !
Jessica Gavin says
Thank you, Denise! Great to hear it worked well with gluten free flour too.
Kaelyn says
how to make it thick and brown
Janis Osborne says
My favorite cornbread muffins recipe ever!
I think the addition of the honey and the corn made
a remarkable positive difference.
My husband was all smiles…thank you.
Jessica Gavin says
Great to hear Janis! So glad that your family enjoyed the cornbread. My kids love it too!
Joy says
Could you cook this in 9×13 pan instead of muffin form?
Miss Tee says
I would like to try this recipe but is there a substitute for the eggs?
Jessica Gavin says
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.
Sharyn says
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?
donutstodanish says
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!
Jessica Gavin says
Thank you for making the recipe! I love the idea of making them into mini loaves. Did you have to adjust the bake time?
Doris says
Can I use self rising cornmeal?
Jessica Gavin says
No, I would use regular cornmeal since I’m not sure how much leavening agent is the self rising cornmeal.