Homemade Cornbread Without Cornmeal is a recipe that will stay in your family for generations! These cornbread muffins are cooked until golden and are irresistible when covered in butter or honey. If you’re out of cornmeal but are still craving fresh cornbread, this recipe is for you!
With a hint of sweetness and the option for savory mix-ins, this quick bread recipe will be on the table in under 30 minutes and will have your house smelling heavenly.
Please note this post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase using the links. Please see my disclosure for more details.
Sweet or Unsweet?
Cornbread tends to be very regional and is as diverse as it can be! Surprisingly, is not only a Southern dish. This article is a great resource that talks about the history of this quick bread.
Originating from the Native Americans, cornbread recipes varied based on the variety of corn growing in the area. The southern US had white corn, the north had yellow corn.
I have lived in the south my entire life, and while I would say this is classic southern cornbread, I would be wrong! This recipe uses honey, or sugar, to provide a little bit of sweetness. And historically, that would fall under the northern variety.
Now that is quite the opposite of how we enjoy our iced tea. (Sweet tea or nothing!)
Northern cornbread favored sweeteners like honey or molasses, while the south tended to use lard or animal fat.
Corn was plentiful and cheap and was an integral part of the Native American diet. Luckily for us, it has lasted through the centuries and we can enjoy this delicious quick bread dish today!
Traditionally, the cornbread recipe uses ground up corn aka cornmeal. If you’re like me and never have cornmeal in your pantry, this homemade cornbread without cornmeal will do the trick. Grab a can of corn and you’re ready to go.
I love mixing it up even more by adding in jalapenos and cheese for even more flavor and a little kick.
How do you like to enjoy your cornbread?
Make it a Meal!
Serve up the cornbread as a side or a snack alongside these recipes to round out your meal!
Drinks
- Easy Homemade Lemonade – A sweet southern staple to help wash down your meals
Mains
- Crockpot Cajun Chicken and Vegetables – You;ll love dipping your cornbread in this spicy dish
- Sheet Pan Lemon Chicken with Sweet Potatoes – A classic comfort meal to go with a comforting bread
- Easy New Orleans Gumbo – Keep up the Southern trend with gumbo inspired by NOLA!
Dessert
- Mixed Berry Cast Iron Cobbler – If you’re missing your cast iron skillet from classic cornbread, use it for dessert!
- Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars – Both the cornbread and these pumpkin bars should be at Thanksgiving this year
How to: Make Homemade Cornbread Without Cornmeal
You do NOT have to slave away to have delicious cornbread on your table this year!
Swap out cornmeal for a can of corn or corn on the cob and you are in business.
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Start by whisking all wet ingredients: eggs, milk, honey, and melted butter.
In a large, separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until mixed well.
Next up, the corn!
Whether using canned corn or fresh corn, throw it in a food process to grind it down into smaller pieces and release the juices.
If using jalapenos, avoid chopping altogether and throw some into the food processor with the corn.
Add food processor contents into the mixture, and add shredded cheese if using. Stir well until combined.
Pour into a well-greased muffin pan or one with muffin liners and bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Enjoy warm with butter and additional honey drizzle!
Ingredients Needed
Materials Needed
Homemade Cornbread Without Cornmeal
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup honey
- 8 tbsp butter melted
- 2 cup flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 15 oz can of corn
- 1 jalapeno diced (optional)
- ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400° F.
- In a medium bowl whisk eggs, milk, honey, and butter.
- In a large bowl mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Combine the wet mixture and the dry mixture in the large bowl and stir well until combined.
- Add the corn (and jalapeno if using) to the food processor and chop for about 30 seconds. Stir into the batter and mix well.
- Pour the batter into a lined or heavily greased muffin pan. Bake for 25 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
Pin me!
Cornbread does not have to follow the traditional recipe to be delicious! What are some of your favorite recipe swaps that are just as good as the original?
This recipe sounds great — I’m usually not a fan of cornbread (my husband loves it) but I’d definitely enjoy these!
Love a muffin especially lemon flavoured
These look absolutely delicious
Your recipe was not good very plain qnd no flavor
Maybe you just can’t cook.
Cornbread is one of my favorite things to bake and this recipe sounds great.
This is a corn-ny recipe. Love it! I will try replacing the honey with maple syrup. 🍁 🌽
This is a very interesting recipe. Gives us some “food” for thought. Thanks!
You don’t see cornbread in England but it looks very tasty.
I love this! Cornbread is the perfect easy side dish to have this time of the year. Thanks for a great option to still make it even if I don’t have any cornmeal!
I love cornbread. Its one of my favorite breakfast meals.
What an interesting recipe ! I don’t think I’ve ever had cornbread but I like that it’s a simple recipe. Thanks for sharing it!
These are Wonderful! I didn’t put my cream corn in the food processor, just used out of the can, it was thick, but these are Awesome, I will definitely make them again!!
Wow this recipe sounds awesome! I love a little bit of sweetness in my cornbread. Warm with butter yummmm
I’ve never baked cornbread but this sounds delicious and so easy to make. Thanks for sharing the recipe
Oh I need to make these muffins. They must be so delicious and fluffy
Looks palatable 😋. I love cornbread
These muffins will be the perfect addition to my holiday table. Yum. Can’t wait to make them.
These look delicious and super simple to make. You have explained the recipe really well and they sound like the effect snack especially on these colder days. Thank you for sharing your blog post.
Lauren – bournemouthgirl.com
This is such a simple and easy recipe to follow. Plus it looks tasty!
these look and sound delicious! i love cornbread.
Loving these “corn”bread muffins! Total hit for the holidays!
Perfect for Thanksgiving! Looks so delicious!
I made this cornbread to go with some soup that I’d made for lunch. There were really wonderful. It made a lovely accompaniment and I’ll definitely be making them again.
Have never made cornbread before but it looks pretty easy…adding the jalapeno seems like such a good idea!
This recipe sounds not only amazing but very easy to make as well.
Love that you use corn kernels, I can only imagine the depth of flavor. And the jalapeno… a must in my book.
Thank you for sharing
Yummy, I love cornbread! And this one looks easy enough to do!
I love to add jalapeños to my cornbread to! I’ll add this recipe to my list to try.
This was perfect as a side to my big bowl of soup. Also, great to know you can make these without cornmeal.
I made the recipe as-is without the cheese or jalapenos and the muffins were delicious! Mine only needed to bake for about 18 minutes.
Good appearance and texture but flavorless. I’m a low salt cook but this recipe needs way more salt and more flavor in general. It smelled tantalizing in the oven but the honey flavor doesn’t come through in the finished muffin which is almost tasteless. Nor does the corn flavor come out. Really disappointing considering it’s a laborious recipe using many containers and utensils as well as lots of honey and butter. This recipe needs finessing. (Why are there so many comments by people who haven’t even made this? Just helping bump each other’s blogs? Makes me dubious to try your other recipes.)
Yikes! Sorry to hear it – I find that more salt is not needed with a balance of sweet and savory flavors. Did you use the optional cheese and/or jalapeno? (there is a LOT of savory goodness here). Did you puree the corn before adding? That releases the juices of the corn for more flavor and better distribution.
Sorry for the comments others have left here – I didn’t realize kindness was such a trigger for others but I appreciate feedback of all kinds 🙂
Mmmmm, delicious 😉 Want to eat it right now, but I’m too lazy to cook it, haha
Hi! I’m making this in emergency mode to quickly whip up the final touches to a meal gone wrong haha. Is there any possibility of switching out the baking powder? I see that I have 5 boxes of baking soda, but no baking powder lol (inner eye roll towards my shopping skills).
Is it okay to omit the baking powder completely? Or maybe there is a replacement?
I’ve honestly never tried! A quick Google search gave me this tip “ Though results may vary, you should use triple the amount of baking powder that you would use of baking soda. For example, if a recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of baking soda, use 3 teaspoons of baking powder as a replacement.” I hope that’s helpful!!
There must be an error in the recipe. I was skeptical of the amount of butter and liquid with 2 cups flour. I went ahead anyway and followed the recipe exactly. What a disaster! The muffins were a flat, greasy inedible mess.
Rest assured I’ve tested this repeatedly and haven’t had any issues with the cornbread being flat – if anything the rises pushes the limits of my muffin tin! Did you puree the corn before adding in? I’ve tested both ways but prefer using the food processor for better distribution. Did you include the optional jalapeno and/or cheese? Trying to get a better understanding to try and replicate what you did 🙂
Planning to make these. Does this recipe expect you drain the liquid from the corn before putting in the processor?
Thanks.
Hi Cathy, sorry for not seeing this sooner! I do not drain the liquid from the corn before processing. If you’d prefer to, I’d add a quarter cup of water to the batter to make up for it.
These are incredibly flavorful and moist. Well done, you! I’ll never worry about not having cornmeal again. I did add the cheese, but not the jalapenos. Just great.
Tried it tonight. Used 1/4cup of maple syrup instead of honey and it was A.MAY.ZING.
Cornbread is usually dry (imo) but this recipe was moist. We all loved it -even my young kids 😉 thanks a bunch.