Sweet Southern Cornbread
a heaping large spoon of bacon grease for the skillet
1/2 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup self-rising cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 375°.
Using a medium sized cast-iron skillet, melt the heaping spoonful of bacon grease in the skillet by placing it into the heated oven.
Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl. Whisk in the sugar and eggs. Stir in the buttermilk and baking soda. Stir in the cornmeal, flour, and salt.
By now, the bacon grease should be hot and melted in the cast-iron skillet. Carefully remove it from the oven and slowly tilt the skillet around so that the grease coats the sides of the skillet. If there is extra grease in the bottom of the skillet, pour most of it into the cornbread batter and stir it in. Leave a little grease in the bottom of the skillet. Pour the batter in the skillet allowing any extra grease to “pool” on top of the batter. Bake for 40 minutes, or until the middle is done. Check the doneness with a toothpick inserted in the center. It should come out clean.
NOTE: If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, an 8-inch square baking dish will work just fine.
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Mt. Sterling, KY 40353
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#cornbread #cornbreadrecipe #sweetcornbread #newyearsdayfood #traditionalfood
33 Comments
I have at least 5 jars of bacon grease. Can’t do without this gold.😂
I would love to get one of the batter bowls you use. Can you let us know where you bought it from. Love your videos.
Our house is team no-sugar. While I like sweet cornbread, I think my wife considers it a transgression of some sort…and she’s the cook. My granddad made a version of cornbread that I’ve searched to reproduce. It was very coarse and crusty…perfect for Sunday afternoon cornbread and milk. He could fix a pone in nearly no time. I remember picking up the meal from a local milll. I remember lard. I remember him. Thanks!
Hey Tom, love this recipe and it’s going to go with my black-eyes pea that are cooking at this minute. When I make my cornbread I heat my skillet (case iron) on top of the stove to smoking hot for a crispy crust. Love watching you and Mellisa with all your great recipes. ❤
Happy New Year! My family always preheated our oven to 375, but then everybody's oven is different. Our cornbread is pretty thin which was from a happy accident. Mom ran out of the full amount of cornmeal but it turned out so good. Now my sister and I make ours the same way. Thanks Mom😋.
It's 2026 in Sydney Australia 🦘 – A very happy new year to Tom, Melissa and family, and to all my fellow subscribers! 🎉
Where did u get your bacon grease. I make my own from bacon but the grease is darker and yours is very white and clear
I do it for tradition too-being raised in Ark- mama always raised and canned turnip green
mustard greens-maybe collards-( and when it was fresh polk salat) and she dried herblacked peas-English peas- pintos-great northern beans-navy beans- large spotted butterbeanslime beansthen put them in gallon jars in the cellar so we ate lots of greens and beans😅- so we had blackeyed peas- greens both seasond with ham hocks or salt cured bacon- * we also put peppersauce that she made on them when we ate it-she made cornbread and always put a little sugar she said it helped it brown but it didnt taste sweet-( now I take short cut with jiffy cornbread cause I'm 74😅)- oh and I forgot she fried hog jowl like bacon they butchered their own hogs😂❤-such good memories- but for tradition-don't believe in superstition-cause Jesus didn't ❤My mother taught me to make cornbread when I was little, my first taste of corn cake (aka: sweet cornbread) was in Home Economics (mid 70s) where I was required to use their recipe. I didn't care for it, still don't.
Love lots of butter!!! Yummy 😋😋😋✌️❤️🙏🏻✌️❤️🙏🏻✌️❤️🙏🏻🙏🏻
I always put a dime in my cabbage when I cook it so I will have money all year,
I can eat cornbread with most any food and definitely as a meal on its own with milk. Southern cornbread is excellent! Happy New Year Tom and Melissa!! 🎉🎉🎉 Looking forward to 2026. 😊❤
I AM SO HAPPY TO SEE THIS VIDEO!!! I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR A SWEET CORNBREAD RECIPE!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
ALSO TRYING TO FIND YOUR STOVE TOP STUFFING WITH SAGE. CAN'T FIND IT ANYWHERE!!!
No sugar in my cornbread! To each his own.
No self-respecting southerner would ever put sugar in their cornbread. As we say in Alabama, “sugar cornbread is Yankee cornbread.” Tom, repent and change your ways or turn in your southern card.
Have a very blessed New Year. 🎉❤
Melissa your mother has the same feelings of cell phones as I do. I like it for my convenience but leave it off when I can so I'm not disturbed while I am doing the things I need to do. I hate the cold sales calls that cell phone come with. Seems the more you do with your cell phone the more it increases those kinda calls you get.
0:34 my family partakes in the black eyed pea thing. Never heard of the others
12:46 That’s exactly how y grandmother was. She would always say “They’re for my emergencies *only*”. If you wanted to talk to her use the landline. When we moved into this house she stopped using the phone altogether because we cancelled the landline and everyone always texts or they don’t communicate! Al, she wanted was “a plain old regular phone!”
I have to say I got a kick out of all the people no matter where they live thinking their way was the best way to eat cornbread 😅 We all agree cornbread is yummy😋
I saw in another video that you leave your butter out all the time so it is always soft and ready to use, but in this video your butter seemed hard and didn't spread very easy on your corn bread. Anyway the recipe looks very easy and delicious. Thank you both for keeping me company all year and I hope you continue your great videos and recipes into th new year. I pray that you have a healthy and blessed new year 🙏 ❤
As soon as I saw the title, I wondered how many comments there would be regarding sugar in cornbread. Sure enough, a whole slew of 'em. Y'all need to let go of the sugar debate in cornbread and just let peoples' cornbread be cornbread. Stop being a cornbreadist, y'all.
chicken liver gizzard intestines feet eggs tasty for me
Mmm, cornbread, now all you need is some chili with that! Happy New Year Tom and Melissa! So looking forward to your 2026 recipes!
Regarding a tool you were looking for in a recent video, Amazon has Carrotez small silicone spoons in a couple of styles that looked like what you might like.
Sweet cornbread is my preference. Happy New Year 🎉. Do you put your skillet in the oven before you start to preheat the oven? You should. If you do it should sizzle.
For true southerners, corn bread is not made with sugar – You're correct, if its made with sugar, its cake or cupcakes !!
❤❤❤❤perfect❤❤❤❤
I like to put my cornbread under the broiler and toast🎉it a bit before buttering it up. Delicious
I cook my cornbread at 375 degrees and have a super sizzle when batter is poured in. You just have to leave the skillet in the oven much beyond it just melting. My motto has always been "The taste is in the Sizzle."😁. I don't use the sugar. My husband would divorce me😆. I will add about a teaspoon of sugar sometime to cut the bitterness a little.
We always had a container – generally a small coffee can 😊- of bacon fat on our stove. My grandmother was from Portland, Oregon and my mom was from OhIo, so I'm going to say that at one time EVERYONE had a can of bacon grease on their stove or in their cupboard! not just Southerners! Everything we fried started with a good sized spoonful of bacon fat!
I guess healthy eating has taken over the world and that "evil" bacon fat has been replaced. I am 76 and I survived all that flavor rich fat I ate well into my 30s! So, let's get those cans out and start enjoying some excellent cooking again!!😉
Cornbread looks delicious 😋 Yum 😋
Love sweet cornbread!
Where did you get that red mixing bowl? I've looked everywhere for one like that!!! I love your videos! Thanks!