This easy jalapeño cornbread is wonderfully light, moist, and flavorful. It’s perfect for serving at BBQs, Thanksgiving, with soups, or simply doused in honey or maple (delicious!).
Not only will this jalapeño cornbread have your tastebuds in heaven, but you can enjoy it as part of a breakfast, lunch, dinner, or even snack! All it requires is a few bowls, minimal mixing, and then transferring to the oven to bake to perfection. You can even ditch the large baking dish and prepare jalapeño cornbread muffins instead! Enjoy warm for a comforting fall-perfect dish or allow it to cool first.
Table of contents
Ingredients
This easy recipe requires primarily pantry and kitchen staples:
- Cornmeal: I recommend using fine yellow cornmeal for my preferred texture, though coarse cornmeal will provide extra texture and “bite.” I often actually use homemade cornmeal!
- Unsalted Butter: To add moisture
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder: This will provide lift and texture
- Eggs
- Whole Milk
- Jalapeños: I love to use green and red jalapeño peppers because their color pops against the yellow cornbread and they are “not too spicy”. De-seed them to reduce the heat.
- Cheese: You need shredded cheddar cheese. Monterey Jack, Pepper Jack, or any melty cheese of your choice would work.
- Sugar: I use cane sugar. Or use brown sugar, white sugar, or coconut sugar.
- Red bell pepper: (optional) to add extra color and texture.
How to make jalapeño cornbread
Prepare the Various Ingredients: First, thinly slice the jalapeños, finely dice the red pepper (if using), and grate the cheese.
I recommend using gloves when dealing with any hot peppers as they can cause skin irritation and linger on your skin (so be careful not to touch your mouth/eyes).
Then, in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. You can also do this in a mixer. In a separate medium bowl, sift in the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt. Finally, in a smaller bowl, whisk the eggs and milk until thoroughly mixed.
Mix the Batter: Preheat the oven to 400ºF/200ºC. Then combine the elements. First, add around 1/3 of the milk mixture to the creamed butter and mix. Then add 1/3 of the flour and mix, and continue, alternating between the milk and flour mixture until a thick batter has formed. Finally, fold in the jalapeño, cheddar, and peppers until just combined/dispersed.
Be careful not to over-mix the batter, though, or you’ll overwork the batter and end up with a dense, tough bake.
Bake the jalapeño cornbread: Pour the batter into a greased (or parchment-paper-lined) pan (I used one that’s 9×13 inch/23×33 cm). Then bake in the oven on a lower-middle rack at 400ºF/200ºC for 25-30 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown with a top that’s springy when prodded.
If you find the top is browning too quickly, tent the cornbread with some foil in the last 10 (or so) minutes of baking.
To check that the cornbread is ready, insert a toothpick into the center of the cornbread. It should come out clean (or with just a few crumbs but not wet).
Remove the jalapeño cornbread from the oven and allow it to cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing. When it initially comes out of the oven, it will be quite fragile, so don’t be tempted to slice it immediately.
To make muffins: Divide the batter into a greased muffin tin and adjust the time accordingly. I recommend checking on the muffins after 15 minutes by inserting a toothpick into the center (it should come out clean).
How to serve?
There are tons of ways to enjoy. Some of my favorites are:
- Dipping it into soups.
- Enjoy with other “saucy” dishes too like these meatballs or stuffed vegetables.
- At your Thanksgiving table and New Year’s Day table.
- Enjoy at any BBQ gathering.
- Serve alongside salads.
- Warm with a generous spread of butter (and optionally drizzled with honey (or dandelion honey/maple syrup).
- Crumble the jalapeno cheese cornbread and use it to make stuffing.
You can also use slightly stale leftovers to make croutons. Chop into cubes, toss with a bit of olive oil, then bake in the oven at 350ºF/175ºC until golden brown (flipping once after 7-8 minutes).
How to store?
- To Store: Allow to cool and then store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days.
- To Freeze: You can freeze it as a single “loaf” (wrapped in a couple of layers of plastic wrap) or pre-sliced with parchment paper between (to avoid the pieces sticking together) and then placed in an airtight container/Ziplock bag. Store in the freezer for up to two months. When you want a piece, allow it to thaw either in the fridge or at room temperature.
- To Reheat: You can reheat the cornbread slices in the oven (5-8 minutes), microwave (around 30 seconds), or toaster oven.
More savory bread recipes
- Turmeric No-Knead Focaccia
- Simple Roasted Garlic Bread
- Garlic Naan Bread (Indian Flatbread)
- Quick Dinner Rolls
- Easy Homemade Biscuits
If you try this jalapeño cheese cornbread recipe, let me know how it goes in the comments below. I’d appreciate a recipe card rating and would love to see your recipe recreations – tag me on Instagram @Alphafoodie!
Easy Jalapeño Cornbread
Ingredients
- 9.7 oz cornmeal 2 cups
- 7.6 oz all purpose flour 1.5 cups
- 3 eggs large
- 12.5 oz whole milk 2 cups or canned coconut milk
- 4.7 oz cane sugar 1/2 cup; OR brown sugar, coconut sugar, or a sugar-free sweetener (like erythritol)
- 3.9 oz butter 2/3 cup; unsalted
- 1.5 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4-5 jalapenos green or/and red; adjust the amount to taste or even use other chilies
- 1 red pepper optional
- 3.5 oz cheddar cheese 1 cup grated; OR pepper jack, Monterey jack, gouda, etc.
Instructions
Prepare the ingredients
- Thinly slice the jalapeños, finely dice the red pepper (if using), and grate the cheese.I recommend using gloves when dealing with any peppers as they can cause skin irritation and linger on your skin (so be careful not to touch your mouth/eyes).
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. You can also do this in a mixer.
- In a separate bowl, sift in the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In another bowl, whisk the eggs and milk until thoroughly mixed.
Mix the batter
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF/200ºC.
- Combine the three elements. First, add around 1/3 of the milk mixture to the creamed butter and mix. Then add 1/3 of the flour and mix. Continue, alternating between the milk and flour mixture until a thick batter has formed.Be careful not to over-mix the batter, though, or you'll overwork the batter and end up with a dense, tough bake.
- Fold in the jalapeño, cheddar, and peppers until just combined/dispersed.
Bake the cornbread
- Pour the cornbread batter into a greased (or parchment-paper-lined) pan (I used one that's 9×13 inch/23×33 cm). Bake in the oven on a lower-middle rack for 25-30 minutes at 400ºF/200ºC, or until the edges turn golden brown with a top that's springy when prodded.If you find the top is browning too quickly, tent the cornbread with some foil in the last 10 (or so) minutes of baking. To check that it is ready, insert a toothpick into the center of the cornbread. It should come out clean (or with just a few crumbs but not wet).
- Remove the cornbread from the oven and allow it to cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing. When it initially comes out of the oven, it will be quite fragile, so don't be tempted to slice it immediately.
Storage instructions
- Make ahead: you could assemble different containers of wet and dry ingredients and store them separately in the fridge for 1-2 days. When you're ready to bake, allow everything to come to room temperature for 20-30 minutes, then assemble and bake. Store: allow to cool and then store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days. Freeze: you can freeze it as a single "loaf" (wrapped in a couple of layers of plastic wrap) or pre-sliced with parchment paper between (to avoid the pieces sticking together) and then store it in an airtight container/Ziplock bag. Store in the freezer for up to two months. When you want a piece, allow it to thaw either in the fridge or at room temperature. Reheat: you can reheat the slices in the oven (5-8 minutes), microwave (around 30 seconds), or toaster oven.
Notes
- Adjust the sweetness: Feel free to adjust the amount to personal taste. For example, use 1/3 cup sugar for a mildly sweet option, ½ cup (as I have) for a “medium” level sweet jalapeno cornbread, or 2/3 cup for sweet jalapeno cornbread.
- Adjust the heat: Simply increase/decrease the amount of jalapeño used in the cornbread recipe (and also choose to include the chili seeds – which hold lots of heat). Alternatively, you can swap out the jalapeño for another type of milder or hotter chili, like Anaheim, poblano, etc.
- To make jalapeno cornbread muffins: divide the batter into a greased muffin tin and adjust the time accordingly. I recommend checking on the jalapeno cornbread muffins after 15 minutes by inserting a toothpick into the center (it should come out clean).
- To make a skillet jalapeno cornbread: preheat the cast-iron skillet in the oven – then lightly grease with cooking spray and spoon/pour the batter into the hot pan, then bake. This method will produce a crispier bottom crust, where the cold batter meets the hot pan.
- Other vegetables: olives, sun-dried tomatoes, zucchini (shredded and salted/squeezed to drain excess liquid), shredded carrot, diced onion, kale, etc.
- Herbs: scallions work well. Or experiment with various fresh herbs: chives, rosemary, sage, thyme, parsley, oregano, etc.
- Corn: here, I’m referring to whole corn kernels (cooked; canned, frozen, and thawed; or freshly cooked and cooled) to provide extra corn flavor and texture. You can use grilled/roasted corn to add a slightly smoky flavor.
- Toppings: instead of just dispersing the various ingredients within the jalapeno cornbread recipe, you could use some as toppings. For example, thin jalapeño slices, a sprinkling of cheese, or even a drizzle of honey.
Elsie S. Stewart
I tried this recipe and it’s really good. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to try the recipe.
Support @ Alphafoodie
Thank you so much, Elsie!
Century Foods
Delicious and easy. loved reading your article. wish to see more in the coming days. Thank You so much!!
Support @ Alphafoodie
Thank you so much for your comment! 🙂