Last weekend we saw the coldest weather we’ve had yet this Fall. Sunday morning dawned bright, thanks to the return of Eastern Standard Time, but cold! 29 degrees! Brrrr. It was definitely a day for something warm and comforting from the kitchen. It didn’t take long to decide that our comfort food for the evening would be a big pot of chili. But I wanted something a little different to go along with it. Something more than crackers, you know? Cornbread is always great with chili, but still I wanted to push it a little further than just a plain old ordinary cornbread. So I got in the kitchen and just started putting together whatever sounded good to mix into cornbread and I wound up with this real winner!
I always make my cornbread with white, fine ground cornmeal. It gives a softer, more dense texture than regular yellow cornmeal and has a very slightly sweeter taste from the white corn. Maybe it’s just because the white cornmeal is what I grew up with, but I really can’t stand that coarse yellow stuff. And I want my cornmeal from one of two mills located in south Georgia (Arnett’s) or north Florida (Hoover’s). Yeah, I’m a cornmeal snob.
This recipe is so simple. You just dump everything together in a bowl, stir it well and pour it into a hot skillet. Thirty minutes later…cheesy chili cornbread!
2 tblsp. oil (for pan)
1 1/2 cups white cornmeal (fine ground)
3 tblsp. butter, melted
1 egg
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1 cup whole kernel corn (frozen, fresh or canned)
1 cup extra sharp cheese, grated
4 oz. can chopped green chilies
Put two tablespoons of cooking oil in a cast iron skillet. Put the skillet in the oven and turn the oven on to preheat to 400 degrees.
While the oven preheats, mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Stir well to combine.
I wanted to show you the cheese that I used in this cornbread. This is without doubt the sharpest cheddar that I’ve ever tasted. It came from Spring Ridge Creamery in Otto, North Carolina. The store is located right beside the highway there on U.S. 441. We take that route occasionally when we travel back and forth to Asheville to see our babies and grandbabies. The creamery is located just steps across the Georgia-North Carolina state line. If you’re ever traveling through that area, slow down and stop. They have some incredible cheeses, old-fashioned farm milk with cream on top, freshly made butter and homemade ice cream. It’s worth a 10 minute stop for sure! And the extra sharp cheese really gave a nice kick to the cornbread.
When the oven has reached 400 degrees, quickly pour the cornbread mixture into the hot oil and return the pan immediately to the oven.
The cornbread will immediately start to bubble around the edges. That’s what gives it such a nice crispy edge when it’s done!
Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
Enjoy!
Southern style cornbread with loads of sharp cheddar cheese and green chilies.
Ingredients
- 2 tblsp. oil (for pan)
- 1 1/2 cups white cornmeal (fine ground)
- 3 tblsp. butter, melted
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 cup whole kernel corn (frozen, fresh or canned)
- 1 cup extra sharp cheese, grated
- 4 oz. can chopped green chilies
Instructions
- Put two tablespoons of cooking oil in a cast iron skillet. Put the skillet in the oven and turn the oven on to preheat to 400.
- Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. When oven has reached 400 degrees, quickly pour the cornbread mixture into the hot oil and return the pan immediately to the oven.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
Other cornbread recipes from around the internet:
- Ezra Pound Cake’s Sour Milk Cornbread
- Southern Cornbread from Simply Recipes
- 101 Cookbooks’ Firecracker Cornbread
- Southern Buttermilk Cornbread from Andrea Meyers
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
This looks delicious, Lana! I’m making a big pot of chili this week and this recipe will go great with it! Thanks…love your blog!
We had this with chili, too, Jennifer and it was great! I saw BeeBop even dunking a little corner of his cornbread in the chili :-)
This looks perfect! I love cornbread as is, but it’s even better with cheese! And a huge pot of chili, of course :)
I know! There’s not much in the world that either cheese or bacon cannot improve :-)
beautiful pan of cornbread, always like adding corn and cheese, sometimes ya know, jalapenos, but I have never added chili powder – sure gonna do it next time ’cause Lana says so…..
Whoa there, Drick! Go back and read the recipe again. It has chopped green chilies, not chili powder!
i am definitely saving this recipe, yum!
Cornbread is one of my favorite things in the world. It makes me happy :)
Yours looks delish. YUM!
You know, Renee, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who didn’t like cornbread. It’s comfort food at its finest :-)
We had cornbread and home made soup last night. It was divine. Ahhhhhh.
Miss P
I’m British (we don’t have anything like it really), but I got a taste for cornbread when I was in Kentucky for work for 6 months way back when. Really looking forward to making this over the weekend!
Looks great! I love cornbread, especially with yummy chili on a fall day.
i love all your photo instructions. delicious looking cornbread!
This perfect cornbread with a big bowl of vegetable soup sounds so good to me right now! I love the way you bake it in the proper Southern way, in a cast iron pan, preheated, and THEN pour in the batter. Yum!
The preheated skillet always gives it that wonderfully crunchy edge that I love!
I live in the Atlanta area but was born in Vidalia. My grandmother and mother only used Arnett’s cornmeal but I can’t locate it up here. Any ideas??
Hi Pam. I have the same problem! I always pick up some Arnett’s when I go back down home. However, I did recently find some Martha White brand white cornmeal at Wal-Mart. It doesn’t say it on the label, but it’s a fine grind. It really wasn’t too bad.
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