Thin and Crispy Lacy Cornbread
Southern Fried Lacy Cornbread is thin and oh so crispy! This flat cornbread is perfect for serving with southern vegetables or with soups and stews. Made with only four simple ingredients, it’s sure to become a family favorite.
In the south, we love our cornbread. We love it so much that we have a multitude of recipes for it. On my site alone, I have more than a dozen recipes for cornbread from classic cornbread to pimiento cheese corn sticks and even corn pone. And I love them all.
This Lacy Cornbread does happen to be one of my favorites, and for a good reason. It has incredible texture! It’s flat, thin, crispy, and just perfect. Plus, it’s made with the simplest of ingredients – cornmeal, salt, and water. It’s pure comfort food!
I’ve seen similar recipes called lace cornbread or hot water cornbread. I’ve seen this southern-fried cornbread called Johnnycakes, too.
But where I come from, we call this thin crispy fried cornbread “lacy” because of the airy or lacy edges produced by the very thin batter as it spread in the pan. Yep, this is crispy, crunchy, salty, fried goodness.
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- You’ll only need four ingredients.
- It’s quick and easy to make.
- It has an amazing texture.
- It’s a perfect complement to southern vegetables, soups, and stews.
🍳 Tools You’ll Use
Cast Iron Skillet
Where would we be without them!? A good, seasoned cast iron skillet is a must for every southern kitchen.
🛒 Ingredients You’ll Need
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- Fine Ground White Cornmeal – For this recipe, plain white cornmeal that has been finely ground is a must. You won’t achieve the same texture with any other cornmeal product such as cornmeal mix (which contains flour and leavening agents), coarse ground cornmeal, or yellow cornmeal. If you can’t source it in your local stores, two good brands, Palmetto Farms and Hoover’s are available online.
- Salt – Unless otherwise stated, I use Kosher salt in all of my recipes. Use whatever you have on hand.
- Hot Water – I often simply use hot tap water. You can also bring the water just to a boil on the stovetop or in the microwave.
- Peanut Oil – I recommend peanut oil both for the taste and for its ability to cook at a high temperature without smoking.
You’ll find detailed measurements for all ingredients in the printable version of the recipe at the bottom of this post.
🥄 How to Make Lacy Cornbread
- Stir the salt into the cornmeal in a medium bowl. Add the hot water and blend using a wooden spoon or wire whisk making sure there are no lumps in the mixture.
- This is a very thin batter. Thinner than pancake batter. See how it barely coats the spoon? That’s exactly what you want. Just set it aside for a few minutes while you prepare the skillet or griddle.
- Heat a flat griddle or skillet for several minutes over medium heat. When the pan is hot, drizzle with one or two tablespoons of peanut oil tilting the griddle so that the entire surface is coated.
- Ladle the batter by tablespoons onto the hot pan. Do not crowd the pan. When the edges begin to brown, turn with a metal spatula and cook the second side. It cooks very quickly, so watch it carefully.
- Remove the cooked cornbread to paper towels to drain. Re-oil the skillet and stir the batter in between each batch. If the batter thickens, thin it with a tablespoon or two of hot water.
Oh, and those dark edges in the photo? That’s not a mistake 😊. That’s the very best part of this thin and crispy cornbread.
❗Recipe Tips
- Use a well-seasoned cast iron griddle or skillet. This is key for getting that perfectly crispy texture. (I urge you to invest in one good cast iron skillet. They’re relatively inexpensive and will last several generations if properly cared for. I have some that belonged to my great-grandmothers.)
- Don’t overcrowd the pan! Make sure you allow some space between the pieces of cornbread as you’re pouring them into the skillet or griddle. Adding too much batter into the pan will cause the bread to steam rather than fry.
- Be sure to use the correct kind of cornmeal. You’ll need plain, fine grind white cornmeal (not cornmeal mix).
- Preheat the skillet. Make sure the skillet is very hot before adding the oil and cornbread batter in order to achieve a crispy texture. Re-oil the skillet and stir the batter in between each batch of cornbread. If the batter thickens, thin it with a tablespoon or two of hot water.
🍽️ Serving Suggestions
It’s almost easier to answer what not to serve with lacy cornbread. It’s a great addition to many meals, but some of my favorites things to serve it with are pinto beans, butter beans, Hoppin’ John, stewed okra and tomatoes, and vegetable soup.
🍚 Storage and Reheating Instructions
This pan fried cornbread is best served immediately after cooking, but it will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for about three days. To reheat, place it on a baking sheet and warm in a 350 degree oven for about five minutes.
❓ Questions About Lacy Cornbread
If you’re allergic to peanuts or just don’t have access to peanut oil, you can substitute with any neutral flavored oil that has a fairly high smoking point. Both canola oil and grapeseed oil are good choices.
I don’t recommend making it too far in advance as it’s best served fresh and hot. It will keep well at room temperature for about an hour.
There are a few things that could be causing your cornbread to not turn out crispy. First, make sure you’re using a well-seasoned skillet or griddle. Second, check that you’re not overcrowding the pan with batter. Third, make sure the skillet has preheated for several minutes before adding the oil and batter. And, finally, be sure to use fine ground white cornmeal.
There you have it! A southern-fried delicious cornbread recipe that’s sure to please even the pickiest of eaters. This quick and easy four-ingredient recipe yields the most amazing crispy, crunchy cornbread to accompany all your favorite southern meals.
And best of all? You probably have everything on hand right now to make a batch. So what are you waiting for? Give this recipe a try, and let me know how it turns out in the comments below!
🧾 More Recipes You’ll Like
- Easy Hot Water Cornbread
- Cheesy Green Chile Cornbread
- Sour Cream and Onion Cornbread
- Pimiento Cheese Corn Sticks
- Squash and Cornbread Casserole
- Southern Hush Puppies
- Southern Cornbread Muffins
- Cornmeal Scallion Fritters
HAVE YOU TRIED THIS RECIPE?
I’d LOVE to know what you thought!
Leave a rating below in the comments and let me know how you liked it!
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📖 Recipe
Lacy Cornbread
Ingredients
- 1 cup fine ground white cornmeal
- 1 ¼ cups hot water (boiled on the stovetop or your hottest tap water)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Peanut oil
Instructions
- Mix the cornmeal, water and salt with a wire whisk making sure no lumps remain in the mixture. Set aside for a few minutes.
- Heat a flat griddle or skillet over medium heat.
- When the pan is hot, drizzle with one or two tablespoons of peanut oil tilting the griddle so that the entire surface is coated with oil.
- Ladle the batter by tablespoons onto the hot pan. Do not crowd the pan.
- When the edges begin to brown, turn the cornbread with a metal spatula and cook the second side. The cornbread cooks quickly, so watch to make sure it doesn’t burn.
- Remove the cooked cornbread to paper towels to drain. Re-oil the skillet and stir the batter in between each batch of cornbread.
Notes
- For this recipe, you’ll need plain, fine ground white cornmeal. You won’t achieve the same texture with any other cornmeal product such as self-rising cornmeal or cornmeal mix (both of which contain flour and leavening agents), or with coarse ground cornmeal, or yellow cornmeal.
- Be sure to use a well-seasoned cast iron griddle or skillet.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated by software based on the ingredients in each recipe. It is an estimate only and is provided for informational purposes. You should consult your health care provider or a registered dietitian if precise nutrition calculations are needed for health reasons.
— This post was originally published on October 14, 2011. It has been updated with new photos and additional information.
Can you use olive oil or avocado oil in place of peanut oil? Thank you.
You can use any oil you normally use for frying. I recommend peanut oil because it has a higher smoke point and doesn’t break down as easily as other oils. And, also because it’s very traditional in southern cooking.
Thanks for posting this recipe. The countless thousand times I have watched my Daddy make up a batch of this and fry it in his favorite cast iron skillet. We all were so excited because it was always so very crispy, crunchy and along with that we had a big pot of collard greens Mother made. What wonderful memories they are. I would give ANYTHING to have a pot of my Mother’s greens again. I am 77 and can cook anything just like my Mother’s, except for the greens. The closest that I have ever found were at Mary Mack’s in Atlanta. They bring you a demi tas sized cup of the pot liquor as an appetizer. That is one of the finest places you can find to get a REAL SOUL FOOD meal. I highly recommend it for sure.
I hope you enjoy the lacy cornbread, Patricia. And, yes, I agree that Mary Mac’s is fabulous!
I can’t wait to make this!! My grandma made this and it was SO good!! She’s been gone since 1995.
Hope you enjoy the recipe, Laurie!
I grew up in Valdosta, Georgia, close to the Florida line in south-central Georgia. My granny made this cornbread and I loved it! I remember when I was in first grade and the school menu said cornbread would be served as part of the meal. When I got my school lunch tray, I did not see lacy cornbread, but I DID see some kind of square, sweet cake-like thing that was not cake, but also not my Granny’s cornbread. It took me a while to realize that Granny’s cornbread was not the only cornbread there was in the world. Granny tried to teach me, but I was unappreciative until years later when I wanted some. Then I was unable to recreate her cornbread. Since we just called it cornbread, not lacy cornbread, it took forever to find someone who knew what I was asking about. Thanks for providing a delicious recipe.
I went to college at VSU way back when. Hope you enjoy the recipe!
It took me years to find the recipe too! My grandma was from Georgia too and she called them hoecakes. Now I know they’re “Lacey hoecakes” or “Lacey cornbread “. I can’t wait for my children and grandchildren to try it.
I am sure this recipe is delicious but my lacy cornbread started out whole in the pan but then broke apart into little pea-sized pieces. Can you let me know what I did wrong? I wanted some lacy cornbread to go with some homemade chicken noodle soup! Thank you, Mary
It’s so hard to say what someone did wrong without being in the kitchen with them. It could be a lot of things – you could have made the batter too watery, or the oil could have not been hot enough, or you tried to turn it too soon, or you used the wrong kind of cornmeal. Just impossible to say, really. I’ve never had that happen with this kind of cornbread.
can you substitute yellow corn meal for this?
This recipe is meant for finely ground white cornmeal. You could probably substitute yellow (I’ve never tried it) but I don’t know how it would turn out.