Easy cheesy cornbread, a healthy quick bread recipe without sugar or yeast. Topped with corn, red onion and bell pepper for ultimate flavour, ditch any packet mix as this is so easy to make at home!
Easy Cheesy Cornbread
This is one of the easiest and handy cheesy cornbread recipes to have up your woolly sleeve in winter. It's so easy, there's no need for any packet mix!
The recipe is quick, healthy, delicious and colourful. Moreover, as I don't have a traditional skillet to cook it in, I just used a non-stick cake pan and it worked a dream. It slips out so easily.
Just ensure you have some cornmeal and cheese handy with a handful of the regular staples from the pantry, including frozen or tinned corn. The result is a nourishing family lunch, side or supper at little notice.
Best Healthy Cornbread - No Added Sugar
This healthy recipe was inspired by this delicious Cheesy Jalapeno Soda Bread. I loved how Camilla used beer instead of buttermilk, but made this healthy cornbread recipe with the traditional buttermilk.
For traditional American cornbread lovers, please do try this recipe without sugar or honey. You'll see: it doesn't need it!
I personally find cornbread is sweet enough naturally with the added corn and onions. After experimenting and playing around with various versions, the family have given the thumbs up to this savoury version.
What You Will Need - Cheese Cornbread Ingredients
We love this cornbread recipe as it requires pantry staples and popular ingredients usually on hand in the fridge. Don't have any fresh vegetables on hand for the topping? Then just use frozen or tinned corn. You'll need:
Cornmeal - this is the meal (or flour) made from ground dried field corn kernels, so it's gluten free. In France, you'll find it as farine de maïs. Not to be confused with cornflour, which (like arrowroot) is a concentrated powder to thicken sauces and soups.
All-purpose flour - we don't use yeast so to make the bread rise quickly, use a mixture of baking powder, baking soda (bicarbonate of soda - see more on FAQ), salt and buttermilk.
Buttermilk - If you can't find any, it's easy to make your own. Just add lemon juice to whole milk. Stir and wait 20 minutes and it's done!
Cheese - see below.
Topping - Fresh corn (or frozen/canned), a red onion and bell pepper with a touch of smoked paprika and fresh herbs.
What's the Best Cheese to Use?
To make your cornbread extra cheesy, pick a good quality cheese. Use a good, mature Cheddar, French Gruyère or Comté cheese. It's also delicious made with an aged Mimolette cheese which is lower in fat and strong on flavour. While Emmental cheese is good, it's not as strong and so will be lighter in flavour.
You will have seen that in France we love our cheeses - particularly bubbly and crusty in the likes of a butternut and walnut gratin and with potatoes in the classic French Gratin Dauphinois or Gratin Savoyard without the cream.
Cornbread Easy Recipe - How to Make it
First prepare all your ingredients and start by making the topping. Fry the red onion and pepper in one tablespoon of the olive oil for about 10 minutes over a medium heat until translucent (not browned). Add the corn and smoked paprika. Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/Gas 6.
Meanwhile, make the batter: in a large mixing bowl sift in the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, grated cheese and rosemary.
Using a large spoon, gradually mix in the egg and buttermilk until smooth.
Oil a 24cm cake tin with the other tablespoon of olive oil and pour in the batter.
Bake for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
Remove from the oven, top with the corn, onion and pepper mix.
Return to the oven and bake for another 15 minutes.
What Can I Add to Cornbread?
Be creative with your cornbread vegetable topping. Add corn, red onions and red peppers halfway during cooking. The result is the vegetables roast beautifully in the oven and make the cornbread extra moist, trapping in their wonderful flavours.
The additions of fleur de sel salt (Maldon and Celtic sea salt are good substitutes) and fresh herbs (like rosemary or thyme) add extra flavour.
If you love things a little spicy, then sprinkle on some extra smoked paprika to the vegetables before baking. What's more, this moist cornbread is a welcome, festive side to a Thanksgiving dinner.
Serving Ideas
Best served warm from the oven. Like fluffy cheese scones, cheesy cornbread is another winter recipe treat served with any of our warming soup recipes. It's also delicious served with any of the following recipes - from dips, soups and salads to stews:
- broccoli hummus
- simple green salad
- creamy corn soup with red peppers;
- leek and potato soup (potage Bonne-Femme);
- pure vegetable soup
- crème Dubarry (cream of Cauliflower)
- Corsican veal stew with bell peppers;
- Blanquette de veau
Cheesy Cornbread
Equipment
- 24cm / 9 inch cake tin non-stick and preferably with a loose base
Ingredients
- 150 g (5.5oz / ¾ cup) cornmeal (farine de maïs in France)
- 100 g (3.5oz / ¾ cup) plain flour all-purpose
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 1 teaspoon salt fleur de sel
- 1 teaspoon rosemary or thyme finely chopped
- 100 g (3.5oz/ 1¼ cups) Gruyère, Comté or cheddar cheese grated
- 1 egg organic
- 340 ml (12oz/ 1.4 cups) buttermilk* (or milk with 2 tablespoon lemon juice) SEE NOTES
Topping
- 1 cob fresh corn kernels (250g or small tin sweetcorn)
- 1 red onion finely sliced
- 1 red pepper roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoon olive oil extra virgin
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika optional
- 1 teaspoon salt (fleur de sel) for sprinkling before serving
- few turns of the peppermill to taste
Instructions
- Prepare the topping: fry the red onion and pepper in one tablespoon of the olive oil for about 10 minutes over a medium heat until translucent (not browned). Add the corn and smoked paprika.Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/Gas 6.
- Meanwhile, make the batter: in a large mixing bowl sift in the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, grated cheese and rosemary. Using a large spoon, gradually mix in the egg and buttermilk until smooth.
- Oil a 24cm cake tin with the other tablespoon of olive oil and pour in the batter. Bake for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Remove from the oven, top with the corn, onion and pepper mix. Return to the oven and bake for another 15 minutes.
- Leave to cool slightly in the tin then remove and enjoy while still warm.
Notes
This post was first published 6 March 2018 but is now completely updated.
Christina Conte
Yes! I'm sure this is perfectly seasoned and delicious with the sweetcorn, sweet pepper and onions! Fabulous addition with so many soups and salads! Thanks, Jill!
Jill Colonna
Thanks Christina. It's a good excuse to eat our veggies!
Camilla Hawkins
Your cornbread looks so pretty and I bet it tastes amazing. Always good to use up ingredients before they pass their best! Thanks for the shout out for my soda bread!
Jill Colonna
Great pleasure, Camilla. Getting rather hooked on these quick breads!
Liz
Your cheesy cornbread would hit the spot today! It's COLD and snowy, and this beauty is pure comfort food!
Jill Colonna
My goodness, Liz. Snow again? Let's hope that Spring is on its way soon for you. Enjoy the recipe.
Thomasina
It's amazing what we have in our cupboards when we are snowed in. What super ideas you have Jill so thank you for sharing. I love cheese scones so this will be on my list to try out.
Jill Colonna
Thanks, Thomasina - hope you try this and the scones. So much better when it's homemade - and you know what's in it!
Cheryl Turner
Sounds so yummy. I can't wait to try. I think my family will really enjoy this. Thank you
Jill Colonna
It's a real pleasure, Cheryl. Enjoy the recipe!
Tracy
Having lived in the USA for the past 11 years I just can't wrap my head around corn bread. With it being so sweet my husband and I both agree that it should be called corn cake. It's a rather odd one !
Now your savoury recipe looks like a delicious option. I might even venture into the realm of cornbread with this one.
Thank you !!!
Jill Colonna
I'm exactly the same but I haven't lived in the USA. Thankfully we think alike and agree - it should be corn cake! Hope you try this recipe, Tracy. I was a bit hesitant to post this, thinking people would go crazy without the sweetness.
Christina | Christina's Cucina
This looks fabulous, Jill, and so much better than going out on the slippery pavements and risking a fall! Sometimes it's nice being "stuck inside" as it gives you the excuse to not go out for anything! 🙂 I still haven't tried your cheese scones and have a gruyere cheddar mix that I spied at TJs and I LOVE it! Might be a good one to use for any of your cheesy bakes! Thanks for another great recipe!
Jill Colonna
Thanks so much, Christina. Well I hope you make them - a gruyere and cheddar mix? Now that sounds interesting. Sounds like a real French-British concoction that's perfectly suited here!
Betty
Jill, This looks just great and will try it soon! Even though a lot of recipes (including my very favorite) for cornbread here in the U.S. includes sugar, I agree with you completely about omitting it when adding savory ingredients. My husband likes the addition of cheese and jalapenos (the spicier, the better, for him!) and so I make the savory version then! I still love my sweeter version when plain!
Jill Colonna
Well I'm so glad I haven't offended leaving out the sugar when adding the vegetables, Betty. Reassuring, thanks. And yes, I imagine as plain the sugar will be just perfect. Hope you try this!
Linda
Looks scrummy BUT can I swap cornmeal for ordinary flour? I love everything of plant origin except cornmeal, so no Doritos for me. But I do want to make this!!
Jill Colonna
Of course you can swap it for normal flour. But then I'd call it Cheesy Red Onion Pepper Quick Bread! 🙂
Linda
Do you think spelt flour might be a more interesting replacement?
Jill Colonna
I certainly sounds an interesting replacement (épautre in French), as it will give it a nutty taste, something completely different. If it's just the taste of corn you don't like then just regular flour - or why not chestnut flour (but I'd swap the quantities so that normal flour outweighs the regular flour, since it's rather overpowering). I don't know really, as it's cornbread with a sweetish angle since it's ground dried corn. What about polenta?