Easy cheesy jalapeño cornbread with spicy jalapeño chili peppers and extra corn. Perfect with chili!
Who doesn’t love cornbread? Wait, don’t answer that. If you are one of those rare folks who looks the other way when presented with just baked cornbread out of a hot skillet, I feel for you, really I do.
For the rest of us, cornbread is the ultimate comfort food. For you I present a spicy, cheesy jalapeño cornbread, made in a cast iron skillet, with fresh or pickled jalapeños, corn, and jack or cheddar cheese. Perfect to go with chili beans.
Jalapeño Cornbread Recipe
- Prep time: 15 minutes
- Cook time: 30 minutes
- Yield: Makes 8 servings
If using fresh jalapeños, taste test them first. Some jalapeños can be very hot and some can be as mild as bell peppers. If you get scorching chiles, you may want to scale back a bit. If they are too mild, taste the seeds, if there’s heat in the seeds, make sure you use the seeds. If the chiles just aren’t hot, add some chile pepper flakes to the batter.
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp canola oil
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup plain yogurt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 egg
- 5 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup to 1 cup finely chopped, drained pickled jalapeños or fresh jalapeños (depending on how spicy you want your cornbread to be)
- 1/2 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
- 1/2 cup grated Monterey jack or cheddar cheese
Method
1 Preheat the skillet: Put the canola oil in a 9 or 10 inch cast iron skillet and place the skillet in the oven. Heat oven to 400°F with the skillet inside.
2 Whisk together the dry ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking soda and salt.
3 Whisk together the yogurt, milk, egg: In a separate bowl, whisk together the yogurt, milk, and egg.
4 Combine wet with dry and add the butter, chiles, corn, and cheese: Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and stir to combine.
Stir in the melted butter, the chopped jalapeños, corn, and cheese.
5 Pour batter into hot skillet: Once the oven has reached 400°F and the skillet is hot, carefully remove the empty skillet from the oven (double up the pot holders, the handle is hot!). Pour the cornbread batter into the skillet, and smooth the surface with a wooden spoon or spatula.
6 Bake: Return the skillet to the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until lightly browned on top and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
7 Let rest before cutting: Let the jalapeño cornbread rest in the skillet for 10 to 20 minutes before cutting wedges and serving. Remember that the skillet is still very HOT. I recommend keeping a pot holder draped over the handle, or rubbing the handle with ice to cool it down. (I’ve burned my hand picking up a hot skillet; it’s no fun.)
Serving tip—drizzle with honey! There’s plenty of butter in the batter, none extra needed.
Links:
Honey Jalapeño Cornbread from Shared Appetite
Jalapeño Cornbread Panzanella Salad from Two Peas and Their Pod
Jalapeño Pale Ale Cornbread from The Beeroness
