Brown Butter Skillet Cornbread

By Melissa Clark

Brown Butter Skillet Cornbread
Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Total Time
1 hour
Rating
5(5,355)
Comments
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This lightly sweet cornbread has a crunchy, buttery crust, which comes from baking it in a hot skillet. If you have a cast-iron pan, this is the time to use it. The heavy, heat-retaining material will give you the darkest color (which equals the most flavor). But any large ovenproof skillet will work. And if you don’t have a skillet big enough to hold all the batter, you can either halve the recipe or bake the cornbread in 9-by-13-inch pan. (Brown the butter first in a saucepan.) Your bread won’t have the same dark crust, but the moist crumb flavored with brown butter and maple syrup is ample recompense.

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Ingredients

Yield:12 servings
  • 12tablespoons (1½ sticks)/170 grams unsalted butter
  • ½cup/120 ml maple syrup
  • 2¼cups/530 ml buttermilk
  • 3large eggs
  • 1½cups/180 grams yellow cornmeal, fine or medium-coarse grind
  • ½cup/65 grams whole wheat flour
  • ½cup/60 grams all-purpose flour
  • 1½tablespoons/18 grams baking powder
  • 1½teaspoons/9 grams kosher salt
  • ½teaspoon/5 grams baking soda
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (12 servings)

265 calories; 14 grams fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 4 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 31 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 11 grams sugars; 6 grams protein; 322 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat oven to 375 degrees. On the stovetop, in a 11- or 12-inch skillet (ovenproof and preferably cast-iron), melt the butter over medium heat. Cook, swirling pan to lightly coat sides and bottom, until the foam subsides and the butter turns a deep nut brown. (Watch carefully to see that it does not burn.)

  2. Step 2

    Pour brown butter into a large bowl. (Do not wipe out the pan.) Whisk the maple syrup into the butter, then whisk in buttermilk. The mixture should be cool to the touch; if not, let cool before whisking in the eggs. Then whisk in the cornmeal, flours, baking powder, salt and baking soda.

  3. Step 3

    If the skillet is no longer hot (cast iron retains heat longer than other metals), reheat it briefly on the stove for a few minutes. Scrape batter back into it. Bake until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into it emerges clean, 30 to 40 minutes. Cool in the skillet for 10 minutes before slicing.

Ratings

5 out of 5
5,355 user ratings
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Comments

Lise Bendixen

First time I baked this I followed the recipe to the letter. That is lovely, but so fluffy it's almost like a corn soufflé.

For my next try I reduced butter to 125 gram, and syrup to two table spoons, and replaced one of the eggs with 1/4 cup extra buttermilk.

The tweaks made a very tender bread, with a bit more structure than the original. A great fit with a bowl of chilli. I will continue to cook both versions.

Bett B

So William Shaw is bragging that he uses this dish to serve meat to unwitting vegans. And turned off commenting so no one can tell him what they think of his nasty little tricks. He must think he is very clever. I wonder whether he's considered how unhappy they would be to discover he cared so little for their feelings and beliefs. It's really not about the meat, but what he's doing to people he calls friends. I dare him to tell them so they can tell him how they feel. Coward.

Spencer

If your burnt your butter, do this: get a white plate or bowl, use a spoon and dribble a bit of butter onto it as you are browning. You want something close to a rum or a whisky color. That, plus a nutty smell means you are done. If you are close to this color, watch it very very closely. The browning speeds up as the butter cooks, so while it takes some time to get the initial color, it will go very quick to burnt, depending on the heat.

Olivia

I substituted honey for maple syrup 1:1, and it turned out great. Not too sweet

Ron

Butter amount states 12 tablespoons, which equates to 180 ml or 3/4 cup or 3/4 lb of butter. It also indicates 170 g of butter, which roughly 1/3 lb butter. There is a big difference between 1/3 lb and 3/4 lb. It also indicates 1 -1/2 sticks, which is roughly 1/3 lb. I assume the 12 tablespoons is incorrect.

Rachel K

Complete perfection, don’t change anything. I have made multiple times and is the best cornbread recipe of all time. Pro tip, put skillet on a half sheet for the bake as can bubble over a bit.

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