Easy Mini Cornbread Muffins Recipe
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Make these easy mini cornbread muffins for your family, and watch all of them come running to the table! These sweet mini muffins are easy to mix up fast, make a great breakfast, or are a perfect side dish for BBQ, holidays like Thanksgiving or with a big bowl of chili.
Bake up a batch of mini cornbread muffins for your family, they are a favorite with mine and this recipe has been made and shared with so many people.
Table of Contents
Easy Mini Cornbread Muffins Recipe
Did you know there are some places that do not have cornbread? For those of us used to fluffy, crumbly and sweet bites of cornbread this almost seems confusing. This mini cornbread muffin recipe has been a staple at my table to bake for as long as I can remember
We lived in Montreal for three years. It’s cold many so many days of the year that chili and soup were often on the menu. At the time we had moved from Atlanta (I know right, that’s a switch!) where delicious southern food was everywhere. This meant pretty much you could walk into ay BBQ, soup or southern food restaurant or grocery store and find delicious cornbread ready for the picking.
Very quickly I learned not only was their not any cornbread to be found, but most of the new friends I had made had never tried cornbread… ever!
Sweet and slightly crumbly cornbread and they had never tried cornbread or cornbread muffins.
I grew up eating cornbread, usually for breakfast in my family. Fast forward to moving to Atlanta and I started to learn more about what makes a cornbread muffin amazing and how to make really good southern-style cornbread. Slightly sweet, a good crumb but not so crumbly that it falls apart.
Not a single place in Montreal while I was living there had cornbread or even a Jiffy mix of cornbread. So I made my own cornbread recipe. Then I made some more… It wasn’t long before the neighbors started showing up at our door and we became friends the more I shared. We started making this cornbread recipe as a regular Thanksgiving side dish.
These cornbread muffins are so good, I even started bartering with them. Need help with something small with your car, to borrow a shovel, or need a basic haircut for your child? Cornbread muffins were always welcomed with open arms. I also taught a few friends how to make cornbread mini muffins.
This mini size muffins came from bringing these sweet and simple cornbread muffins to playdates. The mini cornbread muffin size is perfect for young kids. The portion size is just right for little hands and is easy to make in mini muffin cups.
How To Make Cornbread Muffins
Making cornbread muffins is super easy, in fact, I’ve even seen some people prepackage the dry ingredients together beforehand. Then you can mix the wet ingredients to bake a super quick homemade cornbread batter any time.
What Do I Serve With Cornbread?
Our favorite thing to eat with cornbread is chili. I’ve never met a chili that cornbread muffins don’t pair well with, and it’s delicious wiht my turkey chilli or with black bean soup.
Sometimes we eat cornbread with a small amount of butter for breakfast in place of bread or pancakes.
Roasted vegetables including fall pumpkins go well with cornbread. I’ve also put cornbread on the side of big dinner salads.
Cornbread is also traditionally served with BBQ. It’s perfect alongside my pork loin in the crock pot (which also makes BBQ pulled pork too!)
What Does Cornbread Taste Like, I’ve NEVER Had It Before
Most cornbread is sweet with a slight cake-like crumb texture, but not quite as sweet as a cake. The amount of sweetness is purely a preference of taste. Some cornbread is dry while others are light and creamy. This cornbread has a light and airy cake-like texture with moist crumbs and is just a great recipe.
When I lived in Montreal for a few years cornbread just wasn’t something they served. I introduced all of my neighbors to it and used to barter with muffins for help from them. My neighbor across the hall was a hairdresser and would cut my daughter’s and my husband’s hair in exchange for a batch of these delicious corn muffins!
What’s The Difference Between Cornbread Muffins And Cornbread?
Traditionally cornbread muffins are a little sweeter than cornbread. Cornbread muffins are baked in a muffin pan while cornbread is baked in a sheet or a cast-iron skillet.
Often cornbread muffins are served for breakfast, but they are also sometimes severed as dessert. Cornbread is served for breakfast, lunch or dinner as a side often with butter.
How Do I Know When To Bake These Muffins
Muffins can be a little tricky sometimes if you haven’t made many. What often happens is people overmix muffins and they end up more dense than expected. With this recipe, you can mix until just combined with a spatula or whisk and they turn out great. I would not mix with an electric mixer, just give the batter a couple good stirs until the dry batter is fully mixed with the wet ingredients. A few little lumps are ok, but mix a little more if there is larger chunks of dry batter forming big lumps.
My Cornbread Mini Muffins Keep Sticking To The Pan Or Muffin Liner
If you use paper muffin liners I do find this cornbread muffin recipe does stick to the liner when still warm from the oven. If serving to guests I recommend letting them cool completely before serving.
If using a pan without a paper muffin liner, use a good coating of pan spray to keep the muffins from sticking to the pan. Alternatively, a silicone muffin pan can be used for easy removal.
Can These Cornbread Muffins Be Made Into Standard Sized Muffins
Yes, this recipe will make six standard size cornbread muffins or a mini muffin tin. When I am making full-sized muffins I almost always double the recipe when I mix it. The bake time will increase on bigger muffins to closer to 15-20 minutes for full sized muffins.
Are These Cornbread Muffins Sweet?
These mini cornbread muffins do have a touch of sweetness to them from the honey and from the corn. The honey can easily be adjusted to make this recipe slightly more or less sweet to your own taste.
Can I Give These Honey Cornbread Mini Muffins To Babies and Young Children
Babies can not have honey if they are under the age of one as it can pose some risks to them. ( I’m no doctor, this is what the CDC recommends.)
I wouldn’t give these muffins as is without substituting another sugar into the recipe. I have made this recipe with traditional white granulated sugar in place of the honey. It is still a great cornbread recipe and is safe for babies.
Other sweeteners (such as stevia or maple syrup for example) you may be able to experiment with but the amount of sweetness they add per tablespoon can vary. The sweetness in this recipe is a personal taste preference, so you can include slighty more or slightly less and it should still taste yummy.
Why Are My Cornbread Muffins Dry?
This cornbread muffin recipe usually gives a nice moist muffin with a hint of sweetness. If your muffins are dry, here are a few things to check.
- Did you overbake the muffins?- Over baking the muffins too long can dry them out and make your muffins too crumbly.
- Is your oven temperature set too high?– Ovens can vary and some ovens just bake hot! I’ve moved around a lot, and in some of our homes, we’ve had to adjust our oven by as much as 25 degrees. You can check if your oven is too hot with an inexpensive oven thermometer to make sure the temperature you set it at is the same temperature it’s reading.
- Did you cool the muffins in the pan?- If you cool the muffins in the pan it can sometimes dry them out as they keep cooking. Instead, as soon as your are able to remove them, place the cornbread muffins on a wire rack or clean kitchen towel to keep cooling.
Variations To Try
- Add 1/2 cup of corn kernels to the recipe, folding them in at the very end. You can use fresh, canned or frozen corn.
- Add hot dogs to make mini corn dog muffins. You can either use a piece of a regular-sized hot dog or about half of a little smokie sausage placed in each muffin before baking.
How Do I Store Cornbread Muffins?
These delicious muffins will last for 3-4 days on the counter stored in an airtight container. They also can be frozen after baking and defrosted later. Frozen muffins wrapped in freezer paper and placed in zip-top freezer bags will last for 3-4 months and still taste fresh.
Love quick muffins? Try these Easy Pancake Mix Muffins and make three flavors of muffins in one muffin tin. Perfect for breakfast and snacks.
Other Recipes You’ll Love
Buttermilk Cornbread
One Bowl Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins
Easy Banana Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins
Cheery Orange Creamsicle Muffins
Easy Zucchini Banana Bread
So have you ever made cornbread for your family? What about baked mini sized cornbread muffins? Tell me all about making these muffins, or any questions you may have about cornbread down in the comments!
Easy Mini Cornbread Muffin Recipe
Equipment
- Mini Muffin Pan (or muffin pan)
- Spatula
- Large Mixing Bowl
- Muffin Liners or Cooking Spray
- Oven
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup flour
- 1/2 cup cornmeal
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt.
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons oil
- pan spray
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Mix together dry ingredients in a bowl including flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt.
- In a small bowl, crack the egg and mix quickly with a whisk or fork to break the yollk. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients including honey, egg, milk and oil. Mix wet ingredients until thoroughly combined.
- Using pan spray, grease each section of the muffin pan well. *note- if using a silicone pan you can skip this step.
- Fill muffin tins, evenly dividing the batter among the muffin tin. Makes 12 mini muffins or 6 standard size muffins
- Bake for 12-15 minutes. Using a toothpick, insert into the middle of the muffin. Muffins are done baking when the toothpick comes out clean without any batter clinging to the toothpick.
Notes
Nutrition
Did You Make This?
I would love to see it! Share your thoughts with me in the comments below!
In the ingredient list, it states 3 Table allows of Backing Powder. That amount seams excessive. Did you mean 3 teaspoons?
Hi Pam, I think you misread. These cornbread muffins have one tablespoon of baking powder. Perhaps you were reading honey, which is three tablespoons. -Kristy
She didn’t misread if you tripple the recipe it says to do 3 tablespoons of baking powder I’m in the same situation, I already made half the recipe so now I’m stuck and don’t know what to do and have alot of people coming over shortly!
Yes the x3 button triples the ingredients for your convenience, it also triples the other ingredients to match. It does not triple the recipe instructions, that would be impossible to do. IF you accidently tripled the baking powder, you would need to triple the rest of the ingredients in the batch.
Can you substitute the 3 tablespoons of honey with apple sauce instead? would it also be 3 tablespoons of apple sauce?
Hi Kat, I would not suggest substituting applesauce for honey. Applesauce can usually be substituted for oil or even sometimes eggs but works best in more of a cake-like muffin. Applesauce will also change the texture of the baked goog to be a little more spongy. This swap would likely taste really odd in cornbread. Honey in this recipe brings out the sweetness of the corn and is used as flavor. If you’re looking to avoid honey specifically, you can replace honey with another sweetener such as granulated sugar, agave or brown sugar tablespoon for tablespoon. Maple syrup could also be used tablespoon for tablespoon, but your cornbread may have some maple flavor to it. You could leave the honey out, but you may find the cornbread muffins have less flavor. Some cooks make cornbread without any sweetener at all. This kind of cornbread without any sweetener is usually better when served with something saucy or brothy to dip it in. Hope that helpes! -Kristy
Made these and the flavor was good but the muffin was very dry/crumbly.
Hi Cindy, That doesn’t sound quite for how this recipe normally goes, did you swap anything in the recipe? Or perhaps your oven is on the hot side, which could dry them out if they overbaked? -Kristy
Change scramble the egg I bake all the time and had to think about if I really should scramble the egg. If your new to baking it can be confusing.
Hi Jakki,
thanks for the note and I’m gladded you liked the recipe. I did edit the part about the egg so it was more clear, thanks for your note. I think I wrote this recipe before I knew as much about writing clear recipes, so you’re right it was probably due for an update. It was a little confusing as written. Thanks, hope you enjoyed your muffins! -Kristy
I just made these. They taste delicious! I didn’t have some of the ingredients on hand so I used 1/3 cup cornmeal but for the 2nd 1/3 I used half white rice and half coconut flour and I used yogurt and a spoonful of sour cream because I didn’t have milk. I used more honey because I’m a sweet freak and because the coconut flour absorbs liquid more. 5 are already gone and they just came out of the oven. Thanks so much for the recipe. It’s definitely a keeper
Glad you enjoyed the recipe! You think quick on your feet MJ 🙂 -Kristy
Has anyone frozen these? Wondering if they freeze/defrost well. Thanks!
Hi A M,
Yes these muffins totally freeze, I have frozen them before. I usually defrost them on the counter and either toast them or warm them in the microwave before serving when I freeze them. Hope that helps!
-Kristy
Hi I am going to make these cornbread muffins. My question is if I am not going to use honey and instead use white sugar is it still 3TBSP and should it be mixed with the dry indredients?
Hi Joan,
Sugar of any kind be it white granulated, brown sugar, honey, or even molasses is usually considered a wet ingredient. This is because you want the sugar to dissolve as much as possible into the batter before adding the flour and other dry ingredients. This decreases the amount of mixing you need to do when adding the flour, which can change the crumb on your finished muffin, quick bread, cookie or cake.
Switching out white sugar in this recipe will mostly just effect how sweet the muffins taste after baking, as honey tastes sweeter. They will still be delicious but may taste slightly less sweet. Happy baking, hope that helps!
-Kristy
What do mean scrambled egg? Does it mean u cook it? Sorry for this stupid question a bit confused
No worries, no it just means whip the egg with a whisk or a fork before adding it to the batter so the egg yolk is well mixed. I’ll adjust the directions, that is a little confusing. Thanks for the note and hope you enjoy the cornbread!
I’ve made these twice. Quick, easy, and delicious.
Glad you loved them!
I just made these for dinner. They are really good. I used white cornmeal because that’s what I had. Will make these again!! Keeper.
Wonderful! I’m so glad you loved them and they were delish for dinner. White cornmeal definitely can sub in for yellow. 🙂
Would these be good with blueberries?
Yes absolutely you could add blueberries! This is a sweet cornbread and the blueberries would compliment it nicely.
If it were me, I would add them at the end after they are in the muffin tins. Since these are mini muffins that would help to make sure your blueberries are evenly distributed. No one wants the muffin with one blueberry! 🙂 Let me know how they turn out, I may have to try it too!
Thanks! I will let you know! Also would any other flour be good? Spelt?
Hi Hannah, I’ve used whole what flour in this recipe and it was tasty, but I haven’t tried spelt in this recipe. I have cooked with spelt before though, and I don’t see why it couldn’t work. I might start off with 1/4 cup of milk instead of 1/3 a cup and see how the batter looks. Spelt flour generally takes a little less moisture, and cornbread batter will often look drier and crumbly when it is too dry. Your cornbread will also have a nuttier flavor with spelt flour, which isn’t bad at all! Let me know how it goes!
Being from the south I am not a fan of sweet corn bread. To make 12 regular size muffins I use 2 cups self rising corn meal 3 eggs, oil and buttrrmilk. This will also make 1 iron skillet of corn bread. I grease the muffin tins or skillet with Crisco. Greasing the skillet makes the bottom crunchy. Cook on 450° til top turns golden brown.
Well this recipe is specifically for a honey cornbread, that’s why it’s sweet. 🙂 I’ve lived in the south too, where abouts? I was in Atlanta. Cornbread has so much variation for such a simple but delicious side or breakfast doesn’t it? Thanks for the recipe 🙂
You look at a sweet cornbread recipe just to comment you don’t like it?