Hot Honey Skillet Cornbread

This skillet cornbread has me all sorts of hot and bothered.

Guys. This cornbread is a revelation. Well, as much of a revelation as cornbread can be, I guess.

It’s fluffy. It’s sweet. It’s buttery. It’s moist. It’s flavored with honey infused with hot peppers. And it’s everything I want cornbread to be.

I know everyone is on a baking kick right now, and Cinco de Mayo (while it may look VERY different this year) is right around the corner, and I think we should send our quarantine baking in a more festive direction. I have been cooking up Cinco de Mayo inspired dishes for the past couple weeks, and I can’t wait to tell you guys all about them.

That’s how this cornbread came to be. And I have zero regrets.

Side note: I am sharing an epic chili to eat with this cornbread later this week. You won’t want to miss THAT. Trust.

Cornbread and I have a complicated relationship. Sometimes I love it and sometimes I can totally live without it. It has to be really GOOD cornbread for me to get down. And good to me means sweet and moist, almost cake like. Yes, like corn CAKE. That’s how I like it, and I won’t apologize for it.

This cornbread is just that, except the flavor has been cranked up with the hot honey. I’ve made hot honey many times before and have used it in a variety of dishes; it never disappoints (it totally MAKES these pizzas). This time is no different. It adds a depth of flavor and sweetness that you just can’t get from anything else. Honey is honey. Nothing else tastes like it.

And the hot peppers? Well, they add the most delicious subtle heat to this otherwise sweet cornbread. It’s not so hot that you’ll be reaching for the milk, but it has a little bit more of a kick than your standard cornbread. Just a touch of spice.

The thing I love the most about the peppers is how much flavor they add – I mean, just the real PEPPER flavor. You can definitely taste them here, and I adore it.

The other thing I especially love about this recipe? How freaking easy it comes together. You can mix everything up by hand in minutes. Stick your skillet into the oven to preheat, add a little butter, and then pour the batter in right before you bake. Less than 20 minutes later, you’ll have a gorgeous skillet cornbread to eat.

The resulting texture from the skillet is insane.

The edges get really super crisp and crunchy (my fave part), and the middle stays soft and fluffy. It’s like the perfect pillowy vehicle for a little butter and another drizzle of that hot honey. A light sprinkling of flaky sea salt. Oh, and maybe a few pieces of the honeyed peppers themselves. The butter and honey melt together and drip down into all that magical fluff and the flaky salt makes all the flavors sing.

Swoon. It’s downright dreamy.

Hey, I told you I was all hot and bothered. Over cornbread!

Hot Honey Skillet Cornbread

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★★★★★

5 from 2 reviews

• Author: Molly
• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Yield: 8-10 servings 1x

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Description

This Hot Honey Skillet Cornbread is everything cornbread should be! It’s fluffy, sweet, buttery, and moist and has the most amazing flavor thanks to honey infused with spicy hot peppers. It’s got a sweet kick and is the perfect accompaniment to a huge bowl of chili!

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

For the Hot Honey:

• ½ cup honey
• 2 hot peppers, thinly sliced (I used jalapenos)
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

For the Cornbread:

• 1 cup cornmeal (I like a fine grind but any will do)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter, plus 2 more tablespoons for the pan
• 4 tablespoons of the hot honey
• ⅓ cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

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Instructions

For the Hot Honey:

1. In a small saucepan, heat the honey over low heat. Once warm, add in the peppers and crushed red pepper and cook for another couple minutes.
2. Remove from the heat and allow the honey to cool to room temperature while the peppers steep in it.
3. Strain and discard the peppers before using the honey (or reserve them for serving later).

For the Cornbread:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F and place a 10-inch cast-iron skillet in the oven to preheat while you mix up the cornbread batter.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. Melt the stick of butter in a saucepan and then remove it from the heat. Whisk in the hot honey and brown sugar until smooth (reserve the remaining honey for serving!).
4. Whisk the egg and buttermilk into the butter mixture until smooth.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until everything is just combined. Resist the urge to overmix the batter.
6. Add 2 tablespoons of butter to the hot pan in the oven and allow it to melt and sizzle.
7. Carefully and quickly pour the cornbread batter into the hot pan and spread it out evenly.
8. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden and crisp around the edges and set in the middle.
9. Serve warm with additional butter and the leftover hot honey drizzled over top. I like to serve it topped with some of the honeyed hot pepper slices as well.

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Category: side dishes

Keywords: skillet cornbread recipe, hot honey cornbread, honey cornbread, honey skillet cornbread, moist cornbread, hot honey