These corn muffins have crisp, golden edges, tender middles, and a delicious sweet and savory flavor. Adapted from my cornbread recipe, they're great with chili, soups, and more!
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This corn muffins recipe is one of my favorite side dishes for soups, chili, and stews. Easy to make with 10 basic ingredients, the muffins have a lightly sweet corn flavor and a tender, crumbly texture with delicious crisp edges. I’m happy eating one plain, but these cornbread muffins are also fantastic with a drizzle of hot honey or a slather of honey butter, if you’d like to kick them up a notch.
I adapted this recipe from my go-to cornbread. The ingredients are nearly identical, but when I was testing the recipe, I found that I needed a little extra oil or butter to keep the muffins from getting too dry in the oven. I love that they’re individually portioned and that they’re quicker to make—these bake up to golden brown perfection in just 15 minutes!
Cornbread Muffins Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this cornbread muffins recipe:
- Cornmeal, of course! Fine cornmeal and medium-grind cornmeal both work in this recipe. The fine cornmeal makes the muffins more tender, while medium-grind gives them a more crumbly texture. I personally love the medium-grind!
- All-purpose flour – Along with the cornmeal, it makes up the base of the batter. I think a 1-to-1 gluten-free flour blend would work well in this recipe too.
- Baking powder, baking soda, and an egg – They help the muffins puff up as they bake. The egg also acts as a binder.
- Butter or vegetable oil – For moisture and richness. The butter adds delicious buttery flavor, while the oil tastes more neutral, letting the flavor of the cornmeal shine through.
- Milk or buttermilk – For moisture. I’ve had great results using whole milk, 2% milk, and unsweetened almond milk in this recipe. Feel free to use another unsweetened non-dairy milk if you prefer!
- Sugar and honey – For sweetness. I love this combination in cornbread muffins. The sugar helps keep the muffins moist while the honey adds depth of flavor.
- And sea salt – To make all the flavors pop!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Corn Muffins
This corn muffin recipe is easy to make in 3 simple steps:
1. Make the batter. Mix together the wet ingredients in one bowl and the dry ingredients in another. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. The batter will be thick.
2. Divide the batter into a 12-cup muffin pan. Grease the pan with butter or cooking spray, then evenly divide the batter among the muffin cups. You’ll use about a scant 1/3 cup in each one.
3. Bake the muffins at 400°F for 12 to 16 minutes, or until the tops spring back to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely (or eating one warm).
Enjoy!
Recipe Tips
- Spoon and level your flour and cornmeal. These ingredients can become compacted in a bag, jar, or your measuring cup. This makes it easy to accidentally add too much to the batter, making the muffins dry. For the best results, don’t scoop up the flour and cornmeal directly with your measuring cup. Instead, fluff them up in the bag or jar, then gently spoon them into your measuring cup, using a knife to level the top and sweep off any excess.
- Don’t overmix. Stir until the wet and dry ingredients are just combined (a few lumps in the batter are even ok). If you continue mixing, you’ll start to develop the gluten in the flour, making the muffins dense.
- Jazz them up. This corn muffin recipe is delicious as written, but you can jazz it up with mix-ins, too! I love adding jalapeños, scallions, and cheddar cheese, like I do in my jalapeño cornbread recipe. 1/2 cup whole corn kernels or 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary or thyme is great too.
How to Store and Freeze
Leftover corn muffins keep well in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
They also freeze well. Let them cool completely, then seal them in an airtight container or bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Frozen muffins thaw in about 1 hour at room temperature.
What to Serve with Cornbread Muffins
These easy cornbread muffins pair perfectly with a bowl of soup or chili. Try serving them with any of these recipes:
Enjoy them plain (or dunked into your soup), or dress them up with a drizzle of hot honey or a slather of honey butter to bring out their sweetness.
Cornbread Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 cup cornmeal, spooned and leveled
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup milk or buttermilk
- ½ cup melted unsalted butter or vegetable oil, plus more for the pan
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons honey
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and grease a 12-cup muffin tin or line it with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, melted butter, egg, sugar, and honey.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, adding a scant â…“ cup to each one.
- Bake for 12 to 16 minutes, or until the tops spring back to the touch and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
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Came out perfectly. I didn’t have milk, so I added the cup of water to the melted butter instead. The water cooled the butter slightly which was better before adding to the egg mixture so as to not cook the egg. Used the 1/3rd cup batter measure in each to the oil-sprayed muffin tin and had 12 perfect cornbreads. Will make flavored butters to have on hand next time. Thank you. This site is my go-to for online recipes and ideas. BTW, served this with your red lentil soup – my fav. I use Spike brand seasoning to make perfect broth for any recipe-my secret weapon since the 70s. You could link it and make a deal with those folks :]
Why did you change the recipe from the rosemary corn muffins?! I would have screen shot it. Any chance you can also have that up by chance! I make them every year around the holidays but don’t quite have the recipe down and I know for sure there’s no egg in it.
Hi. Can you substitute almond milk for the milk/buttermilk in this recipe? Thank you.
https://5rgame.com.pk/666h-game-apk/ Thanks for sharing this cornbread muffins recipe – they look delicious and easy to make.
Delicious! My family absolutely loved them!
I’m use t making cornbread in a cast-iron skillet. Is this an option?
How about jalapeños in the cornbread?
Great idea, Darla! We actually have a jalapeño cornbread recipe here: https://www.loveandlemons.com/jalapeno-cornbread/
These were absolutely delicious! I made them using regular milk and unbleached flour – they were fantastic!
The best corn muffins I have ever made!
Tried these, very yummy. Was worried they would be heavy but they weren’t. Thank you for sharing your recipe ?
So glad you loved the muffins!
PS I’m gluten free
Have you ever made these using only cornmeal? My brother makes a skillet cornbread that uses only cornmeal, but it also uses buttermilk? I’ve used gluten free flour, and these muffins are GOOD (I’ve made them several times) AND they are also a little heavier/more dense than I like.! Just curious… Thks
Hi Barbara, I don’t really think they’d work with 100% cornmeal – I think they’d either be gritty or fall apart, especially since this recipe doesn’t have eggs.
These smell so good my neighbors are going to think I moved and a Baker moved in. I did pick the rosemary less than a minute before chopping it up. They taste lovely and hold together well. I had to use the lactose free milk I had on hand. Will absolutely make again.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
I have coarse ground corn (polenta) on hand…what do you think about subbing that for cornmeal for these muffins? Can I grind
it a bit finer in our coffeebean mill (hasn’t been used for coffee beans for years!)?
thanks!
Hi Barbara, the muffins will be more coarse and crumbly. The coffee grinder should work great (I’ve done it in successfully in a blender)
Just made these last night. Absolutely lovely!
These are wonderful! Have made three times in last few weeks. They were a hit at thanksgiving dinner but also amazing next to your simple butternut squash soup. I make them gluten free by using a mix of millet, oat, brown rice, and almond flours. I also cut the oil in half this most recent batch by replacing with 1/4 cup applesauce. Also knocked down maple syrup to 1/4 cup. They’re delicious as written and also this slightly more lightened version. Thanks for a relatively easy keeper! Cornbread vegan is tough – sometimes too dry or too mushy – but this recipe is just right!
Hi Elizabeth, I’m so glad you’ve been loving the recipe! I’m curious what ratios of those 4 flours you used?
Hello! I’m not very scientific about this but I would say about 1/4 of each to total a full cup. I’ve been doing this general blend to GF-ize recipes for many years. Always comes up better for me than most commercial GF blends for some reason, especially now that arrowhead mills doesn’t make the whole grain one I loved. And I don’t mess with xantham gums or whatever. I will say that I think the oat is pretty critical and best replacement in my experience 1:1 for spelt. Without that I’ve run into some texture issues before (mushy or failure to rise). Too much almond is a recipe for mush and too much only mullet or only brown rice imo doesn’t taste as good. So that’s my method! Not scientific lol!
This has been my favorite go-to cornbread muffin recipe for years! Thanks!
I made these for my celiac husband last night….subbed the spelt for Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 flour and they were FANTASTIC! They were not too crumbly for my taste, so moist and absolutely delicious. They are VERY rosemary flavored (duh-right up my alley) but my mom thought to lessen the 2 tablespoons of rosemary to 1….to each their own.
Thank you for a wonderful new take on cornbread. I would never have thought to change them up. The maple was just lovely!
Hi Micaela,
I’m so happy these worked so well with Bob’s Red Mill’s gf flour! Thanks for letting me know, I’m so glad you enjoyed the muffins!
Great looking muffins. I will have to try these soon, my rosemary is ready to start harvesting.
I have been using very finely ground cornmeal in my muffins & cornbread for several years now. Just a hint for those who are having a hard time getting the Arrowhead Mills cornmeal, check the International section in your supermarket. You may be able to find a very finely ground cornmeal that comes from India.
Could I replace the maple syrup with honey?