Homemade Blueberry Cornbread
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This homemade blueberry cornbread is buttery, tender, and full of juicy blueberries, with a cinnamon-sugar topping that adds just the right amount of complementary sweetness.
This recipe is brought to you in partnership with Bushel and Berry®.
A RECIPE INSPIRED BY A DINING EXPERIENCE
I’ll be honest and say that I did not think of the concept of blueberry cornbread without the help of a lunch date my husband and I took one summer. At this particular restaurant we visit semi-regularly, a portion of their menu is seasonal, so things are always changing. I saw this blueberry cornbread on the side dish list and I knew that it was something I had to have immediately.
The cornbread came with whipped lemon butter and a cinnamon-powdered sugar dusting, and as soon as I took one bite, I knew it had to be recreated in my kitchen. Even better, I knew that Bushel & Berry would love the opportunity for me to use the berries from their blueberry plant (“Perpetua”) and I’m so happy they thought it was a good idea, too.
I’m no stranger to cornbread, as my MIL’s recipe has lived on my site for many years since it graces our holiday tables throughout the year, but adding blueberries was an adventure that took a little finagling and the end result is one I’m sure you’re going to want to have on your table, too.
GRAB THESE INGREDIENTS
When I was testing this recipe, I started with my basic cornbread recipe to see where things landed, and it was not good. While that cornbread recipe is, of course, amazingly delicious, the batter is super thin, so the blueberries had nowhere to hang out. They all sunk to the bottom and the bread didn’t bake through the whole way.
When I went back for another round, I adjusted a few things: I reduced the amount of butter, I added a touch more flour, and I also added in some sour cream to add back in some moisture and structure from removing the butter.
Aside from those ingredients, you’ll need a few additional ingredients: yellow cornmeal, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, milk, an egg, and blueberries.
While fresh blueberries are the preference (and what I had available to me thanks to Bushel & Berry), you can use frozen blueberries if that’s what you have access to. You don’t need to thaw them, so no additional time needed to wait for that step!
Wondering about that optional topping? It’s just powdered sugar (to keep things light) and ground cinnamon.
HOW TO MAKE BLUEBERRY CORNBREAD
Since we’re using melted butter, there’s no need to use a mixer or anything fancy. All you need are a couple bowls and a spatula.
Dry ingredients: whisk all of them together in a large bowl. We’ll come back to that in a minute.
Wet ingredients: combining the milk, melted butter, sour cream, and egg before it hits the dry ingredients will help prevent overmixing of the batter, which can lead to dense and tough cornbread.
Bring it all together: pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, then stir gently until everything is just combined. There may be some flour/cornmeal pockets remaining, but they’ll take care of themselves in the next step.
Add the blueberries: dump all of the blueberries into the batter and gently fold them in. The pockets of dry ingredients will start to disappear, but it’s ok if a few small pockets are left behind. Remember, we don’t want to overmix this batter, so stop when everything looks well-moistened.
WHAT KIND OF PAN SHOULD I USE?
Bake until golden: I like to make my cornbread in a cast iron skillet, but you can do this in a round or square cake pan, a springform pan, or even a pie plate. Just try to stick to the 8″ to 10″ range so your baking times don’t vary too much.
The cornbread is done when it has started to turn golden brown on the top and a tester inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs. It will continue to bake a bit as it sits, and with all that cornmeal, “dry” can set in pretty quickly if we overbake it.
TOP WITH OPTIONAL CINNAMON-SUGAR
This might not be for everyone, but it was for us! I like the balance of spice and sweetness, so I actually sprinkled extra topping on my servings before eating. You might also consider spreading your cornbread with cinnamon honey butter, but really, there’s no bad way to eat this blueberry cornbread except if you just don’t eat it at all (and I assure you, that will be hard).
Homemade Blueberry Cornbread Recipe
Ingredients
CORNBREAD
- 1 and ½ cups (180g) all-purpose flour be sure to measure properly
- 1 cup (120g) cornmeal
- ⅔ cup (134g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (120mL) milk any; room temperature
- 1 cup (227g) full fat sour cream1
- ¼ cup (57g) unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 and ½ cups fresh blueberries2
TOPPING (OPTIONAL)
- 2 Tablespoons (15g) powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
CORNBREAD
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (191ºC). Spray a 9" or 10" cast iron skillet3 with nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.1 and ½ cups (180g) all-purpose flour, 1 cup (120g) cornmeal, ⅔ cup (134g) granulated sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt
- In a glass measuring cup or a bowl you can easily pour from, combine the milk, sour cream, butter, and egg and whisk until blended. Pour the mixture into the flour mixture and stir gently with a spatula just until combined. Make sure you're scraping all the way down to the bottom of the bowl to ensure everything gets incorporated.½ cup (120mL) milk, 1 cup (227g) full fat sour cream1, ¼ cup (57g) unsalted butter, 1 large egg
- Gently fold in the blueberries into the batter, taking care not to overmix it.1 and ½ cups fresh blueberries2
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and add a few more blueberries, if desired.
- Bake the cornbread for 38-44 minutes or until the top is starting to turn golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs. Allow the cornbread to cool completely before topping (optional) and serving.
TOPPING (OPTIONAL)
- In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar and cinnamon.2 Tablespoons (15g) powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Whisk together to combine, then sprinkle or sift over the cornbread before serving. You can also reserve the topping for individual pieces. I also recommend my cinnamon honey butter to go with it! Cornbread stays fresh at room temperature up to 3 days. Bread freezes well, up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.
Video
Notes
- Sour cream: you can also use plain Greek yogurt, but I urge you to use the highest fat content available, as more fat means more richness in your cornbread.
- Blueberries: you can also use frozen blueberries. Do not thaw.
- Cast iron skillet: this is my preference, but you can also use a springform pan, round cake pan, pie plate, or even an 8″ or 9″ square baking pan. Bake times can vary depending on the material of your pan and the shape of it, so be prepared to check your cornbread often after about 30 minutes to ensure it doesn’t overbake.
- Topping: this is totally optional, but something I
Nutrition Disclosure
All nutritional values are approximate and provided to the reader as a courtesy. Changing ingredients and/or quantities will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.
Hello Lynn, this looks delicious – thank you for developing and sharing it. Do you happen to know if this recipe would be a candidate for using an alternative to the egg? (Due to allergy in family). Thanks!
Hi, Sara– though I’ve never tried it, I would imagine that adjustment would work well for this recipe. Please report back if you try it!