This Bacon Honey Cornbread is my new favorite breakfast food.
Why is Bacon Honey Cornbread the book-inspired recipe for James?
James begins with the plantation owner’s wife telling Jim that she baked cornbread using his wife Sadie’s special recipe — with a few “alterations.” Of course, the result is a disappointingly lackluster cornbread.
Now, why this woman felt the need to mess with Sadie’s recipe is beyond me. (Though, white people thinking they know better than everyone else is a key theme of the book.) If a dish is tried-and-true delicious, don’t adjust the recipe until you’ve made it the way it’s written at least once.
I think that this Bacon Honey Cornbread is how Sadie’s recipe would have turned out before Miss Watson got her hands on it.
Bacon?? With cornbread?!?
Folks, if you didn’t grow up cooking breakfast foods in bacon grease, then I feel very sorry for you. But here’s your chance to right this wrong.
Pancakes, waffles, and, yes, cornbread are all amazingly, sinfully delicious when you cook them with bacon fat. Bacon grease. Bacon drippings. Whatever you want to call it – you’re frying bacon in a skillet, then you’re cooking a carb in that same skillet. YUM.
A bonus of this recipe is that everything is cooked in one pan. Preferably, in a cast iron skillet. You fry the bacon on the stove, then you take that same skillet, put the cornbread batter in it, and slide it into the oven.
Now, a word of warning: This recipe is – obviously – very bacon-y. You have to like bacon in order to enjoy Bacon Honey Cornbread. Which seems kinda obvious. But, I’m putting that disclaimer in here so one’s surprised when they take a bite.
Real life example: Mr Tart (who does not like bacon) ate some cornbread, wrinkled his nose, and said, “It’s very bacon-y.” To which I replied, “….Yes. Remember, it’s Bacon Honey Cornbread.”
What I love about Bacon Honey Cornbread
I love Every. Freakin’. Thing. about this Bacon Honey Cornbread. It’s sweet, it’s savory, it’s moist, and it’s tender. It’s that “roll your eyes back in your head and moan” kinda tasty.
That thick amber-colored honey makes the cornbread gorgeously golden, and it helps caramelize the edges in the cast iron skillet. And, of course, it tastes delicious.
Everything about this cornbread screams “weekend morning breakfast.” It feels like breakfast when you crack those eggs and stir them into the batter. It smells like breakfast as that sweet cornbread batter mingles with the salty bacon grease.
If you want a nice break in your usual weekday morning breakfast routine, treat yo’self to this Bacon Honey Cornbread. It doesn’t take very long to make at all.
The thing that’s awesome about this cornbread is that it’s almost like a breakfast cake. Which I didn’t think I would like, but, oh, I do.
While I usually prefer my cornbread on the not-sweet side, there’s a time and a place for everything, my friends. And Bacon Honey Cornbread is perfect for when you want something a little sweeter than my traditional cornbread muffins.
Another awesome thing? You don’t have to worry about the cornbread sticking to the cast iron skillet with this recipe. The bacon grease makes sure of that. **thumbs up emoji**
What do you serve with Bacon Honey Cornbread?
Obviously, you want to serve Bacon Honey Cornbread with the bacon strips you cooked up before making the cornbread. Throw some eggs and sliced fresh fruit on your plate, too, for a breakfast of champions.
This cornbread is a wonderful addition to a decadent brunch table laden with Morning Bun Muffins, Fruit and Nut Granola, Chocolate Spice Cinnamon Rolls, and Pink Sprinkle Baked Doughnuts.
Bacon Honey Cornbread
Ingredients
- 6 oz uncooked bacon
- 2 tbsp reserved bacon grease
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup buttermilk*
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup honey
Instructions
PREP INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- Line a large plate with a paper towel. Set aside.
COOKING INSTRUCTIONS
- Cook bacon in cast iron skillet over medium-high heat until crispy. Remove cooked bacon from skillet to the paper-towel lined plate. Set aside.**
- Turn off the heat under the skillet. Reserve about 2 tbsp of bacon grease in the skillet and discard the rest.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt until thoroughly combined.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, and honey until thoroughly combined.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, then stir together with a spatula using swift, short strokes until just combined. Do not over mix.
- Carefully pour the cornbread batter into the hot bacon greased-skillet. It’s okay if the grease pools a little on the top of the batter.
- Bake Bacon Honey Cornbread at 400F for 21-23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cornbread comes out clean.
- Remove Bacon Honey Cornbread from the oven and let cool 10 minutes in the skillet before slicing. Serve the cornbread while still warm with salted butter (so good!) or jam, and the cooked bacon.
Notes
