Description
Skillet-fried Southern cornbread, better known as hoe cakes, are the very definition of comfort food. Made with simple pantry staples like cornmeal and buttermilk, these pancake-sized cornbread rounds are fried in a cast-iron skillet with bacon grease to get those crispy edges and fluffy insides. Perfect alongside a warm bowl of chili or stew, y’all, they’re begging to be slathered with butter and honey!
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 Cup Cornmeal
- 1 Cup Flour
- 1 Tablespoon Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
- 1 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Cup Buttermilk
- 1/4 Cup Butter - melted
- 2 Eggs
- Bacon Grease - for frying
- Butter and Honey - for serving
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the buttermilk, eggs, and melted butter until smooth.
- Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and whisk just until combined. The batter should be thick yet pourable, similar to pancake batter.
- Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium heat and add about 1–2 tablespoons of bacon grease.
- Once the skillet is hot, drop about ¼ cup of batter into the skillet for each hoe cake, gently spreading it into a small circle.
- Cook until golden brown around the edges and set in the middle, about 2–3 minutes, then flip and cook the other side until golden brown and cooked through, about 1-2 minutes more.
- Remove and place on a platter. Repeat with the remaining batter, adding more bacon grease as needed. (If the skillet becomes too hot, turn the heat to medium low).
- Serve warm with butter, honey, or alongside your favorite soup, chili, stew, or Southern meal.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 minutes
- Category: Bread
- Method: Frying
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cake
- Calories: 113
- Sugar: 1.7 g
- Sodium: 225.1 mg
- Fat: 4.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 14.7 g
- Fiber: 0.8 g
- Protein: 2.9 g
- Cholesterol: 35 mg
