These brown butter honey cornbread muffins have a light and fluffy cornbread base topped with whipped honey butter and flaky sea salt! They're the perfect side dish to classic southern comfort foods like chili, barbecue, or fried chicken!
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Why You'll Love This Brown Butter Cornbread!
- These cornbread muffins are super quick and easy to make in just 30 minutes!
- They have a fluffy and tender texture thanks to a combination of all purpose flour and yellow cornmeal!
- Topped with whipped honey butter and flaky sea salt for a melt in your mouth treat.
- With a balanced sweet and savory flavor, they can be paired with savory dishes like chili or eaten as dessert!
These brown butter honey cornbread muffins are the perfect side dish for classic slow cooker beef chili or my favorite creamy white chicken chili!
Ingredient Notes
You just need a few ingredients to make these fluffy brown butter cornbread muffins!
Flour - A mix of flour and cornmeal yields cornbread that's light and fluffy but still has a classic corn flavor! All purpose flour works best for this cornbread.
Cornmeal - There are several different types of cornmeal (this is a great article that breaks it down) but for these honey cornbread muffins I recommend using either fine or medium ground yellow cornmeal. You should be able to find it next to the flour in the baking aisle! [Do NOT use self-rising cornmeal for this recipe.]
Honey - Just a little bit of honey adds the right amount of sweetness to the cornbread. Opt for a runnier variety of honey so that it mixes into the batter more easily.
Flaky Sea Salt - A little sprinkle of flaky sea salt makes the perfect sweet and savory combo!
Brown Butter - My favorite ingredient of all time is brown butter!! Brown butter is just unsalted butter that has been melted and gently cooked to bring out a toasty, nutty flavor. If you've never made brown butter before, you can check out this post with all my tips for how to make brown butter!
Since both the cornbread and whipped honey butter call for brown butter, I find it easier to just make one large batch and then weigh out the difference using a kitchen scale (½ cup of butter weighs about 113 grams).
However, if you don't have a scale you can just make two separate batches of brown butter!
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
How to Make Honey Cornbread Muffins
Preheat the oven to 375°F and spray a nonstick muffin pan with cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
In a separate large bowl, whisk together the melted brown butter and honey. Then whisk in the milk and eggs until fully combined and smooth.
Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. It's okay if the batter is still a little lumpy.
Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan and fill the muffin cups about ¾ full.
Bake at 375°F for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean (it may be crumby but not wet). Rotate the pan about halfway through baking so that the muffins brown evenly.
Remove the muffins and let cool on wire rack (they'll get soggy if you leave them in the muffin pan). Cornbread muffins are best served immediately while they're still warm!
These brown butter cornbread muffins are delicious on their own, but even better when slathered with some whipped honey butter and flaky sea salt!
Tips for the Best Baked Goods
Use room temperature ingredients! Always make sure ingredients like butter, eggs, milk, yogurt, etc. are at room temperature before baking (unless the recipe indicates otherwise)! This ensures they'll incorporate into the batter more easily and leads to overall better texture. Remove all ingredients from the fridge 30 minutes to an hour before baking for best results.
Measure your flour correctly! It's most accurate to use a kitchen scale, but if you're measuring by volume you want to spoon and level! Fluff up the flour a bit with a spoon, and then spoon flour into the measuring cup. Once it's overflowing, use the back of a knife to level it off. Don't ever pack flour into the measuring cup or you'll end up with way too much! Improperly measured flour can lead to dry, dense baked goods. [Measure cocoa powder the same way!]
Use an oven thermometer! Just because your oven says it's 350, doesn't mean it is! If you oven hasn't been calibrated recently, it can be as much as 30 degrees off, which will negatively affect all baked goods from cakes to macarons! An oven thermometer is the easiest/cheapest way to ensure your oven is always at the proper temperature.
Make sure you baking powder is fresh! Baking powder is important for helping baked goods rise properly, but it has a relatively short shelf life once opened, so it's one of the few items I never buy in bulk! To test if your baking powder is still fresh, add a small amount to boiling water. If it bubbles it's still good to use, but if not it's time to toss it!
Recipe FAQ's
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the fridge for up to 5 days.
For best results, wrap the cornbread muffins indivuvally and then store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Let thaw at room temperature before reheating.
If the honey cornbread muffins have been in the fridge or freezer, you definitely want to reheat them! Reheat in the oven at 350°F for about 10 minutes or until warmed.
Yes! For mini muffins, reduce the baking time to 12-5 minutes.
Yes! Pour the batter into a greased cast iron skillet and bake at 375°F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean (it may be crumby but not wet).
No! You can use regular unsalted butter if you prefer.
Some older nonstick pans can start to lose their nonstick capabilities which can cause the muffins to stick. So be sure to use a high quality nonstick pan and pan spray (my favorites are Everbake or Bakers Joy) or you can just use muffin liners if you're worried about sticking.
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
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Recipe Card
Brown Butter Honey Cornbread Muffins
Special Equipment
Ingredients
Cornbread Muffins
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- ¾ cup yellow cornmeal, fine or medium ground
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup unsalted brown butter, melted
- ¾ cup honey, (reduce to ½ cup for less sweet)
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
Whipped Honey Butter
- ½ cup unsalted brown butter, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon honey, more to taste
- ½ teaspoon flaky sea salt
Instructions
Cornbread Muffins
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and spray a nonstick muffin pan with cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together the melted brown butter and honey. Then whisk in the milk and eggs until fully combined and smooth.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. It's okay if the batter is still a little lumpy.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan and fill the muffin cups about ¾ full.
- Bake at 375°F for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean (it may be crumby but not wet). Rotate the pan about halfway through baking so that the muffins brown evenly.
- Remove the muffins and let cool on wire rack (they'll get soggy if you leave them in the muffin pan). Cornbread muffins are best served immediately while they're still warm!
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Whipped Honey Butter
- These brown butter cornbread muffins are delicious on their own, but even better when slathered with some whipped honey butter and flaky sea salt!
- In a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream together the room temperature brown butter, honey, and flaky sea salt until combined. Taste and add more honey or salt if desired.
- Increase the speed and whip for 3-4 minutes or until the honey butter is light and fluffy!
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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