Bread Machine Cornbread | Bread Machine Recipes (2024)

Bread machine cornbread is easy to make and tastes great! Who would have guessed that you can make cornbread without a mix AND in the bread machine?

Last Updated on December 11, 2022 – Originally Published June 5, 2009

Featured Comment

Just tried this recipe. I needed a good cornbread for with my homemade chili. Well, this is it. Not to sweet. My husband said it was the best cornbread he ever ate. – Cathy

The Zojirushi bread machine has a cake setting. That would be perfect for cornbread right? That’s what I thought. However, the manual that came with my original bread machine didn’t have a recipe. The manual recommend I buy a mix and make it in the machine.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for bread mixes. In fact, I use them regularly and even review bread machine mixes.

But I wanted a real recipe for cornbread. So I tried my regular cornbread recipe in the bread machine. It turned out great!

Just to clarify, the cake or quick bread cycle is for thingswithout yeast. We’re talking banana bread, cornbread and pound cake.

This recipe is not for the quick/rapid cycle. That setting is for yeast bread using rapid rise yeast.

Melt the Butter

Note that this recipe calls for melted butter.

In the bread recipes on this site, I tell people that if their machine has a preheat cycle to not melt the butter. The bread machine will do that for you. However, the Zojirushi cake setting doesn’t have a preheat cycle. It starts mixing right away. So in this instance, the butter needs to be melted.

Baking Powder

Note that this is not a yeast bread. It’s a quick bread that uses baking powder as the leavening agent. The cornbread rises to about 2.5 inches in my machine.

What if your bread doesn’t rise that high? The culprit could be old baking powder.

Here’s a photo of two loaves of cornbread that I made recently. The loaf on the left was made with old baking powder and the loaf on the right was made with new baking powder.

As you can see, the age of the baking powder makes a huge difference in the bread.

Here’s a simple test to see if your baking powder is still good. Stir half a teaspoon of baking powder into a 1/4 of a cup of hot water. Does it fizz and bubble? If so, the baking powder is fine to use.

What is Cornmeal?

You’ll note that this recipe contains cornmeal. What exactly is cornmeal? It’s a coarse flour made from dried corn.

Most commercial cornmeal is made from either yellow or white dent corn. Dent corn is a type of field corn named for its dented kernels. Most of the corn grown in the United States is either yellow dent corn or a closely related variety.

In the United States, it’s common to see steel-ground yellow cornmeal. With this product, the husk and germ of the corn kernel has been almost completely removed. The good news is that makes the cornmeal shelf-stable. The bad news is that it’s not as nutritious.

If you’d like more nutritious cornmeal, look for “whole grain” cornmeal. That’s typically stone-ground and is a coarser type of cornmeal. While this cornmeal is more nutritious, it’s more perishable.

Bread Machine Cornbread at High Altitudes

The recipes on this site were developed at sea level. However, I’ve recently moved and live at an elevation of 3,700 feet.

Yeast bread recipes need to be adjusted for altitude starting at 3,000 feet. But what about quick breads that use baking powder as a leavening agent?

I researched the matter and didn’t get any clear answers. So I just tried my recipe to see what would happen.

I’m happy to report that this bread machine cornbread recipe works fine at 3,700 feet with no adjustments.

If you try the recipe and it doesn’t work, try decreasing the baking powder by 20% if you live above 3,500 feet, by 50% above 5,000 feet, and by 75% above 6,500 feet.

What Goes With Bread Machine Cornbread?

At our house, we often have cornbread with chili. It’s a great combination!

Here’s an idea for a fast dinner using cornbread. It’s an all-American spin on the British dish of beans on toast. Heat a can of baked beans on the stove. Add sliced kielbasa to the pan and stir. When everything is warm, serve over sliced cornbread. It’s fast, filling and delicious!

Here are other dishes that go great with cornbread:

• BBQ of any type – We love it with BBQ ribs we make in the crockpot.
• Roasted chicken or pork
• Stews or soups – Green pea soup and cornbread are heavenly together!
• Ham

Storing Cornbread

We sliced the cornbread and froze what we didn’t eat. When we want a slice we just pop it in the toaster. It thaws and heats the cornbread all at once.

How to make Bread Machine Cornbread

Again, this recipe uses the cake cycle of a two-pound machine.

Follow the instructions that came with your bread machine in terms of which ingredients to put in the machine first.

Select the cake setting with a light crust. If your machine doesn’t have a cake setting, use the quick bread setting.

Bread Machine Cornbread Ingredients

Note that this recipe uses the cake cycle of a two-pound machine.

• 2 eggs – lightly beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 1/4 cup bread flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup melted butter