My smoked cornbread is tender and sweet with a subtle smoky taste, perfected by a drizzle of homemade hot honey butter! Go ahead and add it to your summer cookout menu or al fresco dinner. I promise it will elevate every meal.
And if you enjoy this recipe, you'll love my easy sweet potato cornbread, too!
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Featured Reader Review
★★★★★
"I made my husband fire up the smoker in the cold to try this cornbread and OMG it was worth it. And that hot honey butter is criminally good. Thank you thank you!"
-Claire
❤️ Why You'll Love this Recipe
Quick and Easy - It's just like baking cornbread in the oven, and I love that this smoked skillet cornbread keeps the house from getting hot during brutal summer months. Just preheat, mix, bake, and enjoy!
Layers of Flavor - My southern honey cornbread from scratch is the base for this recipe, so you'll taste notes of that golden flavor with a hint of molasses. Then the notes of your smoking wood (I like to use pecan wood pellets in my Traeger) or charcoal get infused into each bite. Finally, sweet, spicy, salty, rich notes of the hot honey butter.
👉🏾 In the iconic words of Oprah, I love bread. If you do, too, check out my cheesy cornbread drop biscuits, fluffy buttermilk biscuits,soft yeast bread dinner rolls, Nigerian agege bread, and seafood cornbread dressing (made with Jiffy cornbread mix) next!
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What You'll Need for this Recipe
Yellow Cornmeal provides that classic cornbread texture, flavor, and structure we know and love. Use yellow cornmeal for color and a more noticeably sweet corn flavor compared to white cornmeal.
Buttermilk activates the rising agents for nice fluffy pieces and gives the cornbread a soft and tender crumb, so it nearly melts in your mouth. If you don't have buttermilk, just add a spoonful of acid (lemon juice or vinegar) to regular milk and stir!
Hot Sauce is what sets off the hot honey butter that takes this bread over the top. Use whichever brand you prefer, including Louisiana Brand, Crystal, Tabasco, or even Sriracha.
Check out the recipe card below for full ingredients list, measurements, nutrition facts, and step-by-step instructions!
Substitutions & Variations
Shape - This pellet smoker cornbread recipe makes a 12-inch round of cornbread, but you can instead use a large loaf pan or a 12-count cupcake pan to make muffins.
Baked - Just about anything you'd cook in the smoker can go in the oven and vice versa. So if you don't have a grill, you can bake this instead, and it will still be a solid cornbread.
Vegan - Use plant-based milk, butter, and egg products and replace the honey with maple syrup or your favorite vegan-friendly sweetener to make your smoked sweet cornbread vegan.
How to Smoke Cornbread
- Step 1: Whisk together the dry ingredients.
- Step 2: Mix the brown sugar and wet ingredients until uniform.
- Step 3: Combine the wet and dry mixes into a batter, then pour into hot skillet and close smoker.
- Step 4: Meanwhile, mix up the hot sauce, butter, honey, and salt until uniform and smooth.
Pro Tip #1
Adding the cornbread batter to a hot skillet is what creates beautifully crispy edges!
- Step 5: Remove cornbread from smoker once golden brown and cooked through.
- Step 6: Cut into squares and serve with hot honey butter.
Frequently Asked Questions
Store the cornbread at room temperature for up to three days, then in an airtight container in the fridge beyond that. It can keep for up to seven days in total. Store the hot honey butter in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
Cool the cornbread to room temperature, then wrap in freezer paper, aluminum foil, or plastic wrap and place into an airtight, freezer-safe container. The hot honey butter will keep for up to three months in the freezer.
How to Serve
The best smoked cornbread recipe is best served warm, while the hot honey butter is warm, too.
Celebratory Moments: Add my smoked cornbread recipe to your Soul Food Sunday dinner menu or pair it with braised collard greens and southern black eyed peas for a twist on your traditional New Year's Day meal. And you might as well throw this on the grill for the Black family cookout!
Weeknight Dinners: On a regular ol' weeknight, smoky hot honey butter cornbread is just perfect for sopping up chicken and sausage gumbo, creamy sweet potato soup, or smothered okra and tomatoes.
More Favorite Smoky Recipes
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
I hope you'll enjoy this smoked cast iron cornbread soon and very soon--and don't forget a generous drench of hot honey butter. And sharing is caring, so be sure to pin this recipe for later and follow me over on Pinterest. Thanks for reading!
📖 Recipe
Smoked Cornbread with Hot Honey Butter
Equipment
- 1 smoker grill pellet, wood-burning, or charcoal
- 1 whisk
- 1 silicone spatula or kitchen spoon
Ingredients
For the Cornbread
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter divided, with 6 tablespoons melted
- 1 ½ cup yellow cornmeal
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ tablespoon baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3 eggs
- 1 ½ cup buttermilk
- ½ cup honey
- ½ cup brown sugar
Instructions
- Prepare the Tools: Preheat the smoker to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Add two tablespoons of butter to skillet and place in smoker to melt.2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Make the Cornbread Batter: Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.1 ½ cup yellow cornmeal, 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour, 1 ½ tablespoon baking powder, 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda, 1 ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- In another bowl, beat the eggs then stir in the buttermilk, honey, brown sugar, and six tablespoons melted butter until uniform. Fold the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir until just combined into a batter, then carefully pour it into the hot buttered skillet while still in the smoker.3 eggs, 1 ½ cup buttermilk, ½ cup honey, ½ cup brown sugar, 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Smoke the Cornbread: Close the smoker lid and bake for about 20 minutes or until cornbread is golden brown and cooked through. To test for doneness, insert a toothpick into the center of the cornbread. If it comes out with batter on it, the cornbread is undercooked.
- Make the Hot Honey Butter: In a mixing bowl, stir together the melted butter, honey, hot sauce, and salt until smooth and uniform (about 1 minute). Serve with warm cornbread.¼ cup unsalted butter, ¼ cup honey, 2-3 tablespoons hot sauce, 1 pinch salt
Claire says
I made my husband fire up the smoker in the cold to try this cornbread and OMG it was worth it. And that hot honey butter is criminally good. Thank you thank you!
Jazzmine Woodard says
Lol, yes! This cornbread is out of this world--totally worth firing up the smoker any time. Thanks, Claire.