My love for cast iron skillets is legendary. Cornbread made in said skillet? Another longtime love affair.
And a so-bad-it’s-good rhyme, pun, or alliterative alchemy? One more thing I can’t resist. Put it all together, and that’s basically my recipe for millet skillet cornbread.
Need I elaborate? It’s a universal truth that everything tastes better when cooked in a cast iron pan, and cornbread is one of the foremost examples of food elevated by this humble vessel.
You just can’t get those crispy edges, browned by the heat of sizzling bacon drippings, any other way.
(My dearly departed whalecat Harry was not so particular: he once ate the entire soft and springy middle out of a pan of jalapeño-laced cornbread that I stupidly left cooling on a rack, leaving the edges behind.)
So you’ve got undeniably perfect crispy edges, fragrant with savory bacon fat, balanced against the moist and tender crumb brought to you by the goodness of buttermilk. What could possibly make this more satisfying?
Bring the crunch of millet to this equation and you’re in for a triple treat.
If you’ve only known millet as a mushy hippie-era side dish or breakfast cereal, or as a seed that’s literally for the birds, let it showcase its snappy texture here.
A little more oversized than other seeds like sesame, flax, or chia, millet has a toasty, satisfying crunch when used as a whole, uncooked grain, adding a little pop to each bite of bread.
Because I’m a Northerner who loves to toast her cornbread and slather it with butter and honey for breakfast, I stir a touch of honey into my batter before pouring it into the skillet.
Far from making it a Jiffy-like cakey cornbread, it’s just a whisper of sweetness within the bread, a hint of caramel and clover.
Feel free to try different honey varieties, from rich chestnut or buckwheat honey to light and floral alfalfa or wildflower honey, to see which you like best.
Crumble this millet skillet cornbread for your Thanksgiving stuffing, serve it in thick wedges with your favorite chili or winter stew, or eat it with butter, honey, and jam for a morning indulgence.
Millet Skillet Cornbread
Yield: 8-10 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Millet skillet cornbread isn't just fun to say: it's a twist on classic cast iron skillet cornbread that brings an irresistible crunch to every bite.
Ingredients
1 cup (160 grams) fine yellow cornmeal
2/3 cup (80 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (50 grams) millet
1/4 cup (42 grams) stone-ground polenta or cornmeal
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons (63 grams) honey
1 large egg
4 tablespoons (57 grams) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons bacon drippings
Instructions
Place a 9- or 10-inch cast iron skillet in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Whisk the cornmeal, flour, millet, polenta, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together in a large bowl.
In a separate large bowl, stir the honey and egg together with a spatula to loosen up the honey. Stir in the buttermilk, then the melted butter until incorporated.
Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just until combined—don't overmix the cornbread batter.
When the oven has preheated for 15 minutes, carefully remove the skillet using an oven mitt.
Add the bacon drippings to the skillet and swirl until melted.
(If using a pre-divided cornbread pan, as I did for the above photos, melt the drippings and use a basting brush to coat each wedge. You'll likely have leftover batter; grease a 6- or 8-inch skillet or small ceramic baking dish with the remaining drippings and bake the remaining batter.)
Pour in the cornbread batter, smoothing the top, and return to the oven.
Bake for about 20 minutes, until the cornbread is well-browned and domed on top, and a knife or toothpick inserted into the center of the cornbread comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached.
The nutritional information above is computer-generated and only an estimate.
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It's the perfect alternative for those who need to avoid corn, and it's surprisingly easy to prepare, too. No need for flour or tricky gluten-free starches! Millet is considered to be slightly alkaline in the body, and also happens to be a source of vitamin B3, magnesium, and calcium.
The thing that distinguishes Southern cornbread from, say Yankee cornbread, or any other cornbread one is likely to eat outside of the southern states, is that it is savory, not sweet, and it is made mostly with cornmeal.
Soaking the cornmeal in buttermilk for a few hours, or even overnight, tenderizes the large grains of cornmeal, making the bread more moist and tender. This step is optional, however, and the bread is still delicious without the soaking step.
Compared to wheat, oats, and corn, millets often have higher levels of these nutrients, making them a more nutrient-dense choice. Gluten-Free: Millets are naturally gluten-free, which means they are suitable for individuals with gluten.
Millet has a mild, grassy, corn-like flavor that pairs well with both sweet and savory ingredients. It's delicious served on its own and can be used anywhere a recipe calls for couscous, bulgur, quinoa, or even brown rice.
Sugar in the cornbread interferes with the flavor of the vegetables. Don't put sugar in your cornbread! Traditional cornbread isn't sweet, but many favorite recipes have sugar in them.
It is commonly called "cornbread" in the Southern United States and is not known by a different name in this region. Cornbread is a simple bread that is made by mixing cornmeal, flour, salt, baking powder, and milk to form a batter, which is then baked in the oven.
Among them was a version of Indian bread made of cornmeal, salt and water called pone or corn pone. The name came from the Algonquin word apan, meaning "baked." The Narragansett word for cornbread, nokechick, became no-cake and then hoe-cake.
Butter adds flavor and color, while oil keeps the crumb tender and moist. Brown Sugar: We add some sugar to our cornbread and prefer to use brown sugar. The flavor combination of cornmeal and brown sugar works well. If you only have white sugar, that's okay.
Cornmeal gives cornbread its classic color and flavor, but too much can make your bread crumbly. Try replacing a little bit of cornmeal with flour. The specific measurements will depend on how much cornmeal and flour is in your recipe, but you should try to have more flour than cornmeal in your batter.
Most people put nothing but cornbread and milk in their glass, although some add chopped green onions or ramps, and others add a big pinch of salt or two big pinches of black pepper.
The slightly sweet and buttery taste of the cornbread makes the experience of eating a filling bowl of chili all the more comforting. This is the epitome of a nice home-cooked meal. A hunk of cornbread is perfect for soaking up just the right amount of liquid from the chili, making for the perfect bite with every dunk.
Millet flour is derived from millet, a group of small-seeded grasses that are grown for their edible grains. It has a mild, nutty flavor and a light, fluffy texture when used in baking. Corn flour, on the other hand, is made from dried corn kernels that have been ground into a fine powder.
There are some additional foods you can use in place of cornmeal. If you don't have any of the options above, you can consider ground oats, masa harina, bread crumbs, ground flaxseed, polenta flour, smashed cornflakes, homemade cornmeal, or hominy grits.
Corn flour— sometimes called polenta flour— is one of the best substitutes for finely ground cornmeal. The pillowy yellow powder is made from super, super finely ground corn, adding the same sweetness and flavor as standard cornmeal.
Yellow Corn grits are the best substitute for cornmeal. Cornmeal and yellow corn grits are made from the same process and ingredient, and the only difference is corn grits isn't as refined. Use the most refined yellow corn grits available for the best results.
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