Skillet Cornbread + Spicy Honey Butter

This Skillet Cornbread is cooked in a cast-iron skillet, and served with a sweet and spicy Piment d'Espelette Honey Butter!

Course Bread, Side Dish

Keyword brown sugar, butter, corn meal, eggs, flour, olive oil, Thanksgiving

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 20

Resting Time 5

Servings slices

Calories 362kcal

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

135 g AP Flour 1 cup + 2 tbsp
136 g Yellow Cornmeal 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp
99 g Granulated Sugar 1/2 cup
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt

Wet Ingredients

1 Egg at room temperature
1 Egg Yolk at room temperature
170 g Buttermilk 3/4 cup
113 g Salted Butter, Melted 8 tbsp
25 g Olive Oil 2 tbsp

Spicy Piment d'Espelette Honey Butter

57 g Salted Butter, Melted 4 tbsp
1 Tsp Piment d'Espelette see notes
21 g Honey 1 tbsp

Instructions

Before making this recipe, make sure your cast iron skillet is well-seasoned.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Coat the interior of your cast iron skillet with olive oil, wiping off any excess with a paper towel. You just want a thin layer of olive oil.
Begin by melting your butter in a medium, microwave-safe mixing bowl. Once it's melted, let it cool slightly so that it's not super hot (you don't want to curdle the eggs when you add them). Once it's cooled a bit, whisk in the room-temperature buttermilk and olive oil.
Then, add in the egg and egg yolk and whisk until that mixture is evenly combined. Set aside.
In another large mixing bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients and whisk together until evenly combined.
Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients, and mix together until totally combined.
Pour the batter into the oiled cast iron skillet, and use a spatula and smooth out the top. The texture at this point should more of a paste, not a liquid. Let the batter rest in the skillet at room temperature for 5 minutes.
Then, bake your cornbread in the oven at 400 degrees F for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs on it, when poked into the cornbread about 2 inches from the edge of the skillet.
While the cornbread is baking, make the spicy honey butter. Melt the butter and stir in the Piment d'Espelette and the honey.
When the cornbread is done, and while it's still hot from the oven, brush the spicy butter over the top.
Let the cornbread cool before cutting into slices. The best way to do this is to tilt the skillet upside down and remove the entire cornbread. From there, you can place it on a plate and cut it into slices.
Enjoy!

Notes

Be sure to use corn MEAL and not corn flour.
Do not preheat the skillet before baking!!
Baking disclaimer: From 2025 on, I will be posting ALL of my baking recipes in grams. I will still provide Imperial, volume measurements in the notes, but I HIGHLY recommend purchasing a kitchen scale. I have this one from KitchenAid (affiliate link) and it’s super, super easy to use. Baking with a scale is more accurate and much easier.
If you are opting not to use a kitchen scale, please do not ignore the additional tablespoons of certain ingredients when baking. Since baking requires precision, don't skip those units!
Piment d'Espelette is a Basque dried pepper that has a beautifully complex aroma and taste. You can get it on Amazon here (affiliate link). If you don't want to purchase it, you can use regular hot paprika, or cayenne for a spicier butter.

Nutrition

https://wellandfull.com/2025/10/skillet-cornbread-spicy-honey-butter/

Tried this recipe?Let me know @wellandfull or tag #wellandfull! :)