Best homemade Southern cornbread recipe without sugar (2024)

FAQs

Is cornbread good without sugar? ›

"You put sugar in the cornmeal because you are not working with brix corn," Roberts says, using the trade term for sugar content. "There's no reason to add sugar if you have good corn."

For best results here, use a high-quality, fresh stone-ground cornmeal, such as from Anson Mills, Old Mill of Guilford, or Nora Mill; these cornmeals do not need additional sugar. If you use a more mass-market source, consider adding the optional sugar to help balance the flavor.

Sugar Is Optional

The choice is yours as to whether or not to include it. (See this excellent article from Serious Eats on why traditional southern cornbread does not include sugar.)

The most common theory is a change in cornmeal itself. Until early in the 20th century, Southern cornmeal was made with sweeter white corn and it was water-ground. When industrial milling came along, that changed. The steel-roller mills used yellow corn that was harvested before it was ripe, so it had less sugar.

If you use one of the stone-ground varieties of cornmeal, you can omit the sugar. But if you use the more common finely-ground cornmeal, adding sugar will help attain the flavor of stone-ground cornmeal.

Without sugar, moisture evaporates from bread during baking, creating a drier loaf. The more sugar you cut from a sweet yeast bread recipe, the more you'll notice this effect. But omit the 2 tablespoons of sugar in your sandwich bread recipe, and the change in moisture level is subtle at most.

Northern cornbread isn't very sweet and is made with fewer eggs and yellow cornmeal to achieve a crumbly texture. Southern-style cornbread can be made with white or yellow cornmeal, has a buttery finish and calls for more eggs, which produces a cakelike texture.

In contrast to the dryer, less-sweet nature of Southern cornbread, Northern cornbread is much more cakey and sweet. Indeed, colonial Americans made their cornbread with molasses to sweeten it. Also, Northern cornbread sometimes uses milk rather than buttermilk.

For people who prefer cornbread without much sugar: Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix.

Ingredients. WHEAT FLOUR, DEGERMED YELLOW CORN MEAL, SUGAR, LARD (HYDROGENATED LARD, BHT AND CITRIC ACID PRESERVATIVES), CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF: BAKING SODA, TRICALCIUM PHOSPHATE, SODIUM ACID PYROPHOSPHATE, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE, SALT, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID, WHEAT STARCH.

How do you take the sweetness out of cornbread? ›

Most cornbread mixes are far too sweet for my taste, but the first ingredient should always be either white or yellow cornmeal, not suger. You might try substituting half the mix with cornmeal, and adding half a teaspoon of baking powder to make up for what's lost.

The exact nutritional profile of cornbread can vary depending on the specific recipe and ingredients used. However, cornbread generally contains high amounts of carbs, phosphorus, and sodium in each serving. One piece of cornbread prepared from a commercially prepared mix contains ( 2 ): Calories: 198.

Can corn raise blood sugar? Yes, corn will raise your blood sugar because it contains carbohydrates. However, it has a low glycemic index and is a good source of fiber. Pairing it with foods rich in fiber, protein, and fat can help reduce the rate at which your blood sugars rise and promote blood sugar management.

Too Much Flour

The big lesson here: too much of any ingredient can make your bread not rise—even flour. Too much flour can make your dough stiff and dry. And we all know what happens if there's not enough liquid for the yeast to use: It doesn't work how it should.

Cornbread is a quick bread usually made using cornmeal, flour, vegetable oil, baking powder, and eggs. Although it's relatively high in carbs and sodium, it contains several important nutrients, including phosphorus, selenium, and B vitamins.

Cornbread is a low-fat option.

While some types of bread can be high in fat, cornbread is generally a low-fat option. One slice of cornbread has around 6 grams of fat, less than half the amount in one slice of white bread. The fat content can be even lower when made with skim milk and low-fat butter.