Pumpkin Cornbread
Savory-sweet, ultra-moist pumpkin cornbread is a fun and festive holiday side! Serve it warm and buttered, tuck it into stuffing, or add it to the table anytime you make soup, chili, or stew.
Cornbread is such an easy, classic bake that's always welcome on the holiday table! Amp up the festive vibe this year and make pumpkin cornbread. Lightly sweetened with a touch of maple syrup and beautifully moist from a combination of pure pumpkin and buttermilk, this tender, flavorful quick bread will disappear fast.
I love this cornbread cut into thick wedges and drizzled with melted butter and maple syrup, either at Thanksgiving or on a casual weeknight. Lovely with bowls of hearty broccoli soup or vegetarian white bean chili.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
Baking pumpkin with cornbread in a cast-iron skillet gives it a beautiful crust that makes this version stand out from the crowd. And, the batter comes together in just a couple of minutes. Here's why you'll love this pumpkin cornbread recipe:
- Quick. Two bowls, a whisk, and less than 5 minutes are all that's needed to put this recipe together.
- Beginner-friendly. Cornbread is a reliable beginner recipe because it's almost impossible to mess it up! Assign this one to your kids on Thanksgiving to get them involved in making the meal.
- Versatile. Pumpkin cornbread is fantastic on its own with a little butter or place it in the bottom of a bowl and pile it high with steaming hot chili. I also love it dipped into a serving of my zucchini soup recipe when the weather begins to turn cool.
Ingredient Notes
If you have a can of pumpkin in the pantry, you can make cornbread with pumpkin today! I've outlined what you'll need below, and the full ingredient amounts and instructions are in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- Flour - Your choice of flour here, from all-purpose flour, whole wheat pastry flour, to gluten-free flour.
- Cornmeal - Use a fine or medium grind cornmeal (it will tell you on the package) rather than a coarse grind or polenta.
- Baking powder
- Sea salt - I like fine sea salt in my cooking, and table salt works too.
- Granulated sugar - For a touch of sweetness, granulated sugar is perfect.
- Eggs - Large eggs at room temperature seamlessly blend into the batter.
- Pumpkin purée - Make sure to use pure pumpkin puree rather than pumpkin pie filling, which contains extra additives and sweeteners.
- Vegetable oil - Or use another neutral oil of choice.
- Maple syrup - I love a little maple syrup for a cozy flavor paired with the pumpkin! If you don't have maple syrup you can use brown sugar.
- Buttermilk - Make an easy buttermilk substitute by adding 2 teaspoons of vinegar to ½ cup milk and letting it stand for 5 minutes. Then measure out the ⅓ cup you need for this recipe.
Variations to Try
- Honey - I love sweetening cornbread with honey. Use ⅓ cup of honey in place of the granulated sugar here.
- Add spices - Add ½-1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, or pumpkin pie spice to the batter. Or, add ¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper for a kick of heat.
- Fresh corn - Corn kernels add a nice textural contrast to pumpkin cornbread! You can use ½ cup (or more if you like) of fresh or frozen corn in this recipe. If you use frozen corn, just add it straight to the batter - no need to defrost.
- Make it more savory - Omit the sugar and maple syrup, and add just 1 tablespoon of honey or maple syrup. This will result in a more savory, less cakey pumpkin cornbread.
How to Make Pumpkin Cornbread
Whisk, combine, and bake - this is the easiest recipe ever.
- Combine dry ingredients: Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
- Combine wet ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin, oil, maple syrup, and buttermilk.
- Make the batter: Add the dry mix int the wet mix. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet, mixing just until there's no dry flour left.
- Heat pan: Place a cast-iron skillet in the oven and preheat it to 375°F. When the oven is ready, carefully pull out the skillet and spray it with nonstick cooking spray or grease it with a little oil or butter. Very carefully transfer the batter to the hot skillet. (See notes below about baking in a baking pan.)
- Bake: Bake the cornbread for 30-35 minutes until a tester comes out clean, then cool in the pan until cool enough to cut and serve.
Tip: Don't Overbake
Make sure not to overbake the cornbread! While the buttermilk and pumpkin virtually guarantee that the cornbread will turn out beautifully moist, you still want to be careful not to let it cook too long, as it could dry out. Check the cornbread at 30 minutes with a tester and check again in 1-minute increments if it doesn't seem fully baked, then pull it immediately.
Substitution Suggestions & Tips
If you don't want to deal with using a hot cast-iron pan, you can easily bake the cornbread in a regular 8x8 baking pan. Here are a few other helpful hints:
- Bake it in a regular pan. If you would rather bake cornbread with pumpkin in a regular baking pan, go right ahead. Lightly grease an 8x8-inch baking pan or 8-inch round cake pan and line it with parchment. Pour in the batter, smooth the top, then rest the batter while the oven heats, and continue with the recipe as written.
- Make it dairy-free. Use non-dairy milk + vinegar for a non-dairy version of buttermilk you can easily swap in to make this pumpkin cornbread dairy-free.
- Vegan. Use non-dairy milk and leave out the eggs. Pumpkin, like bananas, works wonderfully in baked goods as a binder, so chances are you won't notice the lack of eggs.
- Other grinds of cornmeal. See my notes below. You may wish to let the batter hydrate a bit longer if you are using a coarser grind.
- Make muffins. If you like, divide the pumpkin cornbread batter equally between a 12-cup muffin tin and bake as muffins for about 20-25 minutes.
What Kind of Cornmeal Should I Use?
In the baking aisle, you will often have a few types of cornmeal to choose from. I prefer to use fine to medium-grind cornmeal in this recipe. However, if you like a more textured or homey cornbread, you can try a coarser grind of cornmeal.
Note that cornmeal can be made from white or yellow corn. (I buy Bob's Red Mill cornmeal made from yellow corn.) Here are the most commonly found cornmeal grinds and how they will affect your bakes:
- Fine grind - This is closer to a traditional flour, and is quite soft and fine. Produces a more cake-like, fluffy cornbread.
- Medium grind - Slightly more gritty than fine grind, medium cornmeal adds a bit more texture to pumpkin cornbread.
- Coarse grind/Polenta - This is a rougher grind of cornmeal, typically used for polenta or porridge. Cornbread made with coarse-ground cornmeal may be crunchy and more rustic.
Serving Options
- With gravy - Serve pumpkin cornbread drizzled with vegetarian gravy.
- Alongside veggies - A bowl of roasted cauliflower served with pumpkin cornbread is delicious.
- With soup - Serve gluten free pumpkin cornbread with butternut squash soup or sweet potato and coconut soup for a festive fall dinner.
Proper Storage
- Counter - Cover the pan of cornbread tightly with foil or transfer it to an airtight container and keep it on the counter up to 3 days.
- Fridge - Store the covered cornbread or container of cornbread in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- Freezer - I prefer to eat pumpkin cornbread when it's fresh, but you can get a jump on your holiday baking and freeze it until you're ready to eat it. Remove the baked, cooled cornbread from the pan, wrap it in plastic, then place it in a freezer-safe bag and store it in the freezer for up to 3 months. Defrost the cornbread in the fridge before serving.
If you tried this recipe, please let me know how it went in the comments below! And I always appreciate a star rating if you loved it ❤️
Recipe
Pumpkin Cornbread
Ingredients
Method
- Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
- In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, pumpkin, oil, maple syrup, and buttermilk.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet, mixing just until there's no dry flour left.
- Place a cast iron skillet in the oven and preheat it to 375℉. When the oven is ready, carefully pull out the skillet and spray it with nonstick cooking spray or grease it with a little oil or butter. Very carefully transfer the batter into the hot skillet and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.
- Bake the cornbread for 30-35 minutes until a tester comes out clean. Cool it in the pan, then turn it out to a plate and cut it into wedges, or slice and serve the cornbread directly from the skillet.
Notes
- Bake it in a pan. If you would rather bake cornbread with pumpkin in a regular baking pan, go right ahead. Lightly grease an 8x8-inch baking pan or 8-inch round cake pan and line it with parchment. Pour in the batter, smooth the top, then rest the batter while the oven heats and continue with the recipe as written.
- Make it dairy-free. Use non-dairy milk + vinegar for a non-dairy version of buttermilk you can easily swap in to make this pumpkin cornbread dairy-free.
- Vegan. Use non-dairy milk and leave out the eggs. Pumpkin, like bananas, works wonderfully in baked goods as a binder so chances are you won't notice the lack of eggs.
- Other grinds of cornmeal. See my notes below. You may wish to let the batter hydrate a bit longer if you are using a coarser grind.
- Use it in holiday stuffing or dressing. Make an extra-flavorful batch of gluten free stuffing this year with gluten free pumpkin cornbread as your bready base. Make double the batch if you're serving a crowd and turn it into a delicious pan of stuffing along with nuts, dried fruit, and more.
