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A slice cut out of a pan of pumpkin cornbread.

Pumpkin Cornbread

Savory-sweet and ultra-moist pumpkin cornbread is a fun and festive holiday side.
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings: 10 servings
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Calories: 250
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 ¼ cup flour or gluten-free flour
  • 1 cup cornmeal, fine or medium grind
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • ⅓ cup vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • ⅓ cup buttermilk

Method
 

  1. Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
  2. In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, pumpkin, oil, maple syrup, and buttermilk.
  3. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet, mixing just until there's no dry flour left.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.