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Cornbread makes my face turn into that heart-eyed emoji that I use like every single day of my life to express myself. I sort of wish I could write a whole blog post in emojis because today is one of those days when I feel like I have nothing to say. Do you have those days? When youโre sort of like, hereโs a recipe for such and such BYEEEE!
This week has been hot hot in Los Angeles and Iโve been avoiding my oven like the plague. The only that that could even remotely tempt me is this cornbread because itโs more like cake than bread. And Iโm not mad about that.
Hatch Chile Cornbread
I know southerners are super finnicky about their cornbread but I like mine this way: a little sweet, a little spicy and soft. I like to use corn flour over corn meal. Itโs more fluffy and soft. If you canโt find corn flour, by all means, use cornmealโitโll work. Iโve been searching for a recipe for cornbread thatโs more cake like and when I found this one, I figured it would probably need a ton of work, but itโs kind of perfect.
I added the charred hatch chiles and served it with maple syrup and a large pat of butter. Itโs near perfect.
Every single year I wait for hatch chiles. Thereโs a grocery store here in Los Angeles that always roasts them right in the front and it always makes me want to buy a million.
I bought the spicy ones (my grocery store labeled them medium and spicy). I canโt think of a better application other than maybe this macaroni and cheese I posted a few years back.
This weekend Iโm actually posting one of my monthly round-ups that Iโve recently abandoned, so check back for that! I have lots of random things to say!
Hatch Chile Cornbread
Equipment
- 4 (4-inch) cast-iron skillets or 1 (10-inch) skillet
- 1 chef knife
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 medium skillet
Ingredients
- 3 hatch chiles
- 1 cup corn flour or corn meal
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, plus a few tablespoons more for serving
- 2/3 cup white sugar
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 large eggs
- Maple syrup, for serving
Instructions
- Place the hatch chiles on the grates of your gas range and turn the heat to high. Rotate the chiles until theyโre evenly charred on all sides. Immediately transfer them to a cutting board and using the blade of a knife, scrape the charred skins off of the peppers. Slice open the peppers and discard the seeds. Dice the softened peppers and set them aside. Beware that these are spicy so donโt rub your eyes!
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. I used four 4-inch cast iron skillets but a 10-inch would work just as well. Grease whatever skillet(s) youโre using with cooking spray or oil.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the corn flour (or cornmeal if using), all-purpose flour, salt and baking soda.
- In a medium skillet, set over medium heat, melt the butter. Once melted turn off the heat and stir in the sugar. Pour in the buttermilk and crack in the eggs and beat until well combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir. The batter will resemble a very wet pancake batter. A few lumps are totally fine and good! Fold in the chopped hatch chiles. Pour the batter into the prepared cast iron skillets or cast iron skillet.
- Transfer to the oven and bake for 17 to 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. A heads up: if youโre using a big cast iron skillet, the baking time will be longer, about 30 to 35 minutes. Slice it up and serve with butter and a drizzling of maple syrup.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
made this last night but swapped out hatch for a different type of chile. made the maple butter. slathered it on top. I AM OBSESSED. sweet and spicy and cakey and perfect!
LOVE!
Made this cornbread over the weekend and it was incredible!! I halved the sugar and doubled the hatch chiles, so good! ๐ and just a little fyi, there’s a tiny typo in the ingredients list at the end, it lists the eggs and maple syrup twice.
Thanks for the recipe, Adrianna!
Just made this cornbread today for dinner (I paired it with some home made chili) it was AMAZING!! This recipe got me to get my late mother-in-law’s old iron skillet cured and ready, I like to think that her cooking spirit is on that iron skillet ๐ ๐ This cornbread was the first thing I have ever cooked on an iron skillet and it was delicious and just super amazing!! ๐ ๐ Thank you so much for this recipe!! ๐ ๐
This is so so special. Thank you so much for choosing my recipe. I’m really flattered and even more happy that it turned out amazingly. xoxo
Having lived in New Mexico (land of Hatch green chile) I thought you might like to hear how most people handle their chile after having charred it. Put them in a brown paper bag and let the chiles cool off in the bag. When you pull them out the skin comes off quite easily with just your fingers and you don’t have to handle hot peppers. I think you will be impressed with the results.
I’ve done it your way before! But for me I don’t see much of a difference. I used to put them in a ziploc and allow them to steam but found that it took the same force (which isn’t a lot) if they just cooled on a cutting board and then were scraped off with a knife. And this way I don’t have to touch hot peppers!