Sourdough discard cornbread is a delicious recipe that uses unfed sourdough discard to make a moist and buttery cornbread baked in under 30 minutes!
Best served with my easy Homemade Honey Butter Recipe, or just plain butter on top! We absolutely love it with easy crockpot turkey chili too.
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No need to wait overnight making cornbread with sourdough discard, the discards' purpose is to add flavor and keep the cornbread nice and moist! This recipe uses ½ cup. Baking powder is used as the main rising agent in the recipe, with a little help from the acidic discard, just like in my other sourdough discard recipes like Banana Sourdough Muffins.
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What To Expect
- Taste: A good balance of sweet and savory, it definitely needs a little more sugar to balance out the acidity from the discard.
- Ease: Beginner-level! Mix the wet ingredients, add the dry ingredients, then bake!
- Time: It takes less than 10 minutes to prep the sourdough cornbread batter, and about 30 minutes to bake.
🛒 Key Ingredients
- Cornmeal - I use yellow cornmeal, not to be confused with maiz or cream of wheat, which can look similar.
- Sourdough discard- I usually use cold unfed discard straight from the fridge, but active fed sourdough discard would work as well! Just make sure it's measured by weight, because when it's full of air bubbles it can measure out differently by volume.
- Milk - helps with flavor and to keep the cornbread nice and moist.
- Brown Sugar - because of the extra liquid in the recipe (discard) I opted for sugar instead of a liquid sweetener like honey. The brown sugar gives more flavor than white sugar and tastes delicious.
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
✏️ Substitutions & Variations
- You can replace half of the milk with sour cream, plant based milk, or plain greek yogurt, like in my Honey Butter Cornbread, which is also nice and moist!
- Brown Sugar - can be switched with honey or pure maple syrup.
🧑🍳 Instructions
- Step 1. In a mixing bowl, whisk together milk, sourdough discard, eggs, and melted butter.
- Step 2. Add in the brown sugar and mix well.
- Step 3. On top of the wet ingredients add cornmeal, flour, salt, and baking powder.
- Step 4. Mix until combined, all flour pockets should be gone. Don't overmix. Transfer to prepared 9x9 inch baking dish.
- Step 5. Make sure batter is smoothed on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
📌 Top Tips & Hacks
- Line your baking dish with parchment paper for easy cleanup.
- Bake on a middle or higher shelf so the bottom of the cornbread doesn't get too brown, sometimes baking at a high temp can caramelize the sugar in the batter in darker pans so baking on a higher shelf helps!
- Weigh your ingredients! It's always easier to get more consistent results with a kitchen scale.
❓Frequently Asked Questions
It is possible to feed starter with gluten-free flours and ferment cornmeal, although I have not tried it. Discard or starter can definitely be used in recipes with another flour however.
Room temperature: 3 days in an airtight container.
Frozen: 3 months in a freezer safe container.
Yes! It's easy to substitute the sweetener with honey, coconut sugar, or even pure maple syrup.
Yes! Make sure to bake in a 9x13 inch pan at 375℉ for 50-55 minutes, making sure to test for doneness with an inserted toothpick and making sure it comes out clean.
🥣 More Sourdough Discard Recipes
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📝 Printable Recipe
Sourdough Discard Cornbread
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups milk 295 mL
- ½ cup fed or unfed sourdough discard 135 g
- 2 large eggs
- ⅓ cup melted butter 80 g
- ½ cup brown sugar 105 g
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal 155 g
- 1½ cups all purpose flour 200 g
- ½ teaspoon salt 4 g
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder 14 g
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 ℉ and prepare a 9x9 inch baking dish with baking spray or parchment paper.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together milk, sourdough discard, eggs, and melted butter.
- Add in the brown sugar and mix well.
- On top of the wet ingredients add cornmeal, flour, salt, and baking powder.
- Mix until combined, all flour pockets should be gone. Don't overmix.
- Transfer to baking pan and smooth out. Bake for 20-25 minutes until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Notes
Nutrition
Hi, I'm Sara!
Registered Nurse by day, food blogger by weekend. Perfect dip tester & snack quester. I love short walks on the beach and long naps. Sharing my love for food, one bite at a time.
Sara says
We LOVE this cornbread. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do! Please leave a comment here and share your feedback with a star rating. I really enjoyed creating this recipe and post for you!