Active Time
10 minutes
Total Time
30 minutes
Back in 2018, former BA food editor Molly Baz sent a reference photo for her corn muffin recipe to her team, as planned—and to all 2,600 employees at Condé Nast. “The crowds went wild,” Molly explains. We get it. These cornbread muffins are packed with sweet, juicy corn kernels. Per Molly, they’re “so delicious, so corny, so hot and steamy, [and] buttery.” Aside from sending a low-res photo to over 2,000 strangers, what’s not to love?
The muffins get a double hit of corn flavor and texture from a mix of stone-ground cornmeal (white or yellow cornmeal is fine) and fresh corn (you can also use frozen corn; don’t thaw it first). Stone-ground cornmeal retains some of its germ and hull, giving it the muffins a more dynamic texture and robust flavor. A little all-purpose flour, leavener, and a fair amount of melted butter keep the crumb tender.
Seasoned with lots of black pepper, these corn muffins are a perfect side dish for holidays like Thanksgiving or a summer BBQ. For breakfast, slather them with honey butter (blend 2 sticks room temperature butter with honey to taste). You can make the muffins a day in advance, but you will need a lot of willpower.
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What you’ll need
Muffin Pan
$10 $9 At Amazon
Whisk
$10 At Amazon
Wooden Spoon
$7 At Amazon
Large Bowl
$18 At Amazon
Wire Rack
$23 At BA Market
Ingredients
Makes 12
1½
1¼
¼
2½
¾
2¼
1½
2
2
¾
⅔
½
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat oven to 400°. Generously coat a standard 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Step 2
Whisk 1½ cups (188 g) all-purpose flour, 1¼ cups (173 g) medium- or fine-grind cornmeal, ¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp. (75 g) sugar, 2½ tsp. baking powder, ¾ tsp. baking soda, 2¼ tsp. Diamond Crystal or 1½ tsp. Morton kosher salt, and 1½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper in a large bowl. Stir in 1½ cups fresh corn kernels.
Step 3
Lightly whisk 2 large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk and egg yolk in a medium bowl, then whisk in ¾ cup sour cream, ⅔ cup whole milk, and ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled.
Step 4
Create a well in the center of dry ingredients. Pour wet ingredients into well and stir with a wooden spoon until batter is just combined. Divide batter among prepared muffin cups. Top with remaining ½ cup fresh corn kernels, then sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
Step 5
Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until muffin tops are golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 18–20 minutes. Let cool slightly in pan. Transfer muffins to a wire rack and eat while warm or let cool completely.
Do ahead: Muffins can be made 1 day ahead. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Editor’s note: This corn muffin recipe was first printed in June 2018 as ‘Extra-Corny Cornbread Muffins.’ Head this way for a Southern-style buttermilk cornbread recipe →
Leave a Review
Reviews (64)
Back to TopI know it's annoying when people leave reviews that include mods, but hear me out; I was low on cornmeal and had to sub in a half cup of maseca, and the low-key arepa flavor worked really, really well. I will make these again as-is, but a little maseca might be the move.
Jessamin
Raleigh, NC
10/29/2023
This is my go-to cornbread recipe for having some real flavor and not being too sweet. However! You have to remember that bon appetite uses diamond crystal kosher salt, if you use other brands, e.g. Mortons it will be significantly saltier (~2x as salty)
Brandon
3/31/2023
Portions were accurate but this recipe was way too salty & too spicy for my liking & I didn’t even add the extra topping of salt. I like my corn muffins/corn bread on the sweeter side. They looked so good in the recipe but I was highly disappointed. This recipe could have been fine without the salt or pepper but I will not try either version in the future.
Anonymous
1/23/2023
Very very good. Just polished one off straight from the oven. I used frozen corn and passed on the flakey sea salt at the end as I used salted butter. Perfect with tonight’s chili.
Beth L.
Barrie, ON Canada
11/2/2022
These were SO easy, delicious and fast. I used frozen white corn because it wasn’t in season and they were perfect. Those that say they were too salty were likely using poor quality iodized or other than Diamond Kosher, they were PERFECT, and the corn doesn’t fall off ether if your batter is as instructed it’s “wet” enough that they cradle on the top layer but are not loose. ❤️
G
Los Angeles, CA
6/21/2022
Excellent. Great with dinner; I also enjoy them for breakfast. Wonderful way to use all the fresh corn during the summer season.
Anonymous
Maryland
8/4/2021
Turn out so well. Everybody loves it. I followed the recipe with reduced salt. Great tasty corny muffin.
Anonymous
Singapore
6/2/2021
I love these! The corn kernels are a nice touch.
Steve901
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
5/10/2021
WAY TOO SALTY! I love salt and tend to over salt my food. This is absurdly salty and I did not even add the salt on top. Additionally, the corn on top, push it into the dough or it just gets dried up and falls of the minute you touch the muffin. I used honey and only half the amount so the sweetness was perfect. The muffins are moist and rustic. I think they would be really good if it wasn't inedible because of the salt - so disappointed. BEWARE - very very thick batter - but don't worry comes out perfect texture.
The Skinny Coach
Venice Beach, California
12/24/2020
These are GREAT!!! I followed the recipe exactly and it produced a wonderfully corny muffin. They were satisfying for breakfast (I made these early on a Sunday morning) and also later in the day with green chili. Try these. You won't be sorry!
Timothy Oliver
Ohio
10/25/2020
So good! Subbed buttermilk for milk and whole fat Greek yogurt for sour cream and it came out great. Made 12 muffins (used paper liners so maybe a bit smaller than they would’ve been going straight into the tin) plus a mini loaf which I baked for an additional 8 minutes. Delicious!
Anonymous
Phoenix
8/9/2020
extremely delicious, solved my cornbread cravings in a pinch. subbed whole milk greek yogurt for sourcream, and i used Bob's Red Mill Stoneground Corn Flour in place of cornmeal. the corn flour is apparently a much finer blend, and it produced an extremely moist, tender crumb which a distinctively nutty corn taste. added a splash of lemon juice into the whole milk to mimic buttermilk. also added a tonnnn of black pepper as per molly's recco in the video recipe and i think it paid off. LOVE THIS RECIPE! 10/10.
niccsux
Singapore
7/16/2020
First of all: These are really nice. A bit too sweet for my taste but still nice. Btw, I ate them with home-made parsley-garlic butter and it was delicious! Adressing a couple of issues mentioned in other posts, plus a couple of tips: 1. "Regular" rock salt is a lot stronger than kosher salt, so only use about half (1 1/8tsp). That was the perfect amount for me. 2. I used a little bit less pepper because I ran out (about 1-1.25 teaspoon) and it wasn't too much. 3. For every German out there: Use type 550 flour, which should be similar to the US AP flour. The result was a bit more "liquid-ey" than what's shown in the video and I baked the muffins a bit longer (22-23 minutes in total) but they still turned out great. 4. I used an normal-sized ice cream scoop, which gave me exactly 16 muffins but either my muffin trays are too small or my scoop's too big: The muffins "merged". Next time I'm going to leave a gap at the top (maybe about 1/4"). 5. Cooking spray isn't sold at my regular store, so I brushed the muffin trays with cooking oil. Never again, they stuck really bad! Next time I'm going to use my silicone muffin cups (without muffin trays) or paper cups (with muffin trays) again!
Anonymous
7/10/2020
I didn’t have any sour cream and didn’t want to make a trip to the grocery store for 1 item so I subbed with canned coconut cream. Because the consistency of the coconut cream is thinner than sour cream, the muffins didn’t rise up as much as the BA video. However, it was still delicious, crunchy, crumbly and I loved how the coconut cream added a nice aroma. I’d probably cut down on the milk next time id I decide to swap coconut cream for sour cream. Otherwise, delicious!
Anonymous
Bay Area
6/8/2020
I used to think those free Boston Market cornbreads were the GOAT, but this is a TOTAL upgradee <3
kristenlovesbroccoli
New York City
3/18/2020