While homemade cornbread is excellent, let us be the first to tell you that you do not have to make everything from scratch — especially for major cooking holidays like Thanksgiving. In fact, there are so many pre-made cornbread mixes on the market these days that one could say that we’re in the golden age of wonderfully golden, fluffy store-bought cornbread.
Of course, quantity does not always equal quality. To figure out which ones are worth adding to your shopping list (and dinner table), we spent an afternoon tasting as many store-bought cornbreads as we could.
There are a lot of different taste preferences out there when it comes to cornbread (team sweet vs. savory, moist, has a good crumb, etc.), so that’s why we recruited a team of nine testers to spend the afternoon tasting as many cornbread brands as we could (with water breaks!).
For this test, we sourced a variety of name-brand mixes based on popularity, availability, and price. We also requested input from our editorial team to round out the list of eight competitors. The brands ranged in price from $1 all the way up to $6, although most were around $3 at the time of this tasting.
In the end, one cornbread mix reigned supreme with its golden crust and strong corn flavor (spoiler alert: It wasn’t Jiffy!).
Best Cornbread: Fleischmann’s Simply Homemade Cornbread
If you’re looking for a showstopping cornbread that looks and tastes great, keep a box of Fleischmann’s Simply Homemade Cornbread mix in your pantry. Our tasters were equally impressed with its “golden crust” and “lightly sweet corn flavor” (both comments attributed to Nikol, our shopping writer). It wasn’t just Nikol who adored this cornbread; almost every single one of our testers put this as their top pick, including Greg, our people operations manager, who noted its “sweet but not too sweet taste and moist crumb.”
This cornbread does lean on the sweeter side, but we think that just makes it all the better to pair with a savory beef chili or Thanksgiving spread. We’re also thrilled that our top pick also came out to be the cheapest option ($0.12 per ounce!), which just sweetens the deal.
Runner-Up: Bob’s Red Mill Golden Cornbread Mix
Yes, Fleischmann’s Simply Homemade Cornbread snagged our top spot, but that doesn’t mean our testers weren’t totally smitten with the Bob’s Red Mill Golden Cornbread Mix. “This is exactly what I look for in a great cornbread,” wrote Ali, our associate groceries editor. Its “tall appearance, almost buttery flavor, and moist texture” made her “want to eat the entire pan.” (She did not.) That’s precisely why it was the runner-up.
Tamieka, Apartment Therapy’s editorial assistant, especially loved this mix, in part because it “reminds [her] of her mom’s [cornbread].” She also praised the crumb’s great consistency and the balance of flavors overall.
With so much excitement behind the brand, why didn’t it take the top spot? Ultimately, tests like these highlight how subjective taste can be. While some tasters reveled in its moist texture, others, like Greg, found it to be a bit too moist. Go figure! All in all, it’s a great option.
Honorable Mention: Duncan Hines Dolly Parton Sweet Cornbread & Muffin Mix
We’re big fans of Dolly Parton’s collaborations with Duncan Hines, so it wasn’t that big of a surprise that our team enjoyed her Duncan Hines Dolly Parton Sweet Cornbread & Muffin Mix. Just like Dolly, this cornbread wasn’t just golden yellow — in Ali’s words, “it glimmered.” Ali was among the testers who rated this mix really high for its “strong corn flavor and moist texture.”
It reminded Tamieka (who did enjoy this cornbread) of a “freshly baked cake,” which contributed to why it didn’t get higher marks overall (too dessert-like). Mara, our senior groceries editor, agreed that “it’s on the sweeter side” and would make an excellent dessert “dressed with a drizzle of warm honey butter.” YUM!
Honorable Mention: Famous Dave’s Original Recipe Corn Bread Mix
If you like your cornbread extra sweet, then the Famous Dave’s Original Recipe Corn Bread Mix is the one for you. Our testers were split on this one, and it entirely had to do with the level of sweetness. Some, like Ali, admired how its delicate sweetness “complemented the corn flavor,” whereas other testers like Mara found that the same sweetness “overpowered the corn flavor.” Other folks, like Nikol, really liked this cornbread’s “crumbly, but fluffy” crumb.
The rest of our team was 50/50 on whether it was too sweet or had just enough sugar, so grab a box and taste for yourself — and then let us know what you think!
Honorable Mention: Betty Crocker Pouch Cornbread & Muffin Mix
Micki, our commerce writer, was among the testers who really loved the Betty Crocker Pouch Cornbread & Muffin Mix — so much so that it warranted a shoutout. She gushed over its “subtle corn flavor and moist crumb,” emphasizing how much she appreciated its texture — her top priority for a good cornbread.
On the other hand, some testers, like Chanel, our director of product design, felt that it was entirely lacking in the color, texture, and corn flavor department. Overall, we think it’s a great cornbread for any spread, but may need a smear of butter to truly let it shine. The rest of the mixes are double the size of Betty Crocker’s, which is important to note if you’re cooking for a crowd.
How We Tested the Cornbread Mixes
We gathered nine staff members to randomly taste eight different popular cornbreads sold at grocery retailers today. Ola, our culinary assistant, baked each cornbread the day before the taste test, according to their package instructions. The next day, she sliced each completely cooled cornbread into squares and assigned it a letter from A through H — to conceal the brand’s identity. As a palate refresher, we also had a large jug of water for testers between tastings.
Tasters were given small bowls and encouraged to sample the cornbreads in random order (to avoid giving any particular brand an advantage) before writing down their thoughts. Tasters rated each cornbread on a scale of one to five (1 = No, thanks; 2 = Meh; 3 = Pretty good; 4 = Really like; 5 = Yes, Please!) across four criteria — look, smell, texture, and flavor — and included any specific observations, tasting notes, and general opinions worth mentioning. They were also asked to answer, arguably, the most important question of all: Would you spend your own dollars on this cornbread mix?
To decide which store-bought cornbread is the best, we recruited nine volunteer testers who work at Apartment Therapy Media (our parent company) to evaluate eight different cornbread brands based on texture, look, smell, desire to repurchase, and, of course, flavor.
At the time of the test, tasters were unaware of the brands involved and sampled each one randomly. Each taster independently filled out a score sheet, scoring and ranking each cornbread without larger discussion or influence from the group throughout the entirety of the test. It was only after all evaluations were completed that we tallied the scores to determine the winners.
Did your favorite cornbread mix make the list? Tell us about it in the comments below.
This post originally ran on The Kitchn. See it there: We Tried 8 Cornbread Mixes — And the $2 Winner Came Out of Nowhere (It Tastes Homemade!)
