Gooey cheese, spicy jalapenos, and smoky roasted red bell peppers add big flavours to this easy cheddar jalapeno cornbread recipe.
I love a good cornbread. Whether it's on the side of a big bowl of spicy chili, or toasted and smothered in honey butter, cornbread is perfect for satisfying my sweet and salty comfort food cravings.
My mom is the baker in our house, and she used to make a non-spicy version of this cheddar jalapeno cornbread for me to take to school sometimes. My grade 7 teacher used to plan these awesome food events for our homeroom class, and sometimes we'd do a class breakfast. My mom would bake up a loaf of cornbread for me to take, and I remember it being a hit with my classmates.
Did I just date myself? Yeah, "back in my day" we were still allowed to bring in homemade goodies to share with our class. I'm pretty sure that's not a thing anymore because of food allergy concerns.
Anyhow, all of that is just to say that if you're not into spicy foods (or if you want to make this recipe for kids), you can leave out the jalapenos and it's still very tasty.
The roasted red bell peppers are a bit unconventional, but they are very tasty. They add a slightly smoky flavour that works really well with the sweetness of cornbread. Again, if you're not a fan you can leave them out but they do add some moisture to the bread so your finished product may turn out a bit less moist.
We actually came up with the bell pepper and jalapeno combination initially because we wanted to make the slices festive for Christmas. It looks nice on the table!
Whenever you're baking bread, it's important to grease your pan properly, or your bread may stick. This is easily done by either rubbing butter on with your fingers, or (my preferred method) melting a bit of butter and brushing it on the pan. Once the inside of the pan is greasy, add a bit of flour, turn the pan from side to side and tap it to get the flour evenly distributed.
Beyond that, once you've prepped your ingredients it's just a matter of mixing your batter and you're pretty much ready to go. The nice thing about cornbread is there's no kneading required! You just mix everything up (with some care) and then pour it into the pan and bake it until it's golden brown. Easy!
I hope you enjoy this cheddar jalapeno cornbread recipe! If you're looking for more bread recipes, I've got a lentil and caramelized onion version of this cornbread on the blog, and I just added my mom's recipe for homemade white bread on here. too.
Happy Baking!
🖨 Printable Recipe

Cheddar Jalapeno Cornbread
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 1 ½ tablespoon granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup milk
- 2 ounce butter, , melted
- 3 eggs, , beaten
- 1 tablespoon jalapeno, , finely chopped
- 2 tablespoon roasted red bell peppers, , finely chopped
- 1 ½ cups cheddar cheese, , grated
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Grease and flour an 8x8 baking dish.
- In a large bowl sift the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
- Add the milk and melted butter, then whisk in the eggs.
- Fold in the jalapeno, roasted bell pepper and cheese. The mixture will seem runny - that's ok.
- Pour batter into prepared dish. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the cornbread is golden on top and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted.
Please read the blog post for detailed tips and explanations.
Nutrition Disclaimer: this nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of this information cannot be guaranteed.
Katherine Chong
Hahaha my brother and I always create accidents in the kitchen. Luckily no stitches so far. I love your cornbread recipe!
Shareba Abdul
Thanks Katherine!