Forget Water Or Milk: Add This Liquid To Boxed Cornbread Mix For The Best Results Every Time

The Southern comfort food of cornbread most always comes out delicious when baked from scratch, but if you're short on time or just don't feel like intensive baking, boxed cornbread mix can be a fantastic way to enjoy this yummy treat without a ton of effort. Most people use water or milk when making cornbread from a mix, but if you really want your cornbread to shine, buttermilk can get you reliably delicious results every time.

The reason buttermilk is king when it comes to cornbread is because it adds moisture and tenderness, both of which are key to good cornbread. It does this by boosting the leavening process in the cornbread, which means expanding the natural gas bubbles that form while mixing and baking the batter. Meanwhile, its natural acidity breaks down gluten to make the resulting treat nice and soft. Since buttermilk is more viscous than water or regular milk, less liquid evaporates, so the cornbread typically comes out more moist.

But what is buttermilk, anyway? Cornbread might be one of those American foods the rest of the world doesn't quite get, but buttermilk is fairly common internationally. Put simply, it's fermented milk. When the fat in milk is turned into butter, the leftover liquids are buttermilk, which is then fermented using an active bacteria culture, like yogurt. Despite the name, it doesn't smell (or taste) like butter, nor does it act the same in baking.

When baking, you always need to accommodate any substitutions to ensure the chemical reactions that are supposed to take place still happen and that the final product comes out right. In this case, buttermilk has more acidity than regular milk, so you may need to balance it out with an alkaline ingredient, like a touch of baking soda.

Since the buttermilk will be adding moisture and fluffiness to the cornbread, there's little need to add additional fat with ingredients like lard or butter. You can still use butter to add flavor and help the crust get golden brown, but don't use as much as you normally would unless you want the cornbread to come out dense and greasy.

If you don't have buttermilk, you can make a close-enough substitute at home. Yogurt can be used one-to-one, or you can use ¼ cup of whole milk combined with ¾ cup of yogurt or sour cream for every cup of buttermilk. You can also make buttermilk with just two ingredients: regular milk and an acid. One tablespoon of either lemon juice or vinegar works well in a cup of milk. The acid curdles the milk slightly, and once it's done, it will have practically the same effect as regular buttermilk, though without the bacterial culture of true fermented buttermilk.