These Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread Muffins It’s your favorite snack or side dish with a spicy twist! These waffles are light and tender, bursting with sweet corn flavor and filled with diced jalapeños and sharp cheddar cheese.
Easy Cornbread Muffins Recipe
If you’re looking for delicious cheesy, savory, spicy and sweet side dishes, you’ve come to the right place.
These Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread Muffins are a fun way to bring a little twist to classic cornbread! They start with my homemade gluten-free cornbread recipe and then add cheddar cheese and diced jalapeños to the base recipe. The flavor is delicious and the texture is the perfect balance of light, fluffy, moist, tender and a little crispy around the edges.
This recipe is super easy to make and a hit at any dinner table!
Required raw materials
- Stick noodles – You can use stone ground cornmeal or cornmeal. Cornmeal will give you a heartier, grainier texture of classic cornbread, while flour will be slightly smoother.
- Tapioca flour – Gives the muffins structure and helps the edges get a little crispy.
- baking soda and baking powder – The combination of leavening agents makes the texture light and tender.
- Salt – Brings out the flavor and helps slightly cut down on the sweetness of the maple syrup.
- butter – We use melted cream to create a deliciously moist texture.
- Egg – Glue everything together so the muffins can hold their shape.
- Maple sugar – gives our corn muffins a classic, subtle sweetness.
- milk – I used almond milk, but feel free to use any milk you like.
- black pepper – Be sure to chop the jalapenos into fine dice; this is key to balancing the flavor – the smaller, the better!
- cheddar cheese – The shredded cheddar cheese brings out all the flavors perfectly! For the best flavor and texture, shred your own cheese.
How to Make Cheddar Mexican Cornbread Muffins
This chipotle cornbread muffins recipe is ready in 20 minutes!
- Make the batter: In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, tapioca flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl whisk together eggs, maple syrup, almond milk, and melted cream. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
- Divide and bake: Divide the batter evenly into buttered muffin tins and bake at 400°F for 12-15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly before serving!
How to make cornbread muffins non-sticky?
Grease the pan! This is the best way to ensure you can easily remove the muffins from the pan after baking.
I like to butter the pan for a little extra buttery flavor, but if you have a neutral flavor cooking spray on hand, feel free to use that too.
Should cornbread batter rest before baking?
You can if you want, but I don’t think it’s necessary!
Some people like to let the batter sit for 10-15 minutes before baking to give the starter time to activate and the flavors time to meld together. These Mexican Cheddar Cornbread Muffins come out of the oven with the perfect texture and flavor, even without the extra resting time.
How to keep cornbread muffins from drying out?
There are a few things you can do to make sure your Cheddar Chipotle Cornbread Muffins are delicious and moist!
- Level or weigh dry ingredients with a spoon. I recommend weighing the cornmeal and tapioca flour to get the most accurate measurements. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, gently scoop each ingredient into a measuring cup and flatten lightly with your fingers. This prevents over-measurement, which can result in dry and crumbly muffins.
- Don’t over bake. When a toothpick comes out of the center of the muffin clean, remove the muffins from the oven. Overbaking them will dry them out!
- Store in an airtight container. To keep muffins delicious and fresh, store them in an airtight container or ziplock bag.
Tips and Notes
- Preheat oven. The temperature should be nice and hot before placing the muffins in for the best texture.
- Grate your own cheese. Freshly grated cheese is always better than pre-shredded cheese.
- Watch out for the jalapeños! When chopping jalapeños, wear kitchen gloves or wash your hands thoroughly (multiple times). The heat will stay on your fingers!
- Divide the batter evenly. Make sure to divide the batter into the muffin tins so that each muffin cup is filled evenly. This way, they all bake at the same rate.
- To check for doneness, Insert a toothpick into the center of one of the muffins. If the result is clean, then they are done. If they come out with batter still on top, they’ll need a few more minutes.
- If you’re looking for cornbread that’s more cakey, You can increase the melted butter to 1/2 cup instead of 1/4 cup.
Variety
- Make dairy-free cornbread muffins. You can easily make these products dairy-free by swapping the butter for palm shortening or a dairy-free butter substitute. Keep in mind that this will change the flavor slightly.
- Try another cheese. I love cheddar cheese in this recipe, but it would also be delicious with Colby Jack cheese, queso fresco, or pepper jack cheese.
- Make them less spicy. Try swapping out the jalapenos for diced green chiles for a more subtle spice.
Food recommendations
These Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread Muffins are a delicious snack, serve warm and topped with butter or even your favorite jam or jelly!
They also make a great side dish! Here are some of my favorite meal pairings:
How to store
These cornbread muffins will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
They also keep longer in the refrigerator! To freeze muffins, allow to cool completely, then wrap tightly in plastic wrap and foil and place in a freezer bag. They have a shelf life of up to 3 months. Thaw before serving!
More delicious side dishes you’ll love
- 2 cup Stone ground cornmeal or cornmeal 283 grams
- 1/2 cup Tapioca flour 60g
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 cup Cream, add 1 tablespoon divided into
- 3 Egg
- 1/3 cup Maple sugar
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1/4 cup Dice jalapeno peppers
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
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Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease a muffin tin with buttercream and set aside.
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In a small saucepan, melt 1/4 cup cream and set aside to cool.
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In a large bowl, stir together cornmeal, tapioca flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until thoroughly combined.
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In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, maple syrup, almond milk, and cooled cream until completely combined.
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Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
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Divide the batter evenly into the buttered muffin tins and bake for 12-15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean in the center.
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Cool slightly before serving!
Calories: 144kilocaloriescarbohydrate: 20Gprotein: 4Gfat: 6GSaturated fat: 3GPolyunsaturated fats: 1GMonounsaturated fats: 2GTrans fat: 0.1Gcholesterol: 37milligramssodium: 244milligramsPotassium: 88milligramsfiber: 2Gsugar: 4GVitamin A: 182IUVitamin C: 0.2milligramscalcium: 78milligramsiron: 1milligrams
