Chili and cornbread is such a classic combination. On Monday I shared a delicious Black Bean Chili with Roasted Butternut Squash with you. Today I am sharing with you this amazing Sweet Onion and Cheddar Cornbread that with our chili. Of course, while I have made several cornbread recipes over the years, cornbread with sweet onions and cheddar is a version I did not have a recipe for…until now.
The first step in creating this recipe was to select a base, and for that I went to a very trusty source – the back of the cornmeal canister. Their Easy Corn Bread was a perfect place to begin. The rest was a little bit of guess work and crossed fingers.
Sauteed onions and cheddar cheese are the perfect additions that take this basic cornbread recipe to a whole new level. The poppy seeds sprinkled on top add a little visual appeal. Mike has already requested I make this again. There is no doubt this Sweet Onion and Cheddar Cornbread will be making a regular appearance at our dinner table this chili season.
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup chopped yellow onion
- ¾ cup cornmeal
- 1¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- pinch of salt (optional)
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- ¼ cup canola oil
- 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded (reserve 1 tablespoon for topping)
- ¼ teaspoon poppy seeds
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 9 inch baking pan with cooking spray.
- Heat olive oil in a medium skillet. Add onion and saute until softened (about 5-7 minutes). Reserve 1 tablespoon for topping. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar and baking powder.
- In a small bowl, whisk milk, oil and egg until combined.
- Add milk mixture to dry ingredients, mixing just until dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in onion and and cheese (do not over mix).
- Pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle reserved onion and cheese and poppy seeds on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Adapted from back of Quaker corn meal canister
