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These Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread Muffins are your favorite snack or side dish with a spicy flavor twist! These muffins are light and tender, brimming with sweet corn flavor, and packed with diced jalapeños and sharp cheddar cheese.
Easy Cornbread Muffin Recipe
If you’re looking for a side dish that is deliciously cheesy, savory, spicy, and sweet, then you’ve come to the right place.
These Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread Muffins are a fun way to give classic cornbread a little flavor twist! They start with my homemade gluten-free cornbread recipe, then you add to the base recipe with cheddar cheese and diced jalapeño. The flavor is delectable, and the texture is the perfect balance of light, fluffy, moist, tender, and a little bit crispy on the edges.
This recipe is super simple to make and a total hit at any dinner table!
Ingredients Needed
- Cornmeal – You can use stone-ground cornmeal or cornflour. Cornmeal will give you a heartier, more grainy, classic cornbread texture, while flour will be slightly smoother.
- Tapioca Flour – Gives the muffins their structure and helps the edges get just a little bit crispy.
- Baking Soda and Baking Powder – A combination of leavening agents keeps the texture light and tender.
- Salt – Brings out the flavors and helps cut the sweetness of the maple syrup just a little bit.
- Butter – We’re using melted butter to create a deliciously moist texture.
- Eggs – Binds everything together so the muffins can hold their shape.
- Maple Syrup – Gives our corn muffins that classic subtle sweetness.
- Milk – I use almond milk, but feel free to use whatever milk you prefer.
- Jalapeños – Be sure to dice your jalapeños finely; it’s the key to the balanced flavor – the smaller, the better!
- Cheddar Cheese – Shredded cheddar cheese rounds out all of the flavors perfectly! For the best flavor and texture, shred your own cheese.
How to Make Cheddar Jalapeño Cornbread Muffins
This jalapeño cornbread muffin recipe is ready in under 20 minutes!
- Make the batter: In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, tapioca flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk together eggs, maple syrup, almond milk, and melted butter in a separate bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, then whisk until fully incorporated.
- Divide and bake: Divide the batter evenly into a buttered muffin tin, then bake at 400ºF for 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly before serving!
How Do You Make Cornbread Muffins Not Stick?
Grease the pan! This is the best way to ensure that you can easily remove your muffins from the pan after baking.
I like to grease the pan with butter for a little extra buttery flavor, but feel free to use a neutral-flavored cooking spray if that’s what you have on hand.
Should Cornbread Batter Sit Before Baking?
You can if you want, but I don’t find it necessary!
Some prefer to let their batter sit for 10-15 minutes before baking to allow the leavening agents time to activate and to give the flavors time to meld together. These jalapeño cheddar cornbread muffins come out of the oven with the perfect texture and flavor even without the extra rest time.
How Do You Keep Cornbread Muffins from Drying Out?
There are a couple of things that you can do to make sure that your cheddar jalapeño cornbread muffins are nice and moist!
- Spoon and level or weigh your dry ingredients. I recommend weighing your cornmeal and tapioca flour for the most accurate measurements. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, gently spoon each ingredient into a measuring cup, then level it off gently with your finger. This prevents over-measuring, which can cause the muffins to be dry and crumbly.
- Don’t over-bake. Take the muffins out of the oven when a toothpick comes out of the center clean. Overbaking can dry them out!
- Store in an airtight container. To keep the muffins nice and fresh, store them in an airtight container or ziplock bag.
Tips and Notes
- Preheat the oven. It should be nice and hot before you place the muffins inside for the best texture.
- Grate your own cheese. Freshly grated cheese is always better than the pre-shredded stuff.
- Be careful with jalapeños! Wear kitchen gloves or wash your hands thoroughly (and multiple times) when you chop the jalapeños. That heat will stay on your fingers!
- Portion the batter evenly. Make sure you divide the batter up into the muffin tin so that each muffin cup is pretty evenly full. That way, they all bake at the same rate.
- To check for doneness, insert a toothpick into the center of one of the muffins. If it comes out clean, then they’re done. If it comes out with some batter still on it, they need a few more minutes.
- If you are looking for a more cake-like cornbread, you can increase the melted butter to 1/2 cup instead of 1/4 cup.
Variations
- Make dairy-free cornbread muffins. You can easily make these dairy-free by swapping the butter out for palm shortening or a dairy-free butter alternative. Keep in mind that this will alter the flavor a little bit.
- Try another cheese. I love the cheddar in this recipe, but it would also be delicious with Colby jack, Mexican cheese, or pepper jack cheese.
- Make them a little less spicy. Try swapping the jalapeños out for diced green chiles for a subtler spice.
Serving Suggestions
These jalapeño cheddar cornbread muffins make a delicious snack served warm, topped with butter, or even your favorite jam or jelly!
They also make an excellent side dish! Here are some of my favorite meal pairings:
How to Store
These cornbread muffins can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the fridge for up to 5 days.
They can also be stored longer in the freezer! To freeze your muffins, let them cool completely, then wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and foil, followed by a freezer-safe bag. They will stay fresh for up to 3 months. Thaw before serving!
More Tasty Side Dishes You’ll Love
Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups stone-ground cornmeal or cornflour 283 grams
- 1/2 cup tapioca flour 60 grams
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 cup butter, plus 1 tablespoon divided
- 3 eggs
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1/4 cup finely diced jalapeños
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400ºF. Grease a muffin tin with butter, then set aside.
- In a small saucepan, melt 1/4 cup butter and set aside to cool.
- In a large bowl, whisk together cornmeal, tapioca flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until fully combined.
- In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, maple syrup, almond milk, and cooled butter until fully combined.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, then whisk until fully incorporated.
- Fold in cheese and jalapeños.
- Divide the batter evenly into the buttered muffin tin, then bake for 12-15 minutes until a toothpick comes out of the center clean.
- Let cool slightly before serving!
