EDITOR’S NOTE (December 25, 2019): PIN here on Pinterest. Enlarged text. Updated recipe’s instructions.
This savory cornbread is filled with tasty pieces of fried pork fat.
Although my favorite Hormel brand of pork cracklings are precooked before packaging, I fry in vegetable oil until crispy before adding to cornbread batter.
Never add uncooked cracklings to cornbread batter. They turn rubbery and taste bland in baked cornbread (my opinion).
Fried cracklings season the vegetable oil, turns it golden brown and fills it with savory flavor.
Fried cracklings add delicious savory flavor to the vegetable oil in which it is cooked.
The cornbread is baked in the seasoned vegetable oil. As a result, the bottom crust and edges are well seasoned with savory flavor.
Fried pork fat is famous for the hard edges called meat skins. Remove before adding to cornbread batter to protect teeth. Meat skins are very hard.
Press cooked cracklings with back of a spoon. REMOVE all rock hard pieces. Only add soft pieces of fried pork to cornbread batter. Never, ever add hard cracklings. Biting hard cracklings could crack or break teeth. Avoid.
I enjoy cracklin’ cornbread once or twice a month. Delicious with greens! Fantastic drizzled with honey or maple syrup… and served for breakfast.
Ever sprinkled crispy fried cracklings with hot sauce? Delish snack!
Pork should definitely be eaten in moderation to avoid high blood pressure issues. If you already have high blood pressure, check with your doctor BEFORE consuming pork. This is not professional medical advice. It is a friendly suggestion.
You’re invited to make some Easy Cracklin’ Cornbread Muffins.
If you prefer cracklings made with fresh pork fat back, check out my Cracklin’ Cornbread. Both are delicious!
Enjoy!
| Prep Time | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time | 25 minutes |
| Servings |
servings
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- 3/4 cup processed/precooked cracklings
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 box (8.5 ounces) corn muffin mix
- 3 tablespoons self-rising white cornmeal mix
- 2 tablespoons sugar (optional)
- 2 medium eggs, beaten
- 1 cup buttermilk
Ingredients
|
|
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Use an 8" skillet (thick cornbread) or a 9" (thin cornbread). Spread cracklings in a medium-sized skillet.
- DISCARD all hard pieces of fried skin to protect teeth. KEEP soft, fork tender cracklings.
- Add 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Stir until evenly coated. Add cracklings.
- Stir constantly for 2-3 minutes until vegetable oil and cracklings are golden brown. Do not leave stove while meat is cooking.
- Turn off heat. Sprinkle salt over cracklings. Stir well. Slightly crush tender cooked cracklings with heavy spatula or spoon. Set aside.
- In medium-sized bowl, combine corn muffin mix, self-rising white corn meal mix, sugar (if using), egg, and buttermilk. Stir together until smooth. Small lumps okay.
- Use a large spoon to scoop fried cracklings from skillet. Leave 2 tablespoons seasoned vegetable oil in bottom of skillet.
- Stir together cornbread batter and fried cracklings until evenly combined. Set aside.
- Warm skillet with seasoned vegetable oil over low-medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes. AVOID smoking hot.
- Pour in cornbread batter. Spread evenly around skillet with back of spoon.
- Reduce oven to 375 degrees. Bake 20-25 minutes OR until golden brown and knife inserted in center comes out clean.
- Serve hot.
How to substitute 1 cup of all-purpose flour for 1 cup of self-rising flour
INGREDIENTS
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
INSTRUCTIONS
Sift together in a medium sized bowl. Use 1/2 cup for this recipe. Store remainder in a zippered bag. Refrigerate until ready to use.
I love your recipes..
Thank you!
Hello. A couple questions,
1. After cooking the cracklings in vegetable oil, do I add the remaining juice to the corn bread batter? Wouldn’t that make it soggy?
2. I haven’t made this in at least 25 years. I recall vaguely from memory using bacon fat. Can I use bacon fat to grease my skillet for baking the cornbread? Will it also absorb and flavor the cornbread?
Hi Angela! Thank you for asking. You inspired me to update the recipe’s instructions.
1. Frying processed/precooked cracklings in vegetable oil will season it. Plus, the drippings will make it slightly thick. Pour cornbread batter into seasoned HOT vegetable oil. The baked cracklin’ cornbread will be full of flavor, but not oily. The bottom/side edges will be crusty and delicious!
2. Bacon fat is excellent! Fry bacon. Remove from skillet. Leave 3 tablespoons (remove extra) of bacon fat and small bits of bacon. Make sure bacon fat is HOT before pouring in cornbread batter. Baking in HOT bacon grease (or veggie oil) will thoroughly bake bottom crust and all edges. If oil is cool or cold, the cornbread WILL be greasy, soggy, gross.
Some cuts of bacon have LOTS of fat. After frying bacon, I pour grease into a heatproof container. Return 3 tablespoons of grease to skillet and warm until HOT. Add 3 tablespoons of leftover to cornbread batter, stir, pour in HOT skillet, bake. Refrigerate leftover grease for another use.
hi, my name is Tina, I have a question that I can not find the answer to , when I was young , my mother would cook cracklings , from the meat department ( now they only package HORMEL) , she cooked them in the oven, I remember eating them with salt…my mother , and father have both passed, I don’t know how she cooked it , when she put salt on them , (before or after cooking), or how long to keep them in the oven…do you know the method to do this?
Hi Tina! My local grocery store carries fresh cracklings and Hormel’s processed cracklings. Some online stores also carry fresh. Both are delish in my opinion. I always fry cracklings (fresh or processed) in veggie oil until crisp. Pat dry on paper towels. Season with salt. Sometimes, I’ll refrigerate until next day. To warm, I’ll scatter in one layer on ungreased cookie sheet, place in oven to heat them up. Never actually cooked in oven. I hope this helps. Merry Christmas!
I grew up where my father killed the hog. For a short answer I put them in the oven on broil low heat until they were crunchy. They burn fast.
Darlene, they do burn fast. MUST watch closely.
Love your recipe for cracklin cornbread. Have 2 questions: can I use my homemade cornbread recipe and add cooked cracklings to it and secondly I don’t have a skillet to bake it in, can I use my regular baking pan to bake my cracklin cornbread in?
Vee, you can add cooked cracklings to your homemade cornbread recipe. Regular baking pan will work. Make sure you add vegetable oil (or shortening) to pan and warm in preheated oven until oil is sizzling hot… BEFORE adding cornbread batter. Doing this will thoroughly bake bottom and side crusts. Enjoy!