What to Eat with Cornbread

These are our favorite options for what to eat with cornbread!

By: Amy Jackson, Editor, RecipeLion.com

Cornbread has to be one of the best options for baked goods out there! Crispy, soft, crumbly, sweet, and savory all at once, it's no wonder that cornbread is such a Southern favorite.

As happy as many of us are to eat a thick slice of cornbread by itself, toasted, or slathered with butter, cornbread is also an incredibly popular side dish. So for many people, that raises the question: what to serve with cornbread?

It's wild how your mind can suddenly blank when trying to figure out what to eat with cornbread! But don't worry, there's plenty of choices. So what goes well with cornbread? At the end of the day, whatever you like!

Still, there are some classic and creative options that we would like you to consider. If you give them a shot, then these ideas for what to eat with cornbread will revolutionize your weeknight meals.

What to Put in Cornbread

When people want to know what to eat with cornbread, they're either looking for recipes to serve it alongside or ideas for how to jazz up their cornbread recipe! When it comes to the latter, here's some ideas about cornbread add-ins for your cornbread mix:

Honey: Honey is a great choice for what to eat with cornbread! Add it to cooked cornbread or put it into the batter.
Jalapenos: Add a little touch of zing for a truly Southern cornbread!
Cheese: If you want to kick it up a notch, use flavored cream cheese or goat cheese. Of course, you can't go wrong with Cheddar.
Apples: No, we're not kidding! These caramelize beautifully for a savory, sweet autumn cornbread.

Creative Meals with Cornbread

Here are some fun, quirky ideas for ways to serve cornbread that you may not have ever imagined before:

Turn it into croutons and eat it with salad! Cornbread is already so delicious and toasty. It's already halfway to being your new favorite crouton.
Make stale cornbread cereal! "Cowboy cereal" is a great tradition. Put your leftover in a bowl with milk and eat it for breakfast. (It's better than it sounds!)
Serve it with eggs and make cornbread French toast! Trust us, this is sooo addictive.

What to Serve with Cornbread

Lastly, there are plenty of classic choices of food to eat with cornbread. You absolutely cannot go wrong with any of these classic cornbread pairings, fit to be served at any Southern restaurant.

Chili and soups. If you haven't dipped your cornbread before, you're missing out! There's a reason why this is one of the best cornbread combinations.
Barbecue. Did you know that the Southern Food Alliance loves cornbread so much that it named it one of the 12 Southern food groups? You've just got to try your cornbread next to some Southern, mesquite, or sweet barbecue!
Roasted chicken, pork, and beef. If you don't like barbecue, regular roasted meats are also beautiful alongside a slice of cornbread.
Black-eyed peas, collard greens, beans, mustard greens, etc. You may think that greens are boring. You would be totally wrong. A good spicy, savory, rich bowl of greens is absolutely to die for, and cornbread has been a good pairing with it for a century.
Jam, butter, or preserves. Make sure you heat up or toast your cornbread first for the perfect warm, melty mouthful!