Last updated on August 8th, 2018.
Savory Cornbread with Leeks and Cherry Peppers. Full of flavor and made with fresh corn kernels, you’ll love this twist on the Southern classic.
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Aldo is definitely a sweet kind of guy (in more ways than one 🙂 ), and I prefer savory snacks… usually. I definitely love dessert, but it has to be a dessert worth my time – I cannot resist dark chocolate, cheesecake, tres leches cake, and anything with baked fruit, but I’ll skip regular yellow cake or vanilla ice cream (I know, I know, I probably lost all of you right there).
I also have some strong opinions about some things that cannot be sweet. For example, bagels. My bagels cannot have strawberry or maple flavored cream cheese. No no no. Bagels are either for plain cream cheese or scallion cream cheese.
Or sushi with kiwi. What?? I refuse to even try that.
Corn bread on the other hand, I can eat sweet and enjoy it. But I wanted to try a savory recipe this time, so I made a savory cornbread with leeks and cherry peppers.
I pretty much followed the recipe on the box of the Quaker corn meal, but omitted the sugar and added some yummy sauteed leeks, a hot pepper, and fresh corn kernels.
Here’s how I prepared this Savory Cornbread with Leeks and Cherry Peppers:
I sauteed the chopped leeks and added diced cherry peppers (though jalapeño can be used too!):
Then I prepared the batter, mixing it until it is almost fully combined:
Then I stir in the fresh corn and sauteed leeks and peppers, add it to the baking pan, and off into the oven it goes!
I thought it turned out so delicious and perfect alongside a salad for a light dinner, and I really loved that this corn bread had fresh corn in it. I also loved the fact that this corn bread was not sweet at all.
If you still want a touch of sweetness like traditional cornbread, you can try this with adding a tablespoon or two of sugar and see how the combination of sweet and spicy works out in this recipe – I bet it would be good!
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Savory Cornbread with Leeks and Cherry Peppers
Ingredients
- 1 large leek (about 3 cups chopped leek)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (for cooking leeks)
- 1 cherry pepper , finely diced (jalapeno would work too)
- 1 + 1/2 teaspoon salt , divided
- 1 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour
- 3/4 cup corn meal
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 cup milk
- 2 eggs , beaten
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil (for the cornbread batter)
- 1 cup of corn kernels (2 ears of corn, if using fresh corn)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F. Grease a 9x9 or 9x13 inch baking dish with butter or vegetable oil.
- Prepare the leeks. Leeks are usually very dirty between all the layers so I like to chop them up first and then give them a good thorough rinse in a colander using my hands to get all the hidden dirt off.Chop leeks into thin slices (only the white and the green tender parts. Discard the rough green top parts).
- Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a pan and add the chopped leeks. Cook on medium heat, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes. Add the finely diced cherry pepper and 1/2 teaspoon salt and continue to cook for another 5 minutes, or until the leeks softened and are just starting to brown. Set aside.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl - flour, corn meal, baking powder, baking soda, and the remaining 1 teaspoon salt. Mix well.
- Add the wet ingredients to the bowl - milk, beaten egg, vegetable oil - and mix until almost combined, but not fully. Add 1 cup of corn kernels and the sauteed leeks and mix well.
- Pour the batter into a greased baking dish and cook at 400 for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.Remove from oven, allow to cool for 10 minutes, and cut into 9 pieces.
Notes
Nutrition
Have you ever tried a savory cornbread recipe? What did you think?
Medha @ Whisk & Shout
Cornbread is one of my favorite parts of fall! At Thanksgiving, whether my family has a traditional meal or not, we always have cornbread 🙂
Kate
I didn’t think of cornbread as a fall food, but now that you mention it, I think I only make it in the fall! Cornbread definitely makes a meal better, whether it’s a thanksgiving meal or a southern bbq meal 🙂
Thanks for stopping by!
Heather @ Shards of Lavender
I do think, in general, that women do prefer sweets. That can be a curse sometimes though:) I love any kind of cornbread, but my favorite recipe is the sweeter one. I do love the idea of leeks and peppers in the bread and am pinning so I don’t forget to try this with my family.
Kate
I agree, I think women do prefer sweets more than men, but my fiancé and I are opposites! Actually, we both love everything, but at the end of the day he usually goes for the ice cream and I usually go for the crackers.
I do love sweet corn bread, but since I wasn’t making a typical southern meal where sweet corn bread would be the only acceptable kind of cornbread, I wanted to experiment with some other flavors.
Maureen | Orgasmic Chef
Oh my, you’ve hit a hot button with me on this one. I’m usually on the sweeter side of the scale but I enjoy most everything. I haven’t made corn bread in a long time and this sure does look good.
Kate
It was definitely delicious – I love leeks and the fresh corn added a nice texture.
If you like sweet cornbread, I bet adding a bit of sugar to get the sweet and savory and spicy all together wouldn’t be a bad thing!