Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 40–45 minutes
Total Time: About 1 hour
Serves: 8
Crawfish cornbread combines Louisiana crawfish tails with sweet corn, cheese, peppers, and a moist cornbread batter. It works as a hearty side dish, but there’s enough crawfish in it that a big slice can stand on its own.
Ingredients
- 1 pound Louisiana crawfish tail meat, drained
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 can (14.75 ounces) cream-style corn
- 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup finely diced onion
- 1/2 cup finely diced green bell pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons chopped green onions
- 1 tablespoon butter, for the skillet
Instructions
- Heat the oven. Preheat to 375°F. Put a 10- or 12-inch cast-iron skillet in the oven while it heats.
- Prepare the dry ingredients. Combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, Cajun seasoning, and salt in a large bowl.
- Mix the wet ingredients. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, vegetable oil, and cream-style corn.
- Bring it together. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir just until combined. Don’t beat the batter to death—a few lumps won’t hurt anybody.
- Add the good stuff. Fold in the crawfish tails, cheddar, onion, bell pepper, garlic, and green onions.
- Prepare the skillet. Carefully remove the hot skillet from the oven and melt the tablespoon of butter across the bottom and sides.
- Bake. Pour in the batter and return the skillet to the oven. Bake for 40–45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out mostly clean.
- Rest and serve. Let the cornbread rest for about 10 minutes before cutting into wedges.
Cook’s Notes
- Use Louisiana crawfish tails if you can get them. Imported crawfish can have a noticeably different flavor and texture.
- Don’t squeeze all the crawfish fat off the tails, either. A little of that orange crawfish fat mixed into the batter adds tremendous flavor.
- For a little more heat, add diced jalapeño or cayenne. If you’re serving a crowd with different spice tolerances, keep the cornbread mild and put the hot sauce on the table.
- It’s excellent alongside fried speckled trout, redfish courtbouillon, white beans, or a bowl of gumbo—although a warm wedge with butter is pretty hard to leave alone by itself.
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