Corn Sticks Recipe: How to Make Cornbread Sticks

Corn sticks are individual pieces of cornbread baked into a special cast-iron pan that resembles small ears of corn. Also known as cornbread sticks, corn sticks are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside due to the short cooking time and preheated pan.

Cornbread sticks are made from a quick bread batter containing cornmeal, popular in Southern cooking and enjoyed by many people for its tender, crumbly texture and sweet aroma. Southern cornbread has traditionally been made with little to no sugar and a higher cornmeal-to-flour ratio in a cast-iron skillet, while a Northern style cornbread recipe is sweeter and more cake-like.

Follow these foolproof tips for the best cornbread sticks:

1. 1. Avoid overmixing the batter. Stirring activates gluten, which will make batters chewy and tight. For corn sticks that contain wheat flour, err on the side of caution and mix until just combined and not a minute more. A few lumps are okay.
2. 2. Use cultured dairy. When making corn sticks, use buttermilk, crème fraîche, yogurt, or sour cream. The acidity in these ingredients helps with leavening as it reacts with the baking soda, creating a tall crust and fluffy crumb. The zing of the cultured dairy also pairs well with the sweetness of the cornmeal.
3. 3. Rest your batter. Your corn sticks will bake off successfully if you pour the batter immediately into the pan, but they may be a tad denser. Letting your batter rest for ten minutes will activate the leaveners and incorporate more air, yielding a lighter, fluffier corn stick texture.
4. 4. Be careful not to overbake. Corn sticks are long and narrow and can easily overcook and burn. Watch for signs of overbaking and pull them out of the oven when the tops start turning brown. Rather than cooling the corn sticks in the pan, carefully remove them as soon as possible to avoid drying out against the still-hot cast iron pan.
5. 5. Add some mix-ins. Plain corn sticks are delicious on their own, but you can spruce things up with some additional ingredients. Try stirring in fresh yellow corn kernels, cheddar cheese, diced jalapeños, bacon, or maple syrup. Make sure to finely chop your fillings to ensure they fit in the small corn stick pan molds.