The Best Cast Iron Cornbread Pans
Cornbread cooked in a cast iron pan has a crust that no baking dish produces. The cast iron must be hot when the batter goes in -- preheated in the oven or on the stovetop -- so that the bottom crust sets immediately. The result is cornbread with a crunchy, almost fried bottom crust and a soft interior. The same property that makes cast iron the best pan for a steak makes it the best pan for cornbread: it holds and radiates heat at a rate no other material matches.
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How to Choose
The cornstick pan produces individual cornbread sticks with maximum crust-to-interior ratio -- the preferred format for anyone who eats cornbread for the crust. The standard skillet makes cornbread in wedges cut like pie. The corn muffin pan (7 round cavities) is between them. All require the same technique: preheat the pan, add fat, pour batter. Never put cold batter in a cold cast iron pan and expect a crust.
Lodge Cast Iron Cornstick Pan 7-Stick
If you only buy one, make it this one. Read the full guide below for alternatives at every price point.
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Lodge Cast Iron Cornstick Pan 7-Stick
Lodge makes their cornstick pan in South Pittsburg, Tennessee in the same foundry that has been pouring cast iron since 1896. The seven-stick design produces individual cornbread sticks with the ear-of-corn shape traditional in Southern cooking. Pre-seasoned, oven safe to 500 degrees, and the pan that produces the highest ratio of crunchy crust to soft interior of any cornbread format.
The cornstick pan produces more crust per bite than any other cornbread format. This is the only reason to care about it, and it is a very good reason.
Find on Amazon arrow_forwardLodge 9-Inch Cast Iron Skillet for Cornbread
The Lodge 9-inch skillet is the traditional cornbread pan for a recipe that serves a family. Preheat it in a 450-degree oven with a tablespoon of lard or bacon fat; pour the batter in when the fat is smoking; return to the oven for 20 minutes. The result is cornbread with a bottom crust that sounds hollow when you knock on it. The same skillet that sears a steak makes the best cornbread in the house.
Cornbread in a cold pan is muffin. Cornbread in a screaming-hot cast iron skillet is what the recipe was written for.
Find on Amazon arrow_forwardLodge Cast Iron Wedge Cornbread Pan
The Lodge wedge cornbread pan divides the cornbread into 8 pre-cut wedge sections that lift out of the pan individually. Each section has four exposed sides of crust instead of two, which doubles the crust surface compared to a standard skillet cut into wedges after baking. The wedge format is particularly popular in Southern church suppers and potluck cooking where individual servings are needed.
Pre-formed wedges mean four crust sides per piece instead of two. For crust devotees, this is not a small difference.
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