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Uh-oh. Turns out you’ve made more homemade cornbread than you can possibly eat before it starts going stale. It tasted incredible fresh, and was still good the next day, but now it’s a bit beyond saving with a few minutes in the toaster. It’ll feel terrible to throw it out, so what can you do to avoid wasting it?
You’ve come to the right place. Here we’ll show you eight fantastic ways to give old cornbread a delicious new lease of life.
Casserole
Of course, leftover cornbread can be used simply for mopping up the juices of a delicious casserole. But you’re not here for us to state the obvious, so let’s ramp it up a few notches. What about baking the leftover cornbread into the casserole instead?
A cowboy casserole is a fairly unspecific term to describe the type of hearty, meaty, and energy-packed casseroles of the sort that would’ve fuelled hard-working cowboys back in the Wild West. They’re generally loaded with meat, dairy and egg protein, but Blair at The Seasoned Mom food blog goes one tasty step further with her chicken cornbread cowboy casserole recipe. Just break the leftover cornbread up into bits, mix it with the other ingredients, and bake.
Pudding
Pinch and Swirl has a recipe for a savoury cornbread pudding that will make your mouth water. Similarly to the cornbread casserole above, it involves breaking or cutting your leftover cornbread into cubes before baking with other ingredients. This time though, you’ll be pouring a pudding-textured mixture of eggs and cheese over the cornbread and finishing it off with chopped fresh herbs. Simply irresistible.
Cornbread biscuit breakfast sandwich
Cornbread is still bread, right? So it makes you wonder why it isn’t used more often for sandwiches. OK, granted it’s crumbly texture might make it really inappropriate for some filling, but should we rule it out entirely? After all, the messy inconvenience doesn’t stop us enjoying tacos or sloppy joes.
Turns out, cornbread makes a great stand-in for biscuits or breakfast muffins. Simply slice your leftovers into halves and fill with bacon, eggs, cheese, and other good stuff for a brilliant cornbread biscuit breakfast sandwich.
Fried cornbread and green chile eggs
Here’s another great way to start your day using leftover cornbread. Chop it into cubes and fry it with green chilis and sunny-side-up eggs. You can even throw in some extra cheese and veggies if you’re so inclined. Just think of this dish like a potato hash and all the versatility that allows for adding extra ingredients. Only in this case, you’re using cornbread instead of potatoes (although here’s an idea: why not both?).
Head over to the Recipe Fiction for their indulgent fried cornbread and green chile eggs recipe.
Cornbread with scrambled eggs and sausage
That reminds us of another delicious potato hash-inspired recipe for leftover cornbread. This one requires very little thought and effort, which makes it perfect for the morning after the night before, if you know what we mean. In fact, we can only think of one way of using leftover cornbread that’s even easier than this scrambled eggs with sausage and cornbread recipe. Speaking of which...
Croutons
While we’re on the subject of frying cubes of leftover cornbread, we’d be remiss not to point out that you will, of course, end up with tasty croutons if you just stop there. There are few easier ways to use cornbread that’s starting to go stale and, properly stored in an airtight container, they should then last you up to a week.
Let’s be real though. They’ll all be gone within a couple of days of topping salads, soups, and whatever else could benefit from a crunchy touch. Get the cornbread croutons recipe from Joy Food Sunshine.
Cornbread French toast
As with slightly stale regular bread, leftover cornbread is perfect for making French toast. In fact, it’s not unreasonable to suggest you might prefer it. Buy some good maple syrup to have with this cornbread French toast recipe from Southern Bite and you may never go back.
Pizza
Cornbread pizza will be a hit with your kids but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily a childish meal. It may be a far cry from an authentic Neapolitan, Sicilian, or even a New York slice, but it’s actually fairly reminiscent of a decent deep dish. Whether you go Chicago or Detroit style is up to you, but a great cornbread pizza recipe has been shared on My Recipes to get you started.
This particular recipe makes the cornbread fresh from a packaged mix, but using leftover cornbread is a time (and waste) saver. Don’t worry about having enough cornbread to make a full, round pizza base either. You can just cut your leftovers into individual slices and load them with the toppings.
How to store leftover cornbread
Cornbread should be stored in an airtight container and then transferred to the pantry, refrigerator, or freezer.
Pantry
Cornbread should last for a couple of days in the pantry. At which point you should start considering one of the above recipes to revive it.
Refrigerator
Cornbread should last for up to a week in the refrigerator, although it will gain moisture and, consequently, a denser texture. For best results, cover individual slices in saran wrap before placing them in the airtight container.
Freezer
Cornbread can be frozen for up to 3 months. For best results, wrap individual slices in aluminium foil before placing them in the airtight container. If you don’t have any aluminium foil, freezer bags are a good alternative.
Upon removing the cornbread from the freezer, leave it in the foil or freezer bag until completely thawed. It will be fine to eat immediately afterwards, but you may prefer to reheat or toast it, or immediately use it in one of the above recipes.
Fan of Southern cooking? Then why not put together a traditional Southern new year's day dinner (cornbread included, of course)? ‘Tis the season, after all.
