This Southern food staple is a yummy alternative to corn bread. When you want that corn bread flavor, but want something more breakfasty, try this tasty Southern hoecake recipe.
What’s a Hoecake?
Hoecakes are one of those dishes that many non-Southerners have never heard of. You may have heard their other name — johnnycakes. But some folks also use the term johnny cake to describe a regular flour pancake.
These are cornmeal pancakes, so imagine a regular flour pancake. Now picture it a little crispier with a yummy fried cornbread taste. Sounds good, right? It is!
Indigenous peoples of the the US used lots of ground corn for cooking. They are credited with teaching the European colonists of the South how to make johnnycakes, as well as other cornmeal dishes like cornbread and grits. These foods became popular soul food dishes that have remained Southern cuisine staples to this day.
Watch How to Make Hoecakes
Check out our chef while she makes an easy breakfast-style stack of tasty hoecakes!
Are Hoecakes supposed to be sweet? Where’s the sugar?
This hoecake recipe is traditional and does not contain sugar. If you’re a Yank, or hail from certain parts of the South, you might be used to your cornbread tasting sweet. If that’s your preference, and you want some sweetness in your hoecakes, try doing one or all of the following:
- Top your hot hoecakes with butter. This is a tasty choice regardless of your sweetness preference.
- Drizzle your hoecakes with honey. Honey works great together with the butter and cornmeal flavors.
- If you’re a maple syrup fan, pour some on your hoe cakes. Syrup is perfect if you’re enjoying these corn cake pancakes as your main dish for breakfast.
- Add 2 or 3 tablespoons of sugar to the recipe.
Don’t want them sweet, but want a little extra something? Go full Southern hoe cake style. Cook up some yummies like turnip or collard greens and dip your hoe cakes in the pot likker. These corn cakes work great as a side dish with a big ol’ pot of greens.
Substitutions and Notes on Cooking the Hoecakes
If you don’t keep buttermilk on hand, you might not be a Southerner. But that’s all right; there are a variety of substitution options. Since this recipe calls for 2 cups of buttermilk, you can use 2 cups of regular milk plus 2 tablespoons of white vinegar. Check out this link for more buttermilk substitution techniques.
For frying, the way to make this dish especially Southern would be to replace the vegetable oil with bacon grease. So if you’re serving up these cornmeal hoecakes for breakfast, prepare your bacon first, and then save that tasty rendered bacon fat for frying your hoecakes.
Alternatively, these cornbread cakes can be cooked on a lightly greased griddle, as you would a pancake. If you’re averse to fried food or want to reduce the recipe’s fat content, this is the way to go.
Lastly, make sure you’re using fine ground cornmeal for this recipe. Ain’t nothin worse than a gritty hoecake. If you’re using the White Lily self rising cornmeal mix (or a similar self rising cornmeal mix) you should leave out the baking soda.
We hope you’ll enjoy our Southern Hoecake recipe!
Best Southern Hoecakes
Equipment
- Cast Iron Skillet
- 2 Medium Bowls
Ingredients
- 2 cups fine cornmeal
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil or rendered bacon fat. Use more as needed for frying.
Instructions
- Stir together the cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk the eggs and buttermilk together until fully combined.
- Stir the cornmeal mixture into the wet ingredients until smooth.
- Let the hoecake batter rest for about 10 minutes, to thicken.
- Add the vegetable oil or bacon grease to your skillet, and place on stovetop at medium high heat.
- Place large spoonfuls of the batter into the skillet. Fry the cakes until bubbles appear on the tops and their edges are cooked. Then flip each of the corn cakes and cook the other side until golden brown. Repeat with the remaining batter.
- After frying, pat each hoe cake with a paper towel to absorb any excess frying oil or grease, if desired.
Just like Grandma’s.
Kids are all gone and I live alone now, and I don’t like to make a whole pone of cornbread just for me. Hoe cakes are the perfect solution to getting the cornbread taste in smaller portions without having to heat up the house, as well. For fun, I sometimes substitute very coarsely ground yellow meal instead of the fine ground meal, or even add jalapeno. Crunchy, and good compliment to beans or brothy soups.
Thank you for sharing these great things about hoecakes, Roni. And I agree that jalapeños are a delicious addition!
WOW! … Great heart attack material…
Ha! I wouldn’t eat these every day, but they’re a nice treat, that’s for sure!
wow, how rude
There’s always one.
Hoe cakes have been on my radar for a while. Having bought a bag of masa harina for another purpose, today was the day to make hoe cakes.
I used butter in the batter but fried them in bacon fat. They came out really well – tall, fluffy, with a fine crumb. So far I’ve had one topped with guacamole, sour cream, a chili sauce I made with dried chilis, and shredded cheese. Delicious!
For breakfast “dessert,” I am going to try one with honey.
I think I figured out though why I am not a fan of tamales – nixtalized corn. Next time I make hoe cakes, I will use fine corn flour instead of masa harina. Even so, these cakes are lovely!
Wow, sounds amazing with the guacamole and all those fixins! Thanks for sharing!
they look delicious. I’ll most certainly try them. Now, can they be frozen?
If you’d like to freeze leftovers, I’d suggest doing the pancake trick – place a piece of wax paper between each one before you wrap them in plastic wrap and freeze. Hope you enjoy!
CLEARLY ~ this recipe kicks @#X & this time I’ma make em with those jalapenos y’all been talking bout ✊ Yeaa ~ bout 2 get creative over here !!! I think this might jus be the ONE ….
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Woo-hoo! This comment got me pumped up…I might just whip up a batch tonight as well!
Finally, a Southern hoe cake that admits it is NOT sweet. Part of the joy is the slight sour flavor. And that’s what makes it taste so special with greens and likker. Thanks for staying true to real Southern cooking.
Thank you for the comment, Penny! Hope you enjoy the recipe!
I’m choosing your recipe over the one in the New York Times to try. I have never had hoecakes and am looking forward to trying it on a Sunday very soon…
Wonderful! Hope you will love it.