Zucchini Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread Skillet Recipe

This zucchini jalapeño cheddar cornbread is savory, cheesy, and packed with fresh garden ingredients. It comes together in about an hour in a cast iron skillet or round cake pan and works as a side dish, a quick breakfast, or a packed lunch addition.

It’s the recipe to reach for when the zucchini is coming in faster than you can use it and you want something savory instead of another sweet zucchini bread.

Use up your fresh zucchini harvest in this cornbread full of savory flavor thanks to hot peppers and sharp cheddar. If you have a bread machine, my yeasted zucchini bread machine recipe is another great way to use up the harvest.

It’s the perfect way to use a lot of zucchini in late summer when you might be getting tired of zucchini fritters and lasagna, and yet it’s a delight to serve at dinner and potlucks.

This moist cornbread is just such a dish and will quickly become one of your favorite recipes for using up too much zucchini.

Simple Ingredients

There’s nothing fancy here, simple pantry ingredients combine with fresh garden veggies for a truly great recipe.

Dry Ingredients:

Cornmeal – I’ve tested the recipe with both fine and coarse ground cornmeals and both turned out a fluffy zucchini cornbread. Use what you have on hand.

Flour Choices – For ease, I went with basic all-purpose flour. A whole wheat pastry flour could likely be substituted. I would be careful with a coarse whole grain flour because it might get a bit too dry.

Baking Powder makes sure the cornbread does indeed get fluffy.

The Zucchini

You’ll need to start with 2 cups of zucchini. That’s about 2 small to medium squashes. If you’re using one of those super large zucchini that get lost in the plant, I’d cut it in half and scrape out the seeds before grating.

You could substitute yellow squash for the zucchini, if that’s what you have on hand.

I use a box grater to grate my zucchini but a food processor with a grating blade would also work.

Don’t skip the salting and draining step. Zucchini holds a lot of water and releasing some of that moisture before adding it to the batter is what keeps the cornbread from becoming soggy. Salt the grated zucchini, let it sit for 10 minutes, then squeeze out the excess water with the back of a spoon.

I have not tested this with frozen zucchini yet, but I do believe if you let it thaw and squeezed out extra water it would work just fine.

The Peppers

Any hot peppers you have on hand could work here. Jalapenos work great but you aren’t locked into that. Hotter peppers will turn out a hotter finished bread, that’s the thing to remember.

You can vary the level of heat by choosing peppers you prefer, adding more or less, and either leaving the seeds and veins in for more heat, or removing them prior to chopping for less heat.

Substitute sweet bell peppers instead if you don’t want any heat – red bell peppers would add some lovely color! Feel free skip the peppers all together.

Cheese Choices

The recipe as written is a jalapeño cheddar cornbread so a good, sharp cheddar cheese is perfect. However, it is not the only choice.

Mozzarella or provolone will work equally well. Use a good pepper jack for even more peppery flavor. In the end, just use what your family likes best and what you have on hand.

Baking Pan

Classic cornbread almost always seems to be made in a cast iron skillet – but there is no reason why you should feel locked into that.

I’ve baked the corn bread in both a round cake pan and an iron skillet. Both worked well, it tends to bake faster in the cast iron in my experience. Always test for doneness with a tester or tooth pick.

One could likely use a 9″ square baking dish instead of a round one if desired.

I haven’t tested it but I believe you could turn these into zucchini cornbread muffins by dividing the cornbread batter amongst 6 muffin cups and baking. Check for doneness at about 20 minutes.

Serving Ideas

Serve this any way you’d serve another favorite cornbread recipe.

Use it at any meal and serve it hot or at room temperature with a little extra butter, if desired.

It goes perfectly well alongside soup or salad. Tuck inside a lunch box to fill out a packed lunch. I quite like it as a quick breakfast with eggs over easy on top.

How to Store

Keep any leftover cornbread in an airtight container where it should stay fresh for up to 3 days.

I don’t recommend freezing this one. The texture suffers and the results have been disappointing in my testing. Enjoy it fresh.

Troubleshooting

The cornbread is soggy in the center. The most likely cause is not enough moisture was squeezed from the zucchini before adding it to the batter. Make sure to salt the zucchini, let it sit the full 10 minutes, and squeeze firmly before adding. Also check that your baking powder is fresh and that the oven was fully preheated.

The cornbread is too dry. This can happen if too much moisture was squeezed from the zucchini or if it overbaked. Start checking at 35 minutes. The top should be golden and a toothpick should come out clean with just a few moist crumbs.

The cheese sank to the bottom. Toss the grated cheese in a tablespoon of flour before folding it into the batter. This helps it stay distributed throughout rather than settling.

The cornbread is too spicy. Remove the seeds and veins from the jalapeños before mincing for a milder result. Swapping to sweet bell peppers eliminates the heat entirely.

The top is browning too fast before the center is done. Tent the skillet loosely with foil and continue baking until a toothpick comes out clean. Cast iron retains heat well and can cause faster browning on top.

The cornbread stuck to the pan. Make sure the skillet or pan is well greased before adding the batter. Cast iron benefits from a generous coating of butter or oil before preheating.