If you’ve never made Hot Water Cornbread, you don’t know what you’re missing. On this episode of A Taste of Cafe’ NyLou, NyLou tells how to make it step by step, and honestly — once you see how easy it comes together, you’ll wonder why you haven’t been making it all along.
What Makes Hot Water Cornbread Different
Unlike a baked cornbread, this one lives entirely in the skillet. There’s no oven, no batter to fuss over, and no long ingredient list — just cornmeal, a touch of flour, salt, boiling water, and hot oil. The result is a crispy-edged, tender-centered patty that’s every bit as satisfying as its baked cousin, just faster and simpler to pull together.
NyLou walks through exactly how she gets the consistency right in the video — thin enough to drop from a spoon or shape into a patty, but not so thin it falls apart in the grease. That’s the real trick to hot water cornbread, and seeing her do it makes it click in a way a written recipe alone can’t.
Why You’ll Want to Make This on Repeat
This isn’t a fussy side dish — it’s the kind of thing that shows up next to a pot of beans, a mess of greens, a bowl of soup, or honestly, just on its own with a pat of butter melting into it. NyLou’s message is simple: try them out. Once you do, they tend to become a regular in the rotation.
Recipe Card
Hot Water Cornbread
A Taste of Cafe’ NyLou
Ingredients
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- ¼ cup flour
- 1 tsp salt
- Boiling hot water
- ½ cup canola or vegetable oil (or enough to fill the bottom of your skillet)
Method
- Mix the cornmeal, flour, and salt together in a bowl.
- Add boiling water to the cornmeal mixture, pouring in enough to bring it to a consistency thin enough to shape into a patty or drop from a spoon.
- Heat the oil in a skillet, then fry the cornbread on both sides until done and crispy.
- Enjoy with beans, greens, soup, or whatever else you’d like.
Watch NyLou Make It
Watch the full video to see exactly how NyLou mixes, shapes, and fries her hot water cornbread to that perfect crispy finish — the kind of detail that’s much easier to follow along with than to read off a page.
About the Creator
At the heart of A Taste of Cafe’ NyLou is Deborah Pearson, whose genuine passion for cooking and for gathering family and friends around the table shapes every recipe she shares. Deborah will tell you straight up — she’s not a chef, and she’s never taken a culinary course. What she brings instead is a love for food, for different cultures, and for the flavors that come with them.
The channel name says it all: A Taste of Cafe’ NyLou means experiencing all kinds of good food — appetizers, desserts, and everything in between — made quick, easy, and approachable for any home cook. Thank you for tuning in!
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Instagram: @Cafe_NyLou
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