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If a recipe calls for cornmeal, you might find yourself in the grain aisle, staring down bags of grits, polenta, coarse cornmeal, fine cornmeal, blue cornmeal, corn flour, and a familiar box of Jiffy. Which do you turn to? All cornmeals have a purpose, and we’re here to help you find the right one for the job.
What is cornmeal, though?
Cornmeal is dried, ground field corn (not the same type of sweet corn we eat off the cob) that ranges in texture from fine to medium to coarse. The size of the grind indicates how fast the cornmeal will absorb water (smaller grind = faster absorption), which is why coarsely ground grits take so long to stew into creamy goodness.
Like wine and honey, cornmeal has terroir, a fancy word for distinct local flavor. “Flavors range from vegetable-y, carroty notes to floral apricots. And just the tiniest hint of citrus,” says Roxana Jullapat, baker and author of Mother Grains. “Corn has a beautiful grounding flavor.” If you can find local cornmeal at your grocery store, swoop it up. Plenty of great online mills, such as Anson Mills, also sell heirloom varieties in a range of eye-catching colors and unique flavors—find our favorite mills here. Now, back to the grind.
Types of cornmeal:
Cornmeal can be categorized primarily by two factors: color and grind size. Yellow cornmeal has the most prominent corn flavor, while white cornmeal has a more subtle, delicate flavor (it’s especially nice in a ricotta cornmeal cake). Blue cornmeal is usually an heirloom variety with indigenous roots across the American South. It has a sweet, unique flavor and striking lavender-blue color. Learn more about it and try this variety from Anson Mills.
Now for the grind size. Corn flour is the smallest, silkiest grind of cornmeal. (Don’t confuse it with cornflour, the British term for cornstarch.) Dried corn is ground to a near-powder, giving it the soft texture of all-purpose flour—but most corn flour is completely gluten-free. Look for brands made with just one ingredient: organic, whole-grain corn, like the one from Bob’s Red Mill. Use it to make melt-in-your-mouth sablé cookies, light tempura batter, or crispy Cachapas.
Fine and medium cornmeal are your every day, do-it-all cornmeals. Fine-grind cornmeal is best for baking projects where you want a tender crumb, like pound cake, strawberry snacking cake, and corn muffins. It’s also ideal for hushpuppy batter and crusting sweet potato wedges. As for the best cornmeal for cornbread, either fine- or medium-grind cornmeal is a great choice. Medium-grind cornmeal will bring slightly more texture and grittiness to the batter, which you may or may not want (it’s up to you!).
Coarse cornmeal will make baked goods gritty and pebbly, so save it for recipes where you want that texture: fried catfish, Southern-style, flour-free cornbread, and crunchy blueberry crisp topping. Unless a recipe explicitly calls for coarse cornmeal, you should generally stay away, as it requires a longer cooking time than other varieties.
Plenty of corn products aren’t explicitly labeled cornmeal but have the same DNA. Polenta is coarsely ground yellow cornmeal; it’s often used to make creamy, cheesy Italian-style polenta, but you can use it anywhere you would coarse cornmeal. Grits are a staple of the American South, a descendant of a porridge consumed by the Indigenous tribes native to that region. They’re generally made from coarsely ground white corn, but “yellow grits” are also available. You may also see hominy grits, a similar product made from nixtamalized corn. Use any of these to make shrimp and pimiento cheese grits.
While not technically a type of cornmeal, masa harina is another product made from nixtamalized ground corn, a.k.a. kernels that’ve been soaked and cooked in an alkaline limewater solution. This process softens corn kernels’ tough outer shells, making them easier to incorporate into dough. It’s commonly used to make corn tortillas, empanadas, and sopes. Masa arepa (also known as arepa flour or corn masa flour) is precooked cornmeal that has not been nixtamalized. It’s used to make arepas, tamales, and hallacas.
Jiffy cornbread mix, in case you really are standing in the baking aisle wondering, is wheat flour mixed with some cornmeal, a lot of sugar, lard, baking soda, and a handful of preservatives. (Note that because of the wheat flour, it’s not gluten-free.) Use it to make creamy, cheesy Corn Pudding.
If a recipe calls for “cornmeal” without specifying what type, you can almost always use either fine or medium grind. Just know that a medium grind will give you some texture, while a fine grind might yield a denser crumb.
This Giant No-Flip Blueberry Pancake was tested with both medium and fine cornmeal, and both worked. “The pancake made with finely ground cornmeal was a bit heavier, as more of the liquid was absorbed,” says Carla Lalli Music, who developed the recipe.
If the package doesn’t specify the texture (sometimes they don’t), it’s safe to assume you’re getting either a fine or medium grind. Bags might also be labeled “stone-ground cornmeal.” Stone-grinding—which is, um, just what it sounds like—means that some of the hull and germ of the kernel are retained. This makes for a more nutritious and corn-forward product (it also tends to be coarser). If stone-ground isn’t advertised on the label, the cornmeal was most likely ground with steel rollers. These get rid of most of the hull and germ, making the cornmeal shelf-stable for longer. (Think of it sort of like whole wheat vs. all-purpose flour.)
Want to experiment with adding cornmeal to recipes that call for only all-purpose flour? Substitute a quarter of the AP flour with fine or medium cornmeal and see how it affects the baked goods’ texture and flavor. (Since cornmeal is gluten-free, you don’t want to substitute it 100%, or your cake might be dense.)
When you finally find the cornmeal you’ve been searching for, store it in an airtight container in your fridge or freezer. Unless you plan on using it all within a few months, it’ll stay fresher in a cold environment. If you’re unsure how old your cornmeal is, sniff it. Rancid cornmeal will smell sour and generally off.
We have plenty of cornmeal recipes to make the most of that bag. Our Buttermilk Cornbread recipe is the best of the best, but if you like pre-portioned servings, go for these extra-corny muffins, which are loaded with fresh corn kernels. Start a weekend morning with lacy cornmeal pancakes or waffles. Or, opt for a full meal with corn and crab beignets, Cornmeal-Crusted Sweet Potato Wedges, and Fried Catfish on the menu.
Reporting contributed by Emma Wartzman and Alex Beggs.