Why This Recipe Works

Recipes for this hearty cornbread call for corn muffin mix, chopped onion, buttermilk, cottage cheese, and frozen broccoli, and too often they turn out wet and wan. Our first step was to nix the mix and make our own cornbread. For a bread that’s moist but not wet, we eliminate the buttermilk, using just cottage cheese instead, and thoroughly pat dry the broccoli. To amp up flavor, we sauté the onion in butter before adding it in and stir hot sauce and cheddar cheese into the batter. For convenience, we bake the bread in the same skillet we use to sauté the onion, and a final sprinkling of cheese on top creates a flavorful brown crust.

Before You Begin

Thaw the broccoli and press it as dry as possible before stirring it into the batter.

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Melt butter in 10-inch ovensafe nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat; set aside.

Whisk cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl. Whisk cottage cheese, eggs, milk, and hot sauce together in separate bowl. Stir cottage cheese mixture into cornmeal mixture until combined. Stir broccoli, 1 1/2 cups cheddar, and onion mixture into batter until thoroughly combined (batter will be thick).

Pour batter into now-empty skillet and smooth top with rubber spatula. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup cheddar evenly over top. Bake until cornbread is golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cornbread cool in skillet on wire rack for 1 hour. Loosen edges of cornbread from skillet with spatula and slide out onto cutting board. Cut into wedges and serve.