My Best Cornbread Comes From a Box—and It’s Not Jiffy

Listen, I’m as big an advocate for home baking as they come. I’ve owned and operated a sourdough microbakery, had a brief stint making cannoli at an Italian bakery, and have been honing my skills since baking under my mother’s tutelage as a child. Often, you’ll find me taking the more challenging route when it comes to baking, hoping it yields the best results. However, sometimes store-bought is the best option.

I’m all for simple substitutions when time, energy, kitchen space, or budget constraints prevent you from going all-out. I tell myself that there’s no shame in taking shortcuts whenever I add a boxed baking mix to my cart. Getting a little leg up is hardly a bad thing.

While I do always insist on making some of my fare from scratch, there’s one baked good in particular that always has me reaching for a boxed mix—not because it would be too complicated or inconvenient to make on my own, but because the mix is really darn good. Best of all, I can whip it up in under 10 minutes, and the mix comes from my favorite grocery store: Trader Joe’s.

Trader Joe’s Cornbread Mix Is a Pantry Staple

How can you tell if a product is really good? You can certainly rely on consumer reviews, but in this case, Trader Joe’s Cornbread Mix has staying power. This box has been a mainstay on store shelves for nearly 20 years, cementing its reputation as a reliable shelf staple. And, yes, I always keep a box in my pantry for those times when I need something quick, easy, and comforting.

To prepare, you need oil, milk, and an egg. As you can see in the Instagram video by user @cozywithceliac, the cornbread mix makes for a moist, only slightly crumbly cornbread, broken up now and then by the gentle, soft crunch of a corn kernel.

I always serve a piece of this sweet cornbread to guests, slightly warmed with just a pat of butter on top. And without fail, each of them will ask for the recipe. Telling them it’s made from a Trader Joe’s box mix feels like I’m revealing a trade secret, and it’s always fun to introduce a friend to one of my favorite TJ’s finds.

As I’d expected, this is a pretty universally-loved mix across consumer review platforms. One Redditor even gushed, “It is much better than Jiffy!”

And because cornbread is relatively simple to make, bakers are full of suggestions for improving the already-excellent mix. Personally, I’ve whipped up the batter and cooked it on a waffle iron for a twist on one of my favorite breakfasts. Other consumers have reported making the batter into pancakes for their kiddos.

If you want to really kick things up a notch, go wild with your own inclusions. These can range from as basic as one Redditor’s suggestion to add a can of corn kernels to the mix to as wild as adding some sweet and spicy jalapeños from the same brand.

Others who swear by the product have their own substitution preferences: “I change out the milk for a can of cream-style corn.” Another swears by “adding coconut flakes and using coconut oil instead of oil or butter.” Bacon and maple syrup are other popular additions, and one baker even said that a cornstarch slurry makes an excellent substitute for eggs.

Whether you’re trying to save time in the kitchen or just looking for a staple side dish that tastes homemade, a box of Trader Joe’s Cornbread Mix is the way to go. While the $3 store-bought crumbly treat certainly seems to be here to stay, this is a product you’ll want to try sooner rather than later—especially as we continue to descend into cozy season.