Add This Trendy Ingredient To Boxed Cornbread Mix For Maximum Moisture And Protein

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Boxed cornbread mix takes the guesswork out of measuring and provides the cornmeal, flour, sugar, and leavening agent that non-bakers might not have in their pantry. It's also begging to be elevated with novel and exciting ingredient mix-ins. And one mix-in that'll serve as both a flavor and texture enhancement for boxed cornbread is cottage cheese. 

Once scorned as diet food, cottage cheese has become quite trendy amongst health enthusiasts because it's high in protein and low in fat while still being rich and creamy. In the case of cornbread, cottage cheese's high protein content will make for an especially hearty and filling dish. But its water content is the real boon to cornbread. The coarse and grainy cornmeal and flour blend has a tendency to dry out and crumble. Cottage cheese ensures that cornbread has a moist, tender crumb. Its tangy, creamy, and milky flavor will give the cornbread an underlying richness without upstaging the sweet and savory corn flavor.

If you're worried about the lumpy consistency of cottage cheese, rest assured that the small curds will melt into the batter as it bakes. Any curds that don't melt will provide little pockets of cheesy, creamy goodness to complement the coarse crumb and sweet earthiness of the cornmeal. Simply add a cup of cottage cheese to your favorite boxed cornbread brand, along with wet ingredients like milk and eggs.

Cottage cheese is certainly the protein-filled wet ingredient that will maximize moisture and benefit the boxed cornbread's flavor. But it's not the only way to doctor up boxed cornbread. If you want to double down on moisture, you can use a mixture of fats like oil and bacon fat instead of or in addition to butter, as these fats have less water content than butter. 

Another wet ingredient that'll enhance moisture and flavor is creamed corn. Try adding a cup of both creamed corn and cottage cheese for a beautifully dense cornbread with an extra punch of corn flavor. If you'd rather make cornbread from scratch, you can easily add a cup of cottage cheese to any one of our many cornbread recipes.

If you'd prefer a fluffy and moist crumb, use buttermilk instead of regular milk to pair with the cottage cheese. You can accentuate the cheesy taste of cottage cheese by adding shredded cheddar cheese, which has a sharp and robust flavor component that'll also give cornbread a gooey decadence. Whichever additional ingredients you choose, don't forget to bake the cornbread in a pre-heated cast iron skillet (like this Lodge skillet) for the ultimate crispy bottom and tender interior.