Southern Johnny Cakes (Hoe Cakes)
These Southern Johnny Cakes aka Hoe Cakes would be a great alternative to your everyday pancake. Made with cornmeal and a touch of sugar and nutmeg. Light and fluffy with a delicious crisp edge.
Hoecakes are cornmeal flatbreads with exceptional texture and flavor. They’re sort of a minimalist approach to cornbread.
This is made with leavening agents which makes it moist and fluffy, somewhat comparable to pancakes but not quite.
Aside from keeping the ingredients list simple, what you fry the cakes in, matters. Along with the texture and subtly sweet flavor, hoecakes need some fat. It seeps into every inch as it fries for additional flavor. Butter or good ol’ bacon fat is the way to go. Butter will yield light, crispy hoecakes and promote that golden brown color only butter provides, while bacon fat will add some of its signature pork and smokey flavor.
For the health conscious go easy on the butter.
My version of hoe cakes has a hint of sweetness and spice from the addition of nutmeg. ‘Course I love it so much AND it pairs well with the flavor of the cornmeal while still yielding versatile rounds of corny goodness. If it’s tradition you are after then leave out the nutmeg. We’ll still be friends, no worries!
Johnny cakes are a cinch. You mix the incredibly simple batter in a large bowl, heat your selected fat, spoon batter into the hot skillet and cook until golden and firm. Once done, serve them quickly because hoecakes are best when warm. Upon taking a bite, you’ll be greeted by their crisp and dense yet soft texture. As for flavor, the hint of fat is the first thing that hits your tongue followed by the expected corn flavor. The sweetness from the touch of sugar comes soon after and the nutmeg brings a faint hint of its signature aroma and complexity.
Something special happens when the aromatic spice melds with sugar. The duo enhances the hoecakes resulting in a perfect bite every time.
Don’t forget to drizzle with honey or syrup or save as an accompaniment to a savory meal.
Enjoy!!!
Watch How to Make It
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Southern Johnny Cakes (Hoe Cakes)
Ingredients
- 1 cup or (128 grams) flour
- 1 cup or (120 grams) cornmeal
- 2 eggs
- 2 1/2 teaspoon or (10 grams) baking powder
- 2 tablespoon or (28.12 grams) sugar
- 1 teaspoon or (5.69 grams) salt
- 3/4 cup or (177 ml) milk
- 1/2 cup or (118 ml ) water
- 1/3 cup or (75 grams) melted butter
- 1 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon or (0.011 grams) nutmeg
- butter or oil for frying
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix cornmeal , flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg , and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in milk, water, egg, vanilla and melted butter . Through mix until pancake mixture is smooth
- Heat a lightly oiled cast iron or frying pan over medium high heat. Scoop about 2 tablespoons each of the batter onto the cast.
- Fry each Johnny cake until brown and crisp; turn with a spatula, and then brown the other side.
- Remove and serve immediately with syrup and/or butter .
Tips & Notes:
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
Nutrition Information:
How To Make Johnny Cakes
I’m so glad to find this recipe! My oven is broken and we are having red beans for supper, which usually means we will also have cornbread. This is the perfect replacement for my stovetop-only kitchen! Thank you!
Hi Sara,
You’re so welcome! I’m glad this recipe is the perfect stovetop solution for your meal. Cornbread and red beans are such a classic combo—this will still give you that delicious pairing without needing an oven. Hope you enjoy every bite! ️ Let me know how it turns out!
This recipe is excellent! The pancakes were flavorful and tender. I used buttermilk and used the water until I reached the desired pancake consistency. Thank you for sharing!
Great! I am glad you loved this recipe, Teresita :)!
Amazing! So flavorful! Johnny cakes can be plain and boring. Not these! I think a little extra sugar and a little extra nutmeg makes them pop. These are the best Johnny Cakes! Thank you!
Thank you:) There’s more to come, so stay tuned
Love this! Have made Jars of Dry, with attached Wet Ingredients attached. Can make Corn-cakes, Bread, or Muffins.
Great to hear that. Thank you so much for visiting the blog and for your continuous support. Stay tuned:)
This is the best corn cake recipe on the internet. Thank you!
Thank you so much for your warm love, Yayy!!! Stay tuned to have more amazing recipe:)
Mixed well and cooked well, but way too salty for me, I think a pinch would be more than enough especially if you’re using salted butter or bacon fat to cook in.
I’m glad it worked out for you overall. Salt is a hard to adjust because everyone has different tastes. A lot of times I leave it out completely if using salted butter.
Hi, I was recently watching a program on Pioneer life and the woman made johnny cakes for her family’s breakfast, so I looked up the recipe and found yours. Made it this morning and it was easy and turned out delicious. Thank you
The taste was good, but following the recipe in grams/mL resulted in such a watery batter that it was unusable. I was able to doctor it by adding in another 3/4 cup of flour but can’t say I wasn’t disappointed.
Thank you for commenting about this, Nadine! I will look into measurement conversions to include in my recipes. I hope you can still give my other recipes a try, like my Hot Water Cornbread. 🙂
Great recipe, thank you. I substitute applesauce for butter, seem to work great with all the other flavors.
Amazing! Thank you for sharing, Anna!
I found your recipe because I was looking for one that didn’t have buttermilk, and I was not disappointed. They’re quick and easy, and the nutmeg adds a nice layer to the flavor.
I’ll definitely be adding them as a regular recipe because I can tell they’ll be great as a flatbread to serve with meat and gravy too.
This recipe brought me back to my Granny’s kitchen – only better! (Don’t tell her!) the cakes were light, fluffy, and delicious. I did substitute a sorghum heavy gf flour blend in for the cup of regular flour – and I’m so excited to say it worked perfectly in this recipe! We topped the cakes with a good bacon gravy – and thanks to you I found my (happy) gf substitute for biscuits and gravy.
So happy for you Erin. Thanks so much.
Yum! My husband and I only used half the batter for breakfast, so I put a cast iron frying pan in a 450 degree oven till hot. Added butter and remaining batter, put it back in the oven and had a lovely treat for later
Awesome! Thanks so much.
Sooooo good! I was frying them in grease from green chili sausage, so I omitted the nutmeg, but kept everything else the same. Served for brunch with green chili sausage, hashbrown casserole (aka funeral potatoes), and scrambled eggs. Very versatile- could be sweet or savory. Def a keeper!
Thanks so much for the feedback!
My oven broke this weekend after I was planning to make some cornbread. It was for the best bcz I made this recipe instead and they were delicious!
Sorry to hear about your oven. Happy this worked out well for you.
I’m excited to try and make these. I want to become a chef or a baker and I heard that this website helped plenty get better in the kitchen! I used to love these!
Thank you for sharing!