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Skillet dessertPineapple + pecan

Forty minutes · eight warm servings

Pineapple Cornbread

A golden, spoon-tender skillet cornbread with crushed pineapple, brown sugar, pecans, and a buttery caramel edge.

Bake the cornbread
Golden cornbread baked in a black cast-iron skillet.
The source recipe takes cornbread into dessert territory: pineapple in the crumb, brown sugar at both edges, and butter underneath.Photo by Jonathunder · CC BY-SA 3.0
Prep
10 min
Bake
30 min
Skillet
10-inch cast iron
Serves
8 servings

This is cornbread wearing the manners of a warm fruit pudding. Sassy in da South’s compact 2008 recipe sends undrained crushed pineapple, brown sugar, egg, and pecans into self-rising cornmeal mix, then bakes the batter over a glossy floor of butter and sugar.

The result belongs at the dessert end of the table: deeply sweet, spoon-tender while warm, and sturdy enough for wedges once cool. Pineapple keeps the middle plush; pecans interrupt it with clean crunch; a second dusting of brown sugar gives the top a faint caramel shell.

“This is actually a dessert and not actually cornbread. Recipe came from the back of a corn meal mix package. Quick to make and quite tasty too.”

Warm skillet

Melt the butter in cast iron so the batter meets a hot, fully coated surface.

One gentle fold

Stop as soon as the cornmeal mix disappears; a perfectly smooth batter is not the goal.

Read the center

Look for a set middle with no wet batter on a tester, then give the soft crumb five minutes to settle.

Before the bowlKeep the ratios straight

Four details hidden inside an eight-line recipe

The ingredient list is short, but the pineapple liquid and two separate measures of brown sugar each have a precise job.

Fruit, corn, nutSoft against crisp

Golden fruit and pecan ridges inside a buttered skillet

A whole ripe pineapple photographed against a pale background.
Crushed pineapple goes in undrained, carrying both fruit and syrup into the cornmeal batter.Photo by Renee Comet, National Cancer Institute · Public domain
Do not drain

The syrup is structural: it hydrates the cornmeal mix and keeps this dessert softer than everyday cornbread.

Shelled pecan halves arranged among pecans in their shells.
A small handful of chopped pecans breaks up the soft, syrupy crumb with a clean roasted crunch.Photo by Scott Bauer, USDA Agricultural Research Service · Public domain

Ingredient rolesSweet soft crisp

A pantry dessert built from four defining parts

Each ingredient is doing more than adding flavor, which is why the original proportions stay intact.

01

Self-rising cornmeal mix

The corn-flavored structure and the recipe’s built-in leavening system.

Plain cornmeal is not a direct swap; choose a mix labeled self-rising.
02

Crushed pineapple in syrup

Fruit, sweetness, and most of the batter’s moisture in a single can.

Do not drain it. Fold the fruit and syrup in together exactly as the source directs.
03

Brown sugar

A dark caramel note through the crumb plus two thin, buttery surface layers.

Keep the cup for the batter separate from the two tablespoons used around it.
04

Pecans

A roasted, buttery crunch against a very soft dessert-style cornbread.

Chop rather than grind so the pieces stay distinct after baking.

Pineapple cornbread

A sweet cast-iron cornbread with crushed pineapple, brown sugar, pecans, and a buttery caramel edge.

DessertCornbreadPineapplePecansCast IronQuick Bread

Ingredients

Skillet and batter

  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar, divided
  • 1 cup self-rising cornmeal mix
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple in syrup, undrained
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 1/4 cup pecans, chopped

To serve

  • Whipped cream, optional

Directions

  1. Heat the oven to 425°F with a rack in the center.
  2. Set a 10-inch cast-iron skillet over medium-low heat. Add the butter and swirl as it melts, coating the bottom and lower sides. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the divided brown sugar evenly over the butter, then remove the skillet from the heat.
  3. In a large bowl, combine the self-rising cornmeal mix, the 1 cup brown sugar, undrained crushed pineapple, beaten egg, and chopped pecans. Fold only until the dry mix disappears; the batter does not need to be smooth.
  4. Carefully pour the batter into the warm skillet over the butter and sugar. Sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon brown sugar evenly across the top.
  5. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the top is golden, the center looks set, and a tester inserted near the middle shows no wet batter.
  6. Rest in the skillet for 5 minutes. Spoon the warm cornbread into dessert dishes, or cool longer for neater wedges. Add whipped cream if desired.

Image credits

Photography is used under open licenses with attribution: Jonathunder, Renee Comet, National Cancer Institute, and Scott Bauer, USDA Agricultural Research Service.