Homemade Cornbread Bowls For Chili

Make chili night epic and serve it up in style with this recipe for homemade cornbread chili bowls. A fun and enjoyable way to share your favorite chili recipe with the whole family.

Bread bowls are not a new concept. If you grew up going to Panera and indulging in your favorite soup inside a giant personal loaf of sourdough, then you know the magic that ensues.

Why not create the same concept with chili? While you could enjoy a sourdough bread bowl in this scenario, I think we can all agree that cornbread is the perfect pairing here when it comes to chili.

I combined my two favorite recipes (over-the-top smoked chili with this delicious smoked cornbread) and thus, chili bread bowls were born.

The fun part about cooking however is that you can make any chili recipe you prefer (but if you haven’t smoked chili yet you are absolutely missing out on something incredible) and even used boxed cornbread mix as well.

Below I will break down all the ways I made this at home from scratch and give you all the tips and techniques to make different size cornbread bowls based on the serving method you prefer. Let’s dive in!

Why This Recipe Works:

Cornbread is often served alongside chili, so serving it in a cornbread bowl is a fun way to enjoy the two together.
The bowls can be made “mini” in a muffin pan or made into larger bowls using different size baking dishes that you have at home.
While traditional soup would contain too much liquid, the thicker consistency of chili holds up really well with the more delicate texture of cornbread.

Supplies Needed:

8, 8 oz. Mini Cocottes (alternatively use a large muffin pan)
Mixing Bowl
Whisk
Measuring Cups
Spoon
Pairing Knife
Small Baking Sheet (optional)

Ingredients:

For The Cornbread:

Flour
Yellow Cornmeal
Sugar
Salt
Baking Powder
Melted Butter
Egg
Milk (nondairy options like oat milk or almond milk are fine here)

You can also try my smoked cornbread and use the batter for this recipe as well.

For The Chili Bread Bowls:

1 Batch, Smoked Chili Recipe (a ground beef-based chili with tomato sauce, kidney beans, and smoky chili powder seasoning)

Fried Onions/ Fried Jalapenos

Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Green Onions

Sour Cream

Chili Options:

There are so many fun ways to fill your cornbread bowls! I love this white chicken chili, leftover smoked brisket chili, and this Southwest chili with black beans and corn!

Baking Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease the mini cocotte ceramic dishes or muffin tin. You can also use muffin liners if preferred.
Mix up the cornbread batter according to the recipe instructions.
Fill each cocotte with about 1/2 cup of batter. You should be able to fill about 6 cocottes or 6 large muffins with the batter. The muffin tin will not yield as nice of a “bowl” shape but it will still work for this recipe. Do not overfill or it will overflow.
Place the cocottes onto a small baking sheet for easy transfer in and out of the oven. Bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cornbread comes out clean and the top is lightly golden brown.
Let them cool slightly before removing them from the cocotte.

Serving Chili In Cornbread Bowls:

Remove the cornbread from the cocotte. Use a pairing knife to carefully carve out a hole in the middle to create the “bowl” for pouring the chili. Be careful to not cut too far down and leave a slight edge as well.
Use a small spoon to gently scoop out the inside cornbread. Place that excess cornbread into the bottom of the cocotte or serving dish you plan on using. Place the cornbread bowl back over it. This helps no cornbread go to waste!
Serve the chili right into the cutout cornbread bowl and top with cheddar cheese, crispy onions or jalapenos, and sour cream!