This Mediterranean Rosemary Cornbread is the perfect bread to make Thanksgiving Stuffing. I love how this bread smells when it is in the oven! This is usually one of the first dishes I bake for the Thanksgiving preparations.

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Cornbread for Thanksgiving or New Year’s Eve?
Well, as most of you know I grew up in Albania, a small Mediterranean country in South Europe. We make cornbread there too and call it Buke Misri (buke means bread and misri means corn). Cornbread is also very popular, we usually toast it and eat with feta cheese (no surprise there :).
However, I also wanted to bring up one of our traditions, New Year’s Eve dinner. It is usually a big family dinner where people get together to celebrate and be thankful about the year that passed and say wishes that the New Year will bring more health, love and prosperity. We usually serve turkey, stuffing and lots of other side dishes (which we call mezes) for New Year’s Eve.
I’ve lived in US for almost 2 decades now, so me and my family love to celebrate Thanksgiving. I try to make stuffing with this rosemary cornbread because it reminds me of back home. I feel it’s the perfect way to entwine both cultures.
Mediterranean Rosemary Cornbread Recipe Notes
Honestly, there’s not much I can add to the recipe card for this cornbread. It’s very easy to make. Here are some tips:
- Pre-heat over to 400 degrees
- Use warm milk to make the dough
- Mix the dough with a wooden spoon.
- I tend to add rosemary to a lot of dishes, it’s one of my favorite herbs. I also tend to increase the quantity the recipe calls for, but a word of warning. Don’t use too much rosemary in this cornbread. You want to use just enough so the flavor is not overwhelming. Plus if you’re using this bread to make stuffing, you’ll add more rosemary there too.
- Bake this the night before so you don’t have to cook everything on Thanksgiving morning. I also tend to use the toaster oven since the baking dish I use fits there. The only thing I’ve noticed that when I bake this cornbread in regular oven the top part will be more golden while when I use the toaster oven, the crust becomes more golden-brown.
- Recipe is pretty forgiving. If you don’t have milk, replace with warm water (yes, I’ve done that). Cornbread comes out a bit more crumbly but still tastes good. You can actually replace other ingredients as well. Message me with questions, I would love to help if you have questions.
Before you move on to the recipe card below, you can check out some of the process pictures. First off, I like to gather all ingredients I need before I start cooking. See below a list of all the ingredients I used to make this cornbread.
Here’s another picture I took once dough was ready and already in the baking dish. Picture was taken right before I insert it the dish in the oven.
Mediterranean Rosemary Cornbread
Equipment
- 9 inch diameter baking dish
- Mixing bowl
- Wooden spoon
Ingredients
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- ¼ cups olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp rosemary leaves (chopped) add more for decorating once baked
- ¾ cups greek yogurt
- ⅔ cups warm milk
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 egg (room temperature)
- ½ tsp sugar
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F (about 200 degrees C)
- Chop rosemary leaves in very small pieces. Use about 1 tsp for cornbread, leave the rest aside for decoration and aroma once cornbread is baked.
- Mix cornmeal, flour, baking powder and set aside.
- In another bowl, whisk egg lightly. Then add salt and sugar. Whisk for a little bit then add yogurt, whisk again. Finally add the dry ingredients
- Then add minced rosemary. Finally add the warm milk.
- Use wooden spoon to mix everything together and create the dough.
- Finally add the olive oil to the dough. Mix the dough one more time.
- Coat the baking dish with a little bit of olive oil (or cooking spray, butter etc, your choice). Pour the dough into the baking dish (I use a 9 inch diameter one).
- Bake for 25 minutes in regular oven or about 20 minutes in toaster oven. Turn oven off and let cook inside for few more minutes. Take out and let the bread cook in a cooling rack.
Notes
- The round baking dish I use can take enough dough to double this recipe. If you are making 1.5 of the recipe or double, then you have to bake for about 40 minutes. Use a toothpick to pinch the bread to make sure it is baked all the way through. I make 1 of this recipe for toasting the bread but I usually double it for Thanksgiving.
- If using a different baking dish, make sure you have enough dough for about 1 inch thickness before you bake.
Nutrition Label
Nutrition
If you would like to save this Mediterranean Rosemary Cornbread recipe for later, please pin the below image to Pinterest. Made the recipe? Feel free to tag me in social media.
Instagram: mediterranean_latin_love or Facebook: Mediterranean Latin Love Affair.
Other Thanksgiving Recipes
See below some of my other Thanksgiving recipes.
- Homemade Cranberry Sauce
- Sweet Potato Casserole (with marshmallows and pecans)
- Phyllo Sweet Potato Bites
- Roasted Potatoes with Rosemary & Sage
- Roasted Sweet Potatoes & Beets Salad
Rich
Just wondering how this recipe has worked for everyone? Ingredients call for 1 tsp baking powder, instructions call for baking soda. No one noticed? Rich
admin
Hi Rich, the correct ingredient is baking powder as stated in the ingredient list. I’ll edit it in the instructions as that’s a typo. Thank you for pointing it out.
I have had readers tag me in Instagram with this recipe but no one had pointed out the typo before.
Nisha
This looks so tasty and so well done!
María
I love this rosemary cornbread!!! I will take note if this recipe for Christmas 😊
Rosanna Mancino
Wow, en me casa somos fans del cornbread y ese rosemary cornbread mediterranean Style, se ve buenísimo. Lo intetaré en mañana mismo. Mil gracias
Sonila
Gracias Rosanna:)
Wendy
Wow ! I can smell the rosemary from here. I love love cornbread 🌽.
admin
Thank you so much Wendy:)
Enriqueta E Lemoine
When I see your recipes I feel like I found my culinary soulmate! Love this Mediterranean cornbread!
admin
Enriqueta, that’s the biggest compliment anyone could give me!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart:)
Morena
I’m saving this recipe right now to make it as soon as possible. It looks so yummy.