This mochi cornbread recipe tastes just like your classic cornbread but with a dense, chewy texture (in a good way!). With browned butter and a drizzle of honey, you’ll be craving this baked mochi all year long. Bonus points: it’s a perfect gluten-free cornbread! Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links.

Although I’ve now become known for my sweet mochi cakes (also known as butter mochi in Hawaii), I wanted to dive more into the realm of a savory mochi bake for my Thanksgiving feast. Of course, how could I not think of mochi cornbread? I love a brown butter cornbread and have been using the Serious Eats skillet cornbread recipe for years. Naturally, this mochi cornbread version is its next evolution. It turned out SO delicious, I’m sure I’ll be making this all year round and not just in fall.

Ingredients to Know and Potential Substitutions

Mochiko

If you’ve been a longtime Mochi Mommy reader, you are probably already familiar with mochiko. But if not, welcome! Many of my recipes use mochiko, which is a rice flour made from the rice used to make Japanese mochi. This is what makes this cornbread gluten-free. It is sometimes called sweet rice flour or glutinous rice flour, HOWEVER even flours made from the same rice will result in different textures depending on how they are milled. If you can, I recommend buying Japanese mochiko, either Koda Farms Blue Star brand or Shirakiku. You can substitute Thai or Chinese glutinous rice flour if you want, but your bake times and end texture may drastically vary, so be forewarned.

For more information about mochiko and rice flours, check out my Ultimate Guide to Japanese Rice Flours post!

Evaporated Milk

Many baked mochi dishes also use canned coconut milk and evaporated milk, especially if they originate from Hawaii. For this recipe, in order to achieve a cornbread-like crumb and flavor, I used only evaporated milk. The strong dairy flavor complements the browned butter really well. If you’d like a more gooey mochi texture, you can add a can of coconut milk, but I feel the coconut kind of steers this dish in a different direction for my tastebuds. Another option is to add a cup of whole milk if you’d like a more mochi-like chewiness without the coconut flavor.

Milk Powder

Speaking of browned butter, you can also skip this step and use just melted butter. You’ll also see that I recommend a tablespoon of dry milk powder while browning your butter. Milk powder is like brown butter but in SOLID form. You’ll get an ultra strong brown butter flavor if you use it! Plus, then you can make my toasted milk powder chocolate chip cookies and brown butter rice krispies treats with the leftovers.

Cornmeal

It seems obvious, but you’ll need yellow cornmeal for this recipe. I’ve seen a few popular sweet corn mochi cake recipes going around social media that call for pureeing fresh corn in a blender or food processor. While I’m sure that tastes amazing, since I don’t normally do that for my cornbread, I opted to keep it simple with this recipe as well.

Sugar

Many cornbread recipes use much less sugar than what mine calls for, but I REALLY recommend you try the recipe as written first before you decide to decrease the sugar. Baking with rice flour really dampens flavors, and I find that I need a higher amount of sugar for the sweetness to register in my brain. Feel free to substitute brown sugar for regular granulated sugar if you wish. Even with this level of sugar, I still enjoy eating this cornbread with a generous drizzle of honey on top.

Ways to Play with Cornbread Texture

As I mentioned above, this recipe is very close to a traditional cornbread with a crumbly texture. If you’re looking for something more mochi-like, as in more stretchy and gooey, you’ll need to increase the amount of liquid. Try adding up to a half cup more of milk, coconut milk, buttermilk, or sour cream if you wish. In my Instagram video, I made a version where I added an extra half cup of sour cream, making the overall texture more fluffy and similar to a cakey butter mochi.

More Baked Mochi Recipes

Looking for more mochi recipes? You’ve come to the right place. Check these out!

mochi cornbread closeup of stack
4.75 from 4 reviews

Mochi Cornbread (Easy and Gluten-Free!)

This mochi cornbread is just like your traditional cornbread but with glutinous rice flour for a dense texture and bouncy bite. It's super easy and naturally gluten-free!
Servings: 24 pieces
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
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Ingredients
  

  • 4 oz unsalted butter, 1 stick
  • 1 tbsp dry milk powder, optional
  • 8 oz mochiko, about 1 3/4 cups
  • 8 oz yellow cornmeal, about 1 1/2 cups
  • 7 oz sugar, 1 cup
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp kosher salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 12oz can evaporated milk

Equipment

  • 9×13" metal baking pan

Instructions
 

  • Brown your butter: In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat until it begins to foam.
  • When butter is foaming, add dry milk powder, if using.
  • Stir your butter and continue cooking over medium heat until melted butter just begins to turn a light amber brown. Turn off the stove. Butter will continue to darken in color due to residual heat. Set aside while you prepare the rest of your ingredients.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease and line a 9×13" metal baking pan.
  • In a large bowl, whisk mochiko, cornmeal, sugar, salt, and baking powder.
  • Add eggs and evaporated milk, whisking to combine.
  • Lastly, add in the browned butter, which should have cooled slightly by this time.
  • Mix batter well and pour into prepared baking tin.
  • Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  • You can store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.

Notes

  • For ingredient substitutions please see the suggestions in the blog post above!
  • If you want a more fluffy, bouncy texture like butter mochi or mochi cake, I recommend adding a half cup of sour cream or plain yogurt.
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