The 12 Best Cornmeal Brands You Need To Start Cooking With

As one of the earliest staple foods in the Americas, cornmeal has been a culinary cornerstone for thousands of years. Considered sacred — as well as essential — to the Indigenous communities who first cultivated corn, cornmeal took on a similar significance for the first European settlers who would have likely starved without it.

Corn's history became international after colonizers brought it across the Atlantic in the 1500s through the Columbian Exchange. Adopted into the cuisines of numerous cultures, corn and cornmeal's versatility has woven this grain into many nations' culinary identities and histories. The primary component of dishes such as Romanian Mamaliga, West African Akasa, Central American pupusas, and Caribbean Cou-Cou, cornmeal is a diverse ingredient that can be boiled and baked into infinite forms of comfort food. White, yellow, red, or blue, whether you're looking to fry up a crisp tortilla or bake moist cornbread, here are some of the best cornmeal brands you need to start cooking with to transform an unassuming ingredient into the most delicious, nutritious, and eye-catching recipes.

If you're in the mood for something creative, try Marsh Hen Mill's Unicorn Corn Meal. Produced from red corn, it's naturally pink and creamy. If you don't mind falling abreast of the Millennial pink trend, unicorn corn meal rivals red-velvet with a subdued pastel color, resulting in unique pale pink confections. For an even more enhanced color, Marsh Hen's site suggests adding a splash of something acidic — like lemon juice — to further jazz up the recipe. (If you're more into blues, you might prefer the Sea Island Blue Corn Meal for an equally colorful touch).

Based on Edisto Island, Marsh Hen Mill sources its cornmeal from local growers. Its stone grinding technique churns out artisanal grains that are sweeter than supermarket varieties. "You'd swear I put a cup of sugar in it," co-founder Greg Johnsman told The Washington Post. Marsh Hen Mill's cornmeal has a finer and flour-like consistency – making it ideal for baking. The company's products are found in upscale restaurants throughout South Carolina but are also in national grocery stores like Whole Foods. Marsh Hen Mill's corn meal should also be refrigerated.

For a taste of true, ancient flavor, Masienda's Blue Corn Masa Harina is another colorful, nutritious choice. Blue corn, native to Mexico and the southwestern region of the United States, is an integral element of Hopi Native American cuisine and culture. The tribe's origin story states that among the gifts from the Guardian Spirit Màasaw was an ear of blue corn. While it is exceptional for its striking blueish-purple hue, blue corn also contains more protein than yellow corn, and is full of antioxidants from the anthocyanins that give the corn its distinctive color.

Searching for the perfect tortilla, Masienda's founder Jorge Gaviria traced the secret ingredient back to the heirloom corn of Oaxaca, Mexico. The corn is grown using traditional regenerative farming practices, resulting in flavorful, nutrient-rich grains. Milled in small batches, Masienda's Blue Corn Masa Harina is also nixtamalized, lending it that superior binding quality ideal for making tortillas. This blue cornmeal also produces delicious baked goods — try using it to make vibrant cornbread or blue corn pancakes.

If you're looking for a pantry staple, Goya Enriched Fine Yellow Cornmeal is another good choice for traditional Latin dishes. A gateway into Latin American cuisine as a popular American brand, Goya is available in most grocery stores nationwide. As an enriched grain, Goya's cornmeal is milled more commercially, requiring the iron and B vitamins stripped during processing to be added back into the grain. This process gives Goya cornmeal a longer shelf life, as it does not require refrigeration, making this a good brand to keep on hand.

Founded in 1936 by Spanish immigrants Carolina and Don Prudencio Unanue, Goya seeks to make readily available the flavors of Spain, Mexico, and the Caribbean, as well as Central and South America. While ideal for preparing dishes with Latin roots, Goya cornmeal's versatility also makes it equally adaptable for baking as well as thickening soups and stews. America's Test Kitchen also rated it the best supermarket brand if you just want to whip up a quick and simple batch of cornbread.

If you're planning to buy in bulk, Weisenberger Mill's Southern White Cornmeal is a trusted choice from a family company owned and operated for six generations. The oldest commercial mill in Kentucky, Weisenberger Mill produces cornmeal that is a reliable option for breading and baking to cook up everything from hushpuppies to fried chicken. As the "baker's choice" of the Bluegrass, per What Chefs Want!, the mill grinds an array of textures, offering both bolted and unbolted cornmeal for either a more coarse or finely-ground consistency.

"Bolting" refers to the way cornmeal is processed — the grains undergo a series of siftings or boltings, which remove some of the nutrient-dense germ of the grain. Unbolted cornmeal, on the other hand, does not go through this sifting process, and therefore produces a whole grain product. The Washington Post recommends keeping unbolted cornmeal in the fridge to maximize its shelf life if you won't be using it up fairly quickly. 

If you're in the mood for some Italian food but want to branch out from pasta and risotto, reach for your Meadowlark Organics Flint Corn Polenta. Flint corn, or otto file in Italian, is a corn variety first cultivated by Native American tribes in the northeast, which caught on in Italy once brought overseas due to its superior texture when cooked. Since then, flint corn has come to be regarded as the cornmeal that makes for true Italian polenta, and Meadowlark Organics' variety is as true as it gets. 

Though you can use any coarse-ground cornmeal to make polenta, Meadowlark Organics flint corn is descended from an heirloom variety with seeds that have been hand-selected, bringing it as close to the original, ancient strain as you might hope to find. Meadowlark cornmeal has a distinctly sweet flavor, which also makes it good for baking. 

While the Yellow Flint Corn Polenta is a more traditional ingredient, Meadowlark's Red Corn Polenta became a 2023 Good Food Awards finalist after a blind taste test. If you're not based in Wisconsin, where a few stores carry Meadowlark products, you can order online. The company recommends refrigerating or freezing all its corn products for longer storage.

Look no further for a traditional cornmeal brand than Atkinson Milling Company's Stone Ground Cornmeal. Atkinson's mill has been operating continuously since 1757, working with the same technology that churned out cornmeal products before the American Revolution. Corn has defined the mill's success for over 250 years and is ingrained in the operators' identity. Ray Wheeler, who now owns the mill with his wife Betty, is so dedicated to the business that he is known around North Carolina as "The Cornbread Man," a nickname that's officially registered with the state.

Atkinson's cornmeal comes at a reasonable price point and can be easily found online. The brand prides itself in offering quality stone-ground products, and mills a variety of cornmeal textures to suit all preferences. Though it's most famous for fine stone-ground cornmeal, it has an even finer variety for those who don't want any grittiness: The Cattail Corn Meal is as fine as flour and functions just as well, making for especially tender cornbread and delightfully crisp, breaded seafood.