This Gluten-Free Vegan Cornbread is fluffy and light with an amazing texture from the cornmeal! It’s perfect served with soup or chili, served as a side or snack, or just topped with a little bit of butter or spread. This post is sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill.
I’ve been wanting to make a gluten-free and vegan cornbread forever it seems like. The recipes haven’t ever turned out quite right – always too dense, or too cakey, or not a good enough texture or flavor. Which is why none of them have ever made it onto this site.
UNTIL NOW. Because you guys, I finally nailed it. Right in time for the Superbowl too…so you can have a delicious side to your steaming bowl of chili. Which one are you making – my classic best chili? My paleo chili? Or my white bean chili?! I’ll be making the white bean chili, and it is gonna be perfection when paired with this fluffy, delicious cornbread.
It’s pretty dang easy to make too. Just whisk together the dry ingredients, whisk together the wet ingredients, stir it all together, and your batter is done. Just pour it into the pan, or into a muffin tin if you’d prefer, bake, and voila – gluten-free vegan cornbread.
You really don’t even have to wait for it to cool before digging in, because cornbread is always better when it’s steamy and warm. Swoooon. Just make sure you’ve got the butter (or ghee, or vegan butter 😊) on deck and ready to spread!
The BEST Gluten Free + Vegan Cornbread!
We’ll have a quick chat about how to make the cornbread, what goes into it and why and whatnot, and then onto the recipe! Since most great cornbread starts with buttermilk, we make our OWN dairy-free buttermilk here. You’ll simply stir together a cup of dairy-free milk + a tablespoon of vinegar and let it curdle a bit. It’s also great to make your flax eggs right at the beginning, so they’ve got time to gel.
THEN, mix up all those dry ingredients. I used blanched almond flour and tapioca flour, both from Bob’s Red Mill – the blanched almond flour helps give light flavor and texture while the tapioca flour makes it super fluffy. Of course, can’t have cornbread without cornmeal.
I use Bob’s Organic Medium Grind Cornmeal here too, which is the true star of the show. It adds such a nice bite with some grit in the texture and a sweet corn flavor. There’s also baking soda, baking powder, salt, and coconut sugar.
For the wet ingredients, we’ve just got melted coconut oil, and the buttermilk we made earlier, along with the flax eggs. BTW – those little brown flecks you might see in the photos of the cornbread? Those are just from the flax meal.
You’ll whisk everything together until a thick, smooth batter comes together. Then, bake until golden. I seriously couldn’t keep my hands off of this gluten-free and vegan cornbread as soon as it came out of the oven…it just smelled so scrumptious. I spread on a little bit of ghee while the cornbread was still warm and it was glorious. 🙌
If you’re a cornbread kinda person, you’ve got to try this recipe! I’d surely say it compares to any cornbread I’ve ever had, and it’s perfect served with chili…and probably anytime I’m having soup or chili in the future. This one’s a keeper! Enjoy :)
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Gluten Free + Vegan Cornbread
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 22 minutes
- Total Time: 32 minutes
- Yield: 16 pieces 1x
Description
This Gluten Free + Vegan Cornbread is fluffy and light with an amazing texture from the cornmeal! It’s perfect served with soup or chili, served as a side or snack, or just topped with a little bit of butter or spread.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar, can also use lemon juice
- 1 cup non-dairy milk of choice, I used unsweetened almond
- 1½ cups (144g) blanched almond flour
- ½ cup (55g) tapioca flour
- 1 cup (172g) Bob’s Red Mill Organic Medium Grind Cornmeal
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1¼ teaspoons sea salt
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- ⅓ cup coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly (you could sub with avocado oil too)
- 2 flax eggs, 2 tablespoons flax meal + 5 tablespoons water, whisk together and let set for 5 minutes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line an 8×8” square baking pan with parchment paper and grease with coconut oil. Set aside.
- Combine the non-dairy milk and white vinegar in a bowl to let the milk curdle a bit into buttermilk. Also make the flax eggs at this point, to give them time to gel.
- Meanwhile, whisk the almond flour, tapioca flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl, making sure to get all the clumps out.
- Add the coconut sugar, melted coconut oil, and flax eggs to the milk and vinegar mixture and whisk together until smooth. Whisk the wet mixture into the dry ingredients until smooth and combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few crumbs attached, about 22-24 minutes.
- Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then remove from the pan and place on a wire rack to let it finish cooling completely. You can also serve warm, if desired. In fact, I recommend trying a piece warm. Enjoy!
- Category: Side Dish
- Cuisine: American
Dani M says
You are basically amazing! I’ve wanted to try to figure out a good cornbread recipe, but you beat me to it! I’m going to try it very soon, because I’ve been missing cornbread. :) Thank you so much for your amazing recipes!
Rachel says
I hope you love the recipe Dania, and that it satisfies your cornbread craving!! Thanks for your kind words :)
Nicole says
Hi! Love your recipes :) Could you substitute the flax eggs for whole eggs?
Rachel says
I haven’t tried it that way so no guarantees, but I don’t see why not! Let me know how it turns out if you do decide to try it :)
Ekaterina says
Dear Rachel! Thank you for another masterpiece recipe from you! It even exceeded my expectations, actually) Since I couldn’t find medium grind cormeal, I used polenta instead, it has more fine texture, I guess. And it turned out to be just delicious! Thank you very much once again!
★★★★★
Rachel says
So happy to hear that you’re loving it!! Thanks so much for the feedback Ekaterina :)
Clo says
Hi Rachel! This recipe looks absolutely amazing, I’m looking for a good vegan & GF cornbread and yours really looks fab! I’d like to substitue the almond flour by another gf flour as I have allergies, any ideas or tips?
Thanks so much in advance
Rachel says
Hi Clo, I’ve only tested this as written so I can’t make any guarantees…I’m guessing that a GF all purpose flour would work well here though! Enjoy :)
Mary K says
I just made this to go with dinner tonight and I admit I ate one-third of the pan :) No need to say that it was quite tasty. The only surprise is that it is not all that similar to traditional cornbread since it has the mix of the almond and tapioca flours. I would say it’s like a cornbread-biscuit hybrid. I had it with pork carnitas and rice but I feel like it would go even better with a veggie chili. Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★
Rachel says
Hi Mary, so glad you’re enjoying it! I don’t find it to be anything like a biscuit, but things can always bake up a little bit differently in different kitchens and I know cornbread varies region by region. Thanks for your feedback!
Emily says
I have been searching for a vegan AND gluten free cornbread recipe for what seems like forever, and thanks to this recipe, I can finally stop the search. This is absolutely the best cornbread I have ever had. I remember cornbread always being more dense and dry, but this is just the opposite. I have never had cornbread that is so fluffy and moist. I have made it several times already and everyone I share it with loves it! Thank you so much for the amazing recipe! :)
★★★★★
Rachel says
So thrilled to hear that!! I searched forever too, and when I couldn’t find one, created my own :) so glad it satisfies your cravings too!
ann says
I don’t want to use 1 1/2 c almond flour maybe 1/4 c
What will happen? How can I still make it vegan?
Ann
Rachel says
Hi Ann, I’m not sure what you mean – you only want to use a 1/4 cup almond flour? You could try substituting a different kind of flour but I’ve only tested it as written. Changing the types of flour doesn’t affect it being vegan.
Jo says
Hi Rachel. We are having a family get together and my parents have been on the keto diet. I would like to make something that they could enjoy as well. What could I change on this recipe to make it keto friendly?
Thank you for the great recipes.
Rachel says
Hi Jo, I don’t know all the rules of keto but I’m pretty sure that corn should be eaten in pretty limited quantities. This recipe would have to be almost entirely changed to be keto-friendly, and since I haven’t tested it I wouldn’t feel comfortable recommending so many changes. I would suggest searching for a cornbread recipe that was designed to be keto-friendly. Sorry I can’t be more help!
Jo says
Thank you so much for getting back to me and letting me know.
Bets says
Could one use vegetable oil, real butter or another neutral oil instead of coconut oil?
Rachel says
Absolutely! Any oil should work well.
Rhonda says
Hi Rachel,
I don’t usually write reviews, but I made this recipe last night as written, and my husband said that this cornbread was, “to die for!” I’ve tried a few other gluten-free, vegan cornbreads, but this one was definitely the most delicious by far! Thank you!
★★★★★
Rachel says
This makes me so happy to read, Rhonda! I’m so thrilled you and your husband are loving it and I’m so grateful for the feedback. Enjoy!
Anna Kate says
I started making this and realized I am out of flax AND regular eggs. I did some research and subbed 6 tbsp almond butter for the egg and let me just say… I think I may be on to something. The nuttiness is nice in this recipe. Love this and will try again with flax eggs later! Thank you Bakerita!
★★★★★
Rachel says
Ooooh how interesting!! I’m so glad you figured it out and made it work – will need to try that. Thanks so much for the feedback, Anna Kate!
kmflorida says
Delicious and perfect for our Thanksgiving Stuffing. Thanks
★★★★★
Rachel says
So glad to hear it was a hit. Thanks for the feedback, Dana!
Sylvan Bonin says
I haven’t made this yet but I’m excited to try it. There are both vegans and GF folks in the community I dine with. One question: you mention maple syrup in the commentary but it sin’t in the recipe. Did you replace it with coconut sugar? Or was it in addition?
Rachel says
Hi Sylvan – my mistake! I ended up replacing it with coconut sugar :) hope you love the recipe!
Sadie says
I’ve been baking vegan for 10 years and GF for 7 years and this is hands down the best cornbread recipe I’ve come across. No other recipe or packaged mix compares! Thanks to the almond flour, it was able to get a lovely shade of brown on the bottom but still remain light and moist. This is a keeper recipe that will stay in our rotation!
★★★★★
Bakerita | Rachel Conners says
So glad you’re loving it, Sadie! I tried many gluten-free vegan cornbread recipes as well and none made me happy, so that’s how this one came to be :D glad you agree that it’s awesome!!! Thanks for the feedback.
Sarah says
LOVED this recipe. I paired it with butternut squash quinoa chili. Delicious! I followed it to a T, however it came out super crumbly. Any suggestions?
★★★★
Bakerita | Rachel Conners says
Hi Sarah, sorry you had issues with it crumbling! Cornbread is naturally a little crumbly, but overbaking even slightly can pull out extra moisture that makes it extra crumbly, so make sure you’re not overbaking this one, and be careful not to overmeasure the flour, which can also dry out the cornbread.
Amelia says
Hi! Currently meal-prepping for the postpartum period and plan to make your white bean chili to freeze! Wondering how well this would hold up in the freezer to go alongside it..? Thank you!
Bakerita | Rachel Conners says
Hi Amelia, it should freeze very well in an airtight container :)