Gluten-Free Vegan Cornbread
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
- Category: Side Dish
- Cuisine: American
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!
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!
I hope you love the recipe Dania, and that it satisfies your cornbread craving!! Thanks for your kind words :)
Hi! Love your recipes :) Could you substitute the flax eggs for whole eggs?
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 :)
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!
So happy to hear that you’re loving it!! Thanks so much for the feedback Ekaterina :)
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
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 :)
This recipe is amazing. I’ve made it probably 10 times at this point and it never fails to be a crowd pleaser! Thank you so much!
So glad you love it, Eli! Thanks for the review.
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!
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!
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! :)
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!
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
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.
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.
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!
Thank you so much for getting back to me and letting me know.
A little late to this comment, but if you are willing to experiment, millet flour has a similar consistency to corn flour and I believe millet is technically a seed not a grain. Might be an option.
Could one use vegetable oil, real butter or another neutral oil instead of coconut oil?
Absolutely! Any oil should work well.
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!
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!
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!
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!
I love these kind of comments! Who knew…..almond butter….I’m going to try it also!!
Me too!! People are so creative :) hope it works well for you too!
Delicious and perfect for our Thanksgiving Stuffing. Thanks
So glad to hear it was a hit. Thanks for the feedback, Dana!
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?
Hi Sylvan – my mistake! I ended up replacing it with coconut sugar :) hope you love the recipe!
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!
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.
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?
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.
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!
Hi Amelia, it should freeze very well in an airtight container :)
My family adores cornbread and I always have to skip it…have been wanting to try this recipe for a long time and so glad I did!!! We all agreed this was the best cornbread we’ve ever had. Made it this afternoon for chili tonight and half the pan was gone by the time we sat down for dinner…THAT GOOD!!! I’ve already texted it to my family and friends as “you must make this!”
Oh my goodness this is such a compliment, Chelsea!! Thank you so much for the feedback. I’m so happy and grateful you and your family enjoyed it and that the recipe allows you to enjoy cornbread again :D
Do you think I could sub arrowroot starch for the tapioca flour?? Thanks!
Hi Julie – yes! Those two are interchangeable in almost all recipes :)
My go-to cornbread recipe! I’ve made it a handful of times and it always comes out perfect. Fluffy and delicious, no one believes that it’s gluten-free! Thank you so much!
So thrilled it’s a hit!! Thanks so much for the feedback, Kat!
Hello! New to your site. First, thank you for this recipe. Per the comments, it sounds like it’s delicious but I feel like I made a misstep somewhere. My cornbread was super super moist. I’m thinking i did not measure out the coconut oil properly as I’ve never baked with this before. So when measuring 1/3 should it have been measured solid or melted? I hope that makes sense. Also, my turned out very dark. My oven heats fine and I made sure to check it at 4 min less the recommended time. Why could this be? Also, it wasn’t fluffy. I used Bobs cornmeal amd tapioca flour but didn’t use his almond flour. Is this why mine turned out dark?
Hi Nerra, I always measure coconut oil by weight, but I think it’s easier to overmeasure if you measure while it’s solid. If you almond flour was more of an almond meal that’s not as fine and not blanched, that could contribute to a lot of the issues you mentioned. However, without being in the kitchen with you, it’s hard for me to know exactly what went wrong!
I have made this countless times. It is my go-to cornbread recipe, much beloved and admired by dinner guests.
I actually bake it in lightly greased parchment muffin cups. On occasion have added roasted corn kernels, chopped jalapeños or diced sundried tomatoes – or all the above – for added color, flavors and texture.
Also great with jam or honey at breakfast or tea.
There are never leftovers!
Thank you so much Yodan!! So so glad you’re loving the recipe, and it sounds so fabulous with all of your additions.
This recipe is incredible!! Thank you so much. I’m so excited to have a reliable, healthy and delicious cornbread recipe!
So glad you loved it, Jenna!
This is deliciously moist and so easy. Rose beautifully. A hint of sweet but mostly savory. I absolutely loved it!! Used two eggs rather than flax but will try vegan version next time.
So glad you loved it, Elizabeth! Thanks for the feedback :)
This corn bread was delicious. The entire family loved it. I used arrowroot flour instead of tapioca, which turned out well. Subbed oat milk for almond, because that’s what I had on hand. Baked it for 22 minutes, and it came out lightly browned and still moist in the middle. We will be eating this again!
So glad you loved it, Eva! Thanks for the feedback :)
Can I use this recipe instead of the box mix in a corn puff recipe? I also want to use eggs in place of the flax meal…will that work!
Can I use this recipe instead of the box mix in a corn pudding recipe? I also want to use eggs in place of the flax meal…will that work?
Hi Sharon, I’m not sure how it would work since I haven’t tried it, but of course, you can always give it a go! Eggs should be just fine in place of the flax.
I made this to eat with my veggie soup and this recipe is AMAZING! I substituted monkfruit sweetener and maple syrup instead of coconut sugar and I used vegan egg replacer instead of flax egg (I was out of flax). I also baked as muffins. This recipe made light, fluffy delicious cornbread that I will be putting into my rotation! I was pleasantly shocked at the texture of deliciousness! It’s not gummy or dry. These are perfect!!!! Thank you for sharing
I’m so glad you loved it, Tea! Thanks so much for the feedback :)
This cornbread comes out perfect every single time!!! I follow the recipe exactly except I use Apple cider vinegar. Thank you for a fantastic reliable delicious recipe!
So glad you’re loving it!! Thanks so much for the feedback :)
Way too much salt (1 1/4 tsp), should be more like a 1/2 tsp at most, otherwise texture was right on. Will make with a lot less salt next time.
Hi KJ, what kind of salt did you use? If yours was a super fine salt or table salt, that may have been why it turned out tasting super salty.
Firmly believe this is the best GF and egg-free cornbread recipe out there. I’ve been making it for years, and I only recently started making them into mini muffins as well! So addictive, I pour into my mini muffin tin and bake for 15 mins at 350. Even though they’re a bit delicate, they still hold up just fine once cooled. Cannot recommend enough!
What a compliment! Sounds so good and dangerous as little minis – I’d be popping those in my mouth allll day long!
This was absolutely delicious. My family of four (with two kids 8 & 9) inhaled this cornbread, perfectly paired with vegan chili. The family asked me never to make any other recipe. Sooo yummy!
So glad you love it, Chelsea! Thanks for the review.
I made this cornbread tonight and it was fantastic! So rich and yummy. I made a few small changes- your other cornbread recipes looked so good I decided to combine them keeping it dairy free. I added blueberries and cooked it in a cast iron skillet. I also used monkfruit sweetener instead of coconut sugar to save some calories, which I made up for by eating a giant piece!
Sounds fantastic! So glad you’re loving it, Randi.
I have made this recipe many times and it is always a hit. I am curious what almond flour you use. I use Kirkland and 1.5 cups of theirs would be 168g based on their packaging. Each time I make the cornbread I try to remember which weight I used ♀️
Hi Amy, I use Bob’s Red Mill almost always!
Would love a version of this that incorporates sourdough starter or discard. Any suggestions for what to sub in the recipe to incorporate sourdough starter? Or could I just add a little in?
Hi Jaya! Usually adding sourdough discard, you’ll want to remove part of the water/liquid and part of the flour from a recipe. If you’re adding 1/2 cup discard, you’ll want to remove 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup liquid. For this recipe, I’d remove part of the almond flour and part of the dairy-free milk. I haven’t tried this one with sourdough, but I bet it will be delicious! Happy baking, and would love to hear how it turns out for you.