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Vegan Cornbread

5 from 23 votes

Soft, sweet, buttery, and consistently delicious every time… this is the only vegan cornbread recipe you’ll ever need.

The Best Homemade Vegan Cornbread

Easy vegan cornbread recipe

Say hello to your new favorite cornbread.

The recipe is super easy to make, with just a few basic ingredients you can always keep on hand. No eggs, no milk or butter, and no flax seeds or expensive specialty flours.

It’s the perfect plant based healthy comfort food for serving alongside a bowl of homemade tortilla soup or vegetarian bean chili.

Also try this Vegan Mac and Cheese

How To Make Cornbread Ingredients

This homemade cornbread recipe is suitable for multiple special diets, as it can be made egg free, dairy free, vegan, gluten free, sugar free, and oil free.

The recipe reminds me of the famous Jiffy cornbread mix I grew up on, just without all the preservatives and hydrogenated lard.

With a tender and moist texture and soft buttery flavor, it has all the homestyle goodness of the classic Jiffy version and yet is much healthier for you (and secretly vegan!) at the same time.

Readers also love these Vegan Brownies

Easy Vegan Cornbread Recipe

What do you eat with cornbread?

Vegan cornbread is the perfect side for a main dish of Vegetarian Chili or a thick and hearty soup, such as my favorite Lentil Soup Recipe.

It’s also delicious smothered in gravy (try this Mushroom Gravy) or served alongside roasted vegetables, sweet potato salad, vegetable stew, baked beans, mango salsa, or crumbled into milk and topped with berries or sliced banana and peanut butter for a filling and healthy breakfast.

And of course it’s a great recipe for any holiday party or big event, including Christmas, Easter, New Years Day (where cornbread is thought to represent good luck and prosperity thanks to its golden color), or a vegan Thanksgiving dinner feast.

I brought it to Super Bowl Sunday one year – along with these Buffalo Cauliflower Wings – and people couldn’t get enough!

Homemade Cornbread Recipe

What type of cornmeal is best?

Typically, cornbread from scratch is made with either fine or medium ground cornmeal.

Course cornmeal (the kind used to make polenta) technically works here, but the texture of the finished product will be somewhat gritty.

For this recipe, feel free to use either white or yellow cornmeal. Regular cornmeal should be available at grocery stores in the same section as flour; or whole grain cornmeal is often at health food stores or Whole Foods. Either will work here.

Healthy cornbread ingredients

This simple cornbread is made with pantry staple ingredients, including flour, cornmeal, vinegar, salt, baking powder, and sweetener of choice.

Feel free to use fresh, frozen thawed, or canned and drained corn.

Cornbread is great topped with vegan butter spread, peanut or almond butter, strawberry jam, or even coconut butter.

Or stir a handful of blueberries, raisins, or jalapeños into the batter just before baking. You can also use it to make stuffing or as the base for a savory southern style cornbread casserole.

While I like to use nondairy butter spread, oil or even almond butter also work. Or if you need a low-fat version, you can replace the fat with an equal amount of applesauce. The resulting texture will be a bit gummy, but if you’re used to fat-free baking, that shouldn’t be a problem as long as you’re not serving the low-fat version at a party where the guests are expecting traditional cornbread.

Trending this week: Chia Pudding Recipes

Above – watch the vegan cornbread recipe video

How to make vegan cornbread

To make the cornbread, start by whisking together all liquid ingredients.

Let the batter sit for at least 10 minutes. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and line or grease an 8×8 pan.

Combine all ingredients, pour into the prepared pan, and bake for 25 minutes on the oven’s center rack.

The recipe texture is much better the second day, so let sit overnight—very loosely covered—before tasting if possible.

This easy cornbread recipe is great for meal prep.

You can cook it in a square or round pan or cast iron skillet, or you can even turn it into vegan corn muffins if you’d prefer.

Leftovers can be loosely covered an refrigerated for 2-3 days, or you can also slice and freeze them for a rainy day!

How To Make The Best Vegan Cornbread Recipe
Pin it now to save for laterPin Recipe

Vegan Cornbread

A soft and delicious homemade vegan cornbread recipe.
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Yield 9 large squares
5 from 23 votes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup milk of choice
  • 1 tbsp white or cider vinegar
  • 3 tbsp applesauce
  • 3 tbsp buttery spread, oil, almond butter, or additional applesauce for fat-free
  • 1 1/3 cup corn
  • 1 cup cornmeal
  • 1 cup spelt, white, oat, or gf ap flour
  • 4 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3 tbsp sugar or your favorite sweetener of choice

Instructions

  • To make the cornbread, whisk together all liquid ingredients and let sit 10 minutes or more. Preheat your oven to 350 F. Line or grease an 8×8 pan. Combine all ingredients, pour into the pan, and bake 25 minutes. The recipe texture is much better the second day, so let sit overnight—very loosely covered—before tasting if possible.
    View Nutrition Facts

Notes

*See recommendations earlier in the post if unsure what type of cornmeal and fat sources will yield best results. If turning the recipes into muffins, shorten the baking time to 17 minutes. And if you’re a visual person, be sure to check out the recipe video above!
The vegan cornbread recipe was adapted from these Applesauce Muffins.
 

Have you made this recipe?

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Published on November 20, 2019

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38 Comments

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  1. Ellen says

    I saw this last night and immediately did a test run, and it came out DEELICIOUS! Making this for a vegan Thanksgiving potluck tomorrow along with your mushroom gravy and sweet potato casserole (and a pumpkin pie from another site). I am going to be in the kitchen all day lol.

    • Jason Sanford says

      It will be a bit dry but will technically still work without having to add anything. Katie tried it a while back and that was her observation.
      Jason (media relations)

  2. Laura says

    The video doesn’t show the applesauce or the butter? Does this mean these can be eliminated and still have a great corn bread?
    Laura

    • Jason Sanford says

      They are in with the liquid ingredients in the video, which are all mixed together and then sit for 10 or more minutes 🙂
      Jason

    • Jason Sanford says

      The main difference is that the one you linked is made in the traditional method without flour (only cornmeal). So the texture is less cake-like and more crumbly. Other differences in her two recipes are just small ones such as sugar amount and the inclusion of baking soda.

    • Jason Sanford says

      You can use mashed sweet potato or banana! Probably yogurt too (such as coconutmilk yogurt) but we haven’t tried it, so be sure to report back if you experiment.
      Jason

  3. Henry says

    I’m going to make this tonight for Thanksgiving. When you say to leave it loosely covered overnight, should I put it in the fridge or leave it on the counter?

  4. Susan says

    Yes! My family has cornbread every thanksgiving and Christmas but my sister wouldn’t eat it this year unless it was vegan, now I have something I can make her! Thank you!

  5. Michele Tessari says

    I made this cornbread tonight (the oil free version). I was taken aback at how delicious it was. My favorite ever! Thank you!

  6. Jade says

    The taste of the 4 teaspoons of baking powder very over powering. The texture was great though. Wondering if I could use less powder or would that ruin the cornbread?

  7. Talia says

    Made this and it was so good! I used honey instead of sugar, and a combination of 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp miyoko’s butter, and extra applesauce to cut down on the fat. Mostly because I like to eat it warm and smeared with plant butter. 😋
    I’ve never had much success with cornbread so I’ll definitely be making this again!

  8. Eileen says

    This was an excellent cornbread. I used the oat flour and for the fat used 2 more T. applesauce and 1T olive oil. It came out great. I also cut the sugar a tiny bit and it was still plenty of sweetness.
    Thank you for this unique recipe!

  9. Meg says

    I made this a week ago, and it was quite delicious! I loved that it was relatively low in calories but still had great cornbread flavor. My parents said they loved it, even though they’re not vegan! For me though, it was a bit dry. I haven’t really had a lot of cornbread before, but it was dry to the point that it soaks up all moisture in your mouth and I need a glass of water or almond milk to eat with it, otherwise it was *almost* impossible to eat the whole square. Is this how cornbread should be?? Or what might the reason that it’s dry?? Thanks so much in advance! 🙂

  10. Kat says

    Oh yes, “authentic” (lol) cornbread should suck about 90% of the moisture out of your body. Lol!

    Technically, it is also not supposed to have sugar,( or other flours).
    I never did like “authentic” cornbread. 😉

    I had finally come up with a mix I liked, then had to quit gluten, so I may give this a try. Once I figure out what to sub for the other allergies.

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