Just the best vegan cornbread, perfect for serving with chili. It’s wonderfully moist, perfectly sweet and only requires one bowl!
Every time we have chili, I have to make some cornbread to go along with it. The whole family loves it, and it makes a pot of chili go a lot further! My kids have recently decided that they love chili, and demand it often. I’ve tried several vegan cornbread recipes out there, and haven’t been perfectly happy until this one!
Now, I know people like to get all picky about their cornbread. So let me tell you what this one is all about.
It’s quite sweet, but not overly so. If you don’t like sweet cornbread, you may want to look elsewhere, or just lower the amount of sugar called for. It’s not a savory cornbread though, that’s not what I’m used to, and it’s not my preference!
It’s very moist, with the perfect amount of cornbread texture. I’ve made some cornbreads that have too much “grit” in them. I don’t like that. This one is just perfect in texture, in my opinion. Not totally cake like, but not super gritty either.
It’s made with just one bowl! This is a super easy recipe: dump, mix & bake! Perfect every time.
Serve cornbread with this Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili , Instant Pot Baked Beans, or Ultimate Vegan Chili for optimal results! 🙂
The Best Vegan Cornbread
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup yellow corn meal
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1/3 cup canola oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and lightly grease a 8 x 8 pan, or a 9 inch round cake pan.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder and stir.
- Now pour in the almond milk and canola oil. Stir until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Video
Notes
- You may use white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour in place of all purpose flour if you wish. I haven't tested it with a gluten-free blend but it may work.
- For oil-free, replace the canola oil with applesauce.
- Adapted from allrecipes.
Replaced oil with applesauce and used gluten free oat flour (1 + 1/4 cup). Turned out great. Might be just my oven, but this modified recipe needed to bake 30 minutes. I’ll use this easy recipe again because it checked all my boxes: vegan, gluten free (with oat flour) and virtually oil free except for light coat of olive oil on pan. Moist and tasty, too!
I’m glad you liked the cornbread! Thank you for sharing your feedback and ideas. Happy cooking!
I love this cornbread! I have made this recipe several times, and it is awesome! I believe I have perfected it for my taste. I don’t add the sugar, and I add a little more baking soda as I put them in muffin tins because I love the peaks and portion control. This recipe has all the texture of regular cornbread, but it’s not as heavy. I highly recommend it if you’re looking for old-school cornbread your Mom use to make!
Hi Karen! This is great recipe to adjust to your liking, and I’m glad you found yours! Thanks for your beautiful feedback! I can see your muffins in my head!
I have self rising cornmeal….do you still add the flour and baking powder?
I haven’t tried it so I’m not sure, but I think you would at least add the flour.
This is the best vegan cornbread we’ve ever had! I made one slight adjustment/experiment –I replaced a third cup of the sugar with 2T maple syrup and it was soooooo good. Everyone loved it. Baked 25 minutes. Thanks for all the great recipes, Nora! Love your blog so much.
This is the best cornbread ever!
I substituted fine white cornmeal because that is what I had. It was tasty, though it was still a bit undercooked even with a clean toothpick test. It was less done towards the outsides of my iron skillet so I will test there next time. My PITA kids yelled at me for cooking something new but then we’re SHOCKED it was basically cake when they finally tried it.
Great taste and easy/quick to make. I found it a bit too sweet and have reduced the sugar to 1/2 cup.
Hi Gayle. I’m so glad you find the cornbread easy and delicious! It does adapt well to sweetness preferences. Thank you for sharing!
I baked this in my 10 1/2 inch iron skillet and it turned out perfectly! I’m not a “sweet” cornbread fan so was hesitant about the sugar but the flavor of this cornbread is fabulous! 😋 My husband said he’ll never eat another cornbread. 🙂 Thank you so much for the superb recipe!
Can you sub coconut oil or melted butter for the canola oil?
Sure, either will work.
Oh my goodness, this cornbread is delicious! I made it today for our Thanksgiving cornbread dressing that we’ll have tomorrow, and I snuck a taste. I love it! I reduced the sugar by half, which was perfect for my taste. Also, I’m the only vegan in my family, and my husband swears he can tell when certain things are vegan; I made the cornbread while he was gone on a duck hunt so that he wouldn’t see the ingredients. When he got home, he tasted the cornbread and couldn’t even tell it was vegan! 😆👏 Score!
Can vegetable oil be swapped for canola oil?
Yes, vegetable oil works!
Hi Nora – The recipe seems perfect for the occasion. Was wondering if I am able to swap out the almond for Soy milk? My grandaughter has a milk/eggs/peanut allergy and has just been given the okay to introduce soy into her diet.
Hi LaVerne. Yes, plain, unsweetened soy milk work work great! Happy cooking!
This is the fluffiest cornbread I ever made, I don’t eat much cornbread, I wanted to make some for this dressing I’m about to make.
The only thing I did different was I got white cornmeal instead of yellow
I’m glad you love the cornbread, and chose this recipe for your dressing! Thanks for your great feedback and review! Happy cooking!
Is sugar optional for the recipe. I prefer unsweet cornbread.
I think you could leave it out, but I haven’t tried it. Thanks!
Hi, Nora! Love your creativity. 🙂 Can you suggest the best wheat and rice-free alternative to the all-purpose flour in this recipe? I have family members who can’t eat those, so I have almond flour, oat flour, spelt flour, chickpea flour… (ha ha!)
Hi there! Thank you so much. I’d suggest trying spelt flour or maybe oat flour. Hope that helps!
This is my go-to cornbread recipe. Doesn’t need any butter at all! Today I played with it by adding some lemon zest and fresh blueberries. Soo gooood. Thanks for such a great fuss-free recipe!!
Can you use regular milk instead of almond?
Though I have not tested it, I think regular milk should work.