This is seriously the Best Vegan Cornbread! It’s wonderfully moist, perfectly sweet, and easy to make in one bowl. Perfect for pairing with chili!
If you love serving bread with dinner, then you’ll also want to check out my Vegan Dinner Rolls, Vegan Cheddar Bay Biscuits, and Vegan Garlic Bread recipes!
“This! It’s better than non-vegan cornbread. I’m using it in a dressing for Thanksgiving and it’s the best cornbread recipe! So good!” – Susan
I simply cannot make a batch of my Ultimate Vegan Chili without a side of this Easy Vegan Cornbread. The whole family loves it, and it makes a pot of chili go a lot further!
I’ve tried a bunch of vegan cornbread recipes over the years, and none have made my kids smile quite as much as this one. It’s on the sweeter side, but if you’re a savory cornbread fan, feel free to reduce the sugar or fold corn kernels or vegan cheese into the batter. Most importantly, it’s very moist, as classic cornbread should be.
And the best part? It’s super easy to make with 7 ingredients in only 1 bowl! Just dump, mix, bake, and enjoy your perfect cornbread.
Why this is the best vegan cornbread
- Chili’s best friend – Sweet, fluffy, and soft, there’s nothing better than dunking a big slice of vegan cornbread into a steaming hot bowl of this Veggie Chili or this Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili.
- Better than boxed cornbread – This cornbread will remind you of the cornbread that comes from the boxed mix, except it tastes sooo much better! Plus, it’s easy to make with less than 10 ingredients and in one bowl.
- Over 600 reviews – Don’t just take my word for it. This recipe has over 600 reviews from happy readers! Give it a try yourself and you’ll understand why it’s the best.
If you end up loving this vegan cornbread as much as I do, then you’ll want to save my Vegan Cornbread Stuffing recipe for the holiday season. It’s a perfect Thanksgiving side dish!
How to make vegan cornbread
Find the complete recipe with measurements in the recipe card below.
Stir the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, and baking powder together in a large bowl. Pour in the almond milk and canola oil and stir until well combined.
Pour the smooth batter into your prepared pan. Bake the cornbread until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Set the bread aside to cool for a few minutes, then slice and serve with vegan butter, red pepper jelly, maple syrup, or vegan honey on top.
Frequently asked questions
You can fold up to 1/2 cup of corn kernels, canned green chilis, diced jalapenos, or shredded vegan cheddar cheese into the batter. I’ll even sprinkle extras over the top of the batter before baking the cornbread for extra pops of color and flavor.
After testing this recipe countless times, I found that using fine-ground cornmeal always gave me the best, never-gritty results. Medium and coarse cornmeal sometimes work, but they make the cornbread more grainy.
Absolutely! Make the batter as normal, pour it into a lined muffin tin (3/4 of the way full), and bake the muffins for 18 to 20 minutes at 350ºF.
Yes, a quality gluten-free flour mix will work as a replacement for the all-purpose flour here.
Yes, you can cut the sugar in half for less-sweet cornbread or use just a few tablespoons of sugar for a barely sweet cornbread.
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
- Whole grain or gluten free – You may use white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour in place of all purpose flour if you wish. A quality gluten free flour mix works as well.
- For oil-free – replace the canola oil with applesauce.
- Make cornbread muffins – Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a muffin pan with oil (or use liners) and fill 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 18-20 minutes.
- Less sweet – This a sweet cornbread, but feel free to make it less sweet if you want. You can cut the sugar in half, or even use just a few tablespoons of sugar for a barely sweet cornbread.
- Adapted from allrecipes.
Have you ever made a vegan black berry bread? This looks amazing. I wonder how to add a fruit?
I haven’t, but it sounds great! I think you could probably add some blackberries without hurting the recipe.
This cornbread is absolutely delicious! Usually I put my own spin on recipes, but I decided to try this one exactly as instructed. I’m sure glad I did! It’s very moist and not too sweet. Thanks, Nora, for sharing this tasty cornbread recipe!
You’re welcome!
Would it be ok to use regular veggie oil or sunflower oil instead of canola?
Yes, that’s fine.
I want to make it! I can’t eat Regule flour. Can you recommend some other? almond?
Don’t use almond flour here, but a gluten free mix works great.
Great recipe! I used brown sugar instead of white, and the bread wasn’t like the texture from the video. Next time I’ll cut the salt down in half. Also, thank you for including videos along with your recipes, it makes it a lot easier to make.
Hi
Thank you for sharing this highly rated recipe. How does it fare with soy milk instead? Has anyone tried it with soy milk?
Your welcome! I make it with soy milk all the time, and it works great. Any non-dairy milk works here, as long as it’s unsweetened and unflavored. Hope you enjoy!
yummy recipe thanks for sharing
You’re welcome!
So very delicious and easy to make! I still haven’t figured out the vegan sour cream thing yet, so chili has been off the table. Not any more! Chili is back thanks to your cornbread.
Thanks Nora!
You’re welcome!
Have you considered subbing a no adeed sweetner coconut yogurt for the sour cream?
This recipe is amazing. So easy to make and delicious.
Thus really is the best vegan cornbread! My family loves cornbread and I make this often- I have some in the oven now to go with your award winning chili!
Cheers!
Nora! This cornbread was soooo good! I had to make myself stop eating it. Have only been vegan for a week. This lets me know that being vegan won’t be too bad, especially when you can eat something this delicious! Thank you!
You’re welcome!
Hi! Does olive oil work for this, or is that a bad idea?
I think it would be fine.
This was really good cornbread. My very non-vegan family members couldn’t tell the difference, so it was a win! I’m making it tonight for the second time!
Thank you so much!
Does gluten free flour work? Does us require any modifications? Sounds wonderful.
Yes, you can replace the all purpose flour with a gluten free mix. Thanks!
Love this recipe, I’ve made it probably 10 times so far and will keep making it. I make it in a regular loaf pan. I prefer it with half the sugar (1/3 cup) and some whole wheat flour (I do 1/2 cup ww flour, the rest AP). I’ve also made it with artificial sweetener when I ran out of sugar and it turned out well. Highly recommended.
My kids and I love this and added it as a regular. We did decide it was a bit too sweet for our taste and cut the sugar just a little to 1/2C. We are at 5,000ft altitude and it bakes fine without adjustment at around 23 min.
Made this tonight and its so good! I haven’t eaten much cornbread in my life, but my non vegan partner loved it. Bonus that it was done even faster than the instant pot lentil soup I made it to go with. Thanks Nora!
You’re welcome!
Used this recipe only adding the almond milk n oil to 2 boxes of jiffy cornbread b/c I ran out of eggs. Cooked on 400 for 25min. It’s perfect! Actually prefer this over using eggs!
That’s cool! Good to know, thanks!
I’ve made this recipe a few times and it’s a favorite with my kids. So yummy!
Just made this yummy ? cornbread. Love it, I cut back on the sugar and I love the taste with my meatless chili.
Made this today to accompany my 15 bean soup, and it is a hit! I’m going to make some and freeze it for my Christmas dressing (cornbread stuffing), so I hope it freezes well. Thanks for the super easy recipe!
You’re welcome!
so simple yet so tasty. thank you!! was a big hit in my house today 🙂
You’re welcome!
Thanks Nora for the awesome easy vegan recipe. We love your cornbread I made it salty and it’s delicious. It’s a winner !!!
Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it.
Soooo yummy!! Loved this cornbread recipe.
I added 1/4 cup flax powder to help bind
I made this recipe for Thanksgiving and it turned out fantastic. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to make cornbread from scratch, especially vegan. You need an award for this perfectly simple recipe. Even I couldn’t mess it up! Thanks so much.
You’re welcome!
Amazing!! This was my first time making cornbread and this was a super simple but delicious recipe. I added some vegan cheddar cheese and diced jalapeño to give it some kick. (I added them in with the dry ingredients). And it turned out perfect and my family loved it. Thank you!!
You’re welcome!
Love this recipe! So simple and so delicious! I made a few adjustments to suite my taste. Instead of sugar I used almost 1/4C honey & almost 1/4C of maple syrup. I cut the almond milk by 1/4C and used grapeseed oil instead of canola and reduced it by a little (sorry not exact measurement, I don’t measure much, just kind of go by eye after all these years 😉 Baked for 20 mins and I could’ve taken out at 18 (bottom was browner than I like). Drizzled top with honey at the end and it was so scrumptious! I’ll be making this simple recipe often! Thank you!!
You’re welcome!