This oven baked Gluten-free Vegan Cornbread uses Puréed Corn Kernels to keep it moist and hold its shape. Simply mix together in a blender and a bowl…pop it into the oven and hello delicious dairy-free cornbread without eggs!
The traditional cornbread of your childhood just got a facelift…in all the right ways. It’s wonderfully moist, with the perfect cornbread texture and taste. Just like my Grandma used to make….but, I made a few tweaks along the way to bring you an eggless cornbread without refined sugar!
I serve this as an easy vegan side dish to serve with meatless chili or a bowl of hearty lentil soup. I use it to make Gluten-free Cornbread Stuffing for Thanksgiving and as a festive and fun addition to our game day buffets.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Corn: Shocking, I know…but there is actual corn in this cornbread recipe! Use frozen, but not canned corn.
- Cornmeal: Stone ground will provide a bit more texture, but if all you have is fine ground, use it!
- Flour: Use whatever kind of all purpose flour you have and know you tolerate well. I used King Arthur Gluten-free measure for measure flour in these photos resulting in a gluten-free vegan cornbread with perfect texture and taste.
- Ground flax: Will help this vegan cornbread hold together. You can substitute chia seeds, but make sure to grind them first.
- Maple syrup: Honey is a good substitute, if you use it.
- Apple Cider Vinegar: this acidic ingredient combines with the ground flax as a binder extraordinaire.
How to make this recipe
The secret to the best cornbread you’ve ever tasted? Corn. Yeah, you heard that right. The secret ingredient to this delicious recipe is corn!
Step 1: Place defrosted frozen corn along with water and olive oil into the pitcher of a blender or bowl of a food processor. Easy hack: there’s no need for eggs or butter when you can blend defrosted frozen corn, water and olive oil to achieve the perfect texture in this vegan cornbread. See notes in recipe card to omit oil.
Step 2: Blend until corn has completely broken down. It will be super thick, just make sure it’s well blended before moving on.
Step 3: A little apple cider vinegar plus ground flax helps this vegan cornbread rise and provide the texture you’re used to in cornbread. I don’t like my cornbread more savory than sweet so ¼ cup maple syrup or honey is enough for me. If you like a sweet cornbread add another 1-2 Tablespoons.
Step 4: Blend until everything is well incorporated and then let it sit for 10 minutes. Use the time to preheat the oven, prep your pan and gather the dry ingredients.
Step 5: Mix Dry ingredients: Use a large bowl to stir together gf-flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Step 6: Pour corn mixture into bowl with dry ingredients and mix until well–BUT DO NOT OVER MIX. You’ll want to mix the wet and dry ingredients until JUST COMBINED. Be sure to incorporate all the dry ingredients from the bottom of the bowl, and then stop mixing. Batter will be super thick and pasty.
Step 7: Dump batter into prepared pan. Use an 8 x 8″ square pan, lined with unbleached parchment paper. OR, use a cast iron skillet, greased with olive oil for a more crispy edge.
Step 8: use an offset spatula to spread batter evenly into prepared pan.
Step 9: Bake in 375 oven for 35 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean and top is golden and cracked.
Cut into squares and enjoy. Cool completely before wrapping to store. Gluten-free Vegan Cornbread will stay good in an airtight container at room temperature for 4 days, in the refrigerator for a week or frozen for up to 3 months.
Debra’s Pro Tips
- Mix batter until just incorporated…do not over-mix.
- Too much cornmeal with make your cornbread dry….that is why it’s important to have a combination of cornmeal and flour for a moist cornbread.
- If you cut cornbread into pieces right when it comes out of the oven, it may fall apart. Give it about 15 minutes to cool and it will hold together better.
- For a crispier outside, bake in a cast iron pan greased with olive oil.
- If you didn’t leave your corn out to defrost, it’s OK! The answer is to pour corn into a colander and rinse with warm water until it comes to room temperature.
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📖 Recipe
Gluten-free Vegan Cornbread with Puréed Corn Kernels
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 16-oz package frozen corn (2 cups), defrosted
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup olive oil*
- ¼ cup maple syrup or honey*
- 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ⅓ cup ground flax flaxmeal
- 1 cup flour*
- 1 cup cornmeal preferably stone ground
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt
Instructions
- Blend defrosted corn* with water and oil in blender or food processor until smooth. Add in maple syrup, apple cider vinegar and ground flax and blend again. Let sit for 10 minutes, while prepping pan and gathering dry ingredients.
- Preheat oven to 375. Line 8 x 8 pan with unbleached parchment paper. OR, grease 8" cast iron skillet with 1 Tablespoon olive or avocado oil and place in oven while it’s heating up.
- In a medium sized bowl, mix together Flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Pour corn mixture into dry ingredients and mix by hand until JUST COMBINED.
- Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean and top is golden and cracked . It may need 3-5 more minutes, depending on your oven.
- If you lined your dish with parchment, carefully lift out and transfer to wire rack to cool.Cool completely before cutting.
- Store at room temp, 5 days, in the fridge up to a week or freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
Nutrition
Note
The nutrition calculations were done using online tools. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients you used. You are ultimately responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information is accurate, complete and useful.
Rosario Arecco
Looks amazing!
Debra Klein
It is!!
Amanda Marie
I love corn bread, but never tried a vegan version, it came out great.
Sue
I love the healthiness of this recipe. My daughter is a real lover of cornbread and she gave it a thumbs up!
Angela
Thank you for the recipe, very yummy
Laura
This corn bread is great. Thanks for sharing.
Emily Flint
I love this recipe! I have never made cornbread from frozen corn before but I am definitely making this next time we have chili night!
Amy
I have never actually tried making corn bread before but have always been curious! Will definitely give this a go.
Ramona
I love corn bread and I like how healthy your version is. Will make it soon.
Chef Dennis
I’m gonna go and try making this Vegan Cornbread Recipe! It looks so delish!
Debra Klein
Yes….give it a try, it is absolutely delish!
FOODHEAL
I love it
FOODHEAL
This cornbread checks all my boxes; it’s healthy, gluten-free, vegan, sugar-free. What a great treat, thank you.
Debra Klein
You’re welcome….checks off all my boxes too!
Swathi
delicious vegan cornbread
Susan H
I made this recipe three times in less than a week… the first two batches were delivered to others as part of a meal; tonight I finally tasted it (risky, maybe, but I trust your recipes). D and I loved the hearty, rustic texture and just the right about of sweetness (I added the extra 2T of maple syrup). Thanks for another winner.
Debra Klein
So glad you trusted this to bring to friends….it’s such a great recipe and goes well with so many soups,stews and chilis this time of year!
Lisa M. Green
I have been trying out cornbread recipes for years and I’m never happy as so many of them are dry… but this vegan one was amazing— I think the real corn was the trick. So good. Everyone loved it. Thanks.
Debra Klein
Yay…I love this recipe too because it’s so moist.
Rebecca
Can I use egg replacer instead of flax? If so, do you know the number of eggs this recipe calls for? Thanks! Excited to try this out.
Debra Klein
Sounds like it would work, but I have no experience with egg replacer. I never made this with eggs either. My guess would be 2 or 3? Please let us know how this turns out, in case others are also wondering, and now I’m curious.
Rebecca
I just want to preface this by saying I am a novice baker and naive to gluten free vegan baking. I used cassava flour and egg replacer equivalent for 2 eggs. I also used course ground corn meal which wasn’t ideal. The batter seemed very dry to me so I added a little more water which I realize now was a mistake. The results were a little disappointing the flavor was good, the texture was heavy on corn meal and it was unfortunately stodgy crumb. I will try again but with fine ground corn meal, no extra water, and equivalent of 3 replacer eggs. Thanks for the great recipe!
Susan
Rebecca,
Omg thank you so much for tips! I will for sure have to try it!
You are a lifesaver! I’ll be sure to tell you how it goes!
Much love and backing,
Susan Delorte
Lee Sheldon
This was delicious, Debra! I was making it early this morning to have with chili tonight. I had corn flour and polenta in the cabinet. I agree with you that a more finely ground corn meal would be better than the polenta which was a little crunchy. All I had was chia seeds, no flax meal, so I ground the chia seeds in the coffee grinder attachment for the Ninja. That came out fine. The combination of flavors is just delicious. Thanks for another great recipe!
Debra Klein
This cornbread is perfect to serve with chili! I love your adaptations too.
Ruth Baker
This recipe is so easy to make
Light and delicious
Debra Klein
Thank you so much! My favorite cornbread recipe!