This vegan cornbread is seriously the BEST. It’s perfectly sweet, moist and tender and makes a perfect side. Ideal comfort food!
This vegan cornbread fits perfectly into the category of vegan comfort food!
If you wanted to make it at the same time as other vegan comfort foods like a nice big bowl of vegan chili well that would be just fine!
I wanted it to be a little bit sweet so there is some brown sugar added which adds just the right amount of sweetness. It’s perfectly sweet but not overly sweet.
I mean it is cornbread after all. And cornbread isn’t a totally savory thing, it is meant to be slightly sweet.
How To Make Homemade Vegan Cornbread
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Add some yellow cornmeal (also called Polenta in some parts of the world like Australia and South Africa) to a mixing bowl along with some all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Add apple cider vinegar and soy milk to a measuring jug and let them curdle together. Then prepare a flax egg (a simple mix of ground flaxseed meal and water) and let it sit for a minute.
- Add some vegan butter to a pot on the stove and let it melt and then add in some brown sugar and whisk it up with the melted vegan butter until the brown sugar has dissolved.
- Remove the pot from the heat and add some maple syrup along with the soy milk and apple cider vinegar mix and whisk it up together.
- Now add your wet ingredients in with your dry and mix them together. Add the flax egg.
- Lastly add in your whole corn pieces and stir in.
Square Dish Or Loaf Pan
There are two ways to make this cornbread and the recipe is the same either way, the only thing that changes is the baking time. You can either make it in a 9×9 square dish, or you can make it in a loaf pan.
The more usual way to make cornbread is to make it in a square dish and then cut it into squares. But I also like it as a loaf, so you can do whatever you prefer.
If you bake it in a square dish the baking time is a bit shorter, so if you’re wanting to make it as quick as possible, then a square dish is going to be the best bet. Instructions for both methods can be found in the recipe card below.
Spread with vegan butter and drizzled with maple syrup or vegan honey, or just eaten as is (as Jaye preferred it), this cornbread is fabulous all ways.
Vegan Cornbread Q&A
Yes! This recipe adapts wonderfully to 12 delicious cornbread muffins. Or check out our vegan cornbread muffins recipe.
I’m not entirely sure since I haven’t tried it yet. Your best bet would be to use a gluten-free all purpose flour blend that can be used as a direct replacement for wheat flour in baking. If you do that, it will likely work out fine.
Vegan butter is just a way of referring to a vegan ‘buttery’ product. This could be a brand like Earth Balance in the USA or Nuttelex in Australia or Vitalite in the UK. You might not have a product like this available but might still have a brand of margarine that isn’t labeled vegan but is vegan by ingredient. Alternatively you can make your own homemade vegan butter using our recipe, it works great in baking.
Storing and Freezing
Keep leftover cornbread stored in an airtight container where it will stay fresh for 2-3 days. It is at its absolute best though when fresh from the oven.
It is also freezer friendly if you’d like to freeze it. Let it cool completely before freezing and then freeze for up to 3 months. Let it thaw overnight in the fridge and then heat up in the microwave or in the oven at 300°F for 10 minutes.
More Delicious Vegan Breads
- Our vegan zucchini bread is so fluffy and moist you’ll never suspect it’s hiding some green vegetables in there!
- Our vegan chocolate chip banana bread is so decadent you’ll hardly believe it and our vegan chocolate banana bread is for chocolate lovers everywhere.
- Our vegan pumpkin bread is deliciously spiced, packed with pumpkin flavor and topped with pumpkin seeds. A must try.
- Also check out our whole wheat bread, the easiest white bread and our vegan soda bread.
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Cornbread
Ingredients
- 1 cup + 2 Tbsp Yellow Cornmeal (176g)
- 1 cup + 3 Tbsp All Purpose Flour (150g)
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1 cup Soy Milk (240ml) or Almond Milk
- 1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 Flax Egg 1 Tbsp Ground Flaxseed Meal + 3 Tbsp Hot Water
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g)
- ½ cup Light Brown Sugar (100g)
- 2 Tbsp Maple Syrup
- 1 ½ cups Whole Sweet Corn Kernels Canned, Drained
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and spray a 9×9 inch square dish with non-stick spray and line the bottom with parchment paper.*
- Add the yellow cornmeal to a mixing bowl and sift in the all purpose flour. Add the baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Add the apple cider vinegar to the soy milk and set aside.
- Prepare your flax egg by mixing 1 Tbsp Ground Flaxseed Meal with 3 Tbsp Hot Water and allowing to sit for a minute.
- Melt the vegan butter in a pot on the stove and then add the brown sugar and whisk until the sugar has dissolved.
- When the sugar is dissolved into the butter, remove from the heat and whisk in the maple syrup, and then add in the soy milk and apple cider vinegar mix. Add the wet ingredients in with the dry ingredients. Then add in the flax egg. Use a hand whisk briefly to remove any lumps.
- Lastly add the whole sweet corn pieces and mix in.
- Pour the batter into your prepared baking dish.
- Cook for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Video
Notes
- Yellow cornmeal is also called Polenta in Australia and South Africa.
- For the best accuracy in this recipe – weigh your flour and yellow cornmeal using a food scale.
- Canned corn – 1 and ½ cups is the amount you’d get from one 15-ounce (425g) can of drained corn.
- You can make this in a 9×5 loaf pan for a loaf of cornbread that you can cut into slices. All the directions stay exactly the same, just spray your loaf pan with non-stick spray and line the bottom with parchment paper. Bake for around 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- This recipe was first published in February 2016 but has been updated with new photos and text.
Gallo says
Hi, great recipe, I’d love to try making a gluten free version of it.
Do you think oat or rice flour would work?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Gallo, I would try a gluten-free all purpose flour blend, I don’t think rice or oat flour would hold together well enough.
catherine Ashworth says
Dear Alison,
I have just made the corn bread and waiting for the results, I wanted to ask you can I use spelt flour for the all purpose flour, I was not sure but used it anyway.
Thankyou,
Catherine
Alison Andrews says
Hi Catherine, I have not experimented with spelt flour in this recipe, so I’m really not sure! Let us know how it turns out! 🙂
Sonya says
Thanks for sharing your cornbread recipe. I made it today for the family & everyone loved it! The texture was perfect & I thought it had the right balance of sweetness (although I only used half the amount of syrup).
Tami Rossingol says
This bread was awesome but a little too sweet for our liking…might try it again and omit the maple syrup and use white sugar. Also, I have a recipe that is not vegan but I have veganized it….it uses stone ground cornmeal which might be good as well.
Mary says
Made your delicious cornbread a couple of nights ago and think that this recipe is destined to become one of my favorites. It’s wonderful as-is but – as I’m wont to play around with ingredients – I want to try reducing the sweetness just a tad and adding a bit of garlic. I look forward to trying more of your recipes as well. 🙂
Alison Andrews says
Hi Mary! So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much for posting and your awesome review! Garlic sounds like it would be a great savory addition to this. 🙂
Donna says
This is the best cornbread I’d ever had, pre-vegan or post.
I make only a few small changes..
I used frozen organic corn, because I try to limit my salt intake.
I added 2 jalapenos, finely chopped to the batter. My personal rule is… food must have heat.
I used olive oil instead of coconut oil.
Lastly, I cooked the bread in a small round cast iron pan. I think cast iron and cornbread go great together.
I can’t express enough how much I love your recipe!!
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing your adjustments! So glad you love it. 🙂
Marjorie says
Have you tried using mashed avocado instead of vegan butter (or oil in other recipes)? Much healthier and you can “grease” the pans with the inside of the peel. It’s a 1-1 replacement but you will need a little more liquid and baking temperature by 25 degrees while increasing bake time. But the results are so worth the trouble — moist and nutrient-rich!
For more nutrition, you might also try date sugar, which is just ground dates, instead of sugar — replace 1 for 1.
Marjorie says
Typo — missed the word “reduce” : reduce temperature 25 degrees
Alison Andrews says
I haven’t tried that with avocado but am definitely a fan of dates, thanks for the suggestions!
Mae says
Hi there,
Is it possible to use this same recipe for muffins?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Mae, I made cornbread muffins – the recipe is very much the same but there were some slight changes – check it out here: Cornbread Muffins.
Larisa says
Not 1 hour since it came out of the oven and it is nearly gone! I do not keep imitation butter, so I used peanut butter – it’s vegan, it’s butter. It smelled kind of odd, so I googled peanut butter cornbread just to see how weird it was. So, sure enough, other people have done it. Thank you for the tweakable yummy.
Alison Andrews says
Sounds great Larisa, and good to know that peanut butter works great in this recipe too! 🙂
Laura says
This is the first vegan cornbread recipe I have tried and it will be the last! So good! I left out the maple syrup because I don’t like it too sweet and added some diced sautéed jalapeños. Awesome!!
Alison Andrews says
Great Laura! So glad you liked it. Thanks for posting! 🙂
Happy Vegan says
These came out the best I ever tried to bake!
I made some slight adjustments.
I added an extra 1/4th tsp of baking powder (a pancake recipe I use, calls for 3.5 tsp, and the pancakes end up a 1/2″ thick) so I thought an extra 1/4th would give a little extra boost, not to fall.
I also subtracted a Tbs of maple syrup (it’s expensive), and added a Tbs of regular applesauce, instead.
I also used “medium grind” corn meal, that I buzzed up, as much as possible, to reduce any graininess.
The came out with dome tops, and were super moist. Just what I was trying to achieve.
Hint: if you want a lighter in color appearance, substitute white sugar, for the brown, and maple sprinkles (granulated maple sugar) for the maple syrup.
Happy Vegan says
I omitted the corn kernels, as I don’t like chewy things in my baked goods.
The batter, was like cake batter, not runny, and not pudding like, or hard to stir.
Super yummy with vegan butter melting and soaking in them!
Awesome vegan food!
Alison Andrews says
So good to hear! And thanks for sharing about your substitutions! 🙂
Karen says
Oh so yummy!!!! Your recipes are delicious but I love your photos even more. The way the food just jumps off the page and makes my mouth water is my favourite part of your wonderful site. Keep up the fabulous work!
Anna Andrews says
Fantastic recipe, so good to have vegan recipes and even gluten free
Alison Andrews says
Thank you! 🙂
Karen says
Great stuff
Alison Andrews says
Thanks Karen!
Anthony Whitelaw says
Great recipe!
Alison Andrews says
Thanks Anthony! 🙂