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
- 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.
This cornbread is so yummy and easy! I reduced the sugar to 1/2 c. with success.
I’m so glad you liked it! Thanks for using my recipe and for your wonderful review!
I don’t have currently have almond milk but do have oat milk. Would substituting oat milk make a big difference in this delicious bread. Previously always used almond.
Hi Patricia. Oat milk should work fine. Happy cooking!
Nora, you are my best friend and you don’t even know it. I am not but my wife and daughter are vegan and through your recipes, I have been able to make them all kinds of amazing meals that all of us absolutely love. Whenever it is my turn to cook, I go to your site. I’ve always loved cornbread and this recipe stands up with the best. Thank you so much for all you do!!!
Hi Adam. I am thrilled to know my recipes help you in making wonderful meals for your family! Thank you for taking time to share your wonderful feedback and review! I appreciate your encouraging words! Happy cooking!
I’ve probably made your recipe a dozen or more times, but for Sunday brunch today I realized we didn’t have any plant-based milk. I tested out the recipe using water. Fearing it might be too bland, I threw in a cup of canned corn kernels. Turned out great! It needed a few more mins in the oven; not sure why, only that my toddler might have been imprecise on her measurements while chucking ingredients into the bowl!
Hi Marcella. How fantastic it turned out wonderful! What a fun thing to do with your toddler! Thanks for sharing your experience and wonderful feedback!
This recipe is fabulous. I am not personally vegan but my very good friends are – these have just as good a texture/flavour as a recipe using dairy. I think it has just the perfect level of sweetness to it.
I make one slight modification in that I make this in muffin tins (just adjusting the cooking time to suit) because I like maximum crispy crust on my cornbread.
The true reviewers here are my vegan friends. I brought this to their house once when I visited and I am about to visit them again and I asked what I could bring. Their response? “Please bring that yummy cornbread you brought last time”. I’m fairly new to vegan cooking so that made my heart very happy! 🙂
Hi Sophia. It’s so awesome you make the cornbread for your friends, and they love it! This recipe makes great muffins, and I often bake them that way myself! Thank you for sharing your fantastic feedback and review!
Made this several times already – incredibly quick, easy and delicious! I do use olive instead of canola oil and reduce the sugar to 1/2 cup (i prefer cornbread a bit less sweet) and it is perfect!
Made this with coconut flour (1/3 the amount of flour needed) and they taste so goood!!
I don’t like sweet cornbread, can I leave out the sugar?
Hi Vicki. Omitting the sugar may affect the overall texture of the cornbread, however, you could leave it out. You could also reduce the sugar to your taste. Several have commented they reduced the sugar and it turns out delicious. I hope this helps!
This is a staple in my house; always comes out perfect. So quick and easy!
How fantastic you love the cornbread and find it quick and easy! Thanks for sharing your wonderful feedback and review!
I forgot the oil on trial run and we still loved it! My friend asked for the recipee and took some cornbread home. Now to make vegan veg soup? 😀
Cornbread and soup get my vote! Thank you for sharing your wonderful feedback!
Hey Nora – your cornbread recipe is fabulous!! FYI I made it gluten-free by using Trader Joe’s GF all purpose flour, substituting apple sauce for the oil per your suggestion & using rice/oat milk combo instead of almond milk to make it nut-free. Finally I substituted maple syrup for the sugar. Love it!! Thank you so much!!!
I made this cornbread and it turned out great! I followed the recipe word for word. Thanks Nora👍🏽
You are welcome! I’m thrilled you loved it! Thanks for your fantastic feedback and review!
Thank you! I loved this cornbread. It is on the very sweet side of sweet cornbread. 20 minutes cook time @400F was perfect in my Breville toaster oven. I weighed my ingredients & used Ripple unsweetened milk instead of almond milk. When I weigh my flour it always seems to weigh a lot more than what King Arthur says it should (120g per cup) but I measured twice and this is the flour weight I got. Highly recommend for a great vegan cornbread. I’ll probably cut back on the sugar next time.
1.25 cups (172g) KA AP flour
1 cup (180g) Bob’s Red Mill medium grind yellow corn meal
2/3 (135g) cup 365 organic granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1.25 cup (270g) unsweetened Ripple
1/3 cup (60g) canola oil
You are welcome! How fabulous the cornbread turned out great for you! Thanks for your feedback and your ideas!
I love cornbread, and this is the best home recipe I have ever used, and a plus that it is vegan and so easy to make. The flavor and texture are perfect, absoluely spot on.
I am thrilled you are loving the cornbread! Thanks for sharing your fabulous feedback!
I never go wrong with Nora’s recipes. For this recipe I used almond flour and a touch of vanilla extract, which is something my mother use to do. Texture and taste are excellent. This is my go to recipe for cornbread. I love that it is so simple with amazing results. Thanks, Nora!
Hi Karen. I’m glad that almond flour works for you in this recipe, and that you love it! Thanks for sharing your great feedback!
I followed this recipe as stated but unfortunately the outside got cooked too quickly at 400°F and the centre of the cornbread was uncooked!
What I was able to salvage tasted very nice. It was light and airy but disappointing it didn’t work out first time round.
I’m sorry to hear it didn’t quite work out, Maggie! If you try this recipe again, lower the oven temp to 375ºF. I hope this helps!
Just made this recipe. It was awesome!! This will become my only cornbread recipe. I did make a few slight changes, nothing major. I used 1 cup all purpose flour and a 1/4 cup whole wheat flour because I wanted some wheat flour in there. I added a little less than 2/3 cup of turbinado sugar. I prefer it in my breads and muffin recipes, and thought the entire 2/3 cup would be too much for my preference. I had some homemade coconut/cashew milk on hand so I used that instead of almond. Finally, I used avocado oil instead of canola. It’s also what I prefer. It really is the best cornbread I’ve had. My non-vegan daughter loves it too! Thanks.
Hi Zory. I’m thrilled that you love the cornbread recipe and made it your go-to! Thanks for taking time to share your feedback, ideas, and review! Wishing you happy cooking!
My family LOVES this cornbread! I’m so grateful for the simplicity of this recipe! It makes it so much easier to whip this up while making chili. I’m making a fresh batch for lunch this afternoon and my girls are so excited!
Thanks for your terrific feedback, Amy! I’m thrilled your family is loving the cornbread! Happy cooking!
I love this! First time around, i messed it up, lol but now, this now my go to recipe and will act as a base for my other cornbread variations. I’m not sure if i missed it but is there a way to make this oil free? My husband and I are trying to limit our oil intake as it seems impossible to get away from.
Hi Josie. I’m so glad my cornbread is your go to recipe, and that you are loving it! Applesauce is the best oil-free substitute. Enjoy!
Hubby loves honey cornbread. Could I add honey to this recipe and, if so, in what quantity? Thank you for all the deliciousness!
Is there a gluten free and vegan recipe please
Hi Lisa. A gluten free mix works great, however, don’t use almond flour here. Enjoy!
I just made this gf with bobs gf flour cup for cup. I did have to cook it for 10 mins longer than the higher time. It was so delicious that I immediately made the original version to not finish (in 1 sitting) the gf one. It’s been 10/10 of all the recipes from Nora 🤩😍
I’m thrilled the cornbread is a hit with you! I appreciate you using my recipes! Thanks you for your amazing feedback and review!
I followed the recipe and it turned out too soft. Put it back in for 10 more minutes and the texture was better but it was crumbly.
Can I use rice milk in place of almond milk?
Yes, you can.
This turned out great! Very simple to make and was delicious!
Hi Nora, do I need to change temperature or cooking time if I’m making MUFFINS with this recipe instead?
(They’re not the jumbo muffin size, sm-med)
With muffins, they will probably need more like 18-20 minutes. Enjoy!
Nora I love your cornbread recipe! The simplicity is a time saver. I never really liked cornbread until now. It’s perfect! This is the second time I have made your recipe. I couldn’t even wait for it to cool to have a piece😊Thank you for sharing your talent so we all get to experience easy vegan recipes that are so delicious 💓
That is wonderful to hear, Angie! I’m so happy you love the cornbread 🙂 Thank you for using my recipe and for your fantastic review!
Omg this is the best cornbread I have ever tasted! I used self raising gluten free flour and golden sugar erythritol and it came out really fluffy and delicious. It’s now my go to recipe for cornbread!
The recipe name is spot on!
I have my own cornbread recipe I’ve been using for years that’s fussy (calls for melting butter, using both cornmeal and corn flour, egg substitutes, measuring liquids etc.) but that the whole family raves about. This cornbread tastes similar but it was SO FAST and SO MOIST. With the metric recipe and a food scale the batter came together in all of 5 minutes with only a bowl, whisk, spatula and pan to wash. Baked in a dark 8×8 pan for the full 25 minutes with my oven set to 410 (it runs cool). Nora, I’m using your recipe only from now on!
Hi Claire. I’m thrilled you loved my cornbread recipe and will be using it from now on! I love easy and delicous, and am glad that’s exactly how you experienced this recipe! Thank you for sharing your terrific feedback and baking experience! Happy cooking!