Bake

No-Fuss Vegan Cornbread

by:
July 26, 2021
5
15 Ratings
No-Fuss Vegan Cornbread
Photo by Rocky Luten
  • Prep time 10 minutes
  • Cook time 35 minutes
  • Makes 8 to 10 pieces
Author Notes

This is my Goldilocks cornbread. It’s a little sweet, but not too sweet; a little salty, but not overly so. I use fine cornmeal or corn flour in the recipe, which creates a texture that isn’t too rich or dense, but isn’t quite cake-y either. Everything about this cornbread is a delightful compromise.

I love to keep a batch of cornbread around at this time of year, especially for dipping into soups and stews or to serve with a warm tofu breakfast scramble. The cornbread keeps nicely for two or three days, and you can reheat the leftovers in the oven (or microwave) for a quick and comforting afternoon snack. If you do serve it on its own, try topping it with a dollop of coconut oil. —Gena Hamshaw

Test Kitchen Notes

If you're looking for a vegan cornbread that's moist and delicious and doesn't fall apart on you, this recipe is it. No need for the boxed stuff or any other vegan version, you'll love this cornbread, trust us. You definitely won't miss the eggs. And it couldn't be easier to make, since all you have to do is add the wet ingredients to the dry ones, then pour the batter into an 8x8-inch baking dish, bake for about 35 minutes, and you're all set to go. You'll get tons of flavor from the apple cider vinegar, soy milk, and cornmeal, while the organic sugar provides the perfect balance of sweetness.

Also, try some of these tweaks that the some of our awesome commenters suggested below: You could throw in some frozen corn kernels, add a can of green chiles, try almond milk instead of soy milk, or use vegan butter instead of the canola oil. Whatever you decide, we definitely recommend serving vegan butter alongside the cornbread whenever it's ready, slathering it on while it's still warm. If you are worried about the baking soda taste after reading some of the reviews, no worries, we adjusted the recipe so you add more baking powder than baking soda. And if you have any cornbread left over, you should check out this article on 16 ways to use it up, other than stuffing. From breadcrumbs to croutons and thickening soups, you'll be amazed by all the ways you can utilize this recipe. —The Editors

What You'll Need
Watch This Recipe
No-Fuss Vegan Cornbread
Ingredients
  • 2 cups soy milk
  • 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
  • 1 1/2 cups finely ground white or yellow cornmeal or corn flour
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 6 tablespoons organic sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/3 cup canola oil
Directions
  1. Heat the oven to 400°F. In a small bowl, vigorously whisk the milk and vinegar.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
  3. Stir the oil into the milk mixture. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix to combine.
  4. Pour the batter into an 8x8-inch square baking dish. Bake for 35 minutes, until the top of the cornbread is firm and the edges are turning golden. Let the bread cool before cutting it into squares and serving.
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See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Aparna Kallakuri
    Aparna Kallakuri
  • helicopterina
    helicopterina
  • lizund
    lizund
  • Ashley Perault
    Ashley Perault
  • Elizabeth Ryan
    Elizabeth Ryan

Popular on Food52

92 Reviews

EasyEasy4me
EasyEasy4me January 11, 2023
A national egg shortage has left us w/o eggs so I found your recipe to help me produce a keto version (sub Almond Flour, Almond Meal and GF All purpose). Used Almond milk instead of soy. It was delicious but a little too moist. Should I reduce the liquid, or add more flours? Loved the taste and will definitely make it again, searching for the fix to the wetness.
 
MayatheMouse
MayatheMouse November 20, 2022
I've made this recipe countless of times and it is absolutely delicious! However this year I'm planning on turning them into muffins and am not sure how long to bake them for. Anyone have suggestions on a bake time for muffins? Thank you!
 
avocadoalice
avocadoalice October 21, 2021
Tried this last night and used an all purpose GF flour in place of the regular flour. Worked out great! Thank you!
 
Aparna K.
Aparna K. September 10, 2020
Made this for breakfast with a few tweaks - I used regular milk in place of soy milk and sunflower oil in place of canola, 1 1/2 tsp salt and 3 tbsp honey instead of 6 tbsp sugar. I also used white vinegar instead of ACV, and added a few crushed red pepper flakes to the batter. I did not get the soapy soda taste as many have mentioned, but it did seem a bit bland for us - I may add some crushed black pepper with the crushed chillies. On the whole it was YUM and a hit. 6 yo ate his without any issues :-)
 
helicopterina
helicopterina June 14, 2020
Terrific recipe!! Thank you, thank you. My version used 4 T. of sugar, plus I threw in about a cup of frozen corn kernels. Am going to make this over and over, for sure. It went great with a big old pot of extra spicy 3-bean chili and a crunchy salad.
 
Caitlin
Caitlin January 12, 2020
The most beautiful cornbread I’ve ever seen. I added a can of well drained green chiles to the wet ingredients, and topped the cornbread with pats of vegan butter as soon as I pulled it out of the oven.
 
Alexandra G.
Alexandra G. October 10, 2020
Green chilies?! That's genius. Thanks for the idea!
 
lizund
lizund November 29, 2019
Made this easy recipe for Thanksgiving as there was one vegan as a guest. I wish I had made more than one, everyone loved it! I also subbed almond milk because I had it on hand and cut back on the sugar. I will be making this often.
 
Ashley P.
Ashley P. November 4, 2019
So good! I subbed almond milk bc it was all I had in hand but this is a perfect cornbread 🌾
 
Elizabeth R.
Elizabeth R. November 3, 2019
Late to the part on this one but a great recipe. I've been searching for a good vegan cornbread that doesn't fall apart.
I added the baking soda, baking powder and salt as listed in the recipe and didn't have any problems with "off" flavors as other described. I *did* need to add another 4+ tbsp of flour to get it to the right consistency.
Baked up as muffins and got 12 full to the brim. They rose nicely while baking and had a good crumb.
 
ardendouglas
ardendouglas July 27, 2019
This was a real success for me, but that could be because I made a couple of tweaks based on the comments. They were:
-Added an extra teaspoon of vinegar to counter the baking soda/powder flavor folks were getting. No off flavor detected!
-Reduced sugar to 4 tbsp. This was perfectly sweet for me and I think could be reduced further if you're not inclined to sweet cornbread.
-Used 1.5c soy milk and .5 cup Oatly for a li'l extra creaminess.
-Used melted Earth Balance vegan butter instead of canola oil.
-Folded in a cup of fresh corn after the batter was mostly incorporated.
 
Ellen
Ellen May 5, 2019
Followed the recipe and it came out great! Will be making again.
 
Melissa M.
Melissa M. January 2, 2019
Better than regular corn bread!! Very moist and delicious!!
 
eli
eli October 20, 2018
I literally made an account on here *just* for the purpose of commenting this. I’ve been baking for as long as I’ve existed, I’ve made all sorts of things. and the one time i try corn making bread, the one damn time I confuse 1 1/2 cups with 11.5 cups . I PUT ELEVEN CUPS OF CORNMEAL IN MY RECIPE. WHAT DO I EVEN DO ????? I tried adding more of each ingredient but i’m not even good at math i don’t know how much to put. I just added whatever until it had some kind of dough-y consistency. my whole kitchen has become one whole cornbread. I don’t even know what it’s gonna taste like. There’s so much, everywhere,,,,, help.
 
eli
eli October 20, 2018
making corn bread* damn
 
Mala S.
Mala S. July 8, 2020
Omg! Your story made my day. Baking and math and I have a complicated relationship so this was hilarious to me. What happened??
 
eli
eli October 21, 2021
i forget i have an account on here haahah
they turned out super dry, and there was a LOT of cornbread, had to eat it with vegan nutella (it was surprisingly nice!) and tried to share as much of it with my flatmate and my partner! I’ve since learnt my lesson and now know how to actually make nice corn bread without using 11 cups of cornmeal :D
 
Amy L.
Amy L. September 30, 2018
This is my favorite cornbread recipe!
 
Cj S.
Cj S. April 29, 2018
I subbed 2 tsp of lemon juice, for the vinegar because I hate vinegar. I wanted to do an experiment. I had some old sweet rolls that look like burger buns, that were crumbling so they couldn't be used, so I buzzed the buns up into really fine bread crumbs and substituted them for the 1 cup of flour. I also used a quarter cup of Muscadine jelly as the sugar. I also subbed 1.5 tsp of baking powder & 1/2 tsp of baking SODA. The batter was still runny, so I added in the cup of flour it called for. I put the batter in a mini muffin tin and silicone molds for large candies. They came out perfect! I had to use up some corn meal I had, which was about 2/3rds of a cup. The rest, was corn flour. I'll never buy corn meal again. I used organic corn meal & corn flour, so they weren't made of GMO corn. They were nicely domed, and just slightly sweet. The added cup of bread crumbs, didn't affect them any. So, if you have runny batter and old bread, you can use it up by turning it into bread crumbs and incorporating it into baked goods. I never waste anything, if I can help it. The Muscadine jelly, I got for nothing when a local food store closed. The jelly is way too sweet to eat as is, so I use it as sugar, which it is mostly made of anyway. So, the recipe is very forgiving, and a keeper.
 
Cj S.
Cj S. April 29, 2018
Oh, and I never use salt in my baking.
 
Cj S.
Cj S. April 29, 2018
I used Original flavor oat "milk" beverage instead of soy. Unless the soy is verified by the non GMO Project, or organic, it's probably GMO. 90% of corn, soy & canola in the US, is GMO. I used Sunflower oil, instead of Canola oil.
 
Cj S.
Cj S. April 29, 2018
I cooked it on 350 for 15 minutes. I always cook on a lesser temperature than is called for, so that I can control the donness better and prevent burning if I get side tracked.
 
Liz
Liz March 15, 2018
Please don’t make this. Just bad. So salty too. Had to toss the whole thing :(
 
Asher S.
Asher S. May 17, 2018
With six cups of ingreints and only one teaspoon of salt...it was your mistake if they were salty. Measure it next time.
 
Aparna K.
Aparna K. September 9, 2020
wow. I followed the recipe with a very few tweaks and 1 tsp of salt was too little. I actually added 1 1/2 tsp else it was super bland.
 
Amy M.
Amy M. January 16, 2018
I absolutely love this cornbread! I use masa instead of cornmeal and unsweetened vanilla almond milk instead of soy. I have zero taste of baking soda like other people have said. It’s fluffy (not crumbly) and delicious! Eating it cold straight from the fridge the next day is like a sweet treat! Really love this recipe and so does my family.
 
Kate V.
Kate V. November 2, 2017
Love this. My batter was too wet, so a bit more flour helped. I subbed in regular milk and brown sugar. A really quick and easy cornbread!
 
Maketal W.
Maketal W. October 26, 2017
Don't make this. It taste bad strongly like baking soda. Change the ingredients so it taste good or delete this recipe. I made it hopeing it would taste good but it doesn't. I'm a poor vegan and will probably unpleasantly eat it cuz I cant afford not to.
 
Grace
Grace October 1, 2017
Best cornbread I’ve made without a mix! It also warms up well a few days after being made, I warm the leftovers in the oven. Also I made no changes to the recipe, it came out perfectly!