Vegan Cornbread Recipe (The BEST!)
This is the best Vegan Cornbread! It’s only 15 minutes of prep time and is simple, moist and fluffy, with a hint of traditional sweetness. It’s a great buttery side dish for your Thanksgiving table! Serve with some vegan butter or as a side to some chili or soup.
This year I’ve spent a lot of time ensuring that when you visit Jessica in the Kitchen, you find way more easy, simple & delicious “basics”. The classics that you know and love, veganised. This vegan cornbread is a great example of that.
I wanted that quintessential soft, fluffy and buttery cornbread that had the perfect texture to soak up some extra vegan butter or gravy. The kind that you could just place at the thanksgiving table and no one would question it, just focus on how delicious it is. That’s this!
Notes on the Ingredients
- vegan milk – any kind will do, but I do highly recommend soy milk or oat milk. The flavours are neutral and curdle beautifully for a great buttermilk for this.
- apple cider vinegar or white vinegar – necessary to curdle the milk, and gives this that incredible buttermilk flavour
- fine-grain cornmeal – most cornmeal you find will be fine-grain so no need to worry about this, just ensure it isn’t coarse essentially for the best texture.
- flour – you can use all purpose or gluten free – I specify in the recipe!
- egg replacer (I use Bob’s Red Mill) – I highly recommend the Bob’s Red Mill egg replacer for this for the closest texture. Although flax egg also works perfectly – I’ve used both!
- oil/vegan butter – the choice is yours. Vegan butter (homemade or storebought) will give you the perfect buttery flavour; oil will give you an incredible moistness (it’s also moist with butter) and is great if you can’t find vegan butter where you live.
- sugar and maple syrup – this adds a hint of sweetness I adore in cornbread. I don’t recommend leaving it out because it also adds to texture and moistness.
How to Make Vegan Cornbread
Mix the vegan milk and apple cider vinegar together. Let sit for at least 3 minutes to create a vegan buttermilk mix.
In the same container as the milk mixture (just to avoid using extra containers), mix all the wet ingredients together slowly to incorporate, then a bit quicker to mix together properly.
In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together. Set aside.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until fully combined & smooth. The batter should be thick but pourable.
Pour the batter into the pan, and using a spatula, smooth down the top into an even layer. Bake for 23-25 minutes, until a toothpick, comes out clean. Move the pan to a wire rack and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes, preferably until cool.
Slice into 9 or 12 slices, serve with vegan butter or maple syrup and enjoy!
Expert Tips & FAQ
- Don’t over mix the batter. You want to mix it until just combined, to ensure the fluffiest cornbread. Overmixing can make the flour tough.
- This isn’t the recipe to try and use less oil or flour or sugar in. That will affect the end texture!
- If you’re looking for something made for less oil, try my cornbread muffins (which you can bake into a square).
- Can you make this vegan cornbread gluten-free? Yes! Just sub in gluten-free flour by the weight!
- You can dress up this cornbread in so many different ways! You can add cheese, jalapeños, vegan meat pieces, jam and so much more!
I’ve already shared cornbread muffins, a cheesy cornbread skillet & even a cornbread stuffing. But there’s nothing like good old fashioned cornbread.
More Thanksgiving Side Dish Recipes
Enjoy friends! If you make this Vegan Cornbread recipe, please snap a photo and tag #jessicainthekitchen on Instagram! We’d also love if you would leave a comment below, and give the recipe a rating! Thanks so much!
Vegan Cornbread Recipe (The BEST!)
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups vegan milk, any kind will do
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar, or white vinegar
- 1 1/4 cups fine-grain cornmeal, (150g)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, (148g) or gluten free baking mix (I used Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free Flour Mix)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 3 tablespoons cane sugar, or coconut sugar or organic brown sugar
- 1 vegan egg substitute, (I use Bob’s Red Mill) or flax egg
- 1/4 cup vegan butter, melted (44g) or oil (highly recommend vegan butter for flavour)
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup, (69g)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C. Lightly grease an 8×8 square baking pan with oil or spray with baking spray. Set aside.
- Mix the vegan milk and apple cider vinegar together. Let sit for at least 3 minutes to create a vegan buttermilk mix. In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients (cornmeal, flour, baking soda, baking powder, sea salt and the cane sugar) together. Set aside.
- In the same container as the milk mixture (just to avoid using extra containers), add all the other wet ingredients (egg replacer, melted vegan butter, maple syrup) together slowly to incorporate, then a bit quicker to mix together properly. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until fully combined & smooth. The batter should be thick but pourable.
- Pour the batter into the pan, and using a spatula, smooth down the top into an even layer.
- Bake for 23-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Move the pan to a wire rack and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes, preferably until cool. Slice into 9 or 12 slices, serve with vegan butter or maple syrup (or both) and enjoy!
Notes
Disclaimer: Although jessicainthekitchen.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, kindly note that these are only estimates. Nutritional information may be affected based on the product type, the brand that was purchased, and in other unforeseeable ways. Jessicainthekitchen.com will not be held liable for any loss or damage resulting for your reliance on nutritional information. If you need to follow a specific caloric regimen, please consult your doctor first.
Made this tonight for dinner and it was wonderful! Eating it with the maple butter was a total game changer!
Awesome we’re so happy you enjoyed it Kaitlyn! Thanks so much for reading!
Made this to accompany the vegan chilli (slow cooker) and they were both delicious!!!
Awesome! Thanks so much Anne!
Jessica, you are amazing! I prepared this cornbread last night, this is one of the most straightforward recipes I’ve ever seen and yet… sooooo delicious. Fluffy, buttery, slightly sweet, great with maple syrup but delicious with jalapenos sauce too (trust me, I’ve had more than one slice hahaha). The only change I made was that I had to use wholemeal flour because I run our of plain flour, so mine looks darker than yours. Other than that, perfection. Thank you again.
Awesome we’re so happy you enjoyed it Simone! Thanks so much for reading!
This recipe is SO GOOD! The cornbread comes out full of flavor (the maple syrup is amazing) and is the perfect addition to a bowl of chili. I had to blend my medium grain cornmeal down to a fine grain and it made a huge difference.
I’ve tried a few vegan cornbread recipes and Jessica’s truly is the best! It came out so fluffy and delicious. I used GF flour, refined coconut oil instead of vegan butter, and sweetened it only with maple syrup (just out of preference). This will be my go to cornbread from now on!
I made this recipe last night with some vegan chili. It was very good! Not too sweet, moist, nice and firm on tip, held well when cutting and serving. I followed the recipe exactly as it I using soy milk and vegan butter. It is so much better than a box version because you know exactly what is in it. It may take a tad longer to make than a box kind but is so worth it!
Thanks so much Sacha! Chilli is a perfect mix with this. We’re happy that you like it.
This is going to be my go-to vegan cornbread recipe from now on! It’s not a complicated recipe and only asks for a few ingredients that aren’t hard to find. The corn bread is also moist and has the right amount of sweetness. It’s great to eat as is or paired with your favorite hearty stew/chili! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
Wow thank you so much RB. We’re so proud that you like this recipe so much!
Hi! If I wanted to put this batter into a 12 muffin tin, how long would you recommend they go in the oven for? Thank you 🙂
Hi Laura thanks so much for reading. We have a cornbread muffin recipe. Maybe it’ll be better to use that.
I just made two batches – one vegan and one non-vegan using your delicious recipe. My vegan son and DIL loved it and stated the best recipe ever! My husband and I really enjoyed the non-vegan one, just replaced an egg instead of the flax egg and whole milk instead of almond milk.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipe.
Sooo happy to hear this Adrienne!!
Oh my gosh – this is definitely the best cornbread recipe! Not too sweet and so easy to make! I made two pans of this cornbread for a party. I added jalapenos in one and the other just as the recipe called for. The jalapeno version was the most popular! I only used one small, fresh jalapeno that I finely diced. I had a 2nd jalapeno that I sliced and put the round slices on top – it gave it a fun sort of decoration and made it easy to tell which was which. I think I could have used a bit more diced ones in the mix, but I didn’t want to go too crazy.
I also have to say that I am NOT a cook (or baker). My hubby does all the cooking in the house (in fact, I had to have him show me how to turn the oven on – hahaha! seriously, some digital thing with too many options – what happened to turning the dial?) Anyhow, this was so easy to make. I had never done the flax egg thing, and that worked out perfectly. Thanks for this great recipe! I’m making this again for Thanksgiving!
Oh Wow! This is such a sweet review. We’re so happy that you like it. We hope that you enjoy it for thanksgiving.