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.
By far the best vegan cornbread recipe I’ve ever had! The whole family loved them. I made them as cornbread muffins. Cooked at 400F for 14 minutes and they turned out great!
Oh wow! Thank you so much Charis! We’re so happy for all those kind words!
I have tried a lot of vegan cornbread recipes out on my omni Texas-born husband, and could never find one with the right texture and flavor to suit him. I made this one yesterday to go with our New Years Day black eyed peas, and it was a winner! I used a flax egg and reduced the sugar to one tablespoon because we don’t care for sweetness in it. It came out really, really good! Thank you for sharing it!
Awesome we’re happy to read this Dianne! Thanks so much for the review.
This is the 5th vegan cornbread recipe I’ve tried and my favorite. This is the only one that didn’t crumble too easily. This will be my go to and next time i will add some frozen corn kernels. Thank you for sharing!
You’re so welcome Zina!! So happy you enjoyed and thanks for this amazing comment!
Just wondering if the 1/4 cup of vegan butter and the maple syrup should be added to the mix. I’m assuming if it is then you would melt the vegan butter first?
Hi Terri, yes to both (where it says wet ingredients), and yes melted! Updating the recipe now to reflect that! Hope you enjoy so much.
PERFECTION! Thank you for sharing. My family loved it.
Awesome Shavonne! We’re so happy that your family enjoyed it.
The recipe doesn’t specify if the maple syrup and 1/4 cup of vegan butter is to be added into the batter, or just used for serving afterwards? I’m all done with the prep but standing here wondering what to do with these last two ingredients.
Hi Sarah,
It goes in where I say “add the wet ingredients” but I’ve updated this to specify every ingredient! I do hope you were able to figure it out while making it, and thank you so much for highlighting that!
This recipe is so good ! I’m French so I’ve never tasted corn breads before but I made them this past Sunday and they were absolutely scrumptious.
Thank you 🙂
Also, instead of using maple syrup I used coconut sugar syrup with a bit of water and it was perfect.
Awesome Isabelle! We’re so happy that we were able to help!
I love this recipe! It’s very fluffy, perfectly amount or salt, sweet and butteriness!
Awesome! Thanks so much Tasha!
I’m on this quest to learn how to make an amazing vegan cornbread. I just woke up and was like I need to know how to make cornbread, so off I went. It was an epic fail, until now! I went to so many top rated vegan blogs and tried so many different versions. The versions I tried ether tasted off (nothing like cornbread) or smelled funny.
Jessica version is amazing. I did make a mistake and it still came out amazing. When I make it again tomorrow and actually add the butter, I’m sure it will be 10x better.
For those who don’t like cane sugar. I used three tablespoons of organic coconut sugar and it was perfectly sweet (if you like sweet cornbread).
Wow Jessica! We love reading every bit of this. We also loved how you made it your own. Thank you for this incredible review.
I happen to be making 4-bean chili today and I wanted some cornbread that was vegan. I happen to have all the ingredients at home and it was easy to whip up. Omgosh let me tell you this reminded of my grandmother’s cornbread as a kid. It was tender and full of flavor. I had to stop myself from eating it all. I had 2 big pieces. Yummy.
Looks like it was meant to be Brandi! Thanks so much for your review.