Vegan Oil-Free Cornbread

Although this oil-free vegan cornbread recipe goes perfectly with chili, it is also a great side dish or a breakfast treat. This delicious recipe only takes 25 minutes to make.

Although I try to avoid bread as much as possible, I made chili this evening, demanding vegan cornbread. What goes better with chili than a vegan oil-free cornbread? Nothing! And, honestly, we love vegan cornbread with just about anything. So, make a batch of vegan oil-free cornbread recipes, and watch it disappear.

Jump to:

• Vegan Cornbread Ingredients
• Ingredients Substitutions
• How to Make Vegan Cornbread
• Recipe Variation Ideas:
• Recipe FAQs
• Tips
• Other Great Vegan Side Dishes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Reviews

Cornbread is typically loaded with butter and fat, making it high in calories and anything but healthy. But, vegan oil-free cornbread is a healthy alternative to traditional cornbread. And it can be 'veganized' and made just as decadent as the real deal.

Despite popular belief, cornbread can be made fat-free and oil-free without sacrificing the texture and taste of typical cornbread.

What's the secret?  Use vanilla-flavored or unsweetened, plant-based milk (almond, coconut, oat, or soy) and applesauce. Yep, that's it.

Sound simple? It is effortless, and with very few ingredients, you can make vegan cornbread or cornbread muffins that melt in your mouth.

Vegan Cornbread Ingredients

So, how do you make this magical vegan oil-free cornbread? To get the best results and vegan cornbread you can be proud of, you need the following ingredients:

• Cornmeal: Cornmeal is a meal (coarse flour) ground from dried corn. It is a common staple food and is ground in coarse, medium, and fine consistencies.
• Whole Wheat Flour: I like Bob Red Mill's brand because its Whole Wheat Flour is 100% stone ground from dark northern hard red wheat, with all of the nutritious bran and germ still intact. 
• Organic Vegan Sugar + Brown Sugar: Simply put, organic sugar is the sugar produced from organically grown sugarcane. Further, it is also naturally processed, which essentially means that there were no chemicals involved in the refining process.
• Baking Powder: Baking powder is an important ingredient that helps leaven and add volume to many recipes.
• Vanilla Oak Milk: Vanilla Oatmilk makes a smooth swap from dairy with its rich and creamy texture, subtly sweet vanilla flavor, and incredible versatility.
• All Natural Apple Sauce: All-natural organic applesauce is sugar-free and made from apples and water.
• Pure Maple Syrup: Pure maple syrup is made by harvesting sap from sugar maple trees and, through a combination of heat and evaporation, concentrating that sap down to create a deliciously smooth sweetener.

Ingredients Substitutions

• If you don't have whole wheat flour, choose any flour of choice including gluten-free flour. I prefer chickpea flour if making gluten-free cornbread.
• To substitute one teaspoon of baking powder, combine ¼ teaspoon of baking soda with ½ teaspoon of white vinegar or ½ teaspoon of lemon juice.
• Choose any plant milk; if you don't have vanilla flavor use unsweetened plant milk and add ¼ teaspoon of vanilla extract.
• I like to buy single serving unsweetened apple sauce. That way, one small cup is the exact amount needed for this cornbread recipe, as well as most baking recipes.
• Try agave nectar or date syrup as a substitute for maple syrup.

How to Make Vegan Cornbread

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. I love my silicone cake pans! Although I own a variety of quality non-stick pans, I use my silicone baking pans often. Instead, you can use a silicone muffin pan or paper muffin cups to make cornbread muffins.
3. Also, if you don't have a silicone pan, line the inside of the pan with parchment paper for easy removal.
4. First, stir the dry ingredients together.
5. Stir the ingredients with a spoon in a bowl, but DO OT OVER MIX! And DO NOT USE an electric mixer. Hand stirring is best to avoid over-stirring.

• Once the cornbread recipe comes out of the oven, it must cool completely before cutting it into pieces.
• Despite wanting to eat the vegan cornbread immediately because it smells so good, cutting any baked good before it cools makes it fall apart.

If you prefer mini cornbread muffins, this oil-free cornbread recipe works perfectly. I often make a double batch of mini oil-free cornbread muffins to serve with various salads on the side.

Recipe Variation Ideas:

• Add chopped jalapenos for mini jalapeno cornbread muffins.
• Mix in ½ cup fresh blueberries or cranberries.
• Try some vegan chocolate chips.
• Include ½ cup chopped walnuts.
• Use this recipe to make Vegan Corn Dogs!
• Or if you love cauliflower, try Cauliflower Bites.

Recipe FAQs

Tips

• Use apple sauce instead of eggs in recipes.
• Choose unsweetened, unflavored plant-based milk in place of regular milk in any recipe.
• Select maple syrup, agave, or date syrup as a sugar substitute to reduce the sugar used in recipes.
• Use quality non-stick pans, a silicone pan, line pans, switch parchment paper, or muffin cups.
• Also, DON'T OVERMIX the batter. Once the ingredients are in the bowl, stir the batter, combining all the ingredients without stirring too much. What does that mean? First, combine all the dry ingredients. Then add the wet ingredients and mix until combined.

So, the next time you want a moist and delicious cornbread, try the best oil-free vegan cornbread you will ever eat!

Other Great Vegan Side Dishes

If you love our oil-free vegan cornbread recipe, give us a 5-star review and comment below. We would love to hear from you!

📖 Recipe