Dairy-free cornbread is such a comforting baked good. It’s hearty and satisfying with fall chili, on Thanksgiving menus, or even served for summer picnics. Plus, it’s very easy to whip up, and can be customized to suit your meal and your tastes. You can jazz it up with diced jalapenos, red peppers, corn kernels, or herbs. Nonetheless, it’s delicious as is, with buttery spread, honey, or made into a cornbread stuffing.
Special Diet Notes: Golden Dairy-Free Cornbread
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, nut-free, peanut-free, optionally soy-free, and vegetarian.
For gluten-free, dairy-free cornbread, you can swap your favorite baking gluten-free flour blend for the all-purpose flour. I’ve made similar dairy-free cornbread recipes with gluten-free flour and they work quite well.
For egg-free, dairy-free cornbread, you can use your favorite egg substitute. Aquafaba or powdered egg replacer tend to be the most seamless vegan options in recipes like this. However, I’ve seen wonderful, moist vegan cornbread recipes that use a generous 1/3 cup applesauce or pumpkin puree in place of the 2 eggs. Please note that swapping out both the eggs and the gluten would more dramatically affect the results and may need more adjustments.
If you prefer to use a more natural sweetener, you can swap 1/3 cup honey or agave nectar for the sugar, but stir it in with the wet ingredients instead of the dry.
- 1½ cups non-GMO yellow cornmeal
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour or whole wheat pastry flour
- 6 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1½ cups unsweetened dairy-free milk beverage
- ½ cup non-GMO corn oil (or your baking oil of choice)
- 2 large eggs
- Preheat your oven to 400ºF and grease an 8x11-inch or 9x9-inch baking dish
- Place the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk beverage, oil, and eggs.
- Pour the egg mixture into the cornmeal mixture, and stir until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish.
- Bake until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 to 30 minutes.
More Corny Sides
4-Ingredient Dairy-Free Corn Pudding (nut-free & optionally soy-free)
Blueberry Cornbread Loaves w/ Blueberry Butter (optionally gluten-free, nut-free & soy-free)
Creamy Golden Corn Soup (vegan, gluten-free & allergy-friendly)
35 Comments
Great to have a more accommodating cornbread option. It is a favorite dish of mine and now I can share it with more people. Thanks so much for sharing.
I made this with almond milk and a gluten substitute. Tasted great. Batter was more of a pudding consistency, so didn’t pour- but turned out great.
Batter consistency can definitely vary with gluten-free flour blends, but I’m glad it turned out well!
Could you use blue corn meal?
I haven’t tested it with blue cornmeal. But from what I’ve read, you should be able to substitute it without a problem. It is a little sweeter than yellow cornmeal.
Loved it! Used applesauce instead of oil and half the sugar. It turned out fluffy and just perfect. A keeper!
I’m glad that worked for you Michelle!
Hi Alisa, thanks for the recipe. I usually do a more savory, less sweet cornbread but since my husband can no longer eat dairy, I wonder if you can simply remove the sugar from this recipe altogether or if I would need to incorporate 6 tablespoons of some other dry ingredient? Thoughts? Much appreciated!
Hi Emma, the main issue is that sugar provides moisture to the recipe, in addition to sweetness. You can omit it, but the texture might not be as tender – as a heads up!
Can you use white corn meal?
Yes, that should work. I’ve read that white cornmeal is just a little less sweet, but haven’t used it myself.
This recipe was delicious! It got rave reviews, served up with my chili the other night for Chiefs and Chili (too bad the Chiefs didn’t fare as well…). I used 1 c. Lite Coconut Milk and 1/2 c. Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk. I think if you use the coconut milk you could definitely get away with using applesauce in place of the oil, since the coc. milk has a fair amount of fat. I will try that next time. Yum! Thanks for the great recipe.
Great tip Molly and so glad your crew enjoyed the recipe!
This recipe is perfect. I used all purpose flour and applesauce. I have been hesitant to use applesauce thinking it might add a different favor to baking but it didn’t. Thank you so much! This recipe was perfectly moist.
That’s so great! Thanks for sharing specific feedback and so happy the recipe worked out well for you Margaret!
Wanted to make this for Thanksgiving. Can it be made ahead of time and frozen?
As well as any bread could be Beth.
Can you sub anything for the oil? Thanks!
What type of sub are you looking for Tracy? You can use melted buttery spread or sticks. I never recommend making baked goods like this fat-free, as they usually have a gummy texture, especially if not eaten straight from the oven. If you are looking to make them fat free, I wouldn’t be the right person to ask! You might use applesauce, but again, the results wouldn’t be as good.
Hi. This looks amazing and the reviews are so encouraging I am going to try this today. Only thing I wanted to know is: Can I use water or something else instead of a non-dairy-free milk?
Hi Michelle, milk beverage does add more body to the recipe. Water will work, but it may be a little dryer. You could also try light coconut milk!
I’ve made this recipe three times and each time it gets better. My go-to cornbread recipe now. I used unflavored soy milk and the standard Betty Crocker boxed all-purpose GF rice flour blend and it comes out perfect. I mean SERIOUSLY delicious.
Thanks for the great recipe!
Awesome! So glad it’s working gluten-free for you too!
I tried this recipe because I only had Almond Milk and I didn’t want to go to the store to buy buttermilk. To my surprise, this cornbread was AMAZING!!! I made muffins and they cooked up wonderfully and beautifully. They were crunchy on the outside and very moist on the inside. This recipe is definitely a keeper!!! Chances are, this will be my “go to” cornbread recipe going forward. Thanks so much for sharing!!
That’s wonderful! Glad the recipe is working out so well for you LaShaen.
Hi I am in the midst of making this and it’s been in the oven for 30 minutes but still runny in the middle. Anything I can do at this point??
Hi Renee, this is very odd, particularly given the dry to wet ratio. Are you sure you added all of the flour and cornmeal? Did you substitute a gluten-free flour? If so, some brands don’t absorb moisture as well. If it’s done around the edges, but not set in the middle, turn the oven heat down. This will dry out the cornbread, but keep it from burning while the middle sets up.
Looks great! Would you recommend using brown sugar or white sugar?
It isn’t traditional, but I bet it would be delicious!
Seriously this looks so good!!
What is the break down on the nutritional content and value in this please? Using your exact recipe.
I have recently needed to switch to a dairy free diet. I am nervous about making dairy free recipes as they don’t turn out as good as the recipes with milk. However, this cornbread was fantastic. My husband loved it and he was a bit skeptical because my usual cornbread recipe using milk is soo good. I used cashew milk and it was great. Moist and could not tell that I used cashew milk instead of regular dairy milk. Would make again.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe Shaylene! Cheers to many more fabulous dairy-free recipes 🙂
I was nervous about the recipe. I recently switched to dairy free and all of my dairy free baked goods have been subpar. This recipe was AMAZING! Even better than my go to buttermilk version. It doesn’t need to be topped with anything. So moist and yummy!
That’s awesome! So glad you enjoyed it Celica and thank you for your feedback.