One Bowl Gluten-Free Southern Cornbread (dairy-free, too!)
This easy One Bowl Gluten-Free Southern Cornbread recipe is perfect with chili, beans, and stews. Use in stuffing too! Real Food and dairy-free!
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No Southern girl should leave home without it…
A reliable recipe for good, homemade Southern cornbread!
And, that cornbread shouldn’t come from a box!
In my opinion, the perfect Southern cornbread:
- is neither too moist nor too dry
- has a slightly cake-like texture
- must be slightly sweet
- should not have bits of other food in it: no whole corn kernels, no onions or peppers.
This One Bowl Gluten-Free Southern Cornbread checks all the boxes!
If she were still here, I 100% believe my Memaw would happily serve this cornbread with her famous beans!
The Best Gluten-Free Flour
This gluten-free, dairy-free cornbread isn’t dry and cardboard-tasting, like so many gluten-free recipes.
This Gluten-Free Southern Cornbread also doesn’t use starches (like tapioca or arrowroot powder) to achieve a light and fluffy texture. While those starches will produce a texturally pleasing cornbread, they are utterly void of nutrition.
My favorite gluten-free flour blend is Jovial’s Gluten-Free Whole Grain Bread Flour. (NOT A SPONSORED POST!)
This is a starch-free blend of sorghum, teff, millet, and brown rice flours. It has a beautiful texture once baked, with a superb taste.
Normally, I soak my gluten-free baked goods to reduce the phytates in the grains. In this recipe, unfortunately, soaking produced a sticky, dense cornbread — not light and fluffy at all!
If you are eating a lot of gluten-free grains, I highly recommend finding a sprouted flour, such as sprouted brown rice flour. The finished cornbread, in my opinion, isn’t as good because sprouted brown rice flour is just brown rice, not a blend of flours that produces a better texture.
Still, using sprouted brown rice flour is an option for those who are doing lots of grain-based, gluten-free baking. Since we aren’t eating cornbread all the time, I’m happy to use my favorite gluten-free flour and not worry about a soaking step.
What Is Masa Corn Flour or Masa Harina?
One ingredient that is VERY important for nutrients and best taste in this gluten-free southern cornbread is masa corn flour (aka Masa Harina).
This is NOT corn starch, corn meal, or the type of cornmeal used in store-bought cornbread mixes.
Masa harina is a soft corn flour made from corn kernels or hominy that have been soaked in limewater (calcium hydroxide, not lime juice + water).
This alkaline solution gives corn tortillas a lovely sour flavor, but it also reduces the anti-nutrients in corn — making it more digestible!
You can find masa corn flour here and here.
How to Make One Bowl, Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free Southern Cornbread
This recipe is literally as easy as…
“Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and bake!”
No sifting, no combing wet ingredients then sifting in dry ingredients!
I used to have a similar recipe for a blender cornbread. In that recipe, the ingredients were added to a blender and processed to form a batter.
But, when I tried this technique with gluten-free flour, I ended up with gummy, dense cornbread after it was baked! 🙁
To make this One Bowl Gluten-Free Southern Cornbread, just use a wooden spoon and a large bowl to mix together all the ingredients.
For a rustic and true Southern cornbread, bake yours in a 10-inch cast iron skillet. Alternatively, bake it in a glass pie pan.
This light and fluffy gluten-free cornbread recipe is the perfect accompaniment to chili or beef stew.
My kids flip out when I make a big pot of Instant Pot Ranchero Beans for a beans ‘n cornbread dinner.
Finally, we love cornbread with dairy-free milk for breakfast!
Gluten-Free Southern Cornbread FAQs
Do you have a grain-free version?
No… you can’t make cornbread without… CORN. 🙂 There are some copycat paleo cornbread recipes on the internet that look and sound lovely, but I’m a Southern girl. Thankfully, I can still eat organic corn with no issues. So, I’m gonna make CORNbread when I want cornbread.
I’m not gluten-free; what flour can I use?
If you aren’t gluten-free, use a sprouted wheat flour. Sprouted einkorn makes a lovely cornbread, but white wheat or spelt will also work. I cannot recommend all-purpose wheat flour as it is devoid of nutrients and not nourishing at all.
What if I’m not dairy-free?
Use an equal amount of organic, preferably raw, milk in place of the dairy-free milk. You can also use melted butter instead of avocado oil.
Can I make this vegan/egg-free?
I haven’t tried this recipe without eggs. If you do, please let me know if it works! You can sub the honey. More below!
What are sweetener the subs?
The recipe tastes best, in my opinion, when it is made with honey. If you are vegan or can’t have honey, use an equal amount of maple syrup. If you are avoiding all non-keto sweeteners, this recipe does work with a granulated keto sweetener, such as Dietz Sweet or Lakanto. Obviously, it’s not a low-carb recipe, even if you swap the sweetener, but using a keto sweetener will reduce the carbs significantly.
One Bowl Gluten-Free Southern Cornbread (dairy-free, too!)
This easy One Bowl Gluten-Free Southern Cornbread recipe is perfect with chili, beans, and stews. Use in stuffing too! Real Food and dairy-free!
Ingredients
- 1-1/3cupsdairy-free milk of choiceCashew or oat milks have the most neutral flavor; coconut milk produces a very moist cornbread.
- 3eggs
- 1/3cupraw honeyOr maple syrup or low-carb granulated sweetener.
- 6tablespoonsavocado oilor melted expeller pressed coconut oil or butter (if dairy is tolerated)
- 1cupgluten-free flour
- 1cupmasa harina
- 1teaspoonsalt
- 1teaspoonbaking powder
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Grease a glass pie dish or 10-inch cast iron skillet. If melting fat, use the skillet to melt the fat, pour into the batter, then spread the remnant of the fat all over the skillet to grease it.
Combine ingredients in a large mixing bowl in the order listed. Mix until combined and you have a smooth batter.
Pour the cornbread batter into greased dish or skillet.
Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown and the top springs back when lightly pressed.
Remove and serve warm!
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Nourishing Recipes that Go With Cornbread…
- Instant Pot Vegetable Beef Stew
- Soaked Instant Pot Ranchero Beans
- Instant Pot Mexican Beef Stew
- Soaked Instant Pot Pork ‘n Beans
- 35+ Dairy-Free Instant Pot Soup Recipes
- Dump & Cook Instant Pot Taco Soup
- Instant Pot Green Chile Chicken Chowder
- Crock Pot Mexican Chicken Soup
What’s your favorite way to eat cornbread?
