These Gluten-Free Vegan Cornbread Muffins are moist and fluffy, perfectly rich, and have a nutty flavour! They're made in one bowl using simple ingredients and are super easy to make. They're also refined sugar free and yeast-free. A great side dish, breakfast, snack or dessert!
Yes, you can make this cornbread corn-free by replacing the cornmeal with chickpea flour!
How to make this recipe
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Measure out the plant-based milk in a measuring jug and stir in the vinegar - set aside for at least 5 minutes to leave it to curdle (this creates a vegan "buttermilk").
- Mix together with all the other ingredients in a glass mixing bowl.
Note: The batter is much runnier than traditional cornbread batter, so don't worry if your batter looks runnier than expected, it will be fine when baked!
- Transfer the mixture into two very well greased muffin/cupcake tin - you will have to use two muffin tins as this makes 21 muffins.
Tip: Make sure to grease them well to make them easier to take out afterwards.
Tip: Make sure to fill the batter right up to the top of the muffin tins so that they rise nicely.
- Bake in the oven for 12 minutes.
- Leave to cool completely on a cooling rack before putting away to store.
Substitutions you can make
- You can use any type of oil: coconut oil, vegetable oil, olive oil etc.
- You can use any type of plant-based milk: almond milk, cashew milk, oat milk, soy milk, rice milk etc.
- You can use any type of liquid sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc.
- You can omit the maple syrup entirely.
- To make it corn-free, you can replace the cornmeal with chickpea flour.
- To make it nut-free, use a nut-free plant-based milk.
How long do these Cornbread Muffins keep for?
These Cornbread Muffins do taste best when fresh, but they keep in the fridge for up to a few days, and freeze well too. They reheat especially well sliced and put in the toaster.
Serving suggestions
These Cornbread Muffins taste delicious drizzled with a little maple syrup, but also work as a great side dish, satisfying snack or healthy dessert. They're also delicious for breakfast topped with some fruity jam!
More gluten-free vegan muffin recipes
- Carrot Muffins
- Zucchini Muffins
- Blueberry Banana Bread Muffins
- Chocolate Muffins
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- Apple Muffins
- Pumpkin Muffins
- Banana Muffins
- Lemon Muffins
- Orange Muffins
- Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I'd really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Watch how to make this recipe
Gluten-Free Vegan Cornbread Muffins
Ingredients
- 450 ml (2 cups) unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- 60 g (¼ cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
- 6 tablespoons maple syrup * (or sub any other sweetener)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 225 g (1 ½ cup) fine cornmeal **
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
- 6 teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Measure out the milk and stir in the vinegar - set aside for at least 5 minutes to leave it to curdle.
- Place the coconut oil in a large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave (skip this step if using any other oil).
- Add the maple syrup, salt and cornmeal.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda .
- Add the milk and vinegar mixture and mix well - the batter is much runnier than traditional cornbread batter, so don't worry if your batter looks runnier than expected, it will be fine when baked!
- Transfer the mixture into two very well greased muffin tins (make sure to grease them well to make them easier to take out afterwards) - you will have to use two muffin tins as this makes 21 muffins. Make sure to fill the batter right up to the top of the muffin tins so that they rise nicely.
- Bake in the oven for 12 minutes, until risen and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Leave to cool slightly before removing from the tin and transferring to a wire rack to cool completely before putting away to store.
- Tastes best when fresh, but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
Video
Notes
Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you purchase any of these products, a small percentage will come to me with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog - thank you.
Anonymous
I used my scale and measured all ingredients out. I’m GF and Egg-free, but not diary-free and used butter in place of coconut oil. I also used honey instead of maple syrup.
The batter was very runny, but surprisingly did bake up, however not into nicely-shaped muffins, but rather sunken muffins. I also baked them for 12 mins, then another 5 mins, then another 3 minutes and then another 5 minutes as they did not seem to ever quite firm up enough.
They are delicious regardless. But I wonder what tweaks to make to make them more muffin-like?
Thanks!
Rhian Williams
Hello - thank you for your feedback. I think the reason why that happened is because you used butter instead of coconut oil. This recipe works with oil but not with butter. If you don't want to use coconut oil, you can use any other type of oil. I haven't tested the recipe with butter, but if using butter I think you would have to use a lot less milk. I hope that helps!
Maia
First, I just want to say that I've made several of your recipes and they all have turned out so well - even with making substitutions for ingredients. For these muffins I decided the follow the recipe exactly. I used Arrowhead Mills gluten free flour mix and Arrowhead Mills cornmeal (the package does not say "fine"). For some reason the batter was not runny at all, it was a typical muffin batter thickness - spoonable not pourable. I filled the muffin tins to the top and there was only enough batter for 12 muffins. I had to bake then for 28 minutes to get a toothpick to come out clean. Not sure what I did wrong, seems like maybe there wasn't enough liquid (I used 2 cups soymilk) or maybe the cornmeal was too course? BUT the muffins came out perfect! They rose so much that they have actual muffin tops like you would see on a regular gluten muffin from a bakery. They look and taste amazing! No one would know they are gluten free and vegan.
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much for your feedback! So happy to hear you liked it. I think the reason the batter was not runny like mine was probably because you used a coarser cornmeal than mine. Glad they turned out well though!
Annie
as others have said, the time was not long enough. 12 minutes in and it's super runny. as far as I can tell, the recipe is the same to yours, except I used less maple syrup because I don't want them to be very sweet, but that's less liquid so that makes no sense.
24 minutes total until the toothpick came out clean.
Rhian Williams
Hello! Thank you for your feedback. I'm sorry to hear that happened. Baking times can vary between ovens and also depending on the size of your baking tin. Also, what type of gluten-free flour did you use?