This Gluten-Free Vegan Irish Soda Bread is crusty on the outside, soft on the inside and packed with sweet raisins. It's filling and nutritious, slices well and is perfect for St. Patrick's Day! It's no-knead, yeast-free, oil-free, refined sugar free and nut-free too.
Inspired by this Gluten-Free Vegan Bread recipe, I was keen to experiment with more quick-bread recipes and I knew I would have to try making a soda bread!
Soda bread is a yeast-free bread made using bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) as the raising agent. It is often combined with buttermilk, as the acidic buttermilk reacts with the alkaline bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) to make a fluffy dough.
It is really easy to make dairy-free buttermilk!
1. Mix almond milk with vinegar in a measuring jug.
2. Let it sit for 10 minutes.
Tip: This trick works with any kind of non-dairy milk, as the vinegar curdles the milk so that it resembles buttermilk.
How to make this recipe
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Mix together all the ingredients in a glass mixing bowl.
Tip: This batter is much more liquid than a traditional soda bread, as gluten-free flours absorb a lot more moisture!
- Transfer the mixture into a baking dish lined with greased baking paper (I used a 20 cm/8 inch circular tin).
Tip: Take a small knife and draw a cross over the top of the batter, if desired.
- Bake in the oven for around 45 minutes, until risen and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Make sure to leave the bread to cool down completely on a cooling rack before packing it away to store because otherwise the steam from the warm bread will get trapped and you'll end up with soggy bread, which nobody wants!
How long does this keep for?
This Irish Soda Bread keeps well covered in the fridge for a good few days. If not eaten on the day it's made, it's best toasted before eating.
Can you freeze it?
If you're freezing it, you can just slice it up and put the whole thing in the freezer. Then when you want to eat it you can just pop the slices of bread in the toaster straight from frozen.
Substitutions you can make
- You can use any type of plant-based milk.
- The rice flour and tapioca flour can be replaced with an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend.
- The vinegar can be replaced with lemon juice.
- The raisins can be omitted.
- The raisins can be replaced with dried cranberries or chopped dates.
- You can add some chopped walnuts.
- You can add some mixed seeds and/or sprinkle them on top.
- You can add some caraway seeds!
More gluten-free vegan bread recipes
- Gluten-Free Vegan Chickpea Bread
- Gluten-Free Vegan Blueberry Banana Bread
- Gluten-Free Vegan Almond Bread
- Gluten-Free Vegan Oat Bread
- Gluten-Free Vegan Dinner Rolls
- Gluten-Free Vegan Seeded Buckwheat Bread
- Gluten-Free Vegan Cornbread
- Gluten-Free Vegan Bread Rolls
- Gluten-Free Vegan Oatmeal Bread
- Gluten-Free Vegan Biscuits
- Gluten-Free Vegan Carrot Bread
- Gluten-Free Vegan Orange Bread
- Quinoa Bread
- or browse the whole collection!
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 Irish Soda Bread
Ingredients
- 375 ml (1 ½ cup) unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- 220 g (2 cups) chickpea (gram) flour
- 220 g (2 cups) rice flour
- 30 g (¼ cup) tapioca flour
- 6 teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- Pinch salt
- 150 g (1 cup) raisins or sultanas (optional)
- 120 ml (½ cup) water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Measure out the milk and, leaving it in the measuring container, add the vinegar and stir - leave to sit for around 10 minutes, while you do the rest of the steps.
- Place the chickpea flour, rice flour, tapioca flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and raisins in a large bowl and mix well.
- Add the milk and vinegar mixture and the water, and mix again.
- Transfer the mixture to a baking dish lined with greased baking paper (I used a 20cm/8inch circular tin).
- Take a small knife and draw a cross over the top of the batter, if desired.
- Bake in the oven for around 45 minutes, until risen and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Leave to cool slightly before slicing.
- Leave to cool on a wire rack before putting away to store.
- Keeps well in the fridge for up to a few days - if not eaten on the day it's made, it's best toasted before eating.
Video
Notes
- You can use any type of baking tin you like, but to get a beautifully risen, puffed-up bread with a traditional cross on the top, I would recommend using a circular baking tin.
- The cross on the top might look fancy, but it's super easy to make - all you need to do is use a knife to score the top in a cross pattern before you put it in the oven.
- Make sure to leave the bread to cool down completely on a
cooling rack before packing it away to store because otherwise the steam from the warm bread will get trapped and you'll end up with soggy bread, which nobody wants!
- This batter is much more liquid than a traditional soda bread, as gluten-free flours absorb a lot more moisture!
- You can use any type of plant-based milk.
- The rice flour and tapioca flour can be replaced with an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend.
- The vinegar can be replaced with lemon juice.
- The raisins can be omitted.
- The raisins can be replaced with dried cranberries or chopped dates.
- You can add some chopped walnuts.
- You can add some mixed seeds and/or sprinkle them on top.
- You can add some caraway seeds!
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Suzanne
This sounds amazing, I have an intolerance to rice at the moment, so what could I use instead of rice flour?
Rhian Williams
Hi! Thank you so much! Hm I'm not too sure - you could use an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend if you can find one without rice flour, and omit the tapioca starch. Or you could use coconut flour, but you would have to use a very small amount of coconut flour as it's highly absorbent. Buckwheat flour could also work, but you would have to add less milk or water, or use less flour as that's also quite absorbent, though nowhere near as much as coconut flour. Please let me know how you get on!
Janet
Hi Is there a substitute for tapioca flour? Thank you
Rhian Williams
Cornflour (cornstarch) or potato flour should work!
Nicola stack
Hi I might try the gluten free flour blend I'm not gluten intolerant but I have a friend who is and I'm always trying new recipes could I use ordinary buttermilk?
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much! Using ordinary buttermilk would work yes! Sometimes it can be quite thick so it might be good to add some extra milk/water though. Hope that helps!
Louise
Can I use dried figs instead of raisins?
Rhian Williams
Thank you!
Maha
Tasty recipe, crunchy from outside and moist from inside, I have added cranberries and chopped pecans, it took an hour and 10 minutes in electrical oven.
Thanks for sharing.
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, really glad you liked it. Thank you for sharing your substitutions too, that's great to know!