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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Kristin Brause
Looks delicious 🙂 I'll include it in my round-up post on my blog. Thanks, Kris
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much!
Anonymous
This is amazing! How much is one serving on the nutrition facts?
Rhian Williams
Thank you! One serving is 1 slice - the whole loaf makes 18 slices.
Colleen
This is a winner. Don't be fooled when the batter is about the consistency of pancake batter -- that's gluten-free baking for you. The end result was absolutely delicious - it rose beautifully and we enjoyed it either plain or with a bit of jam on it.
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so happy to hear that!
Rae
Greetings
Creating your recipe now.
I followed the US conversion.
The dough is far too thick.
Upon review of the recipe, it appears the flour amount provided in cups is inaccurate.
1 cup= 220g
Making more “buttermilk” now,
Wish me luck!🍀🍀🍀
Rhian Williams
Hi - thank you so much for your feedback! I'm sorry to hear about the dough being too thick. I have just checked the cup conversions, and I believe 220g flour is 2 cups. What type of milk did you use to make the "buttermilk"? I hope it'll turn out ok!
Penny Jolly
Hi, delighted with this, even though I had too little chick pea flour and substituted quinoa, it worked well. Like the contributor above some of your recipes come out too thick so I just add more liquid now to the right consistency, I assume there's huge variety in how much liquid different makes of flour absorb. It is really helpful when you show the consistency in the videos so I can gauge accurately the consistency. Thanks Rhian PS added cranberries because though I don't like them I didnj't wanrt to waste some I'd been give and they were delicious.
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much for sharing your feedback, that's so helpful to know. I'm glad it turned out well!