You’ll love the crunchy, crispy top and the soft, moist inside of this super simple and quick gluten free cornbread!
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Chili & Cornbread traditions!
Our Halloween tradition every year is bringing out our favorite cornbread recipe and dunking it in chili before we trick-or-treat! This year, I had created a new Halloween Pot Pie recipe for the blog that the girls were really hoping to have again. They also wanted to have chili and cornbread! I ended up doing the chili over the weekend, so we could have both! This is an oldie cornbread recipe that I wrote my first year of blogging, so I refreshed the photos, as well as added in some of the dairy free subs I’ve learned throughout the years!
Gluten free cornbread that isn’t the texture of a brick?!
Gluten free can be tough. I’ve been baking gluten free for over a decade now, and the flour blends have improved so much. Years of gluten free baking have helped me learn the best ratios of flour to moisture, and in this recipe, the cornmeal is dense. It needs some acidy buttermilk or yogurt to fluff things up and keep things moist. There are lots of options for the wet ingredients in the recipe card. There are healthy dairy options as well as dairy free.
Not just for chili!
This cornbread is so easy to make, and super kid friendly, that you’ll want to use it for everything from soup to your Thanksgiving day dinner. You can double up the recipe very easily into 2 baking dishes or cast iron skillets and freeze off the pieces of cornbread for easy weeknight meals too.
The Method :: The simple batter
One bowl is all you’ll need! Just cream the wet ingredients, and blend in the dry. I like to use a cast iron skillet for baking, but any buttered smaller baking dish will work just fine.
The Method :: Baking the Cornbread
The cornbread batter only takes 5 minutes to get into the skillet, and you’ll be read to bake. Just 20 minutes and that cornbread is ready for soup or chili dunking.
Thanksgiving Day prep tips, and long term storage
If you’re preparing it for Thanksgiving, you can pop it into the hot oven once the turkey comes out of the oven to bake while the turkey is resting. Or you could make a day in advance. If you make it more than a day in advance, or doubling the cornbread for storage, just get them into a freezer bag into the freezer to lock in the moisture. It’s a great make ahead side! Also! If you love cornbread stuffing on Thanksgiving, you can use my stuffing recipe and sub the bread for this cornbread!
Simple & Quick Gluten Free Cornbread
Ingredients
- ¼ cup soft butter use soft ghee, pastured tallow or lard if you cannot have butter.
- 2 eggs
- 2-3 TB organic pure cane sugar or coconut sugar, honey, or maple syrup
- ½ cup full fat coconut yogurt Sour cream or yogurt would work. Or a splash of cider vinegar in a half cup of coconut milk or raw milk.
- ½ cup full fat coconut milk or milk
- 2/3 cup medium grind cornmeal
- 1 cup Namaste Gluten Free Flour blend I've used King Arthur Gluten Free Flour blend successfully too
- 2 tsp aluminum free baking powder
- ½ tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees, and butter an 8-10 inch cast iron skillet. Alternatively, you could use an 8×8 or 9×9 baking dish or pie plate.
- Beat the butter, eggs, and sugar with beaters for about a minute.
- Add the rest of the ingredients, and blend to combine until smooth.
- Pour the batter into the buttered skillet, and smooth out the top with an offset spatula. Bake the cornbread at 425 degrees for 20 minutes, until the top is golden and if you poke a toothpick in the center it comes out clean.
More real food recipes you might like ::
- Instant Pot Chipotle Chili
- Kid Friendly Creamy Vegetable Soup
- Thanksgiving Cranberries
- Thanksgiving Stuffing (you can use the cornbread from this recipe for the bread in the stuffing!)
- Instant Pot White Chicken Chili
- Mayo Roasted Chicken
love the crumb!
Wow, this cornbread sounds so good! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Mmm I LOVE cornbread. Your recipe looks so good. Your photos are beautiful as usual. I wish I had some with your chili right now.
Thank you Emily!
Yum! This looks quite tasty!
Thank you Sarah!
Making this for my GF daughter! Thank you!
Great Linda!
I have the second the comment about your pictures. So gorgeous. I wonder what you can sub the milk products in your corn bread. It sounds so yummy.
Hi Anna! You could try coconut milk yogurt for the sour cream and coconut milk for the milk 🙂 Palm shortening, coconut oil, or lard for the butter!
I didn’t realize it was so easy to make cornbread! Now all I need is a warm bowl of chili and I’m set! Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Yes! So fast! Your welcome!
The cornbread looks really moist, and looks like it holds together well, perfect for dunking!
What a great alternative for those who can’t have gluten!
A good cornbread recipe is hard to find! Thanks for sharing, such comfort food!
Thank you Megan!
My husband and I use to eat the box kind all the time. We haven’t had any in a long long time. We tried this the other night and it is awesome!! We love it! Thanks for the recipe.
Oh great Elly! My husband grew up on the boxed kind too and he gives his approval as well – which was HUGE for me! Glad you liked them!
Made this for the first time today to go with leftover chili… So sad its been posted here for 2 years and this is my first time trying it! Its amazing!! I don’t even want to dip it in my chili, I just want to butter it and eat the whole pan on its own 😉 Thanks for yet another amazing GF recipe!!
Awesome Cassie! We feel the same way about it! 🙂
Love this cornbread and make it often. I open up a can of coconut milk and use the cream on the top for the sour cream and use the liquid in the can for the whole milk. It works great! Thank you for all you do to help us mamas out!
That’s great Emily! I can’t eat dairy since this post published and use coconut milk as well! It’s delicious!
Any suggestion for tapioca starch substitute? I don’t have enough on hand.
Hi Nichole! Potato starch or arrowroot should work well!