Allergy Awesomeness

THE Best Top 8 Free Cornbread (GF, Vegan, Allergy Friendly)

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No gluten free blend of this or that, no pre-mixed, expensive substitutes.  Just the real deal: cornmeal.

Thank goodness for friends.  Am I right?

When Carter was first diagnosed, I sometimes felt alone.  Thankfully, that didn’t last long.  I was so incredibly blessed to find a local support group that transformed my experience.

Once I was plugged into wiser moms who had dealt with this longer I felt I had tapped a spring of knowledge and experience.  They had recipes, tips and pure empathy.

If you experience food allergies, or any kind of disease, I highly recommend you reach out, because it will help you reach higher and feel better than ever!

My dear friend and allergy-rock-star mom, Julie, gave this to me.  The first time my husband tried it, he said it tasted like “true, down home country cornbread.”

The best part–it has no flours!  No gluten free blend of this or that, no pre-mixed, expensive substitutes.  Just the real deal: cornmeal.

Also, there are no crazy egg substitutes–just applesauce.  This pantry-friendly side-dish is a go to.  We love it with honey or homemade jam on top.  We eat it with soups, or fried chicken…or sometimes for breakfast.

It’s so moist, it seriously feels more like corncake, then cornbread.

Thank you, Julie!!!

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Also, I was fortunate enough to be able to go on a local station, KSL, to showcase this recipe for their news.  If you’d like to watch a step-by-step video of this recipe, click on the picture below.

Allergy Awesomeness on KSL

If you’re looking for a sweeter cornbread, that’s more like a corn CAKE, try my pumpkin cornbread.

What other gluten free vegan side dishes do you recommend?

Side dishes make such a difference in dressing up a dinner. I love a good side dish to help fill everyone up and make the main dish stretch a little bit more. Here are some of my other favorite gluten free side dishes:

 

THE Best Top 8 Free Cornbread (GF, Vegan, Allergy Friendly)

THE Best Top 8 Free Cornbread (GF, Vegan, Allergy Friendly)

Yield: 8
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes

Gluten free, vegan, allergy friendly & top 8 free cornbread. No gluten free flour mixes needed. So good, it's been on TV!

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 420.
  2. Mix the vinegar with the milk, and set aside.
  3. Combine dry ingredients and mix very well.
  4. In your blender, combine the oil, applesauce, and corn. Pulse until it reaches your desired consistency. (I prefer mine totally smooth, but some prefer more of a rustic texture with the corn kernels more noticeable).
  5. Then pour the wet (both the blender and vinegar-milk mixture) into dry and mix until just mixed. Pour into a greased 8×8 dish and bake for about 25 minutes. Let cool at least 15 minutes before trying to cut, or it will crumble.

Notes

*If you can have eggs, I highly recommend this more updated version: Gluten Free Dairy Free Cornbread (Plus a Video!)

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 235Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 2mgSodium: 759mgCarbohydrates: 44gFiber: 4gSugar: 10gProtein: 5g
© Megan Lavin

 

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About Megan Lavin

Hi! I'm Megan, a mom to four kids, two with multiple food allergies & one with EOE. I'm a published cookbook author that constantly tweaks recipes to make them allergy friendly--it's an addiction. I share every recipe & tip with you, to help you eat like you did before food allergies & dietary restrictions. You can still be awesome, even with food allergies!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Aprelle

    Hi! I am planning to make this for my boys. One has nut allergies. Is the cornmeal used in this recipe verified nut free and/or processed in a nut free facility?

    Reply

    • Megan Lavin

      Hi Aprelle. You can see my thoughts about this in the notes section of the recipe: “*Our allergies, while severe and that get re-tested frequently, are such that we can go strictly by what’s on the label. I do not call companies to see what things are derived from, or call manufacturers to see about potential cross contact. If your allergies require you to do so, please do your own homework. I cannot assure you of any ingredient’s safety, only you can do that. I simply share what works for our family.” If it helps you feel any better, both of my boys are very allergic to peanuts and tree nuts.

      Reply

  2. Lynsey

    I made this tonight to go with Megan’s no red meat chili from her amazing instapot cookbook. I didn’t have enough corn meal for this (I should have checked!) so I subbed gluten free flour to make up what I needed. I didn’t think it would turn out. But, it turned out so good! My kids were begging for more and asked why I didn’t put frosting on the cake they were having for supper (hahah!) they are already claiming leftovers for tomorrow.

    Reply

  3. Arisha

    Firstly – thank you so much for your recipes! They usually turn out great! However my cornbread today came out very bitter. I went online to search for a possible reason, somebody says it’s spoiled cornmeal (mine was fresh) or too much baking powder… don’t know what to try next. If not this bitterness the bread would be amazing! Do you have any suggestions? Thank you!

    Reply

  4. Angie Leet

    Best allergy free cornbread!! My daughter has been craving cornbread and this was delicious with our pork roast! I substituted mashed bananas for the applesauce since we have an apple allergy too. Wonderful recipe! I have used many of your recipes, thank you so much!

    Reply

  5. Emily

    Loved this recipe! I didn’t have coconut oil on hand so I subbed olive oil instead. I thought it turned out great. I didn’t cook it in an 8×8 pan. I actually poured it into muffin pans and made them into corn dog muffins. I started the timer at 15 min and just kept an eye on them. I figured they didn’t need to cook that long in the muffin pan. Kids ate the heck out of them.

    Reply

    • Megan Lavin

      I like to make it into muffins too. So glad your kids enjoyed it, and I so appreciated it when people tell me how they’ve tweaked it, in case others need that sub too. thanks!

      Reply

  6. Twinkle

    I made cornbread for the first time today using this recipe. I used frozen corn about 1 1/2 cup instead of canned. I did not use any sugar and used twice the quantity of applesauce instead. It was excellent. Savory, moist and held its shape. Thank you for sharing. I had to stop wheat and loved finding this alternative.

    Reply

    • Shay

      Thanks for sharing your experience! I was looking for a gluten free and dairy free cornbread for my toddler but we also avoid added sugars so I was wondering if I could double the applesauce. Thanks so much!

      Reply

      • Megan Lavin

        Hi Shay. Avoiding sugar is not my specialty. It’s already hard to get the liquid ratio right in gluten and dairy free bakes, so I don’t mess with the sugar content. You could try more applesauce, but I don’t know that it would work out, as it would add a lot of water content to the recipe. Good luck!

        Reply

  8. Sharon Ad

    I just made your Top 8 Free Cornbread. As I did step 5, blending wet and dry ingredients, the mixture started bubbling and overflowed the 8×8 inch baking dish all over the oven. Could you have mistakenly put 2 tablespoons of baking powder instead of al lesser amount.

    Thanks,
    Sharon

    Reply

    • Megan Lavin

      Hi Sharon. Darn! So sorry to hear that. Mine never bubbles over, but it definitely fills the pan. No one else has ever said that, but perhaps mine is a little more deep? I hope you can try it again in a slightly larger pan next time and enjoy it.

      Reply

  9. Megan

    Hi, my son was recently diagnosed with ANA to PN/TN and then allergy to egg and Soy( soybeans and other legumes)
    Would you mind commenting with brands Of things you use and trust – knowing there is either none of those /
    Top 8 allergens processed in the facilities in them. ( ie brand of corneal, braking powder and soda etc). I appreciate- all so new to me and trying to navigate all of this-

    Thanks , Megan

    Reply

    • Megan Lavin

      Megan (great name!) I always link to the products I can find online, so you can see exactly what I use. If the ingredient is hyperlinked, it will be in the recipe. Please note that I go strictly off label and do not call the manufacturing facilities.

      Reply

  11. Victoria

    Thank you so much for this awesome recipe! I made a different top-8-free cornbread recipe a few weeks ago and was very disappointed in it, but yours is so good!

    My son and I doubled this recipe and baked it in a larger glass pan. We had to use dark brown sugar instead of granulated, but we did everything else as-written. It was light, and yes, crumbly as many GF baked goods are, but it tasted like real corn bread!
    I was hoping it might firm up a little as it sat overnight, but it didn’t. That’s not a deal-breaker, though, my kids and I eagerly gobbled it up the next day too.
    I might try making it again sometime and experiment with some other ingredients; maybe flax-egg or something to get it to bind a little more?

    Thanks again for all of your work!

    Reply

  12. Lisa

    Hi..i have no allergies per say and found this amazing recipie with no flour. Great!!!

    I have limited access to applesauce…I could use 1/4 cup mayonnaise here no?

    Reply

  15. tracy swords

    I need to substitute the coconut oil and rice milk for flax. What do I sub for coconut oil??
    My son has EOE as well. Hes top 8 minus the fish but navy bean, mustard, rice/rice product, palm oil and pork are also on the NoNo list.

    Reply

  16. Laura

    Thank you for this email! I am making dressing for a party and have a guest with multiple allergies. I did use a pie pan as it was what was pictured on your site and the overflowing was intense! Perhaps your pie pan is larger then the tin type from the grocery store- and that is my mistake (I was trying to use a completely wheat free container)

    I hope it turns out well- i pulled some out and put it in a ramekin and am hoping for success!

    Reply

    • allergyawesomeness@gmail.com

      I’m so sorry to hear that Laura! I have a 9.25 in pie plate, and it comes close to the top. I’ve also done it in other size pans. So, hopefully you can find a larger size that works. That’s so kind of you to be so careful and want to serve something safe. Happy holidays.

      Reply

  20. Katie

    Made his last night, and it’s so good! Perfect corn bread texture, and hold together wonderfully! Be sure to let it cool as suggested, the cooler it is the more it holds together. All in all, this will be a staple this fall! Thank you!

    Reply

    • Amy

      Do you think this would work with maple syrup rather than sugar? We are currently trying to avoid refined sugars. Thank you for any help!

      Reply

      • allergyawesomeness@gmail.com

        Hi Amy, thanks for stopping by. That’s a good question. I’ve never tried it with maple syrup, so I can’t say for sure. The tricky thing about maple syrup is that it adds to the wetness and liquid of the recipe. You’re welcome to try and sub it out 1:1, but you may find it browns more, or is more crispy on the edges. If you try it, please comment back for others to hear how it went. Good luck!

        Reply

        • Amy

          I am very excited to report that I tried it, and it turned out beautifully! My whole family loved my test run, and it WILL make it to the Thanksgiving table! I searched online for tips to substitute maple syrup for sugar in baking and found an article that recommended reducing the liquid by 3-4 tbsp per cup substituted (meaning a reduction of about 1 tbsp liquid for this recipe, which could easily be taken off of the canned corn liquid).

          However, I was working with what I had in my kitchen – frozen corn instead of canned corn, and fresh fuji apples instead of applesauce. I used my nutribullet to make the applesauce (1/2 an apple equaled about a 1/4 cup), but it was a wet applesauce, so I didn’t feel like I needed to add any liquid to make up for the fact that the corn had none. For the corn I found online that a 15oz can contains approximately 1 1/2 cups of corn, so I substituted 1 1/2 cups thawed frozen corn. I blended the corn, applesauce, and coconut oil in the nutribullet as well.

          Also, I preheated my cast iron skillet in the oven while the oven itself was preheating, pulled it out and swirled a pad of vegan butter in it to coat, and cooked my cornbread in it. I watched it, and it needed about 10 mins less cook time.

          I was worried by all my crazy substitutions, but it turned out soooo good!!!

          Reply

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