Southern style moist homemade cornbread recipe without eggs or buttermilk is easy to follow, delicious and very simple to make from scratch if you have yellow cornmeal and very few other ingredients that you need for baking.
easy homemade cornbread from scratch
There is good quality eggless, vegan cornbread mix that you can buy online if you want to make cornbread more easily, but you can easily make eggless homemade cornbread from scratch too following this recipe! Cornbread and other corn recipes make great, easy, delicious side dishes for any meal including holiday meals or everyday lunch dinner!
moist southern cornbread without buttermilk
This is a moist Southern style cornbread without buttermilk, but we use milk in the ingredients, so this is not vegan though it's eggless. So if you do not have buttermilk at home, you can still make this easy, delicious cornbread without buttermilk!
I have explained how you can make this recipe vegan, towards the end of this post.
I do not always have buttermilk at home (though I almost always have yogurt) so this cornbread recipe without buttermilk is my go to recipe for making cornbread at home. This cornbread was made for thanksgiving dinner and my kids loved it, which they enjoyed along with homemade cranberry sauce which was delicious.
I usually serve the cornbread with honey or jam if not cranberry sauce.
Honey is an awesome combination for cornbread and it is almost always available at home. The natural sweetness in the honey is perfect to make the cornbread sweet enough, especially because we do not use much sugar in the cornbread recipe. Also the golden yellow color of yellow cornmeal bread matches perfectly with the golden brown color of honey!
The cornbread easily absorbs the honey as it is served, making it even more moist and delicious! If you have never tried the combo of cornbread with honey, do try and see if you like it!
what is cornbread?
Cornbread is a simple Southern delicacy made using cornmeal as the main ingredient.
In traditional Southern cornbread, white cornmeal was often used to make the cornbread, but today we also use yellow cornmeal to make the cornbread. Also some flour is added to make the texture of the cornbread more soft & fluffy.
Is cornbread gluten free?
This eggless cornbread recipe is not gluten free since we use all purpose flour also in the preparation. Traditionally, cornbread was mostly made just with cornmeal or with little all purpose flour. The eggs in cornbread helps in keeping the cornbread moist and not so crumbly even when you use less flour. However, we use a good amount of all purpose flour in this eggless cornbread recipe to keep it moist (and not too crumbly) as well.
So, in this eggless cornbread recipe, I recommend using the same amount of flour so it will have the perfect texture. Also we use yogurt or applesauce as the egg substitutes which helps to add enough moisture to the cornbread.
If you want to make gluten free cornbread, you might want to replace the all purpose flour with any gluten free flour and see how it turns out. I haven't tried this cornbread without all purpose flour yet, so I am not sure about the results if you replace all purpose flour.
However, if you are out of eggs and if you want to make an easy and simple cornbread for snack or as a side for dinner or a delicious breakfast, you can easily try this super easy cornbread recipe without eggs to bake delicious and moist cornbread quickly. If you love eggless recipes, I have this easy recipe for pancakes without eggs made using flaxseeds for egg substitute, which is fluffy, delicious & perfect for breakfast
If you love egg free baked goods, see my post on egg free fluffy vanilla cake recipe which is so easy to make and super delicious too! I also have this easy, vegan and simple chocolate mug cake recipe without eggs, which is prepared in microwave oven quickly and makes a very yummy one person dessert.
how to make moist cornbread without eggs or buttermilk from scratch?
It is easy to make delicious and moist cornbread without eggs or buttermilk. As you know, yellow cornmeal is the most important ingredient to make this cornbread
We can use yogurt or applesauce as an egg substitute to make this delicious cornbread.
So following are the ingredients needed to make this easy eggless cornbread.
ingredients to make moist eggless cornbread
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1.5 cups all purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup sugar add little more if you want more sweetness
- ½ cup butter melted (at room temperature)
- ½ cup yogurt or applesauce
- 1 cup whole milk at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
step by step photo instructions
- To make the eggless cornbread batter, in a large bowl, mix together all dry ingredients - cornmeal, flour, salt and baking powder.
- In a separate bowl, add melted butter and sugar, mix well until sugar is dissolved.
- Add the yogurt (or applesauce) and mix well to combine with the butter sugar mixture.
- It is a good idea to whisk the yogurt well before adding to the butter mixture, so there are no lumps and it is easy to mix.
- Also add the milk and vanilla extract to the butter mixture and mix everything together until well combined.
- Add the wet ingredients mixture to the dry flour mixture and mix the contents to make the batter. If the batter is too thick, you may add a little more milk (just add one tablespoon at a time).
- To bake the cornbread, preheat the oven in 350 degree Fahrenheit.
- Prepare a baking pan by greasing with little oil or butter and transfer the cornbread batter to the pan.
- Bake the cornbread for about 35 to 40 minutes until the top is lightly browned and the inside is cooked.
- You can check if its completely cooked by inserting a toothpick at the center of the cake, which should come out clean. In case its not done, you may cover the top of the pan with aluminium foil and bake for few more minutes.
- Once done, allow the cornbread to cool in the rack and then you can slice it up and serve!
If you are making this cornbread for breakfast, you can use it with honey or any of your favorite jam or sauce like strawberry jam, cranberry jam or sauce etc or you can use salted spreadable butter or whatever you like with it.
As this is kind of quick bread (made using baking powder) this is not very sweet, we use only minimal sugar in the recipe. You may add more sugar if you want it to taste it more like a cake, although this is mildly sweet and I love to enjoy it as a light dessert as well.
substitutes for eggs in cornbread
You can use yogurt or applesauce to substitute eggs to make eggless cornbread, as we do in this recipe. Whether you want to use yogurt or applesauce is your preference and based on what you have at home, because they both work as great egg substitutes for this cornbread recipe.
So if you do not have eggs to make cornbread, you can easily make moist eggless cornbread from scratch using yogurt or applesauce. When using applesauce, it may add a slight sweetness and flavor to the cornbread, so if you do not prefer that you can just use yogurt. So here is how you can make this simple and easy cornbread without eggs following this super easy cornbread recipe without eggs.
I adapted the delicious cornbread recipe from here which I modified based on my preferences.
You can buy yellow cornmeal here which can be used for this recipe.
tips to make moist cornbread
Sometimes cornbread ends up dry and crumbly and this can be due to many reasons.
Especially when you are making eggless cornbread, which is a variation from the standard recipe, it is easy to make mistakes if you do not follow the directions in the recipe. The texture of the cornbread is slightly crumbly since cornbread is made using cornmeal. To make the cornbread moist, we use yogurt or applesauce in the recipe, which helps to keep the texture of the cornbread moist. However if you overbake the cornbread, the texture can become dry.
So it's important to make sure not to overbake the cornbread. Once the top of the cornbread looks baked and if the inside is still not cooked completely (you can know this by inserting a toothpick), make sure to cover the baking pan with a foil and then bake until the cornbread is cooked completely. This will help retain the moisture inside the cornbread while its baking, and also prevents the top of the cornbread from drying out.
Also, if not serving while the cornbread is still warm, I like to keep it covered with a foil or lid to retain the moisture.
can you make this cornbread vegan?
Yes, it is possible to veganize this eggless cornbread! You can use applesauce instead of yogurt and use oil instead of butter. Also you can replace the milk with any plant based milks of your choice, like almond milk to make vegan cornbread. However, keep in mind that the flavors of the cornbread will also depend on the replacements that you use to make this vegan.
Below you can read the cornbread recipe without eggs in detail
Cornbread Without Eggs Or Buttermilk - Homemade From Scratch
Ingredients
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1.5 cups all purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt may adjust a little for your preference
- ¼ cup sugar add little more if you want more sweetness
- ½ cup butter melted (at room temperature)
- ½ cup yogurt or applesauce
- 1 cup whole milk at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix together all dry ingredients - cornmeal, flour, salt and baking powder.
- In a separate bowl, add melted butter and sugar, mix well until sugar is dissolved.
- Add the yogurt (or applesauce) and mix well to combine with the butter sugar mixture. It is a good idea to whisk the yogurt well before adding to the butter mixture, so there are no lumps and it is easy to mix.
- Also add the milk and vanilla extract to the butter mixture and mix everything together until well combined.
- Now add the prepared butter mixture to the dry flour mixture and mix the contents together without forming any lumps. In case the batter is too thick (as it may depend on the cornmeal and flour you use), you may add a little more milk and mix again( just add one tablespoon of extra milk at a time and then mix and see if you need more). You can use a balloon whisk to mix the ingredients to blend in perfectly.
- Preheat the oven in 350 degree Fahrenheit.
- Grease oil or melted butter in a square pan and pour the cornbread batter into it.
- Bake the cornbread for about 35 to 40 minutes until the top is lightly browned and the inside is cooked. You can check this by inserting a toothpick at the center of the cornbread, which should come out clean. If the inside is not cooked enough, cover the pan with a foil and cook for few more minutes until the cornbread is cooked completely. Covering with the foil helps to prevent the cornbread from drying out.
- Allow the bread to cool down, then cut and serve the warm cornbread with tea, coffee or milk along with honey or butter or jam or any syrup as you wish.
Lezly
This was wonderful! I followed the recipe, (1/2 teaspoon salt & applesauce instead of yogurt), except instead of the teaspoon of vanilla I added a teaspoon of dried chives. I have a 2-cup muffin pan that makes 6 giant muffins. I wanted crispy bottoms & sides, so I baked at 400° for 10 minutes & then turned the oven down to 350° for the remaining 20 minutes. The muffins were perfect! Nice crispy outsides & top, with moist, cake like insides. Yum!
Recipe Garden
Hi Lezly, I am so glad to hear that the muffins you tried out of this turned great! Thank you so much for your feedback, much appreciated 🙂
Josephine
Love this recipe! I’ve tried many different ones especially over the last 2 years and this is by far the most moist and versatile. I didn’t have any eggs in the house which prompted a google search that resulted in this delicious find. I didn’t have whole milk but heavy cream I needed to use up before it went bad… fantastic outcome. On the next occasion I added mayonnaise when I didn’t have anoenoihh butter and to deepen the corn flavor added a can of cream corncand an additional tsp of baking powder. Outstanding! … thank of for sharing and I look forward to using it for cornbread sausage stuffing on thanksgiving.
Recipe Garden
Hi Josephine, I am so glad to hear this! Great to hear the use of heavy cream instead of milk, which was successful! Using mayonnaise instead of butter and using can of creamed corn sounds great. Thank you so much for giving many substitute ideas which will be helpful for those who may not have some ingredients to make the cornbread. Thanks again for the feedback, much appreciated 🙂
Barbara Cline
Thanks for this super good recipe! It really is moist and holds together well. I used Bob’s Red Mill Paleo Flour; it is gluten free. I used olive oil in lieu of butter, unsweetened almond milk instead of dairy, and cut the salt to 1/4 t. Did not add sugar.
Recipe Garden
Hi Barbara, Thank you so much for your feedback, it's much appreciated! I am so happy to hear this recipe worked for you even with gluten free flour and dairy free options. Thanks so much for letting me know 🙂
Jennah
This is literally the best cornbread recipe I’ve ever made. I was hesitate with the 3 tsp of baking powder but everything came out delicious!! Thank you!!
Recipe Garden
I am so happy to hear this! Thank you so much for your feedback!!
cornbread lover
I followed the recipe without any change, it works perfect!
Recipe Garden
Thank you for the feedback, so glad it worked perfect 🙂
Terrie
This is by far the best recipe I have ever made for my family,and with 40 + years of cooking experiences that says it all. thanks for putting it on the web for anyone to try it out! I used the yogurt to replace eggs and milk and it's moist and fluffy and simply delicious. this is my go to recipe for my cornbread from now on.
Recipe Garden
Hi Terrie, thank you so much for your kind words!! I am so happy to read this feedback & I very much appreciate you taking time to let me know it 🙂 Have a wonderful weekend!! Thanks again!!
Mike
Didn’t have eggs so found your recipe on Internet. This turned out great (I left out the vanilla though). This is going to be my go to cornbread recipe!
Recipe Garden
Hi Mike, I am happy this worked for you and I am so glad to hear this is going to be your go to recipe!! Thank you so much for your feedback, it's much appreciated 🙂
Cecilia Crawford
it is amazing, moist and so simple!!!!
Recipe Garden
Hi Cecilia, Thank you so much for the feedback 🙂 I am so glad you enjoyed this!!
Kathie J.
I made the cornbread and it was amazing. So moist and flavorful. I used coconut oil instead of butter, applesauce instead of yogurt, and goat milk instead of whole milk. It did not affect the flavor like I was expecting.
Recipe Garden
Hi Kathie, I am so glad to hear it turned out amazing with being moist and flavorful. It is very helpful to learn that you used coconut oil, applesauce, goat milk etc and the flavor of cornbread was not impacted. Thank you so much for your feedback. Much appreciated 🙂
Barbara Donovan
What size pan?
Recipe Garden
Hi Barbara, I used an 8 inch square pan here, but you may use any standard size 9 inch round cake pan too. Thank you.