This Southwest-inspired vegan jalapeño cornbread (without eggs or dairy) is slightly dense but fluffy, moist, and tastes sweet and savory, with a hint of spice. Perfect for serving during the holidays, with soups, chilis, stews, and even drizzled in maple syrup!
While particularly popular during the Fall months, there’s never a wrong time to enjoy a big slice of this vegan jalapeño cornbread (without eggs or dairy). Especially when it requires an easy recipe, minimal prep, and you can enjoy it as part of breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and for mopping up chili, soups, and stews!
This easy vegan cornbread is wonderfully soft, moist, and fluffy, without the need for any dairy or eggs! With the addition of finely diced jalapeños, this dairy-free cornbread deliciously combines savory and sweet with a hint of spice, too, and joins our popular skillet cornbread recipe and buttery vegan cornbread!
With roots linked to Native America, this dish uses inexpensive cornmeal to prepare a quick bread that’s fluffy, slightly sweet, and moist! Unfortunately, the traditional recipes (of which there are many varieties) also often contain buttermilk and eggs, which are anything but vegan friendly!
Luckily, this Southern-inspired vegan jalapeño cornbread recipe has been tested (and re-tested) several times to achieve the best texture and flavor in a dairy-free cornbread without eggs. You can even adapt the recipe in several ways, including adding vegan cheese, extra veggies, or even making vegan cornbread muffins! Keep reading for all our favorite recommendations.
If you want to use corn in other delicious ways, you may also enjoy this creamy mushroom polenta, corn chowder, or these crispy corn cakes.
This vegan cornbread recipe requires just 12 ingredients (oil and salt included), most of which are pantry staples.
It’s essential not to overmix the cornbread batter as it can overwork the gluten in the all-purpose flour and negatively affect the texture and rise.
Allow it to cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing and enjoying this vegan jalapeño cornbread with the dish of your choice!
To cut down on prep time on the day, mix the wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls and store them covered in the fridge for up to a day. Remove them from the fridge 30 minutes before mixing and baking the eggless cornbread.
Once cooked, allow the vegan cornbread to cool and store leftovers refrigerated in an airtight container for up to a week. Alternatively, store it in the freezer for up to three months. I recommend wrapping it tightly in plastic wrap and then placing it within a Ziplock/Stasher bag (as individual slices or the entire thing).
Allow it to thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then enjoy chilled/at room temperature, or reheat gently in the microwave (in 20-second increments until it’s at your desired warmth) or using a toaster oven.
Thanks to the combination of sweet, savory, and spicy flavors in this vegan jalapeño cornbread recipe, it’s highly versatile and can be served with:
You can also turn the leftovers into cornbread stuffing or chop and bake the slightly stale cornbread into jalapeno cornbread croutons!
Either (or even at room temperature). We make up our minds based on what it’s served with.
Fine cornmeal will yield the softest (smoothest) result with a fine crumb. Medium cornmeal has slightly more texture but is still fairly fine-crumbed. Comparatively, coarse cornmeal creates a texture, more mealy result. Blue cornmeal could also work.
We’ve also tried this recipe with pumpkin puree with great results.
The sugar helps achieve the correct texture AND flavor, so the texture would be negatively affected. However, feel free to experiment with decreasing/increasing or omitting.
Photos by Alfonso Revilla
Teodora Grujic says
Best cornbread ever!
Jay says
Yum this looks so good! love anything with a spicy kick!
Andrea White says
Sooo good!