Easy Cornbread Muffins Oil Free, Gluten Free & Vegan

I don’t know about you, but I love cornbread muffins with soup, chili, salads – or just all by themselves. It took me a while, but I did crack the code on how to make them gluten free, oil free, dairy free and sugar free! They taste just as delicious as the ones I used to make that were not nearly as healthy.

I like to use Bob’s Red Mill Corn flour in this recipe as it makes for a nice soft texture. You can use cornmeal instead if you prefer a more course texture. I know people get really opinionated about their favorite cornbread!

Bob's Red Mill Organic Corn Flour, 22 Oz

$9.47 $8.92

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05/15/2025 05:04 pm GMT

I tried sweetening them in a variety of ways. Date syrup tasted delicious, but it turned the muffins dark brown and the color totally messed with our brains! Cornbread muffins should be golden yellow in color. Maple syrup worked but isn’t as nutritious as date syrup. My friend Randi Dolan suggested I use blended dates and she was right. It works beautifully with this recipe and allows the muffins to be that golden color we associate with cornbread. Dates give them a nice sweetness while maintaining all the lovely nutrients and fiber.

I prefer a silicone muffin pan and my favorite is the 12 cup muffin pan made by Trudeau. This recipe first appeared in our Batch Cooking with Tami, online video course and can be found on page 41 in the recipe eBook that is included in that course.

Trudeau Silicone Muffin Pan, 12 Cavities, Fuchsia (Model: 05115197KR)

$19.99

This is my favorite muffin pan. It's perfect for no oil baking!

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05/15/2025 05:01 pm GMT

I use the JOI Almond Milk Base, the JOI Oat Milk Powder base or a Soy milk. All will work well in this recipe or use your favorite plant milk. The higher fat the plant milk the more moist and richer these muffins will be.

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Tami’s time saving tip. While you are measuring out the dry ingredients go ahead and measure out 2 or more dry ingredient containers. Create your own fast and easy muffin mixes. Then, when you are ready to make the muffins again all you have to do is add the wet ingredients. It is such a time saver. Work smarter not harder in your kitchen.

Store any leftovers in the refrigerator to keep them fresh. They are good for several days in the fridge. These freeze really well too. Make a double batch and freeze some for future meals. Thaw out just the right amount for a meal.

Easy Cornbread Muffins Oil free & Gluten Free

Tami Kramer Nutmeg Notebook

A healthy cornbread muffin that is soft and moist.

5 from 5 votes

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Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Servings 12

Equipment

• oven, muffin pan

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 1/2 cups plant milk unsweetened
• 6 Medjool Dates, pitted, soaked, drained approximately 4 ounces
• 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds – golden flax blends in nicely
• 1 cup oat flour
• 1 cup corn flour Bob’s Red Mill Organic or cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspon baking powder
• 1/2 cup applesauce – unsweetened
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 jalapeno pepper, diced – optional

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use a silicone muffin pan or use parchment liners in a regular muffin pan to prevent sticking.
• In a high-powered blender container, soak pitted dates and ground flax seeds in the plant milk for 15 minutes (if the dates are very hard, soak in hot water first, for 15-30 minutes, drain and use. Save the soaking water to sweeten your tea.)

  Blend until smooth and creamy.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine flours, baking soda, and baking powder. Stir with a wire whisk to incorporate the ingredients.
• Add the blended mixture from the blender container along with the applesauce to your dry ingredients in the mixing bowl. Using a spoon or a wire whisk to incorporate all of the dry ingredients are well mixed. Stir in the corn and optional diced jalapeno if desired.
• Divide the batter evenly into prepared muffin pans.
• Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean,
• If using a silicone muffin pan let the muffins sit in the pan and cool for a bout 5-10 minutes to cool. They will come out easier once they have cooled a little.
• They freeze well for future meals.

Notes

While recipe testing I tried using date syrup to sweeten the muffins and they turned out dark brown!

My friend Randi Dolan, suggested I use dates blended up instead and it worked perfectly. Thank you Randi!

Keyword Cornbread, corn flour, corn, dates, ground flax seeds, applesauce

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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Batch Cooking with Tami Kramer Course Link

We invite you to purchase this course to learn all about the “What, When, Why, and How” of batch cooking, to support your quest to live a healthy, whole food, plant based life style. The course contains a 100 page eBook & course guide that includes over 50 of Tami’s recipes. There are 10 lesson modules containing 32 videos, totaling over 15 hours of comprehensive instruction. Tami will cover batch cooking concepts, techniques, and strategies, as well as specific recipe demonstrations. 

 Beautiful Chopped Salad Course Link

Tami Kramer’s Beautiful Chopped Salad Course includes a complete full color 40+ page recipe PDF eBook and 12 instructional videos. In the course Tami will teach you how to batch prep salads, what to shop for, and tips to ensure that your stored salads will last for a week. She will share different methods for chopping salads, and all the details about how she tops these beauties.

We are also Holland Bowl Mill Affiliates. The 15 inch Holland Bowl Mill Cherry fruit bowl has a permanent home on our kitchen island. It’s beautiful and useful. The heart shaped bowl makes me happy – I love everything heart shaped! We use our 15 inch Beechwood & cherry bowl (His and Her’s) to chop our salads every day. Eating a salad for one meal every day helped me lose weight and become a size 4. I still eat a salad for one meal a day but now it’s a Big Beautiful Chopped salad and it helps me stay a size 4! See the Chopped Salad Blog Post to find out how you can incorporate a chopped salad into your daily food plan and how you can get a free mezzaluna knife with your Holland Bowl salad bowl order when you use our Holland Bowl affiliate link as well as free engraving and free shipping.