One Bowl Vegan Pumpkin Cornbread
This vegan pumpkin cornbread recipe is made in just one bowl and uses only 10 ingredients. Doesn't use any dairy, gluten, eggs or refined sugar either!
I woke up the other day with a massive craving for chili. So I whipped up a batch of my sweet potato + black bean quinoa chili, but there was something missing. I needed something to dip into this chunky bowl of goodness. Something to sop up those warm chili flavors. And it hit me: this dish needs cornbread.
But like cornbread is NOT something that I make often, nor is it something that I have the ingredients for on hand. So I went to the store, picked up a bag of coarse cornmeal and realized they had a recipe on the back of the bag (yay!). I tweaked it to make it gluten-free and while it was definitely good, I knew I could do better.
So here we have it. An upgraded version of a classic cornbread using pumpkin, maple syrup, and quinoa flour. Let's just call this vegan pumpkin cornbread your new. I followed the recipe on the back, adapting it slightly to be gluten-free, In the season of soups, chilis, and stews, we all need to classic cornbread recipe, right? A recipe that has a slight sweetness, is soft and tender and soaks up all those lovely flavors.
The best part of all? All you need is one bowl and 10 ingredients to whip up this lovely little number.
I honestly didn't know that making cornbread was so simple!
And I'm realizing now that this recipe could be tweaked pretty easily based on the ingredients you have one hand. Here are some substitution ideas:
- Flax egg. If you don't want to use flax eggs, you could certainly just swap in a regular egg instead.
- Pumpkin. Don't have pumpkin puree on hand? I think you could easily swap in any other pureed fruit. Of course squashes would be the easiest (butternut/sweet potato is what I'm thinking), but I also think apple butter or applesauce would be delightful!
- Quinoa flour. Pretty much any gluten-free flour would work here. I wouldn't use an all purpose or mixed blend, but instead I would try brown rice, sorghum, millet, etc. They're all going to be pretty interchangeable.
- Almond flour. This is a bit trickier since nut flours have their own texture completely. If you can't have almonds, I would recommend trying cashew or hazelnut flour. You could try using another grain flour, but I'm honestly not sure it would work!
- Maple syrup. You could certainly swap in any liquid sweetener here. Honey or agave would be fabulous!
And how about some recipes to try this pumpkin cornbread with? Here are some of my favorite soups, stews and chilis that could use a little cornbread dipping vessel:
- Sweet Potato + Black Bean Quinoa Chili
- Spicy Vegetarian Quinoa Chili
- Roasted Garlic Cauliflower Chowder
- Healthy Tomato Bisque
- Spring Vegetable Quinoa Minestrone
or really any of the recipes from the soup section on SQ!
Your turn…
What is your favorite baked good to serve with a comforting soup or stew? I personally love cornbread and scones, but I'd love to hear from you! Let me know your favorites in the comment section and I'll try to make them happen this fall!
xo Alyssa
More Healthy Comfort Food Recipes to try:
- Baked Vegan Mac and Cheese with Crispy Quinoa Topping
- Vegan Pumpkin Alfredo Noodles
- Creamy Vegan Potato Leek Soup
- Vegan Ricotta + Quinoa Stuffed Mushrooms
- Sweet Potato Quinoa Nachos
- 5-Ingredient Quinoa Flour Pizza Crust
One Bowl Vegan Pumpkin Cornbread
Ingredients
- 1 flax egg 1 tablespoon flaxseed meal + 3 tablespoons water
- 1 1/4 cups coarse cornmeal
- 1/2 cup quinoa flour
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF and line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper.
- Beat together the flaxseed meal and water and set aside for 5 minutes to gel.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Add the milk, flax egg, pumpkin, syrup and olive oil and stir to combine.
- Transfer batter to the prepared baking pan. Bake for 23 - 25 minutes until golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely before slicing into squares.
Video
Nutrition
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Hi, I made this yesterday, we like it but it is a little bit bitter, is that how corn bread is supposed to be?
Thanks!
Bitter? Might be your quinoa flour! I would say next time toast the quinoa flour or swap it for brown rice. Some people are very sensitive to the flavor of quinoa flour and find it to be bitter.
Wish I’d read this before I made it. The cornbread came out perfect, fluffy but tasted horribly bitter. Next time I will use brown rice flour. Thanks
Sorry you didn’t enjoy it! It all depends on your taste preferences and how sensitive you are to the taste of quinoa. I never toast mine and it’s fine!
Can I use spelt flour instead of quinoa flour?
I haven’t tested it, but I think you could!
Hi… is there a strong pumpkin taste? Could I sub applesauce or something else for the pumpkin?
I’m excited to make these!!!
I don’t think it does! I think you could sub applesauce, but it wouldn’t be very much like cornbread. What about sweet potato? Or butternut squash? Those would be delicious!
Hi
Do you think I can use polenta instead of cornmeal? And maybe buckwheat flour instead of quinoa flour?
I haven’t tested either of those, so I’m not quite sure, sorry!
My daughter Cannot have any tree nuts. What to sub for the almond flour?
I think you could just use cornmeal. I’d increase the liquid by 2 – 3 tablespoons tho!
[…] One Bowl Vegan Pumpkin Cornbread […]
[…] One Bowl Vegan Pumpkin Cornbread […]
[…] One-Bowl Vegan Pumpkin Cornbread: One bowl and just 10 ingredients? With pumpkin incorporated to make this dish even more fall appropriate? I’m down. (And I’ve never made anything with quinoa flour before, but am betting it would be pretty incredible…) […]
Made these today, along with the “Crockpot Sweet Potato & Black Bean Quinoa Chili”. They paired very well together! I shared them with 6 friends who are always amazed that my vegan diet includes way more than green salad. I’m already looking forward to using this recipe again! Thank you!
That’s the perfect combination! So glad you all enjoyed it 🙂
[…] sweet piece of this Gluten Free Apple Butter Corn Bread. A few weeks ago I saw this recipe for One Bowl Vegan Pumpkin Corn Bread from Simply Quinoa, and then I saw the jar of apple butter in my fridge that sounded like a good […]
[…] One Bowl Vegan Pumpkin Cornbread by Simply Quinoa […]