Buttery, crumbly, and slightly sweet, this gluten free cornbread recipe comes together quickly with 1 bowl and 10 ingredients.
One day last spring, I found myself with some milk that had turned slightly sour. Thanks to Jay’s mom, I knew that not all was lost; I could bake with it. So I opened up my brand new (signed!) copy of Deborah Madison’s Vegetable Literacy and flipped to a recipe for Buttermilk Skillet Cornbread. I tweaked things around to make gluten free cornbread, and what I pulled from the oven was hands-down the best cornbread I’d ever tasted – super moist, slightly chewy, and flecked with nubs of stone ground cornmeal.
I’ve been playing around with this cornbread recently, turning it into a stuffing packed with wild mushrooms, chestnuts, leeks, and fennel. I’ve simplified the recipe to be mixed all in one bowl, which means that you can have cornbread baked, slightly cooled, and into your mouth within an hour. Despite being gluten-free, the ingredient list is short and sweet. And buttermilk works beautifully in place of soured milk, of course.
Like most good things in life, this one starts with lots of butter, in this case melted in the oven-proof skillet in which you will bake the cornbread.
A combination of cornmeal, oat flour, and sweet rice flour give this gluten free cornbread a flawless texture without the use of any gums or starches. A bit of salt adds flavor, a touch of sugar balances the slight bitter notes of the cornmeal, and baking soda and powder work together to leaven the bread.
Eggs and buttermilk go right into the bowl
and get whisked until smooth.
In goes the melted butter,
And into the pan it goes. A brief bake, and there you have it: great gluten free cornbread.
They don’t call it quick bread for nothing.
Serve wedges alongside soup or salad. Or top it with butter, honey, and a flutter of sea salt and call it breakfast.
And stay tuned for Cornbread Stuffing with Chestnuts, Leeks, and Chanterelles.
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Gluten-Free Buttermilk Skillet Cornbread
Print Recipe / Pin RecipeIngredients
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter (3 ounces/85 grams)
- 1/2 cup gluten-free oat flour (2.25 ounces/60 grams)
- 1/2 cup sweet white rice flour (mochiko) (3 ounces/85 grams)
- 1 cup yellow stone-ground cornmeal (5 ounces/140 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon sugar (increase to 1 tablespoon if you like a sweeter cornbread)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk (355 ml)
Instructions
- Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375ºF (190ºC).
- Place the butter in a 10" oven-proof skillet and set the skillet in the oven to melt the butter, about 5 minutes.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the oat flour, rice flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Whisk well to eradicate lumps. Add the eggs and buttermilk, and whisk until just combined.
- Remove the pan from the oven, swirl to coat the sides with butter, then pour the melted butter into the batter, whisking quickly to combine.
- Scrape the batter into the buttery, hot pan, and spread evenly. Bake the cornbread until golden on top, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 30-35 minutes.
- Let the cornbread cool for at least 20 minutes; the bread is still cooking from residual heat. Cut into wedges and serve warm. Extras can be kept airtight at room temperature for up to a few days. Toast in a toaster oven before enjoying.
Notes
Nutrition
Gluten-Free Buttermilk Skillet Cornbread
Adapted generously from Deborah Madison’s Vegetable Literary
This yields a moist, springy bread flecked with nubby bits of stone-ground cornmeal that holds together beautifully without the use of gums or starches. I credit the copious amounts of butter and buttermilk for its lovely texture. It is just the thing to serve (warm and slathered with butter and a flutter of sea salt) with a bowl of soup or chilli, or to turn into Gluten-Free Cornbread Stuffing with Chestnuts, Leeks, and Chanterelles. If you don’t have sweet white rice flour (mochiko), you may need to add 1/4-1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum to help the bread hold together. I like to bake this in my 10-inch round cast iron skillet, but it should also work in a 9-inch round pan or skillet, or an 8- or 9-inch square pan.
All ounce measurements are by weight.
Makes one 9-10″ round cornbread; 8-10 servings
6 tablespoons (3 ounces/85 grams) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (2.25 ounces/60 grams) gluten-free oat flour
1/2 cup (3 ounces/85 grams) sweet white rice flour (mochiko)
1 cup (5 ounces/140 grams) yellow stone-ground cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sugar (increase to 1 tablespoon if you like a sweeter cornbread)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups (355 ml) well-shaken buttermilk
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375ºF (190ºC).
Place the butter in a 10″ oven-proof skillet and set the skillet in the oven to melt the butter, about 5 minutes.
In a large bowl, whisk together the oat flour, rice flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Whisk well to eradicate lumps. Add the eggs and buttermilk, and whisk until just combined.
Remove the pan from the oven, swirl to coat the sides with butter, then pour the melted butter into the batter, whisking quickly to combine.
Scrape the batter into the buttery, hot pan, and spread evenly. Bake the cornbread until golden on top, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 30-35 minutes.
Let the cornbread cool for at least 20 minutes; the bread is still cooking from residual heat. Cut into wedges and serve warm. Extras can be kept airtight at room temperature for up to a few days. Toast in a toaster oven before enjoying.
What a gorgeous skillet cornbread! I love cornbread (I eat it like it's dessert!) and I'm eager to give this recipe a try. Thank you for sharing it!!
Thanks, Monet! I'd forgotten how dessert-like cornbread can be until this afternoon – you wouldn't believe how fast Jay and I each scarfed a piece of that buttery, honey-y cornbread when I was done shooting it. :) I hope you like it!
Thank you for this delicious recipe, but what if we don't have sweet rice flour or xanthan gum, does normal rice flour work or not? I live in Turkey and we don't have sweet rice flour here :)
Hi oZGe! Thank you for reading, and for your question. I have several friends who live in Turkey. :)
I haven't tried this recipe using regular rice flour and no xanthan gum, so I don't know whether that will work well or not. Sweet rice flour is naturally sticky, sort of like wheat flour, so it helps gluten-free baked goods hold together. My concern is that, without it, the cornbread will be overly crumbly and not hold together well. There may be enough egg in the recipe to give it a nice texture, though. If you give it a try, please let me know how it comes out!
One of my favorite side dishes, especially with soup. It's really an excuse to have soup isn't it? Love this version and the Gluten free ♥
Totally an excuse for soup. :) Although today we split a couple of wedges lengthwise and melted cheddar cheese over them. mmm…
This looks fantastic! I know what I'm making this weekend.
Aw, that makes me so happy! :)
If you are dairy free, is there anything you could recommend to replace the buttermilk?
Hi Whitney, I haven't tried making this dairy-free, but I would wager that a combination of plain DF yogurt and a milk substitute could work to mimic the thickness, fat content, and tanginess of the buttermilk. You could probably use Earth Balance buttery spread in place of the butter, though you'll want to take down the salt. Please let me know how it goes!
Thanks so much, Alanna! I will give it a try :)
Crucial for your sublime stuffing recipe!!…I was wondering if "polenta" corn meal could possibly work in this recipe? I bought 500 grams at an Italian market in Lyon and am hoping I can sub it in?!
Hi, Donna! Here's an account of someone successfully using polenta in corn bread: http://muffintop.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/polenta-cornbread-a-happy-mistake/
I'm not sure if the GF version will be different, but it might be worth a try? Please let me know how it goes!
thank you for the recipe! I'm going to try making this next week! Going to try that with Polenta instead that I just bought today!
Hi Jun – you're very welcome! Please let me know how you like it. Happy baking. :)
Thanks for posting this! I tried it tonight, but replaced sweet rice flour with sorghum flour (~65 g) + the recommended 1/4 tsp xanthan gum. Came out great!
You're very welcome – glad you liked it! I'm also glad to know that the recipe will work with those substitutions – thank you for sharing!
this also works well with all cornmeal. i also leave out the sugar and sometimes sub melted bacon fat for the butter. also, they bake up nicely in madeleine tins.
Whoa, you are blowing my mind here! Little savory bacon fat and cornmeal madeleines? Be still my heart. I must try that!
Do you think I could sub a gf flour mix for the oatmeal and rice flour, as I don't have any on hand at the moment? I have a big bag of Manins gf flour, which I've been really loving lately and I don't have any gluten intolerance. Thanks!
Hi! I've never tried that gf blend so I can't guarantee that it will work, but I'd say chances are good that it will! Please let me know if you give it a try.
Just got done baking this wonderful act of God. I found a half dozen peppers in the garden that were just begging to go in the mix, so I chopped them all up, seeds n all since I love it hot as can be, mixed in the peppers and voila! Lunch will be soup n this beautiful corn bread, almost a shame to cut it. Please keep the recipes coming and if possible please post a recipe of the jalapeno poppers such as the ones served up at the Sonic drive in restaurants. I love those things but they just cost so much for so little since here at my house we can put away 3 or 4 dozen of those things in no time (I live in a frat house with 8, sometimes 9 other guys and we love to eat
Finding a recipe for moist cornbread is definitely challenging. Especially with gluten free ingredients. Maybe I will have to give yours a try.
I know I’m a little late to the corn bread party, but I just wanted to let you know that I made this tonight. It was the third batch of cornbread attempted today, two other recipes were relatively miserable failures.
I actually wound up using dried buttermilk powder and water in this recipe (don’t judge! It was a long day!) – I sifted the buttermilk powder into the rest of the dry ingredients and whisked the egg and water together before I combined.
Additionally, just in case this helps anybody else, the other two batches of corn bread I made, I used “stoneground cornmeal” from Bob’s Red Mill. For this batch of corn bread I used “corn flour” which is a much finer grind. I actually found that I preferred the corn flour significantly. In all three recipes I tried today, none of them allowed the corn meal to soften in the liquid before baking, and it wound up being really crunchy with the cornmeal versions. In your recipe the corn flour made it very tender.
I should also add that when I finally found your recipe, I thought “Ah ha! Bojon to the rescue!” I really enjoy your blog and your recipes, and I know that they are solid and frequently beautiful ( and frequently delightfully gluten-free!).
Overall, your recipe saved the day!
Just made this for thanksgiving and it turned out wonderfully. I used bacon fat instead of butter, but other than that I followed the instructions and the crust was perfectly crunchy and the inside soft and moist. Great flavor too and everyone loved it (I was with people who are not gluten intolerant). All the recipes I’ve tried from you have been great! Thanks a bunch!
Yay, so glad you liked it!
Yum! I just made these and they are perfect! I used Bobs medium grind corn meal, honey instead of sugar and sprouted brown rice in place of oat flour. The recipe made exactly 12 beautiful muffins baked at 375 for 18 minutes!
Thanks!
So glad it was a success! Thanks so much for sharing your variation!