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Buttery and tender Gluten Free Apple Butter Cornbread will be the perfect addition to any autumn dinner or holiday meal. Apple butter makes it moist and slightly sweet with a hint of seasonal fall flavor. You only need one bowl to stir a few basic ingredients together to bake a batch of this easy cornbread recipe.
Why You’ll Love This Apple Butter Cornbread
Delicious Details
- Cuisine Inspiration: American
- Primary Cooking Method: Oven
- Dietary Info: Gluten-free, Dairy-free option
- Skill Level: Easy
Just because you can’t have gluten doesn’t mean you can’t experience the crumbly, corny goodness of a thick, just slightly sweet piece of cornbread. While my traditional gluten free cornbread recipe is usually my go-to, I was inspired by a jar of apple butter in my fridge to change things up a bit.
This version is still corny, crumbly, and buttery, just the way you like it. But besides adding the depth and hint of sweetness from apple butter, it also used almond and oat flour to complement the flavors and enhance the tender texture. You’ll love the fall flavors in this easy recipe, plus there’s so much more…
- Simple prep. All of the ingredients are mixed together in one bowl before popping them into the oven. Easy peasy!
- Versatile. The festive flavor makes it the perfect addition to an autumn dinner or holiday meal. I have lots of serving suggestions in the Make it a Meal section further down. You can even smear it with some Cranberry Orange Butter and have it for breakfast.
- Easy to adapt. My starting point for this recipe was this One Bowl Vegan Pumpkin Cornbread from Simply Quinoa. Feel free to check that out if you want to have a different classic autumn ingredient, need to avoid eggs and dairy, or want to try out bumping up the protein with quinoa flour.
What You’ll Need
Just a few simple ingredients, one bowl, and about 20 minutes in the oven, and you’ll be enjoying one of your new favorite gluten free quick bread recipes. Here’s an overview of the ingredients followed by a few tips to help you out. The full amounts and detailed instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Cornmeal. If you have celiac disease or are highly sensitive to cross-contamination, be sure to read the labels carefully as some cornmeal is processed in a shared facility or on shared equipment with wheat.
- Oat flour. You can buy oat flour or just take regular old-fashioned oats (certified gluten free oats, if needed) and grind it up in a blender until you have a fine flour.
- Almond flour. It may also be called almond meal.
- Baking powder. Again, be sure it is gluten free, if necessary.
- Kosher salt.
- Egg.
- Milk. I like to use 2% milk, but any dairy or non-dairy milk will work
- Apple butter. This spread is similar to applesauce, only it cooks longer, giving it time to caramelize and develop a deeper, sweeter flavor and darker color. You can buy a jar or make your own apple butter.
- Honey.
- Melted butter. Vegan butter can be substituted to make it dairy free.
Tips for Success
This apple butter cornbread recipe is incredibly easy. But these few pointers will ensure it turns out perfectly.
- Line the pan. You can grease your 8-inch square pan , but I recommend lining it with parchment paper to make the cornbread easier to remove and slice.
- Don’t overmix. Whisk all your dry ingredients, the once you’ve added the wet ingredients, stir until just combined.
- Avoid overbaking. Bake it until just golden brown and a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. If you find that it is getting too brown on top before it’s done in the middle, lightly tent foil over the tip while it finishes baking.
Make it a Meal
The hint of apple flavor makes this cornbread pair well with so many dinners, from fall ingredients and cozy comfort food to the tangy zip of barbecue sauce and savory holiday meals. To get you started, here are some serving suggestions to get you started.
- Chili. Everybody loves dunking a hunk of cornbread into classic Beef Chili, but you can also enjoy it with Slow Cooker Turkey Chili or No-Bean Chili. Add a side salad with Polenta Croutons or even Cauliflower Tots.
- Barbecue. Personally, it’s the thing I need to complete a saucy meal, so bake a pan when you make Air Fryer BBQ Chicken Legs or even BBQ Turkey Meatballs alongside Baked Beans and Apple Coleslaw.
- Soup. It’s also nice with a steamy bowl of Butternut Squash Soup with Sage and Thyme or my timeless Chicken Corn Chowder.
- Thanksgiving feast. Maybe this year you want to skip the dinner rolls and serve cornbread with your turkey, Creamy Skillet Green Beans and Mushrooms, and Pumpkin Pie Spice Melting Sweet Potatoes. Or use it to make Gluten Free Cornbread Stuffing. Then use the leftovers to make Cranberry BBQ Turkey Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with cornbread crumbs on top.
- Christmas dinner. It also makes a lovely complement to Cranberry Crusted Prime Rib Roast paired with Parmesan Mashed Potatoes and Cranberry Orange Glazed Green Beans or Asparagus Fries.
More Gluten Free Quick Breads and Muffins
Gluten Free Apple Butter Cornbread
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups cornmeal
- ½ cup oat flour (Can be made from grinding oats in a blender until a fine powder. Use certified gluten free oats or oat flour, if necessary.)
- ½ cup almond meal
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup milk
- ¼ cup apple butter
- 2 Tablespoons honey
- 2 Tablespoons melted butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF and line an 8×8 inch baking pan with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the corn meal, oat flour, almond meal, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the egg, milk, apple butter, honey, and butter, and stir to combine. Do not over mix.
- Pour batter into the prepared baking pan and spread evenly with a spatula.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and place the pan on a wire rack. Let cool for about ten minutes, then use the parchment paper to lift the cornbread out of the pan and onto a wire rack.
- Cool completely and slice into squares.
Notes
Did you make this?
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What’s a good sub for the Almond meal? could i use coconut flour?
Thanks!
I haven’t tested it but I would first try just replacing with cornmeal since it has a similar concsistency.
Sounds delicious. I’ve never tried apple butter corn bread. Thanks for linking up in our Delicious Dishes Recipe Party.
So YUMMY 🙂 … Really i like Apple Butter Corn Bread very much. I know this is very delicious food. Thanks
Thank you, Nazmul!
Hi,
I have the same habit when it comes to sweet and couple of Gujrati dishes like Dhokla etc. I have never tried corn butter bread and I am not sure whether or not it is even available. This recipe looks delicious and I’d love to give it a try but it all depends on the availability of the ingredients .
P.S – I wish I could take a bite. They really look like Dhokla ( Indian dish prepared by fermented flour ). The only difference is that Dhoklas are savory in taste but this is sweet.
Regards,
Bharat Sharma