I freakin’ love cornbread. Give it to me with whipped honey butter and strawberry jam, or even with a little pumpkin infused into the muffins… or even a giant slice topped with my fabulous healthier sloppy joes. I’ll pretty much eat them at any meal.
Years ago, I experimented with using gluten-free oat flour in my usual cornbread muffin recipe instead of regular flour. The result was INSANELY good; neither Tony nor I could stop slathering them with butter and drizzling honey over every last bit. Talk about melt in your mouth gluten-free cornbread muffins!
I’m finally re-sharing the recipe with you for all of your game day, holiday, or anytime cozy-cooking adventures, and I promise you’re going to fall in love.
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Ingredients in gluten free cornbread muffins
This gluten-free cornbread muffin recipe uses super simple ingredients to make the best, fluffiest muffins in the entire world. Here are the ingredients you’ll need:
- Cornmeal: what makes these cornbread muffins (instead of regular muffins) is gluten-free medium grind cornmeal.
- Flour: we’re also using gluten-free oat flour to give the muffins their proper texture and keep them gluten-free.
- Baking powder: in order for these muffins to rise, you’ll need to add baking powder.
- Salt: just a pinch of salt helps bring out the flavors.
- Milk: feel free to use any milk you’d like! I like unsweetened or vanilla almond milk.
- Apple cider vinegar: a tiny bit of apple cider vinegar interacts with the baking powder to puff these babies up.
- Eggs: you’ll need 2 eggs to help them bake properly.
- Honey: we’re naturally sweetening these muffins with honey.
- Butter: give them extra moisture with melted butter.
Make your own oat flour
You can easily make your own gluten-free oat flour by placing oats into a blender and blending or pulsing until they’re smooth and resemble flour. This is probably the cheapest option. Check out my tutorial with all of my best tips & tricks. So easy!
For this cornbread muffin recipe, you’ll most likely need at least a little more than 1 cup of gluten-free rolled oats to make about 1 cup gluten-free oat flour.
Can I make them dairy-free?
Absolutely! Simply use melted and cooled vegan butter instead of regular butter.
A note on different flours
I’ve only tested this recipe using the listed cornmeal and oat flour, so I can’t recommend any substitutions. Try different flours at your own risk!
Feel free to make my Best Fluffy Moist Cornbread Recipe Ever instead if you’d like to use regular, all-purpose flour.
Try these fun flavor mix-ins
What I love about these healthy cornbread muffins is that you can easily customize them with fun add-ins. Here are a few suggestions to mix into the batter before baking:
- Jalapeno cheddar: 1 diced jalapeno + 1/2 cup cheddar cheese
- Blueberry: 3/4 cup fresh blueberries
- Honey bacon: 1/2 cup chopped bacon
- Cheesy garlic: 2 cloves garlic + 1/2 cup cheddar cheese
- Green chile corn: add 1 (4 oz) can drained green chiles + 1/2 cup thawed frozen corn + optional 1/2 cup cheddar cheese
- Breakfast cornbread: fold in 1/2 cup chopped or crumbled cooked breakfast sausage
- Cranberry: 1/2 cup dried cranberries
What to serve with these muffins
The options are honestly endless, but here are a few of my go-tos:
- The Best Healthy Turkey Chili (a no-brainer)
- Healthy White Chicken Chili
- Cheddar-Stuffed Sweet Potato BBQ Turkey Meatloaf
- Healthy Chicken Pot Pie Soup
- Actually, the Best Vegetarian Chili Ever
- Cheddar Buffalo Cauliflower Soup
- Mom’s Slow Cooker Beef Stew
- Slow Cooker White Wine Chicken Stew
Storing & freezing tips
- To store: store the cornbread muffins on the counter in an airtight container or silicone bag for a day, then transfer them to the fridge.
- To freeze: allow the muffins to cool completely, then put them in an airtight container or bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Once ready to reheat, you can thaw at room temperature or heat up in the microwave in 30-second intervals until warmed through.
Tools you’ll need to make these muffins
Get all of my go-to kitchen essentials here!
More side dishes you’ll love
- Crispy Smashed Potatoes
- Spicy Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Parmesan & Chili Crisp
- The Best Garlic Bread You’ll Ever Eat
- Dad’s Creamy & Cheesy Au Gratin Potatoes
- Asiago Arugula Pear Salad
Get all of my side dish recipes here!
I know you’re going to love these gluten free cornbread muffins! Let me know if you make them by leaving a comment and rating the recipe below. I’d love to hear from you, and it helps encourage others to make the recipe too!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Gluten-Free Cornbread Muffins
Ingredients
- Dry ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cup (126g) oat flour, gluten-free if desired
- 1 cup (152g) gluten-free medium grind cornmeal (I use bob’s red mill)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Wet ingredients
- 1 cup (240g) unsweetened almond milk (can use vanilla almond milk if you like sweeter cornbread, or any milk you'd like)
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- ¼ cup (84g) honey
- ¼ cup (57g) butter, melted and cooled (or use vegan butter)
Instructions
- Prep your pan: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin generously with nonstick cooking spray or line with paper liners. I always spray the inside of the liners to ensure the muffins do not stick!
- Mix the dry ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: cornmeal, oat flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Mix the wet ingredients: In a separate large bowl, mix together the almond milk, apple cider vinegar, eggs, and honey. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir with a spoon until just combined. Finally, stir in the melted butter. Divide batter evenly into prepared muffin liners.
- Bake: Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Serve warm with a pat of butter and a drizzle of honey! Makes 12 muffins.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on February 24th, 2020, and republished on October 23rd, 2025.
I was looking for a cornflour bread recipe and came across this muffin recipe. I loved the way it was written with warmth and fun só I signed up. Always happy for a bit of sunshine in my life plus good, tasty and healthy cooking!
Absolutely! So glad you found this one 🙂
Could these be made into mini muffins and how long would they need to bake (roughly)?
Sure! I would check them around 10 minutes.
These look so good! Can I use olive oil instead of vegan or regular butter? Thanks!
Butter is going to give these lots of flavor, but yes, you can use olive oil if you prefer!
Can I use flax eggs instead of regular eggs???
I haven’t tested it, but I’ve seen other readers use them with success! Let me know if you try it 🙂
I am going to try this tomorrow.
I have a quick question… how would you adjust the recipe if I wanted to add creamed corn?
Thanks.
Hmm I haven’t tested it so I’m not sure how I’d adjust the recipe!
The taste is lovely. They were most but somehow really crumbly. I might try adding an extra egg next time. I did use blue corn meal. I don’t think that would have made a difference, but maybe.
Hmm these should hold together well! Any chance you packed the cornmeal or oat flour? That would add a bit too much of the dry ingredients and make them more crumbly.
Looking to makes these. Recipe looks great. Will the recipe work if I add corn?
these muffines
are amazing we love them as a family they are also really good for snacks at school or just as a picnic if you are going to beach and just need something to. eat
Absolutely! Such a great snack 🙂
I used flax meal instead of the cup for cup gluten free flour. I subbed 1/4 cup mashed banana instead of the honey. These came out great! I let them sit for a few minutes to help with getting them to rise and they puffed up nicely. I’ll definitely add this recipe to my gluten free rotation.
Why is there egg in your VEGAN recipe?!!
Hi! Can you let me know where this recipe mentions that it’s vegan? These muffins are gluten free but are not vegan.
I substituted unsweetened almond milk for milk, Greek nonfat yogurt for butter and dropped the honey. They are delicious!
Perfect! Happy to hear this recipe out great ❤️
Here’s a variation that worked for me using oil instead ofbutter:
1/3 cup of oil
add: 3/4 cup of GF mix.
They came out perfectly in 22 minutes.
Perfect! Glad they turned out!
Love this recipe! Making it tonight for the 3rd time in two weeks!
YUMM! So glad you’re loving these muffins, Martha ❤️😍
These were so amazing! I have a tried-and-true cornbread recipe for my gluten-eating family, but have been struggling to find a good, clean-ish recipe for me since I went gluten-free last year. I made these tonight and was so pleasantly surprised at the wonderful cornbread flavor. I’m printing it right now! So happy to have found my new go-to cornbread recipe! Thank you. 🙂
Absolutely! SO glad you found this one and are loving it ❤️
I made this recipe today (as written) to go with my chili and the muffins turned out great. I don’t find them sweet at all with the honey. Looking forward to having one tomorrow morning for breakfast with my scrambled eggs. Will definitely make this again.
Amazing! So excited that you are loving this recipe ❤️
Can you use almond flour?
I haven’t tried it so I’m not sure how the muffins would turn out!
I was very surprised at how delicious these gluten free corn muffins were :light , fluffy and tasty especially with jam on top. I used homemade gluten free oat flour which was easy as pie to make. I will certainly makes these again.
can i use polenta/corn grits for this recipe?
I’ve made these a half dozen times and love them! I’m curious if anyone has tried using chia eggs. I use chia eggs for sweet muffins made with things like oats, bananas, and chocolate, and those always come out fantastic. I saw someone in here used flax eggs.
Hi Jessica – I haven’t tried these with chia egg so I am not sure how they will turn out but if you give them a try let me know how they work out for you!
This recipe looks really easy and health. I’m making it now, however I’m curious why use vinegar? What happens if I omitted the vinegar from the batter?
Thanks
Hi! It helps keep them extra fluffy 🙂 Let me know what you end up trying!