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My easy keto cornbread recipe uses almond flour and turns out tender on the outside yet soft and fluffy in the center. There’s NO actual corn, and each serving has only 2 grams of net carbs.
Craving more keto bread recipes? Try my keto bread, keto garlic bread, keto rolls, or keto cheese bread next
For years, I could never figure out how to replicate the flavor and texture of cornbread while following a keto diet. But you guys, that has since changed.
My low-carb cornbread recipe has all the flavor and texture of traditional cornbread with a southern flare and not a single corn kernel in sight.
Table of Contents
Why I love this recipe
- 6 Ingredients. Count them yourself, and you may find you already have most of them on hand!
- No corn or cornmeal needed. Rather, I use a super secret ingredient to replicate that taste but keep the carbs low.
- Made with almond flour. No grains and no flour means it’s gluten-free, too!
- Make them into muffins or in a skillet. I always take the lazy way out and bake it in a square pan, but this recipe can be made into cornbread muffins or cornbread skillet.
Ingredients needed (and substitutions)
- Almond flour. I strongly recommend using blanched almond flour, not almond meal, which will make for crumbly bread. I also tested this recipe with coconut flour (just in case), but the texture wasn’t as light and fluffy.
- Baking soda. Gives the bread rise and fluffiness.
- Eggs. Use room temperature eggs.
- Butter. Measured in its melted state. I used salted butter, but if you only have unsalted butter, add 1/8 teaspoon of salt. Coconut oil also works.
- Powdered sugar sweetener. Skip the overpriced grocery store stuff and make your own keto powdered sugar.
- Sweet corn extract. My secret ingredient! Adding sweet corn extract gives the cornbread ALL the corn flavor, minus the carbs!
How to make keto cornbread
I’ve included step-by-step photos below to make this recipe easy to follow at home. For the full printable recipe instructions and ingredient quantities, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Step 1- Prep. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and line an 8×8-inch pan with parchment paper.
Step 2- Make the batter. In a small bowl, combine the flour and baking powder. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs. Then add the melted butter and powdered sugar and whisk to combine. Gently stir in the dry ingredients until smooth.
Step 3- Bake. Transfer the batter to the prepared baking dish and bake for 25-27 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean and the top is golden. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan before slicing.
Arman’s recipe tips
- Make keto cornbread muffins. Pour the batter into a greased muffin tin and reduce the baking time to 18-20 minutes.
- Or bake it in a skillet. Transfer the batter to a greased cast iron skillet and add another 5 minutes to the baking time.
- Add mix-ins. Change the flavor with chopped bacon, fresh herbs, shredded cheddar cheese, or even diced jalapeños.
Storage instructions
To store: Cornbread should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days.
To freeze: Wrap individual slices in plastic wrap, store them in a freezer bag, and freeze for up to six months.
Reheating: Microwave individual slices for 15-20 seconds or until warm.
Frequently asked questions
No, I don’t recommend using coconut flour as during recipe testing, it dried out the biscuits completely. You may prefer to make my coconut flour biscuits instead.
What to serve with this recipe
Keto Cornbread
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups almond flour blanched almond flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/3 cup sugar free powdered sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon butter melted
- 1 teaspoon sweetcorn extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Line an 8 x 8-inch pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine your almond flour and baking powder and set aside. In a separate bowl, add your eggs and whisk them together. Add the melted butter and sugar free powdered sugar and whisk until combined. Gently stir through the dry ingredients and mix until fully incorporated and no clumps remain.
- Transfer the batter into the lined baking pan and bake for 25-27 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean and the tops are golden.
- Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan before slicing and serving.
It doesn’t say when to add the corn flavoring.
I added cheddar and dice jalapeño…baked in a black skillet. Yummy!
Very good! I decided to try it in an iron skillet which is a traditional way to cook cornbread in the south and it turned out great! I put the skillet in the oven when preheating and then buttered it before putting the dough in it. Wow! Crisped bottom and sides were just heavenly! Baking time was a little less… check after 20 minutes!
Wait where can I buy sugarfree sugar powder? Are you sure you wrote correctly? Is it from some healthy shop?
I was somewhat skeptical about this recipe as many recipes online are hit or miss, but I was very pleasantly surprised with the simplicity and the delicious results!
I simply mixed all of the dry ingredients in a bag for later use. I used Swerve icing sugar as my powdered sugar type. Followed the other instructions exactly and spread it in a well greased pan. After 26 minutes it came out hot and golden! No sticking to the pan, held together beautifully and was a delicious duo with some homemade chili. Would recommend the recipe for ease of preparation and simple ingredients!
This was so wonderful. I made this for my vegan MIL. I replaced eggs with flax eggs and it turned out great! Possibly better than the real thing. A+++
I only dont understand what is sweetcorn extract. You think It is necessary in this recipe?
I just made this cornbread! THANK YOU! I added a little chopped jalapeno. I think next time I make it I may add a bit more corn flavor but even my husband approved of this recipe!
Thanks again!
It is really good. I have made it twice. The first time as listed and the second time with 2 whole eggs and 2 egg whites to control de saturated fat intake. Also, added 1/4 cup almond milk to make it smoother. Truly delicious!
Excellent recipe. I made today to go with some party ribs. I followed recipe exactly, but did add some chopped jalapeno pepper and shredded cheese. I can understand all the 5 star ratings … will definitely be making again.
Wow, great recipe! I made it to go with your chili recipe (also delicious!). I will be making this often. Thanks!
Made this last night and it was the star in my cornbread chicken stuffing today for Thanksgiving!
I did cut the sugar to 1/4 cup and the sweet corn extract to 1/2 teaspoon.
Thank you, Arman for always having something yummy to make!
Excellent recipe! I will definitely make again.
I’m from the South and love Southern cornbread. I don’t like sweet cornbread, so I omitted the sugar substitute from the recipe. The only change I will make in the future is to reduce the sweet corn extract by half. Otherwise, this is a great recipe!
I’ve tried several different keto “corn” bread recipes and this is the only recipe I will ever need again! It so good! Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Yummy, I’ve made this corn bread and it’s great… We would like to make this more breakfast friendly, LoL… Do you think we could add some fresh blueberries??? Thanks for All Your Great Great Recipes… Cheryl…
Loved it!! Tasted like cornbread to me and I didn’t even use the sweet corn extract.
I’ve made this twice now, and it just keeps getting better and better! My boyfriend, who hates regular corn bread, LOVES this!!! It really is that good, and I usually make it with keto chili or a keto soup. It is seriously THAT GOOD!!! I will make it again tonight to go with a keto jalapeno popper recipe! Thank you so much for all you do for the low carb community, Arman!! You are a treasure 🙂
You are so welcome, Sheri!
So happy to find this, I’ve been craving bread. This cornbread is a fine texture but it was way too sweet. I think I would use maybe a tbsp of sweetner and 1/2 tsp corn extract and then add some diced green chilies and some cheese over the top. At least that is what I plan to do on my next batch.
I did have a little leftover slice today and put pimento spread on it – yummy yummy. Thank you for putting this out!
SO yummy. I skipped the corn extract and powdered sugar though and added 1/3 cup of Lakonta Monk Fruit Sweetened Maple flavored syrup and 1/2 tsp. Turmeric to make it yellow. Divine! Thanks for the great recipe.
This was exceptional cornbread! I did not have the extract and it was great! Thanks!
I made nine corn muffins and they were delicious!!! Beautiful golden brown! Baked 15 minutes. Took pictures don’t know how to upload to you. Love this recipe!!!!
Very good!!
Oh my goodness. This was on point. I’ll be making this again. Thanks for the recipe.
This recipe needs salt, about 1/2 teaspoon if using salted butter and maybe 3/4 teaspoon if using unsalted. We also found 1/3 cup powdered Swerve was too sweet, more like cake. I think 4 tablespoons or even 3 might be better depending on if you like the cornbread subtly sweet or not very sweet. A full teaspoon of Kitgen brand sweetcorn extract was little powerful for us, so perhaps 3/4 tsp if you prefer. Otherwise, this recipe was about as good as keto texture can be for cornbread, and it browned nicely. I could not tell a visible or textural difference right next to regular cornbread, and it cut and served well dipped in soup. I would highly recommend, and have tried other keto cornbread recipes for comparison that definitely did not turn out well.
I added a half teaspoon each of salt and vanilla extract to the recipe, and omitted the sweetener altogether. Delicious!
This recipe isn’t bad considering that it’s a keto replica, but it really needs salt. Even with the sweet corn extract, the taste is still lacking. It was much better once I added salt.
Hi Nina- Thanks for the feedback! Most corn extract can be quite salty, so I compensated for it, but def add salt if yours isn’t 🙂
Good afternoon
I am allergic to any kind of tree nut flour, can I substitute for coconut flour or oat flour. Can I omit the sweetcorn extract?
Not that I’ve tried, you are welcome to experiment and see.
I tried this recipe as written. It has a lovely, fluffy texture with a buttery taste. I think going forward I will cut back on the amount of sweetener and add like 1/4 to 1/3 cup of pulsed up baby corn, which I have seen in other recipes, just to add to the texture. With a few modifications, this would be a delicious yellow cake. Even my non-keto boyfriend liked it.
It turned out great… We made chili & had a 1/2 can of jalapeño & 1/2 can of regular green peppers so we drained really well & added to batter before baking… It worked!!! Wish I could show you a picture… Thank You for a great keto recipe…
Yum! You can send me one on Instagram if you use it, Cheryl 🙂
Morning, great great great… Do you think next time I could add some drained canned chopped green peppers??? Thank You…
That sounds like a fab addition 🙂
Love this cornbread. I don’t put in the powdered sugar because the corn extract is sweet. I also put in a can of baby cord ground up. Carbs are very small. Thanks!
Thanks so much for your recipe! I made two batches tonight, and they turned out great. I have a storage question. I know you recommended to store the cornbread in the refrigerator so it doesn’t dry out and become rancid. However, I actually need dry cornbread. Haha! I’m planning on substituting this keto friendly version into my sausage cornbread stuffing recipe which requires “stale” cornbread; otherwise the stuffing comes out too moist. If I leave your cornbread out for a couple of days, will it be okay, or should I go ahead and refrigerate it and hope it still dries out enough.
The rancid comment concerned me. 🙂 Thanks so much! Having made your recipe for the first time tonight, I’m not sure what to expect.
Hi Lisa! I did the very same thing (for a stuffing) and I found if I refrigerated them uncovered, they firmed up and achieved the ‘stale’ texture. I don’t think you’d have any issues leaving them out at room temperature though 🙂
My husband and I are new to Keto and adjusting has been a challenge so far. I love breads and grains, so those are the things I crave most. I made keto chili tonight and wanted to try this recipe. I made it exactly as directed, and it turned out great! It was so nice to have chili and cornbread. Definitely satisfied my craving and it was moist and tender. I was skeptical with the batter being so thick, but I’ll be making this recipe again and again. Thanks, Big Man!
Thanks, Hazel!
I had no idea there was a such thing as sweet corn extract! I never knew there were so many baking extracts besides the typical grocery store options like vanilla, rum, maple, etc.
I’ve been itching for cornbread since switching to keto and I would love to give this a try! I also really love johnnycakes/hoe cakes, but again, can’t really have cornmeal on a low-carb diet. I’ll bet the sweet corn extract could easily be added to almond flour pancakes to make keto johnnycakes too!
Once I get my hands on this extract, I can’t wait to try making this! It looks lovely – at a glance, I’d never guess it was anything other than normal cornbread!
I made this yesterday into muffins. Th ones I made them for said they were good. I had never attempted Keto corn bread. I had 12 muffins and a thin mini loaf size. I used coconut oil and almond milk. The batter was VERY thick. I think I could have used maybe a 1/4 cup more milk. My son said they were good as he got here while they were warm. Not sure how they taste warmed over.
Have you tried to make a cornbread stuffing with this recipe?
I haven’t!
I was doubtful when I saw how thick the batter was. I followed the recipe, except, I did not use room temp eggs, which may make a difference the next go around. My batter was very thick, nothing like traditional cornbread batter, but this doesn’t have cornmeal, has almond flour, a lot more eggs, etc. I had to use a spatula to get the dough into the pan and then use the spatula to spread it evenly. I baked it for about 25 minutes then did the toothpick test as the top and sides were brown, more so than the pictures in this post. The toothpick came out clean so I pulled the cornbread out of the oven. It was very dense, but worked well with the chili, per my husband. I can’t eat eggs or dairy so it was a labor of love to make this for my husband and not be able to eat it. My husband loves chili and cornbread and requested that meal for dinner tonight. He liked this cornbread replacement and said his craving was satisfied. He said it would go good with soup or stew so we are having one of those for dinner tomorrow night. My husband was diabetic until we embraced keto and intermittent fasting last June. We are all in with keto now, with both of us experiencing good health and my husband’s reversal of diabetes. The most difficult part of keto for us is finding a bread replacement that does not have eggs or cheese.
As a Southern gal (forever stuck in the Midwest), cornbread is a must have. Thank you for this recipe. I cannot wait to try it!
I am excited to say that this cornbread is phenomenal! I was careful not to overbake and the bread was soft, held together well and tasted delicious. I used Amoretti corn extract and a sweetener blend of Pyure and xylitol so there is no bad aftertaste. Just deliciousness! It appears others have figured out when to add the extract but you might want to indicate in the directions when it should be added. Would hate for anyone to miss it and not enjoy the finished product. Thanks!
I’ve been craving this for a while and thank you!!
You are so welcome!