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This keto cornbread is a low carb take on the classic southern cornbread using almond flour! Tender on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside, it’s perfect to enjoy sweet or savory- it’s made with ZERO corn! 2 grams net carbs per serve.
Keto Cornbread
Whenever I crave carbs on a keto diet, I have a few go-to’s. I sometimes make fluffy biscuits and sometimes make keto rolls. If I need something nostalgic, I love making keto cornbread.
Why this keto cornbread recipe will have you making a batch weekly-
- 6 Ingredients. Count them yourself- This simple recipe needs just six ingredients and you probably have them all on hand!
- No corn needed. And no cornmeal either! Cornmeal AND corn are both not keto friendly, but you won’t be missing the corn flavor, as we use a secret ingredient- sweetcorn extract!
- Made with almond flour. No white flour and grains are needed, as this is an almond flour cornbread.
- Can also be made as muffins or in a skillet! I always take the lazy route and bake it in a square pan but this recipe can be made as cornbread muffins or cornbread skillet.
What I love about this cornbread is that I don’t miss out on family food traditions due to dietary restrictions! It’s perfect when served on the side of some keto chili, and let’s not forget adding a drizzle of keto honey on top- Now that is what I call comfort food!
How do you make keto cornbread?
The Ingredients
- Almond flour– You must use blanched almond flour, not almond meal.
- Baking soda– Leavening agent we use to give the cornbread some rise and fluffiness.
- Eggs– Room temperature eggs.
- Butter– Measured in its melted state. I used salted butter, but if you only have the unsalted variety, add 1/8 teaspoon of salt to compensate. If you can’t have dairy, you can also use coconut oil (refined).
- Powdered sugar substitute– Skip the overpriced grocery store varieties and make your own keto powdered sugar.
- Sweetcorn extract– The secret ingredient! Adding sweetcorn extract gives the cornbread ALL the corn flavor, minus the carbs!
The Instructions
Start by whisking together the almond flour and baking soda in a small bowl and setting it aside. In a mixing bowl, add the eggs and whisk very well. Add the melted butter, powdered sugar substitute, and sweetcorn extract and mix until smooth. Gently add in the dry ingredient and mix until fully incorporated.
Now, transfer into a lined square dish and bake for 25-27 minutes, or until a skewer comes out mostly clean. Remove the cornbread from the oven and allow the cornbread to cool completely, before slicing into squares.
Can I make this with coconut flour?
While there are some coconut flour cornbread recipes out there, this is NOT one of them. The almond flour gives the cornbread a lovely fluffy and tender texture, something that coconut flour will not replicate.
Instead, you might like coconut flour biscuits.
Tips to make the best almond flour cornbread
- Do not overbake the cornbread as it continues to cook as it is cooling down. Once a toothpick comes out clean, the cornbread is ready to be removed from the oven.
- Be sure to sift the almond flour well, to ensure the batter has no clumps.
- Feel free to add some variety by folding through some chopped bacon, fresh herbs, or even some antipasto (olives are delicious!).
Storing, freezing, and reheating low carb cornbread
- To store: Cornbread should be stored in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 5 days. Any longer, and you risk the cornbread going rancid and drying out.
- To freeze: Place leftovers in a ziplock bag and store in the freezer for up to 6 months.
- Reheating: Cornbread is best served warm, to either microwave for 20 seconds or in a preheated oven and heat for 5 minutes until warm.
More keto appetizer recipes to try
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.
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!