For our spring Open House Night, my third grade teacher asked a few of us students to dress up as important figures from American history. After reading her books and falling in love with her story, I picked Laura Ingalls Wilder.
My mom sewed a dress for me from dark blue material covered with teeny white and yellow flowers, and she also made a matching bonnet, just like a girl from the pioneer and settler days would wear. To finish my costume, we picked out a straw basket to fill with baked goods from that time period.
We found an easy cornbread recipe in a cookbook that claimed to be lightly adapted from the pioneer days, and I followed the recipe the best I could. (I was only eight years old, after all!) When Mom helped me pull the pan out of the oven, we ended up with a very flat, hardly risen cornbread that tasted nearly as dry as cotton balls.
A little disappointed, we reasoned that cornbread from back then was probably used to mop up stew from bowls and meat juices from plates, so perhaps the dryness was actually intentional… But I still cut that pan of cornbread into the smallest squares I possibly could, hoping to mask its dryness from the other parents as I walked around the classroom with my basket of goodies on Open House Night!
Yet as easy as that pioneer cornbread recipe was to follow, I’d much rather bake this simple Healthy One-Bowl Cornbread recipe instead! It’s just as easy to make and yields thick, fluffy, supremely moist squares that aren’t one bit dry, even though it contains no refined flour or sugar. And it’s just 67 calories!
I just might have been the most popular girl in class that night if this was the cornbread in my little straw basket instead! ?
Let’s go over how to make this healthy one-bowl cornbread recipe!
You’ll start with… A large bowl. Probably pretty obvious, right?? 😉 And in that bowl, you’ll whisk together a mere ½ tablespoon of melted butter (or oil!), egg whites, vanilla extract, and salt. Yup, you just need ½ tablespoon of butter! The rest of this healthy one-bowl cornbread’s supremely moist and tender texture comes from another ingredient. But more on that in a minute!
Instead, I want to remind you that the vanilla is actually a key ingredient in this recipe! It isn’t normally included in traditional cornbread recipes, but the vanilla extract actually enhances butter’s rich flavor, so it makes this healthy one-bowl cornbread recipe taste even more indulgent than it actually is. Such a great trick, right?
Now it’s time for that special ingredient that makes this healthy one-bowl cornbread so soft and tender… Greek yogurt! If you’ve browsed through my recipes before, you probably know that it’s one of my favorite ingredients in healthy baking recipes. In this recipe, it adds the same moisture as extra butter or oil but for a fraction of the calories, and it gives your cornbread a protein boost, too!
Next up is a little bit of honey. I only add a small amount because I don’t like my cornbread to taste overly sweet, and I’ve also found that many of my friends and family drizzle their cornbread with honey anyway… So adding more to the batter just seems silly!
Time for another secret ingredient! First was the vanilla extract, then came the Greek yogurt, and now it’s time for… Plain white vinegar. Yes, I know that sounds a little strange, but hear me out! The vinegar reacts with the baking soda (you’ll add that soon!). When those two react, it results lots of air bubbles, which makes your healthy one-bowl cornbread really light and fluffy and tender.
Note: Buttermilk would also achieve this, but since I’ve found many people (myself included!) rarely keep fresh buttermilk in the fridge, I decided to opt with the “homemade” buttermilk substitute of vinegar + milk.
After you’ve stirred in the milk, it’s time to add in the last four ingredients: cornmeal, white whole wheat flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Yes, white whole wheat flour actually exists—and it’s not a combination of white (aka all-purpose) flour and regular whole wheat flour!
White whole wheat flour (like this!) is made by finely grinding a special type of soft white wheat, whereas regular whole wheat flour comes from a heartier variety of red wheat. They both have the same health benefits (like extra fiber!), but white whole wheat flour has a lighter taste and texture, which helps make this healthy one-bowl cornbread taste really light and fluffy!
Nerd Alert! I’m going to get a little bit nerdy on you right now with the cornmeal… And that’s because not all brands of cornmeal measure the same way.
With some brands, ¼ cup of cornmeal weighs 30g, whereas ¼ cup of other brands’ cornmeal can weigh 33g or 40g or even another number. Not exactly helpful… Especially since the brands that weigh more can lead to overly dry and crumbly cornbread.
You need 150g of cornmeal for this recipe. And here’s what you can do to make sure your healthy one-bowl cornbread turns out perfectly, regardless of how much your cornmeal weighs!
Step 1: Divide 150g by the number of grams in ¼ cup of your cornmeal. For example, if your cornmeal is 33g per ¼ cup, divide 150 by 33. That equals 4.545.
Step 2: Divide that number from Step 1 by 4. In our example, that would be 1.136. This is the number of cups of your cornmeal that you need!
Step 3: If your decimal places look a little funky, like in our example, multiply just the decimals by 16. For our example, that’s 2.18, and I would round down to just 2. This is the number of tablespoons, in addition to that 1 cup of cornmeal, that you need!
Whew! You made it through the math! And I have just one more thing for you about the cornmeal and flour…
It’s extremely important to measure both the cornmeal and flour correctly, using this method or a kitchen scale. (← That’s the one I own!) Too much of either ingredient will make your cornbread turn out dry, rather than moist and tender.
Hint: If you have a kitchen scale, you don’t need to do the math to figure out cups + tablespoons. You just need to weigh 150g of your cornmeal!
One last tip! I highly recommend gently sprinkling the baking soda and baking powder over the cornmeal and flour, rather than just dumping them in the middle. Sprinkling them evenly over the cornmeal and flour helps prevent clumps, which ensures that your cornbread rises properly!
So now, all that’s left to do is pour it in your pan, slide that in the oven, set a timer, and…
Enjoy your deliciously moist and fluffy cornbread! And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! 🙂 ) I’d love to see your healthy one-bowl cornbread!
| Healthy One-Bowl Cornbread | | Print |
- ½ tbsp (7g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (see Notes!)
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup (120g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp (30mL) honey (see Notes!)
- 1 ½ tsp distilled white vinegar
- ½ cup (120mL) nonfat milk
- 1 ¼ cups (150g) cornmeal (measured like this — see Notes before beginning!)
- ½ cup (60g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free flour (measured like this)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and coat an 8”-square pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter, egg whites, vanilla, and salt. Add in the Greek yogurt, stirring until no large lumps remain. Stir in the honey and vinegar. Stir in the milk. Pour in the cornmeal and flour. Gently sprinkle the baking powder and baking soda on top of the cornmeal and flour; then gently stir all four ingredients in together until just incorporated.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 350°F for 20-23 minutes or until the edges begin to turn golden and the center feels firm to the touch. Cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes before slicing and serving. (For the best texture, let it cool completely to room temperature.)
It’s very important to measure both the cornmeal and flour correctly, using this method or a kitchen scale. (← That’s the one I have!) Too much of either will dry out your cornbread, instead of yielding the moist and tender texture it should have
Whole wheat pastry flour, regular whole wheat flour, or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the white whole wheat flour.
By sprinkling the baking powder and baking soda over the cornmeal and flour, instead of pouring or dumping them in the middle, it helps prevent clumps and ensures your cornbread rises properly.
Do not omit the vinegar! It reacts with the baking soda to make your cornbread rise and give it a really light and fluffy texture.
Any milk may be substituted for the nonfat milk.
VANILLA EXTRACT NOTE: I know vanilla sounds like a strange ingredient for cornbread, but trust me! Vanilla enhances butter’s flavor, so it makes this cornbread taste just as indulgent as traditional recipes. (I highly recommend using butter instead of coconut oil, for that reason!)
HONEY NOTES: Pure maple syrup or agave may be substituted for the honey. We prefer our cornbread on the not-so-sweet side since we usually serve it with a drizzle of honey (and a small pat of melted butter, if you’re feeling indulgent!). If you like sweeter cornbread, substitute additional honey, pure maple syrup, or agave in place of an equal amount of the milk.
GLUTEN-FREE OPTION: For the gluten-free flour, I recommend as follows: ¼ cup (60g) millet flour, 2 tablespoons (15g) tapioca flour, 2 tablespoons (15g) brown rice flour, and ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum. Most store-bought gluten-free flour blends (like this one!) will work as well, if measured like this.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat, low sugar}
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ The Ultimate Healthy Cornbread Muffins
♡ Healthy Buttermilk Cornbread
♡ Healthy Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread Mini Muffins
♡ The Ultimate Healthy Cornbread
I love your healthy recipes. Many of us are on the new Weight Watchers Freestyle program. It would be very helpful if you could put the number of freestyle points per serving. Thank you.
I’m so glad you’re enjoying my recipes Joan! I’ll look into it and see what I can do. 🙂 In the meantime, I’d love to hear what you think of this cornbread if you decide to try it!
Can’t wait to try this! I want a not too sweet cornbread for my cornbread stuffing and this sounds like it will work perfectly. I need cornbread that is a bit dry (stale), but I think i can achieve that by cutting it into cubes and drying it a bit in the oven.
I’m so excited to hear what you think of this cornbread Maria — and how it works in your stuffing! It’d definitely not overly sweet and should work really well in savory stuffing. I think your idea of cutting it into cubes and drying it out in the oven is perfect! 🙂
This is delicious! I made it in the form of muffins and put some jam in the middle of each, still coming only to about 100 calories each. I used oat milk for the milk.
I’m so glad you enjoyed this cornbread JM! I love your idea of adding jam in the middle — so fun! 🙂
Was wondering about increasing the sweetener. Not sure what you meant by replacing the milk with maple syrup. So would you add 1/2 cup of maple syrup instead of the 1/2Cup milk. Is this correct??
I’m honored by your interest in my recipe, Diana! If you’d like really sweet cornbread, then yes, you can replace all of the milk with maple syrup. However, I have a feeling that would taste more like cake than cornbread… 😉 So if you’d like your cornbread to be just a little sweeter than the original recipe as written, then I’d recommend substituting just a couple of tablespoons of maple syrup for an equal amount of milk. For example, you could use an additional 2 tablespoons of maple syrup (which would bring the total liquid sweetener to ¼ cup between the original 2 tablespoons of honey + 2 tablespoons of maple syrup) AND reduce the milk by 2 tablespoons (so you’d use 6 tablespoons of milk instead of ½ cup). The amount of maple syrup you add is the same amount of milk that you subtract! Does that make more sense? 🙂
I’d love to hear what you think of this cornbread if you try making it!
I love your healthy recipes and appreciate that you include gluten free options. Your notes below the recipe are wonderful. They seem to address any questions that I may have. All of your tips are very informative! Thank you!!
I’m so glad you’re enjoying my recipes and find the tips helpful, Michelle! It truly means a lot that you’d take the time to let me know. 🙂 I hope you enjoyed this cornbread if you tried making it, and I’m really looking forward to hearing which recipes you decide to try in the future too!
Hi Amy, I’ve been lurking around your website for a while and decided to finally try one of your recipes. I made this cornbread last night to serve with black bean soup. The only thing I did differently was use one whole egg instead of two egg whites because I didn’t want the egg yolk to go to waste and have no use for plain egg yolks (we eat mostly whole food, plant based). The cornbread was a hit! Thank you for a wonderful recipe.
Made this yesterday to eat with our traditional New Year’s Black-eyed peas and Greens. I left out the salt and added an additional egg white. WOW… it was really good. Thanks for a keeper recipe
I’m so glad you enjoyed this cornbread, Darleen! Thank you for taking the time to let me know. It truly means a lot! 🙂 Happy New Year to you and your loved ones!
I probably shouldn’t comment because I messed with the recipe to use what I had- but it turned out great and I always love to read what worked. I omitted the vanilla, used 1 whole egg instead of whites, subbed almond flour for the wheat flour and used full fat milk and yogurt. I added frozen corn and diced jalapeños and cooked in a cast iron skillet that was partially pre-heated. 21 minutes was perfect. Thanks for the good bones you provided!
I’m so glad you enjoyed your cornbread, Heather! Thank you for taking the time to share all of your modifications too. I always love hearing what tweaks work out, so I really appreciate you doing that. It means a lot! 🙂
Thank you for this recipe. My husband really enjoyed it. I used oat flour as a gluten free flour.
It was super easy recipe to make and I really apprec the ingredients. They are truly heathy.
I believe I confused this recipe with your The Ultimate heathy cornbread recipe The ingredients are so close as well as the nutrition information. The fat was the biggest difference but by a very small amount: I’m curious which one you recommend.
I’m so glad you and your husband enjoyed this cornbread, Myrna! Thank you for taking the time to let me know. It really means a lot!
It’s true — the recipes are quite similar! It’s really hard for me to pick a favorite. I like both equally well (and it’s kind of like asking someone to pick a favorite child! 😉 ). I think this one-bowl recipe tastes a bit lighter in texture from the vinegar and extra egg white, whereas the ultimate healthy recipe is a bit richer because of the egg yolk, so which one I end up making often comes down to what I’m craving on that particular day. 🙂
Thank you for your explaining the difference in flavor and texture. Next up I will try the ultimate healthy and see which I prefer.
Yay! I’m curious to hear which cornbread you prefer when you get the chance to try the ultimate healthy recipe too, Myrna! 😉