Vegan Pumpkin Skillet Cornbread
4.75 from 4 votes

This #vegan and #glutenfree pumpkin skillet cornbread is the perfect recipe for #pumpkinseason! Traditional cornbread gets a sweet and seasonal twist with the addition of pumpkin puree. This cornbread is perfect for breakfast, an afternoon snack, or as an accompaniment to your favorite fall soups and stews.

This vegan pumpkin skillet cornbread is moist and slightly sweet. It’s also gluten-free! A perfect side dish for your holiday table.

Vegan pumpkin skillet cornbread, cut into squares and ready to be eaten.

This vegan pumpkin skillet cornbread is a wonderful way to celebrate the official arrival of pumpkin season!

Like many bakers, I spend most of August waiting for the moment when it will be seasonally appropriate to start putting pumpkin in anything and everything. Today, the first day of October, feels more than timely. Let the orange-hued treats commence.

This is the perfect side dish for chili, soup, or stew. While you won’t exactly taste pumpkin in the bread, you will see a lovely, golden hue when the skillet comes out of the oven. And you may taste more sweetness than is present in my regular whole grain cornbread.

A skillet holding freshly baked, vegan pumpkin cornbread.

Pumpkin + cornbread: a perfect pairing

Yes, it’s my instinct to put pumpkin in everything at this time of year. But pumpkin happens to be an especially good addition to cornbread!

This vegan pumpkin skillet cornbread feels like a cross between savory cornbread (no sugar added) and something a little sweeter. It’s a far cry from classic pumpkin bread, but it’s still a great celebration of the versatility of pumpkin. Pumpkin also allows helps to keep the bread light. It helps the cornbread to stay moist and tender without the addition of much oil.

What type of cornmeal should I use?

This is a great question. There are many types of cornmeal on store shelves, and they do create different textures in bread. They also soak up liquid differently, which can impact the texture of your cornbread.

I use medium or finely ground cornmeal or corn flour for cornbread. This creates a light texture and a nice crumb. It prevents the bread from becoming gritty, which has been the pitfall when I use coarsely ground cornmeal.

Why gluten-free?

I’m not gluten-free myself, and I typically bake with wheat flour when I bake. Even so, I find myself making more gluten-free baked goods than usual during the holiday season. My go-to gingerbread cake happens to be both vegan and gluten-free. And my favorite espresso brownies, which I love to make in the wintertime, are also gluten-free.

As someone who eats a little differently than most of my family and friends, I can relate to eaters who have selective diets. Even if those diets look different from mine. I like being able to accommodate food allergies when I can. And the holidays are a perfect time of year to create food that everyone can enjoy and share together.

Vegan pumpkin skillet cornbread, cut into squares and ready to be eaten.
4.75 from 4 votes

Vegan, Gluten Free Pumpkin Skillet Cornbread (gluten free, soy free)

Author - Gena Hamshaw
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Yields: 10 slices

Ingredients

Dry ingredients:

  • 1 3/4 cup medium or finely ground cornmeal
  • 1 1/2 cups gluten free, all-purpose flour (or unbleached, all-purpose flour)
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Wet ingredients:

  • 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
  • 1 1/2 cups non-dairy milk of choice
  • 1/3 cup maple syrup
  • 1/3 cup neutral vegetable oil, such as refined avocado or grapeseed
  • 1 cup unsweetened pumpkin puree

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 350F. Lightly oil a 12-inch, cast iron skillet and dust it with cornmeal. If you don't have a cast iron skillet, you can use a 10" square baking pan instead.
  • Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
  • Pour the almond milk into a medium sized mixing bowl and add the vinegar. Whisk vigorously, until the milk is frothy. Add the maple syrup, oil, and pumpkin puree. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, until everything is well mixed, but don't over-stir (a few clumps are fine).
  • Pour the batter into the skillet. Place the skillet in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the cornbread has set and a toothpick inserted into the center of the skillet comes out clean (if you use a square baking pan, the cooking time may be a bit longer). Cut into 10 wedges, and serve. Leftover bread will keep in a sealed bag or container in the fridge for up to four days, and it can be frozen for up to a month.

Serving pumpkin skillet cornbread

I can’t resist a pat of butter on cornbread. This pumpkin version is no exception to the rule, and most often I top it with a little vegan butter and nothing else. I’ve learned, though that a layer of jam is also nice. And pumpkin butter is of course a totally appropriate—and consistent—topping, too.

You can make this cornbread a part of any upcoming holiday feast by serving it at the table, along with other side dishes. You can use it as a base for my simple cornbread sage stuffing. It’s a perfect accompaniment to autumn soups, like my curried red lentil apple soup, potato corn chowder, cauliflower corn chowder, or sweet potato red pepper soup.

And of course, nothing beats the combination of cornbread and chili. I often make this vegan pumpkin skillet cornbread when I prepare my favorite chick’n bean chili or slow cooker two lentil chili. It instantly turns both of them into a complete meal.

Can vegan pumpkin cornbread be frozen?

It can! I recommend freezing any cornbread you don’t intend to eat within two or three days. It stays fresh that way, whereas it’ll dry out in the fridge. The rest should be stored in an airtight container at room temperature.

A skillet full of warm cornbread. The cornbread has been cut into squares, ready for eating.

This sweet smelling, delightful bread is going to be a regular in my home all through the fall and winter. I hope it might end up on your table soon, too.

If you make it, I’d love to hear what you think! Enjoy the end of your week.

xo

This moist, hearty pumpkin skillet cornbread is the perfect side dish for holidays--or anytime! Vegan, gluten free, and easy to make. | The Full Helping

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Categories: Recipes, Side Dishes, Quickbreads
Method: Oven
Dietary Preferences: Gluten Free, Soy Free, Tree Nut Free, Vegan
Recipe Features: Holidays

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    34 Comments
  1. I had friends over today and made this to accompany a veggie chili. People couldn’t stop raving about the cornbread! Such a winner 🙂 Thank you!!

    P.S. I recently found out I have a gluten intolerance, so I’m definitely keeping this one in my recipe arsenal 🙂

  2. 5 stars
    Just made this and its delicious! My husband and I love cornbread, but had not had any success finding a vegan one we loved. This changed that! I used whole wheat pastry flour in place of gluten-free because that is what I keep at home and it worked out great. Thanks for the recipe!

  3. Hi Gena,

    Thank you so much for the recipe!

    The only substitution I made was to use barley flour in place of gluten free flour blend.

    I also didn’t have an oven safe skillet so I used a loaf pan instead. I baked it for 1 hour. The loaf rose so high! I think would get 12-14 slices for the whole loaf.

    Next time, I would add more cinnamon because the flavor was very faint. but the texture was very light.

    Thank you!

      • Thanks, Gena!

        My family had some of the corn bread today and we all agreed it was more amazing today!! Its like all the flavors melded together and you could really taste the pumpkin and corn with the hint of cinnamon.

        Everyone loved it either plain or with a pat of vegan butter and mulberry jam.

        Thank you!

  4. I made this recipe last night and it turned out so well! I used sweet potato puree in stead of pumpkin and used all-purpose wheat flour and a bit of oat flour in stead of gf flour. Also, I ran out of maple syrup after a few tablespoons, so I added a couple tablespoons of cane sugar and applesauce. I was so pleased that even with all my substitutions, the bread turned out really well! Thanks for a great recipe, Gena!

  5. This looks so delicious! Your recipes have been so amazing lately 😀 I know my whole family will love this one!

  6. If I didn’t need to use GF flour, would I cut back on the APF or just use the same amount?

  7. I have to tell you this was AMAZING. I made it tonight in advance of tomorrow’s sweet potato turkey chili and am embarrassed about how much I ate when it was hot out the oven. So so yummy. Can’t wait to eat it with dinner tomorrow!

    • Hooray! So glad that it turned out so well. My boyfriend and I polished it off ridiculously fast, so there’s nothing to be embarrassed of 😉

  8. looks good!

    Side note: when I view your blog on my iPad I can’t pin your recipes- there’s no Pinterest button for them ( I do see buttons for sharing on Twitter, Facebook, etc) Just FYI sometimes I lose track of your recipes I would have pinned/made because of this

    • Aw, thanks for the head’s up, Amy. I appreciate it. From what I understand, there is no button to pin images on smartphones, but I didn’t realize that for iPad. I’ll investigate and see what I can do!

  9. OMG! This recipe just produced the most tender cornbread I’ve ever made! Thanks!

  10. I made a version of this tonight to go with a pot of veg chili. It was scrumptious! Here are the modifications I made. Swapped gluten free flour for white whole wheat. Subbed applesauce for oil. Reduced maple syrup to 1/4 cup. Added a couple tablespoons tahini. (I find it helps the texture of oil-free baked goods.)

    And, my iron skillet was a 10 inch so it took 40 minutes to bake. I also oiled the skillet and preheated it in the oven while I made the batter. That’s the southern way!

  11. Gah! I love pumpkin cornbread but haven’t had it since going gluten-free. Can’t wait to try this version. Hope you are well, Gena!

  12. Thanks so much for this! My former favorite pumpkin cornbread recipe no longer works for me because of several of the ingredients, so I’ve been looking for a new one. I’ll definitely give this a try! By the way, I made the soba noodle salad last night, substituting rice noodles (I have celiac), and it was delicious!

    • Hi Beth! I’m delighted to hear that you had success with the soba salad, and even more so that this cornbread recipe will work for your health needs. I hope it’s a success!

  13. Awesome. Sent to my baker friend to make. Thank you for sharing this wonderful treat. Love that it’s Gluten Free.

  14. This looks fabulous Gena! I will definitely try a version of this during the season–and probably end up making it more than once. We always like a cornbread as part of our Thanksgiving line up–this might be just the ticket. My daughter-in-law has a LOT of beautiful winter squash ripening in her garden here in Portland and I’m betting some of that cooked up would be good in place of the pumpkin. I just love this sentence, too: “Let orange-hued baking and beta-carotene in everything commence!”–INDEED. 🙂 xo

  15. OMG! This is my dream recipe! Two things I love so much cornbread and pumpkin:) I’m going to make it this weekend! Now the question is what to pair it with… I’ve been craving pho but something tells me that’s not the best fit LOL. Thanks for sharing this master piece!