During the summer, one of my most frequent meals is “fresh from the farmers’ market”: fresh peas, some greens, and cornbread. By “peas” I mean one of the many varieties of field peas available here in the South in the spring and summer, such as blackeyed peas, lady cream peas, pink-eye purple hull peas, and lima beans (aka butter beans). It’s Southern cooking like I’ve been eating my whole life, and I think I’ve grown to love it more the older I get.
I’ve written before about my standard technique for cooking field peas. Basically, they’re boiled in what becomes a flavorful broth, what we in the South call “pot likker.” When you serve them, you’d be missing a lot of the flavor of the dish if you used a slotted spoon to put them on the plate dry; instead we dip up plenty of the broth and put it on the plate, too. And when there’s broth, you need something to sop it up, right? That’s where the cornbread comes in. It’s not a side dish but an integral part of the meal!
I’ve tried a lot of cornbread recipes, but this is hands-down my favorite, moist and tender and flavored with little pieces of red and green pepper. You can make it spicy by adding jalapeño pepper or red pepper flakes or keep it mild by leaving them out. If you have it, use the soy yogurt, which gives a great flavor without sweetness, but if soy yogurt is unavailable, apple sauce works well too.
If you have a good, seasoned cast iron skillet, you’ll want to get it out for this cornbread, which really does taste better cooked in cast iron. Oil the skillet lightly and then preheat it along with your oven. As you pour the batter into the hot skillet, a golden crust begins to form immediately. You can get a crust using a regular baking dish, but it won’t be quite as crunchy or golden and it will take a little longer to cook.
Confetti Cornbread
You can turn this into plain old cornbread by leaving out the peppers and corn…but why?
Ingredients
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour (or your favorite gluten-free blend)
- 1 cup yellow corn meal
- 1/8 cup natural sugar
- 1 tablespoon EnerG egg replacer powder
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup low-fat plain soymilk
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 cup plain soy yogurt (may substitute apple sauce)
- 1/2 green bell pepper, diced
- 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 jalapeño pepper, seeds removed and minced OR 1/4-1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (omit for non-spicy cornbread)
- 1/2 C fresh or frozen corn kernels
Instructions
- Spray or wipe a medium-sized cast iron skillet with oil. Place it in the oven and preheat to 400F. (If cast iron is not available, spray a 8×8-inch baking dish with oil, but do not put it in the oven to preheat.)
- In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients well. In a smaller bowl, mix the soymilk, water, and yogurt (or apple sauce). Add wet to the dry and stir gently until evenly distributed, but don’t over-mix. Fold in the diced peppers and corn. Pour into the hot skillet or prepared pan and bake for 15 – 25 minutes. (A preheated skillet will take less time than a glass baking dish.) When a knife blade comes out clean, it’s done. Serve immediately.
Preparation time: 15 minute(s) | Cooking time: 25 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 8
Makes 8 servings, each containing 160 Calories (kcal); 1g Total Fat; (4% calories from fat); 5g Protein; 35g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 270mg Sodium; 4g Fiber
As I write this, I’m sitting in the lobby of the Chicago City Centre hotel, waiting for my room to be ready. I’ll be at the BlogHer conference for the next few days, so if you’re attending, please flag me down and say hi. I’ll be the one lugging around an oversized laptop and a big camera case/backpack. Well, at least I am today. I have a feeling that both of these weights are going to be left in my room, once I can get into it. I’ll try to check in and post a few photos, but I make no promises. I’m here to party!
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I just made this recipe and it turned out so delicious! I recently became a vegetarian and follow a somewhat vegan diet (although I am a huge cheesehead – I'm weening myself haha). I'm so glad I came across your blog – everything looks great!! Thanks so much for sharing =)
I am new to this, so please bare with me. When you say 1 T enerG egg replacer powder, am I suppose to make the powder up to be like an egg, or am I just adding the powder and not mixing it with the water. Thanks, I love your site!
Just mix the powder in with the other dry ingredients–no need to mix it with water first. Hope you enjoy it!
HI Susan,
I have been looking at this recipe for the longest time, agonizing over whether I needed a cast iron skillet, whether I had the peppers, and then how to make it gluten free. The other night I just got past all that and did it!! The results were delicious. I baked it in a corning ware baking dish, and for the wheat flour I substituted 2/3 millet flour and 1/3 cup combination of potato starch and tapioca starch. I didn't have any peppers, so I doubled the amount of corn and roasted it first. . and added some onion flakes. . plus, I used some of my own homemade soy yogurt, from your recipe, which is no quit tangy, since I am using the homemade as the starter. It came out great, truly. I am really excited about this because now there is a relative fuss free fat free gluten version of cornbread I can make for Thanksgiving that also has a wonderful texture. (My son's girlfriend eats gluten free now, too, and both of them are vegetarian/mostly vegan, so this will be fun to offer during their stay. I mean, who doesn't love cornbread, right?!)
I hope you had a lovely restorative time on your vacation.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. One of the things I am thankful for are the wonderful recipes on your blog–thanks so much for sharing them all with us!
xo
moonwatcher
Hello! I browse your blog nearly every day but this is the first time I've commented. I made this corn bread today but non-confetti style, and it was DELICIOUS! I served it with chili, so I didn't want a flavored cornbread, but aside from adding the veggies I followed your recipe and it turned out fantastic. This one's a keeper! I replaced 1/3 of the whole wheat flour with soy flour and it added a nuttiness and some protein. I'm looking forward to trying it with whole corn kernels! Thanks for the recipe
Susan,
Thank you for this wonderful recipe! I used the agave instead of water and a corn salsa (no tomato) that I got at Trader Joes. It was spicy, and delicious!!
Diane
Hello, if I was to make this using eggs rather than egg replacement powder how many would I need?
Thanks!
Susan,
I am 100% sold on the Esselstyn, McDougall, Ornish way of eating, even though I either don’t eat the Ornish recipes that include dairy or, if possible, I alter ingredients. Finding your website was like walking unexpectedly into a surprise birthday party. We’re having Ornish’s black bean soup for dinner with your cornbread recipe. The cornbread is excellent. Keep up the great work and thank you
Jeff
Can’t I use ground flaxseed as the egg substitute in this one? It’s the only option I have…
You can try using 1/4 tsp. more baking powder and 2 tsp. ground flax seeds instead of the Ener-G. Or, if you have it, use 1 tsp. cornstarch, 1 tsp. flax, and 1/4 tsp. baking powder.
Yum, Susan!
I knew I could count on you for a good cornbread recipe. Lucky me with my cast iron skillet: I had all of the ingrediants sans the green/red pepper and whole corn, and took the applesauce and red pepper flakes option. This is best cornbread I have ever successfully made. Now if only I could stop eating it.
Thanks!
Maryam in rural AK
This recipe is soooooo good. I took this cornbread to a “Red Green” party and took second place with it. I think the jalapenos were a surprise to the judges!!!lol Thanks again for such great recipes.
Question: If I chose to use ground flaxmeal as my egg replacer, would that be alright? And if so, would you recommend I just add the meal directly to the dry ingredients, or should I combine it with the water first and add it to the liquid ingredients? Thanks much. I enjoy your blogs and website very much.
I would just add it in with the dry ingredients. Now, I haven’t tried it with flax, so I make no promises, but it should work.
And thanks for your kind words!
Hi, Susan. I made this yesterday, though I didn’t have white wheat flour so I just used all purpose and I did have red and green pepper but was too lazy to chop
Anyway, it was delicious and, once I made the cornbread, I decided I just had to make chili to go with it. Anyway, I know this is your hands-down favorite cornbread recipe (it’s mine, too!) , but would you happen to also have a low-fat dry, crumbly recipe, too? It would be nice to have both. Every other cornbread recipe I looked up had gobs of oil in it.
Hey, Susan. I think I *may* have found a recipe for low-fat crumbly cornbread, so if you don’t have one, that’s okay.
Hope you found one you like, Ivy. I have a corn cakes recipe (corn bread made on stove) that’s crumbly, but then I thought this corn bread was crumbly, so I might not be the best judge!
I adore corn bread, and was excited to try a vegan version. But my attempt turned out like a mushy, dense brick, so I’m wondering what I did! I didn’t have a cast iron skillet, so used a Pyrex baking dish. I can only guess that I needed to bake it longer.
^^I generally have the same problem as Michelle. I wonder if using prune puree would work better than applesauce? I dunno, but it makes me wary of lf baked goods.
I also have a question about Energ Egg replacer. How long can it be stored for. I see it for sale for as little as $4. up to $40 for 16 oz. packages. What could be the difference.
It keeps practically forever if you keep it dry. It’s basically just thickeners (potato starch) and leaveners (baking powder).
I am hosting a Forks Over Knives house party for about 16 people, and I was wondering if this recipe keeps or freezes well. I would like to make a few batches in advance and then reheat if you think it would still be good?
I can’t think of any reason why it wouldn’t freeze well. It should keep in the refrigerator for about 5 days. I know from experience it tastes best when made fresh, but a few days shouldn’t hurt it. Good luck!
Hi Susan! This may sound ridiculous, but I just realized that your egg replacer is probably not the same as using egg beaters/liquid egg substitute. I’m not completely vegan and that’s what I use. Do you know how I would substitute that in for your egg replacer powder in your recipes, or even specifically this one? Thank you so much!
Michelle, I think you would eliminate the 1/4 cup water and the egg replacer powder and use 1/4 cup egg beaters instead. I haven’t tried that, of course, so I can’t promise how well it will turn out.
Can’t wait to try this! I love new corn bread recipes! Thank you for all of your great ideas!
This bread is absolutely delicious! It will definitely be a staple in my household.
I made this today, and it was great comfort food. Thanks for another easy and tasty recipe!
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