I’ve always had a thing for cornbread, but lately I’ve been thinking about it like crazy. So the other night when I made us some Sweet Potato & Lentil Chili (recipe coming later this week), cornbread immediately popped into my brain. But, of course, we didn’t have any butter so I figured my craving would just have to wait for another day, and I continued with whatever I was doing while I waited for the chili to finish.
Minutes when by and I was still thinking about the cornbread and how I could manage to make some without actually using butter. I knew there had to be a way, so I started brainstorming and decided to use olive oil. It’s the perfect “fat” for savory cooking and since I didn’t want the cornbread to actually taste sweet, I decided to just go for it.
The cornbread was literally in the oven 10 minutes later. It was that simple. In fact, I think I might prefer using olive oil to butter because the only kitchen tools I needed were a whisk and a bowl (instead of an electric mixer). So much easier to clean up. I didn’t even bother greasing the pan, and it turns out that creates and even better and crunchier crust.
So next time you’re in the mood for some cornbread, you have to make this olive oil cornbread. I mean, how can you resist something that only uses one bowl?
Also, this makes a delicious breakfast…
Prep Time:
Yield:
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PinIngredients
- 1 1/2 cups cornmeal
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups almond milk
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large egg
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375˚F (190˚C).
- In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
- Whisk in the milk, olive oil and eggs until smooth.
- Pour batter into a 8-inch square baking pan.
- Bake for 30 – 35 minutes (or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean).
- Allow cornbread to cool for 5 – 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Nutrition
- Calories: 0
- Sugar: 0 g
- Sodium: 0 mg
- Fat: 0 g
- Saturated Fat: 0 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 0 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 0 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Recipe adapted from Mark Bittman.
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I am so into cornbread right now! Olive oil and cornmeal are perfect for each other. This would be great both with a little jam, or served alongside chili–love the versatility! 🙂
Oh yeah, bring it on! This cornbread looks so, SO good. I bet it tastes especially good with a bowl of chili 🙂
This cornbread looks delicious – love the olive oil in there! I’ve been wanting to make cornbread for a while, and this gorgeous recipe is making me want it even more! Pinned.
Mmm…Cornbread and chili are a match made in heaven! Glad you found a way to have some with your chili after all. Such a great idea to use olive oil.
I really wanted cornbread but didn’t have any butter in the fridge, so I looked for a recipe that used olive oil and this one came up. It worked just fine. It’s true that it wasn’t necessary to grease the pan (I was skeptical, but it didn’t stick a bit!) . I do think it’s funny that the recipe title is “SWEET olive oil cornbread” but then when you explain the use of olive oil you say “and since I didn’t want the cornbread to actually taste sweet…” Hmmm… Anyway, I think the title “Olive oil cornbread” is more accurate. The cornbread is a bit more dense than my regular butter-based skillet recipe, but it was very good. So, a nice and simple recipe. And if there are any others out there who do not have a problem with dairy (remember I just happened to be out of butter today), I didn’t have almond milk on hand, so I used regular milk but on a hunch added 1/8 tsp almond extract and it worked really well.
★★★★
So, the really only added the “sweet” to the title because there is a heated debate in the world of cornbread about whether or not cornbread should contain sugar. Since my recipe uses sugar, it’s “technically” considered a sweet cornbread, even if I don’t like it that sweet. Does that makes sense?
I’m glad it worked out with regular milk! It always nice to know for readers who aren’t avoiding dairy. Thanks so much for the review!
Growing up in a Sicilian home, my family mostly maintained a more Mediterranean type diet. We only used butter for baking cookies, a few types of cake and besciamella sauce. Mostly we had Olive Oil cake, sometimes orange, lemon, and even chocolate. While corn bread is not on my list of favorite things to eat, this recipe caught my eye. My son asked if I could make corn bread because he gets it when he goes to KFC. Blech!
Anyway, I searched and searched, then I found your recipe. I always have almond milk in the house, and 3 types of good olive oil, which one is specifically for baking.
I did not deviate from your ingredients, but added some black olives, roasted red pepper, rosemary, cracked black pepper and to balance the saltiness of the olives, I uses unsweetened vanilla almond milk.
My son said” it’s really delicious mama, but I thought I asked for corn bread, not baked polenta. Lol Next time I will shake off the Italian for just an hour, and make your recipe without adding any extras. Ricetta fantastica. Grazie!
★★★★★