Golden Sweet Potato Cornbread is easy to make, vegan friendly, and perfect for your next bowl of chili! This healthy cornbread also features whole grains, but comes out so moist and fluffy, no one will ever know!
How to make healthy cornbread
Is cornbread healthy? Well, your typical average cornbread isn't super healthy. Delicious, yes. But healthy, no. It usually starts out with cornmeal and flour - both refined grain products, and snowballs from there, with lots of sugar, butter or oil, and the like.
So I decided to bump up the nutrition with both whole grain cornmeal, and whole wheat flour in this sweet potato cornbread recipe. Take a look at your cornmeal and make sure it's not degerminated. Degerminated cornmeal is refined cornmeal. You may also see it labeled as "enriched," which is another clue that it is not whole grain. Look specifically for whole grain cornmeal.
Bob's Red Mill has one, but there are others, too.
The next thing I did was remove the sugar, butter/oil, and eggs, and used mashed sweet potato. The sweet potato adds sweetness and tons of moisture, while holding the whole thing together. Like killing THREE birds with one stone! Sugar free cornbread that's not bland? Bring it on!
The sweet potato also adds a bunch of fiber, and vitamin A, along with delicious Fall flavors! A little added cinnamon makes for a perfect heart healthy cornbread recipe!
FAQs and Substitutions
Don't go any coarser than medium grind, or your cornbread will end up too gritty and may not hold together. Most people will probably enjoy sweet potato cornbread made with finely ground cornmeal best, but medium grind will also work well (and is what I used in the photos).
I really don't recommend a substitute for that, since it's a main ingredient. If you really wanted to, I think you could use applesauce instead. Technically, you could use another mashed veggie, like carrots, butternut squash, or pumpkin, but those are not quite as sweet, so you might want to add some sweetener to your batter.
My goal was to make a lightly sweet, sugar free cornbread. But if you have your added sugar intake under control, and really like a sweeter cornbread, you can add about ¼ - ½ cup sugar to this recipe. I don't recommend using honey or maple syrup in the batter, since it's already pretty moist - you might end up with a cornbread that more on the cakey side.
If you try my Sweet Potato Cornbread, let me know in the comments!
Looking for a healthy soup recipe to pair with this? Consider one of these:
- Low Sodium Mushroom Chili
- Lentil Soup with Spinach
- Healthy Mushroom Soup
- Easy 3 Bean Soup
- Creamy Mushroom, Kale, and Wild Rice Soup
- Green Tomato Soup!
📖 Recipe
Sweet Potato Cornbread
Ingredients
- 1 cup Whole Grain Cornmeal
- 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
- 2 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 1 cup Mashed Sweet Potato
- 1 cup Unsweetened Soy Milk
Instructions
- Cook and mash the sweet potato, if you have not already done so.
- Preheat oven to 425° F.
- Lightly spray an 8x8 baking pan with cooking spray (or oil).
- Whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
- Using a blender, blend the sweet potato and milk until very smooth. Without a blender, you could use a whisk, and vigorously beat the mixture until smooth.
- Pour the sweet potato mixture into the dry ingredients, and mix until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Bake 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Allow to cool about 10 minutes in the pan, before removing to a cooling rack. Slice when completely cooled.
Nutrition
*Nutrition information is an estimate, and will change based on the brand and individual ingredients and amounts you use. This is provided for your convenience only.
nellbergmann says
Hi Laura,
Made your Sweet Potato Cornbread. It came out really well.
However, the next day it was dry but the "good news" is that I placed it in the micro-wave for about 12 seconds and it came out as moist as when it came out of the oven.
Have a wonderful and Merry Christmas.
. Nilda
Laura Yautz says
Thanks so much Nilda! Glad you liked the cornbread, and a quick zap in the microwave sounds like a great fix to add moisture. Appreciate you coming back to review!