This Moist Whole Wheat Cornbread was inspired by my love of cornbread growing up, my desire to cut down on eating sugar, and Snoop Dogg’s cookbook From Crook to Cook. He had a corn muffin recipe that used sour cream and I realized that I should be using yogurt in the cornbread recipe like I do with certain muffin recipes to keep it moist without tons of oil. It’s a fun cookbook to go through. That Dogg sure can cook!
How to make healthier cornbread
Healthy cornbread is not a myth. The key to this recipe is three-fold: 1) Greek yogurt, which adds protein to help keep you full and probiotics to help your gut; 2) whole wheat flour for added fiber, vitamins and minerals; and 3) lower amount of sugar.
Now, this is not the kind of sweet cornbread recipe that you would get in a bakery that tastes almost like a cornbread cake. This is mildly sweetened with palm sugar so you don’t have a glucose spike right after eating it. Thus, you can eat it at breakfast with a tiny bit of maple syrup or honey or paired with fresh fruit. It also goes great with the typical barbecue fare.
If you are trying to cut down your sugar intake, you might find that this cornbread recipe is not quite sweet enough for you. You can go up to ¼ cup of palm sugar to start and then lower it to 1/8 cup. It will take your taste buds a few weeks to get used to eating less sugar, so keep working on it!
Other benefits of making cornbread from scratch
Making cornbread from scratch is one of the easiest baked goods you can make. There are tons of cornbread baking mixes out there, and I’ve used them when I didn’t have a cornbread recipe to follow or thought that I couldn’t justify buying cornmeal to keep in my pantry. Bob’s Red Mill is a great brand for all types of flour and their cornmeal is no exception!
If you want to make cornbread more often, making it from scratch can also save you money and help you control how much sugar and what kind of sugar goes into it. Thus, homemade cornbread is great for diabetics that need to monitor their sugar intake.
You can easily make cornmeal muffins instead of cornbread by using a muffin tin. This recipe makes 12 cornbread muffins that bake up in 17 to 20 minutes.
Cornmeal Health Benefits
Cornmeal is a good source of fiber, Vitamin B6, and folate (Vitamin B9). In addition, it has a lot of selenium which promotes good heart health and can lower the risk of heart disease. On the flip side, cornmeal is high in carbohydrates. This is a great source of energy for most people, but those with diabetes need to limit their cornmeal intake. Thus, those concerned about diabetes should save their cornbread eating for holidays or special occasions where you will have lots of vegetables and protein to pair with your cornbread.
Baking can be easy with the right recipes. Take a look at these other approachable baking recipes for more inspiration.
Moist Whole Wheat Cornbread
Equipment
- 1 9" x 9" baking dish or muffin pan
- 1 Large bowl
- 1 medium bowl
- measuring cups and spoons
- 1 whisk or spoon
- 1 spatula or spoon
Ingredients
- olive oil spray or canola oil spray
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- ¾ cup cornmeal
- ⅛ cup palm sugar or coconut palm sugar
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 large eggs or egg replacement
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ½ cup milk
- ⅔ cup Greek yogurt or plain yogurt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray baking pan or muffin pan with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, mix the whole wheat flour, cornmeal, palm sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until well combined.
- In a medium bowl, mix the eggs, olive oil, milk, and Greek yogurt until well combined.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix just until the dry ingredients are moist. (Overmixing will result in dense, hard cornbread.) Pour batter into the prepared baking pan or muffin pan.
- For cornbread: bake for 28 to 32 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool on a baking rack for 15 minutes before cutting and serving.
- For muffins: bake for 17 to 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes on a baking rack. Remove muffins from the pan and cool on the baking rack for another 10 minutes before serving.
