Ready in under 15 minutes, these vegan cornbread muffins are a perfect side to chili, kidney beans or pinto beans. An air fryer version of Southern comfort food.
🧄 Ingredient notes
For these air fryer vegan cornbread muffins, you'll need:
- all purpose flour (or whole wheat flour)
- yellow corn meal
- sugar (or coconut sugar, maple syrup)
- baking powder
- unsweetened almond milk
- applesauce (or oil)
🔪 Instructions
Making the batter
In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients.
Add the milk and applesauce (or oil) to the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
Pour batter in silicone muffin cups
Fill silicone muffin cups ⅔ full and then carefully place them in the air fryer one at a time.
How many muffin cups will fit will depend on how big your air fryer is.
If you stuff them in, they will be shaped funny, like you see below with some of the muffins.
The next batch I made, I only put 10 muffin tins in and the muffins were shaped normal.
There's one missing because I had to taste test it immediately, of course.
Bake in air fryer
Bake at 400 degrees F for 9-11 minutes.
Once your first batch is done, remove the cornbread muffins from air fryer with tongs or oven mitts, remove muffins from liners and cool on wire rack.
Then, repeat, baking your second batch.
💭 Tips
The best muffin cups for the air fryer
To make these in the air fryer, you can't use a traditional muffin tray (it's too big) or paper muffin cups (they're too flimsy).
You'll need to use a muffin cup that has strength to stand up on its own with batter in it.
These silicone muffin cups on Amazon work great! And, they're non-stick, so you don't need to add oil.
Another option: If you have a small pan that will fit in your air fryer, then you can bake straight in that!
If it is not non-stick, be sure to line with parchment paper or spray with oil to prevent sticking, if using a pan. Here are some silicone mini loaf pans on Amazon that would work.
Tip: Make sure the pan fits before you pour the batter in.
👨👩👦👦 Serving suggestions
These vegan cornbread muffins would be delicious served with:
- Lazy Vegan Chili made with pantry staples
- Vegan Spicy Charro Beans
- Instant Pot Red Kidney Beans and Rice
- Texas 3-Bean Vegan Chili
- Instant Pot Pigeon Peas (no soak)
Love this recipe? Please rate it 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below in the recipe card. And, if you make it, please tag me on Instagram or Facebook in your posted photos! I would love to see your creations. 😄
📖 Recipe
Air Fryer Vegan Cornbread
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup yellow corn meal
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar or coconut sugar, maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 ¼ cup almond milk unsweetened, plain
- ⅓ cup applesauce or vegetable oil
- ⅓ cup frozen corn kernels optional
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, mix all dry ingredients together.
- Add almond milk, applesauce (or oil) and frozen corn kernels to dry ingredients and mix together with a spoon until combined.
- Fill individual silicone muffin cups ⅔ full, then place in air fryer basket carefully, one at a time.
- Bake muffins in air fryer at 400°F for 9-11 minutes.
- Repeat with second batch, as necessary, until all batter is gone.
Elise says
This recipe was bomb!! I’ll definitely make this again. Thank you <3
Abi Cowell says
Hi Elise,
So sorry for the delay in getting back to you! Yay! I'm so glad you like them!!!!
- Abi
Elise Davis says
Nancy L Gilmore says
Can you freeze these? Thanks in advance!
Abi Cowell says
Hello! We don't normally have any extra to freeze, so I haven't tried! I imagine you could, though. May be a good idea to reduce the cooking time a minute or two, so they don't dry out too much when you reheat them. I hope that helps!
Rosali says
We put the extra in the fridge overnight. They came out rock solid in the in the morning, but putting them in the microwave for 45 seconds did the trick. They came out wonderful and fluffy, same as the night before.
cindy says
nutritional information?
Abi Cowell says
So sorry, I thought I had added it to the recipe card! I have added it now: https://veryveganish.com/air-fryer-vegan-cornbread/#recipe
Thank you for bringing that to my attention.
Rosali says
These came out really well!
To make it gluten free:
I subbed the all purpose flour for a mix of store bought gluten free baking blends. (Bob's red mill and king arthur)
To make it sugar free:
I subbed the sugar for granulated monk fruit
To make it oil free:
I used the recommended apple sauce
For the corn:
I used canned instead, because I didn't have frozen
My family has a lot of dietary restrictions. . .
Im so glad that this worked out for all of us!