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A healthier version of a Southern favorite! This Low Calorie Cornbread is buttery, perfectly sweetened and a great low fat and low sugar alternative to classic cornbread. Serve with soup or chili for a hearty and satisfying lunch or dinner.
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Check out my recipes for Low Calorie Banana Bread and Low Calorie Biscuits for more bread recipes.
This recipe for low calorie cornbread is everything we love about classic cornbread with a lot fewer calories! This recipe lightens up traditional cornbread recipes with cornmeal, cream-style corn, fat-free sour cream and reduced-fat cheese while being just as moist, crumbly and delicious.
This sweet and soft cornbread pairs perfectly with so many dishes. Imagine my all-time favorite cold-weather meal - a bowl of slow-cooked chili served with a square or two of low calorie cornbread. YUM!
Cornbread is also delicious topped with butter, honey or jam! With this quick homemade cornbread recipe, you'll never want to reach for a boxed mix again. The batter comes together in a cinch and bakes in under 30 minutes. If you like a bit of spice, feel free to heat things with jalapeños - this recipe is super versatile! You can also serve this healthy cornbread with something sweet like butter, honey or jam. Enjoy!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Quick and easy. Step-by-step instructions will show you how to prepare freshly baked cornbread to serve as an appetizer, side dish or snack.
- It is made with low fat and low sugar ingredients, making it much lower in calories than traditional cornbread.
- It's delicious, and it goes great with a variety of savory dishes as well as sweet spreads and toppings.
- Gluten-free! There's no flour in this low-calorie cornbread.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Yellow Cornmeal: A coarse flour made from ground dried corn that gives cornbread its gritty-crumbly texture. It's inherently gluten-free and does not expand. It helps make moist, dense baked goods.
- Baking Powder: Acts as a leavening agent to help the cornbread rise and gain volume.
- Salt: Strengthens the batter and helps achieve a moist, crumbly texture. It also highlights the sweet and buttery flavors.
- Granulated Sugar: Makes the cornbread perfectly sweet and helps keep it moist and tender.
- Cream-Style Corn (no salt added): This gives the cornbread a soft, creamy texture with tasty pieces of sweet corn in each bite. Del Monte and Great Value are good options for canned no-salt-added cream-style corn. Always double-check your labels, but canned cream-style corn should also be gluten-free.
- Fat-Free Sour Cream: Makes this cornbread extra rich and moist. You can use fat-free sour cream to keep things low fat; otherwise, full-fat sour cream and Greek yogurt work here.
- Reduced-Fat Shredded Cheddar Cheese: Loads this cornbread up with irresistible cheesy flavor while keeping this recipe low fat and low calorie. You can use mild cheddar, sharp cheddar, Mexican-blend or Colby jack here.
- Butter (melted): Helps make cornbread with fluffy centers and firm, golden brown surfaces.
- Egg & Egg Whites: Act as a binder to hold the batter together. Using a combination of whole egg and egg whites makes a soft and airy textured cornbread.
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1: Preheat oven and prepare baking dish.
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F and spray a 9"x9" baking dish with cooking spray. Set the baking dish aside.
Step 2: Combine dry ingredients.
In a medium mixing bowl, mix the cornmeal, baking powder, salt and sugar together until combined.
Step 3: Mix wet ingredients.
In a large mixing bowl, mix the cream-syle corn, sour cream, cheese, butter, egg and egg whites with a heavy wooden spoon.
Step 4: Stir dry and wet ingredients together.
Stir the dry cornmeal mixture into the wet ingredients until just combined. Do not overmix the batter.
Step 5: Bake.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean with a few crumbly bits.
Step 6. Cool and serve.
Let cool for 10 to 15 minutes before slicing into squares. Enjoy!
NOTE: You can print the FULL recipe with all ingredients & detailed instructions below!
Expert Tips
- Overmixed cornbread batter can result in a dry, chewy texture. As soon the batter is combined, leave it be.
- For some added texture, fold ¼ cup whole corn kernels into the batter.
- Be careful not to over-bake the cornbread. When it's ready, it should be firm and golden brown on top.
- The cornbread will continue to firm up while it cools. Let it rest for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Let it cool completely before slicing.
What Goes Well With Cornbread?
I love serving this cornbread with chili, soups, beans, veggies and BBQ dishes. The recipes listed below pair perfectly with this low calorie cornbread:
- Slow Cooker Chili
- Instant Pot 15 Bean & Ham Soup
- Instant Pot Ham & Bean Soup
- Slow Cooker Chicken Stew
- Slow Cooker Beef Stew
Another yummy option is using cornbread squares as buns for cheeseburger sliders and bbq chicken sliders. Cornbread is also delicious with sweet spreads like butter, honey, jam, preserves and marmalade.
Variations
- Make cornbread muffins: To bake into muffins, pour the mixture into a greased muffin tin and bake at 425 degrees F for 15 to 17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with just a few crumbs attached.
- Refined sugar-free cornbread: Instead of granulated sugar, you can use an unprocessed, natural sweetener like honey or maple syrup. A reader mentioned using agave syrup instead of sugar with excellent results.
- Mix-in jalapenos: Stir chopped jalapenos into the batter for some heat. You can use fresh or pickled jalapenos here. Fresh jalapenos are hotter (especially if you leave in the seeds) and pickled ones are more hot and tangy.
Add spices & seasonings: Add a pink of cayenne or chili powder for a bit of kick. For a deep, savory flavor, add freshly chopped thyme or rosemary leaves to the batter.
Storing & Freezing
- Countertop Storage: Cornbread will always be best enjoyed the same day. However, it can be stored on the counter wrapped in aluminum for 1 to 2 days. The aluminum foil helps keep the cornbread from drying out.
- Refrigerator Storage: You can also store cornbread in the refrigerator. Let the corn bread cool completely and then wrap the whole loaf or individual slices in plastic wrap and keep it in the fridge for up to a week. To reheat, remove the plastic wrapping and place the loaf in a 350 degree F preheated oven for about 10 minutes.
- Freezer Storage: Once the cornbread is thoroughly cooled, store it in freezer-safe bags, squeezing out as much air as you can before sealing the bag. Cornbread will last in the freezer for 2 to 3 months.
- To Reheat, place frozen cornbread in the refrigerator overnight to thaw or leave it out on the counter for a few hours. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes to warm it back up.
Recipe FAQ‘s
This recipe yields 12 squares of cornbread. Each of those squares is about 108 calories, roughly 100 calories less than traditional cornbread recipes made with flour.
No. There are about 30 grams of carbs per ¼ cup of cornmeal. However, corn and cornmeal are fiber-packed complex carbs that are filling, satisfying, and essential parts of a balanced diet.
Canned corn is just precooked corn. Cream-syle corn takes processing corn kernels a bit further, and cans the kernels and the moisture scraped from the cob, known as "the milk." Canned cream-syle corn is stabilized with sugar, salt and cornstarch to enhance flavor and help thicken.
More Low Calorie Baked Goods
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Low Calorie Corn Bread
Ingredients
- ¾ cup + 3 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 4 tablespoons melted butter
- ¾ cup fat free sour cream
- 1 cup no salt added cream-style corn
- ½ cup reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 large egg
- 2 large egg whites
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425°F and spray a 9"x9" baking dish with cooking spray. Set the baking dish aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, mix the cornmeal, baking powder, salt and sugar together until combined.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix the cream-syle corn, sour cream, cheese, butter, egg and egg whites with a heavy wooden spoon.
- Stir the dry cornmeal mixture into the wet ingredients until just combined. Do not overmix the batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean with a few crumbly bits.
- Let cool for 10 to 15 minutes before slicing into squares. Enjoy!
Notes
- Overmixed cornbread batter can result in a dry, chewy texture. As soon the batter is combined, leave it be.
- For some added texture, fold ¼ cup whole corn kernels into the batter.
- Be careful not to over-bake the cornbread. When it’s ready, it should be firm and golden brown on top.
- The cornbread will continue to firm up while it cools. Let it rest for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Let it cool completely before slicing.
- Countertop Storage: Cornbread will always be best enjoyed the same day. However, it can be stored on the counter wrapped in aluminum for 1 to 2 days. The aluminum foil helps keep the cornbread from drying out.
- Refrigerator Storage: You can also store cornbread in the refrigerator. Let the corn bread cool completely and then wrap the whole loaf or individual slices in plastic wrap and keep it in the fridge for up to a week. To reheat, remove the plastic wrapping and place the loaf in a 350 degreee F preheated oven for about 10 minutes.
- Freezer Storage: Once the cornbread is thoroughly cooled, store it in freezer-safe bags, squeezing out as much air as you can before sealing the bag. Cornbread will last in the freezer for 2 to 3 months.
- To reheat, place frozen cornbread in the refrigerator overnight to thaw or leave it out on the counter for a few hours. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes to warm it back up.
Nutrition
All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Angela
Great recipe! I love the cream corn in it.
Katie
My mouth is watering at the idea of this. Can't wait to try it!
Tammy
Ahh yes totally agree! Cornbread with chili or soup is the ultimate comfort! Love this lightened up variation....looks so delicious!
Kathryn Donangelo
Made this as a side with our veggie soup and it was soooo good! You can't even tell it's low-cal which is amazing, thank you!
Lisa Huff
Love that you put sour cream in your corn bread! Will have to give it a try!
Terri Hartman
Very unusual cornbread recipe that has no flour in it! But it was deliciously different—more moist than others I’ve tried. We added a chopped and seeded jalapeño that gave it a little kick. We also used agave syrup instead of sugar. And we like our cornbread a little thicker so we used an 11x7 glass pan. It got all crusty on the sides and bottom. Really good.
Emilio
Hi there! Couple questions, is it normal for the middle to sink in for a bit after cooling (cooked for 25 minutes)? The toothpick came out clean however. Excited to give it a taste later!
Erika
Hi Emilio, that can happen for many reasons. Sometimes if the baking powder isn't fresh, if the pan was overfilled or if the batter was over mixed. I hope you still enjoyed the taste of the bread.