Pumpkin Maple Cornbread

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This pumpkin cornbread recipe is a perfect side dish to serve for Thanksgiving dinner. If you don't celebrate the holiday, You will still enjoy the cake-like texture and unique flavor of this quickbread. It also goes well with a big bowl of chili or alongside a serving of fried chicken.

If you normally serve regular cornbread or cornbread mix, your guests will love the vibrant color and flavor that pure pumpkin gives to this slightly sweet cornbread.

Jump to:

• 🛒Ingredients for Pumpkin Maple Cornbread
• 🥣Instructions
• 🎥Video
• 👩🏾‍🍳Substitutions
• 📝Variations
• 🍳Equipment
• ❄️Storage
• ✅👩🏾‍🍳Top tip
• 📖Printable Recipe Card

🛒Ingredients for Pumpkin Maple Cornbread

This pumpkin cornbread is made with ingredients that are easy to find. You can mix it up just as fast as you can prepare a boxed cornbread mix.

• yellow cornmeal
• all-purpose flour
• salt
• baking powder
• pumpkin spice
• pure maple syrup
• large egg
• sour cream
• buttermilk
• pumpkin purée (be sure you don't use pumpkin pie filling)

See the recipe card for quantities.

🥣Instructions

In a large bowl whisk the dry ingredients and set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix the wet ingredients until thoroughly combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the large mixing bowl with the dry ingredients and stir with a spatula until everything is combined.

Pour the batter into a square baking pan that has been sprayed with pan spray and bake until done. A toothpick inserted in the center will have a few moist crumbs attached because the sour cream in this simple recipe makes it an extremely moist cornbread. Let cool on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes before cutting.

Serve with maple butter, a small bowl of whipped unsalted butter, or a drizzle of honey.

🎥Video

👩🏾‍🍳Substitutions

• Buttermilk - instead of buttermilk, you can use ¾ cup of milk with 2 teaspoons of lemon juice added. Let it sit for 5 minutes or until the milk has thickened, then proceed with the recipe.
• Maple syrup - use ¼ cup of brown sugar instead of the ¼ cup maple syrup the recipe calls for. You can also use coconut sugar as the sweetener in this recipe.
• Pumpkin pie spice- use an equal amount of apple pie spice, chai spice blend, or cinnamon

📝Variations

• Muffins - spoon batter into a standard-sized muffin pan to make pumpkin cornbread muffins. Bake them at 400 for 15-20 minutes. If you plan on turning this into a pumpkin cornbread muffin recipe, be sure to fill the wells of the muffin pan only ⅔ full and use parchment paper muffin liners to get the muffins out of the pan easily.
• Gluten-free - I have not tested it, but this recipe should work with a cup-for-cup gluten-free flour blend. You can also try substituting traditional flour with oat flour. The amount of all-purpose flour in this recipe is small, so there shouldn't be any noticeable difference in texture.

🍳Equipment

I used an 8x8 baking pan for this recipe. If you only have a 9x9 baking dish that will work. You just need to be aware that it will bake faster, and the cornbread won't be as tall since the batter will be spread out more.

❄️Storage

Store any leftover cornbread in plastic wrap or store it in an air-tight container for up to three days at room temperature. The cornbread can also be refrigerated. If you want to freeze this pumpkin cornbread, it will last for up to 1 month as long as it is well-wrapped in a freezer-safe bag.

✅👩🏾‍🍳Top tip

Don't overmix the batter! For the best result, stop mixing as soon as you don't see any more dry pockets of flour.

📖Printable Recipe Card