Classic Gluten Free Corn Muffins (2024)

These classic gluten free corn muffins make a perfect side for soup or chili, and toast up just right for breakfast with some jam and butter.

Even better, you can make this dry gf corn muffin mix ahead of time, and add eggs and milk in minutes. Just like the little blue Jiffy box, but gluten free!

What makes this recipe for gluten free corn muffins special?

This gluten free corn muffins recipe is just as versatile and forgiving as the little blue box you remember. I've made muffins from this mix with and without cupcake liners (muffins and cupcakes always bake more evenly with muffin tin liners), with and without added corn kernels, and at different temperatures, too. It all works out perfectly!

Jiffy may not make a gluten free corn muffin mix, but these days plenty of other companies do. If you have a natural foods section of your local grocery store, chances are you'll find at least 2 or 3 brands of corn muffin mixes.

I'll be honest—I haven't tried any of them. But with the expense of all gluten free mixes, and their general poor quality, I'm willing to bet you'll welcome a D.I.Y. version!

I love having this mix on hand. It's perfect for serving alongside a hot bowl of chili on game day, or just for a snack or light breakfast. And with the dry mix in the recipe below, you'll have the batter ready before your oven has even finished preheating!

My personal favorite is the kind you see just below: baked in muffin liners, with frozen corn kernels mixed in and baked at 350°F for 15 minutes.

Keep in mind that this recipe makes 17 ounces of the dry mix, double the traditional 8.5-ounce Jiffy box. You can of course always cut the mix in half straight down the middle of every ingredient.

How to make gluten free corn muffins

Like most muffins, the dry ingredients are whisked together first, and then the wet ingredients are mixed in to create a smooth muffin batter. You can stop after the addition of the shortening, though, and create a dry mix like Jiffy corn muffin mix that you can use right away or store for later.

To make the dry mix.

1. In a large mixing bowl, place one of my recommended all purpose gluten free flour blends, with xanthan gum, plus coarsely ground yellow cornmeal, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine fully.
2. Add shortening to the dry ingredients and “cut” it into the dry ingredients with either the tines of a fork or a pastry cutter which has long metal strips about 1/4-inch apart from one another. This is designed to break up the shortening into very small pieces and mix them throughout the flour and cornmeal mixture, so it’s evenly distributed but still solid, not melted.
3. You can stop here and store the mix in a cool, dry place and use it another time to make muffins—or anywhere else you might use a box of Jiffy.

To make muffins.

1. You can whisk together the milk and eggs, and pour them into the dry ingredients, or you can create a well with your mixing spoon in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the milk and beaten eggs separately. Mix the batter together. It should be thick but soft, not stiff.
2. If you’d like to add kernels of corn, add them here and mix them until they’re evenly distributed throughout the muffin batter, like you would mix-ins like chocolate chips or nuts. Let the batter rest briefly.
3. Fill the wells of a muffin tin with the corn muffin batter. If you’re making 9 muffins and have 3 wells of a 12-cup muffin tin empty, fill the empty wells with water so the muffins bake evenly.
4. Bake at 350°F for lighter, less crispy muffins or 375°F for firmer muffins until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out with a few moist crumbs attached.
5. At 350°F, the muffins are done after about 20 minutes; at 375°F it takes about 18 minutes.
6. Allow the muffins to cool for about 10 minutes in the muffin tin before carefully removing them from the tin and placing them on a wire rack to finish cooling.

Tips for making the best gluten free corn muffins

Whether you make the homemade gf corn muffin mix ahead of time, or jump right into the corn muffins themselves, you're in for a real treat. Here are some tips to ensure recipe success:

Don't overwork your gf corn muffin batter (and let it rest)

Corn has its own protein, like wheat flour has gluten, and it can be overworked similar to wheat flour gluten protein. Mix the gluten free corn muffin batter only as much as necessary to moisten all the dry ingredients, no more.

Whisk together the wet ingredients separately

Make sure your wet ingredients, which here are just eggs and milk, are both at room temperature, and are whisked together really vigorously first. That way, when you add them to the dry ingredients, you won't be tempted to overmix just to get a proper corn muffin batter.

Don't defrost frozen corn kernels

If you're adding the 1 cup of optional corn kernels to your corn muffins, and your kernels are frozen, don't defrost them before mixing them in the batter! They'll be weepy and soft if you defrost them.

Bake at 350°F for lighter gf muffins, or 375°F for crispy tops

This versatile gf corn muffin recipe is very forgiving, and very versatile. Bake them at 375°F, and they not only bake faster, but they come out crustier, more like a skillet cornbread. Bake these muffins at 350°F for a more tender, less crusty muffin.

FAQs

Here are the questions that get asked most often about making gluten free corn muffins, with answers!

Gluten free corn muffins: ingredient and substitution suggestions

Here's some additional information on the ingredients you need to make moist, tender, and easy gluten free corn muffins, including suggestions on how to avoid other potential allergens, if that's a concern.

Gluten free dairy free corn muffins

As written, this recipe is nearly dairy-free. If you use a plant-based milk in place of cow's milk, it's dairy-free. My favorite is unsweetened almond milk.

Gluten free egg free corn muffins

I think this recipe would work well with 2 “chia eggs.” That would call for 2 tablespoons ground white chia seeds mixed with 2 tablespoons lukewarm water, then allowed to gel before adding it to the milk and mixing it into the dry mix.

Vegan gluten free corn muffins

If you use nondairy milk and replace the eggs as discussed above, and you're mindful that you're using a vegan granulated sugar, you'll have vegan gluten free corn muffins!

The best gluten free flour blend for these corn muffins

This versatile recipe really does work just as well with any of my recommended all purpose gluten free flour blends. Better Batter, or my mock mix, works really well, but I think I like my “Better ThanCup4Cup mix” even better. Your choice!

Coarsely ground yellow cornmeal

Corn, a gluten-free grain, is made into cornmeal by simply grinding yellow corn into a coarse or fine grind. Be sure your cornmeal is safe from cross-contamination in processing.

This recipe works best with coarsely-ground yellow cornmeal, which gives these muffins some bite and texture. I believe that, in the U.K., cornmeal is usually sold as “polenta.” Please correct me if I'm wrong, but be sure not to use “corn flour,” which in the U.K. is just the starch that we call cornstarch in the U.S.

If you can't have corn, you might try replacing it with millet, but it's hard to make gf corn muffins without corn. You can always experiment!

Nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening

This recipe, like the actual Jiffy corn muffin mix, contains the fat the muffin recipe will need right there in the “dry mix.” The easiest shelf-stable fat that we can use that's solid at room temperature is vegetable shortening.

I use Spectrum brand nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening (not the same as Crisco, but you could use Crisco). If you can't have shortening or don't want to use it, you can try virgin coconut oil in its place (the kind that's solid at room temperature).

If you'd like to use butter in place of shortening, keep the butter cold and cut it in with the tines of the fork—but only right before using the mix. You can always make the mix without the fat ahead of time, and then add the butter right before you add the other wet ingredients, and bake your gluten free corn muffins.

Serving suggestions for gluten free corn muffins

These lightly sweet gluten free corn muffins hold together well enough that they can be served in a million and one ways. Here are a few suggestions:

• Slice a muffin in half, toast lightly, and serve with a dollop of jam or softened butter
• Serve corn muffins with a bowl of chili or cream of mushroom soup
• Drizzle a corn muffin with honey when it's still warm from the oven
• Make mini muffins and serve them with a big bowl of gluten free chili

How to make gluten free corn muffins, step by step