A skinny High Protein Cornbread recipe to pair with chili or bring to Thanksgiving. It's healthy with protein powder and Greek yogurt, and no sugar either!
Okay so my husband absolutely loves Cornbread and will take it any time of year, which is my excuse for baking this in April, haha.
But okay seriously - he loved this high protein cornbread recipe so much that he had it everyday for his snack until it was all gone. What's crazier - he even dunked it in his favorite Fairlife chocolate milk (chocolate cornbread tres leches cake?!)!
Whether you're a fan of that combo or if you just want a classic cornbread that won't knock you off track from meeting your health and wellness goals (but instead give you protein intake!) - this macro friendly recipe is for you!
P.S. If you want cornbread muffins, I've got you. Here's a recipe!
Ingredients for Healthy High Protein Cornbread Recipe
This protein packed cornbread recipe is made using unflavored protein powder, vanilla protein powder and Greek yogurt, and some simple healthy swaps.
- Yellow Cornmeal - the basic medium grind one here!
- Flour - Use whole wheat pastry flour, all purpose flour or 1:1 gluten free baking flour if needed
- Unflavored Protein Powder to replace some of the flour and carbs for an extra high protein cornbread recipe! I use the plant-based one from KOS
- Vanilla Protein Powder; Quest protein powder because it's a whey-casein blend and perfect for baking.
- Baking Powder
- A bit of salt
- Unsweetened Almond Milk - no buttermilk needed for this homemade cornbread
- Unsweetened Applesauce - for moisture since we're avoiding extra oil and butter
- Non-fat Greek Yogurt to add moisture and extra protein.
- Eggs
- A bit of Melted Butter
Is baking powder necessary for cornbread?
You can think of cornbread a type of a cake, and since it needs to rise and have that light texture, the baking powder is definitely necessary for this cornbread recipe.
Alternate Ingredients
- Unflavored Protein Swap: You can use extra flour in place of the unflavored protein powder. If you make this swap, reduce the almond milk to ⅓ cup, as flour is less absorbent.
- Whey-casein/Plant-based Protein subs: Use all whey-casein or all plant-based if you need. But make sure you have vanilla + unflavored; All vanilla will make it too sweet. All unflavored will give 0 sweetness.
If needed, swap with Whey protein, but reduce milk to ⅓ cup in this case. - Dairy (Milk/Yogurt): Switch out the Greek yogurt for coconut yogurt or the almond milk for any non-dairy or dairy milk.
- Butter: Replace the butter with Vegan butter.
- Applesauce: Use mashed banana or pumpkin puree, but this will alter the flavor of the cornbread.
How to make Protein Powder Cornbread with Yogurt
This protein powder cornbread recipe is simple and comes together in about 45 minutes.
- Prep: Preheat your oven to 375°F and line an 8x8" baking pan with parchment paper or grease with butter.
- Mix Dry: In a bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, both protein powders, baking powder, and salt.
- Mix Wet: In a large bowl, whisk together the almond milk, applesauce, Greek yogurt, eggs, and melted butter.
- Note on Milk: If using extra flour instead of unflavored protein powder, or if using whey protein, use ⅓ cup milk.
- Note on Milk: If using extra flour instead of unflavored protein powder, or if using whey protein, use ⅓ cup milk.
- Combine & Fold: Add the dry mix to the wet ingredients. Gently fold until just combined. DO NOT OVER-MIX the batter, or you will create dense cornbread.
- Bake: Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes. A tester inserted into the center should come out completely dry or with only a few crumbs.
- Cool: Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely (about 15 minutes). Slice and enjoy!
How do you store Skinny Protein Packed Cornbread?
This skinny protein cornbread recipe can a great make-ahead for a holiday or Thanksgiving celebration!
- Store leftover cornbread at room temperature for up to 2 days in an airtight container.
- To store cornbread in the fridge, place it in a container and it will keep for 5-6 days.
- To freeze the protein cornbread, slice into pieces, wrap each in plastic wrap, and place them in a freezer-safe zipper bag. The unsliced whole cornbread cake is freezer friendly too.
More high protein Thanksgiving recipes:
- Protein Pumpkin Pie
- Mini Chocolate Protein Pudding Pies
- High Protein Pumpkin Roll
- Sweet Potato Protein Dessert Bowl
Healthy High Protein Cornbread - No Sugar, Skinny Recipe!
Ingredients
- ¾ cup Cornmeal, 90g
- ¾ cup Flour, 90g
- ⅔ cup Plant-based Unflavored Protein Powder, 60g, or more flour
- ⅔ cup Whey-casein Vanilla Protein Powder, 60g
- 3 teaspoon Baking Powder
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ½ cup Unsweetened Almond Milk, 120ml
- ⅓ cup Unsweetened Applesauce, 80g
- ⅓ cup Non-fat Greek Yogurt, 75g
- 2 Eggs
- 1 tablespoon Melted Butter, 14g
Are you Making This?
Please leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ comment below letting me know what you think! This supports my page so I can continue to give you free recipes. Even 1 sentence is enough 🙂
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F and line an 8x8" baking pan with parchment paper or grease with butter.
- In a bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, unflavored protein powder, vanilla protein powder, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together almond milk, applesauce, Greek yogurt eggs and melted butter.Note: use ⅓ cup milk if using extra flour instead of unflavored protein powder, or if using whey protein instead of whey-casein/plant-based.
- Add dry mix to wet, and gently fold until combined.DO NOT OVER-MIX or this will make dense cornbread.
- Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out with dry (or few crumbs)
- Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pan.Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, about 15 minutes.Slice into pieces, top with some butter or honey and enjoy.
Notes
- Do not over mix the batter or protein powder will make the cornbread dense.
- Nutritional information is calculated using products recommended below.
- Cool completely before storing so that it remains fresh.
- Room temperature: 2 days in an airtight container.
- Fridge: 5-6 days in an airtight container.
- Freezer: 3 months, wrapped in plastic wrap and then placed in freezer bags. Cornbread can be stored whole or as individual slices.
- Quest Nutrition Vanilla Milkshake Protein Powder
- KOS Plant Unflavored Protein Powder
- Servings: 16 2" pieces | Serving size: 1
- Calories: 92kcal
- Fat: 2.4g | Saturated fat: 1.1g
- Carbohydrates: 10.5g | Fiber: 1.2g | Sugar: 0.9g
- Protein: 7.4g
Stephanie says
I think your macros are a bit off. Especially the protein. The only substitutions I made were Fairlife milk (which has way more protein than almond milk) and light butter, and I’m getting 7.6g protein per serving, not 11.5g. You might want to revisit these macros and revise them. The reason I made this recipe instead of another one I found was because this one had more protein, but it turns out the other recipe would have actually had more protein. ☹️ I’m sure this will be delicious though because your recipes always are.
Haylee Jane Monteiro says
Hi Stephanie,
So sorry about the confusion there. I'm not sure what happened but I will update the post with the recalculated values. Appreciate you still giving it a try and hopefully they turned out delicious 🙈
Stephanie says
What flour am I supposed to use? The ingredients say AP flour, but the instruction say pastry flour.
Haylee Jane Monteiro says
So sorry for the confusion there. I'll update the post for consistency.
I used Whole Purpose Pastry flour, but it works the same as AP flour. You can use 1-on-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour if you would like as well.
Layla says
I made it into muffins and used corn in place of some of the corn meal and milk. It came out really filling and nice. Next time I will cook it less because I over cooked a bit
Haylee Jane Monteiro says
Oh my, Protein Cornbread Muffins sound amazing Layla! I think I want to try this myself now!
I'm so happy you enjoyed!