Ingredients for Awesome Gluten-Free, Grain-Free “Cornbread” Muffins

ultra-moist, gluten-free, grain-free muffin — Crunchy top with an ultra-moist middle – awesome cornbread experience.

Ketogenic eating – It promises so much for boosting general health and wellness, controlling appetite, shedding body fat, and even promoting serious healing and restoration in our bodies. As many benefits as there are, it’s difficult to stay motivated to reap them. Particularly when you’re eating that tenth pack of bacon and you’re dying for a little variety! Check out these tips for making amazing gluten-free, grain-free muffins.

Once you’re committed and you say “goodbye” to muffins, cupcakes, pancakes, breads, pastas, grains, etc, it’s easy to figure out a few foods (lots o’ bacon, butter, and cheese! YUM!). It’s amazing and you stick with it for a few weeks and you start seeing some results. Then you realize that it actually is possible to get sick of bacon! It’s easy to get distracted, lose focus, and fall off the wagon. When I started the ketogenic eating style in 2016, that’s what happened to me, but I figured out how to be more versatile and keep myself on point.

If you’re going to win at making new habits, goals need to be exciting. My hope is that these ideas help when you need a bit of a change-up to keep reaching for your nutrition goals.

For Super Moist, Grain and Gluten-Free Muffins, Use These Ingredients

When I was first going high-fat, one thing I kept trying to figure out was how to make great breads and cakes that are keto-friendly. When I started out, I thought grain-free and gluten-free was all I needed. Simple right? Swap it out one-for-one with my favorite recipes and we’re good to go, but it’s more than that. You may know that there are alternatives to wheat flour such as almond and coconut flours. If you’ve tried them, the taste and texture are just not the same. I’m going to show how to get that texture right for making, IMO, the best gluten-free muffin mixes.

Mayonnaise

To get a good grain-free, gluten-free muffin mix, the first secret is good mayonnaise. I know, just trust me on this one. It works well because mayo is just whipped up and emulsified fat. It’s easy to find many varieties from olive and avocado oil to more eccentric oils like macadamia and coconut. So, it’s great for experimenting and finding a blend that works for you. Check out the Hempacado “Cornbread” or a fall-time fav, LCHF Omega Pumpkin Bites, for great examples.

Heavy Cream

Quality heavy cream (preferably not ultra-pasteurized and no carrageenan or other awkward fillers) does a fantastic job of whipping air into the batter for lighter, fluffier cake and adds some rich flavor. To really amp up the quality, get organic. My favorites are Whole Foods store brand, 365 and Trader Joe’s store brand.. TJ’s is a little cheaper and they have a store-brand organic version as well.

Dairy-Free Coconut Creamer

I’m just starting to play around with this one, but if you’re also going dairy-free, this might work out for you. It’s not quite as creamy as the heavy cream so you’ll need to add a little more, just watch out that you don’t get your base batter too wet.

Small Carton of Coconut Milk Creamer — Coconut creamer is a bit easier to find than Coconut *Cream,* but watch out for the water.

Cornbread Texture

And to get that cornbread texture, I like using shelled hemp seeds or milled flax seed. Another plus-up is that hemp makes your muffins a superfood by adding some protein, a little more fat, and good minerals.

Hemp Seeds on a Plate — Shelled Hemp Seeds – Perfect ingredient for superfood “cornbread” muffins

Increasing electrolytes is important for LCHF eating because you burn through more water and need to replenish them more frequently. Getting enough minerals is tough enough on a non-keto diet, but add in the need for more water that mean more bathroom breaks. Hemp is great for potassium, magnesium, and iron.

Omega Fatty Acid Ratios

Some of the “grainy” seeds such as chia are also really good in omega fatty acids. Just watch the ratios. Some of them can be balanced out with other fats in the recipes, but you want to watch the omega 6s and ensure that overall through your diet, you’re balancing out with more omega 3s than 6s.

Opened chia muffin — Awesome texture on this muffin

Elbow Grease

Okay okay… not really an ingredient, just a dad joke. But seriously, setting the moisture up to come out just right takes a little more fat and working the texture means getting a little more air worked into your mix. Heavy cream does a great job of holding air when you whip it up. Not that you need to use full-blown whipped cream (though, you totally could), but really, thoroughly mixing the batter once you mix your wet with dry helps to fluff up your final product.

I hope you find these tips helpful. What have you tried and learned? Please share your tips and ideas.