Jalapeno Honey Courgette Cornbread {Gluten-Free}
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Gluten-Free Jalapeno Honey Courgette Cornbread is a perfect accompaniment to your barbecues and summer parties. Sweet, savoury and spicy, it makes the most of a glut of courgettes and is so easy to prepare.
I’ve been trying to get my act together at dinner time lately. It’s quite difficult when I’ve got no idea if I’m going to get an evening or not. Bedtime begins at 6.30pm in our house. Sometimes I can get both children asleep within the hour, if so then I get the same feeling that my husband would have got had England beat Croatia on Wednesday. Most of the time though it’s near 9pm, and after trying to settle them for two and a half hours there is no way I have the energy for cooking. At that point toast and chocolate is the only option.
Since I haven’t been out for dinner in an absolute age I’ve been trying some different recipes to make my hum drum evening meals a bit more exciting and this Gluten-Free Jalapeno Honey Courgette Cornbread was one of my latest triumphs. Who cares about the latest Ottolenghi restaurant opening when I have just nailed cornbread. I threw it together pretty quickly on a bit of a whim and was so excited about the results. That’s no lie. I was very excited, this is the simple life I live.
I originally made the cornbread plain with just the honey lending a wonderfully sweet taste. The second time I got a little more adventurous and added some courgette that needed to be used up from the fridge. The third time though I was out of control, I threw the playbook out of the window and reached for the jalapenos. I declared to my enthralled cats that this was the definitive version and have been making it that way ever since.
This cornbread eaten warm from the oven with a slab of salted butter is what dreams are made of. Since I made the cornbread to go with some leftover pulled pork and coleslaw, I will now consider Gluten-Free Jalapeno Honey Courgette Cornbread absolutely essential every time I serve up pulled pork and coleslaw in the future. It’s funny how dinner traditions can suddenly spring up when you least expect them.
Best thing I’m going to tell you is that it’s a really easy recipe to achieve. It relies on fine cornmeal and the gluten-free flour blend which you can pick up at most supermarkets so no hard to find ingredients. If you don’t have the buttermilk then just use the same amount of whole milk with half a lemon squeezed in. If you can’t get hold of jalapenos then just use regular green chillies, but do double check the strength of them before adding in. Jalapenos are quite mild so be careful when adding the same amount of a different chilli. If you want to serve it to the whole family then by all means leave the chilli out completely. I’m handing the reins over to you now, adapt as you see fit.
This Gluten-Free Jalapeno Honey Courgette Cornbread has been one of my favourite dinner experiments yet this summer. Sweet, savoury and spicy and I know it’s going to find a place on our table at the rest of our summer barbecues, picnics and every time I pull some pork.
Shop the Recipe:
If you would like some more courgette recipes then why not try:
- Courgette Relish
- Chocolate Courgette Muffins
- Courgette Oatmeal Cake with Lemon Mascarpone Icing {gluten-free}
If you make this Jalapeno Honey Courgette Cornbread then please leave a comment below and/or give the recipe a rating. If you then go on to use this recipe as a launch pad for your own baking creation then I’d also love it if you’d share it and tag me on Instagram. It is so lovely for me to see your versions and variations of my recipes.
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Jalapeno Honey Courgette Cornbread {Gluten-Free}
Ingredients
- 180 g fine cornmeal
- 180 g gluten-free flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 200 ml buttermilk
- 100 ml honey + 2 tablespoons for finishing
- 90 g unsalted butter - melted then cooled
- 2 eggs - lightly beaten
- 350 g courgettes - grated and squeezed dry, about 2
- 3-4 jalapenos - 2 de-seeded and finely chopped, 1-2 sliced so there are 16 rounds.
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 170°C and line and grease an 8 inch square baking tin.
- Grab two large mixing bowls. In one mixing bowl whisk together the gluten-free flour, cornmeal, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
- In the other mixing bowl whisk together the buttermilk, honey, butter and eggs.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and mix well with a wooden spoon until completely combined.
- Stir in the grated courgette and finely chopped jalapenos until evenly dispersed then pour it all into the baking tin. Arrange the sliced jalapeno on top so each square of cornbread will have a jalapeno.
- Bake for around 45 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove the cornbread from the oven. Pour the 2 tablespoons of honey into a saucepan and heat until the honey is very runny, then brush over the top of the warm cornbread with a pastry brush. Cut into 16 squares and serve.
I think it is excellent Georgina. I made mine using pumpkin pulp instead of courgette pulp because that was what I have lots of now. I added cinnamon and star anise spices and it is super. Thank you once again for your super GF recipe ideas.
Ooh gosh - that sounds lovely - I must try with pumpkin!
You list gluten free flour, there are many types. I have white rice flour. Can I use that? I have seen comments elsewhere that white rice flour cannot be substituted one to one for AP flour, but I haven't seen anywhere how much to reduce or increase by. Can you enlighten me? Thank you.
Hi Catherine, you are right there are many types!! The gluten-free flour this recipe uses is a generic brand of pre-blended gluten-free flour and you can use any brand you like. So this recipe was tested with Doves Farm Plain White Gluten-Free Flour. You could use Bob's Red Mill 1:1 or whichever brand is easiest to buy where you are. You can use your own blend of gluten-free flours but I do not recommend using just rice flour alone as you will need a starchy flour to hold the cornbread together. If you are interested in blending your own gluten-free flours to use in place of AP flour then have a look at this Guide to Gluten-Free and Alternative Flours.
Hello,
By cornmeal, do you mean polenta or corn flour?
I am based in australia and want to ensure that recipe does not get lost in translation.
Many thanks
Hi Cath, no I don't mean cornflour (or cornstarch). If the ingredient you have available to you is called polenta then that is probably the right one to use, as long as it is the ground dry ingredient. It can get confusing as technically 'polenta' is the dish and not the ingredient but some cornmeals are labelled polenta to indicate it is the right ingredient to use for polenta.