Easy Low Sodium Cornbread (Kidney-Friendly)

Unfortunately, most cornbread spells trouble for anyone needing to follow a low sodium or kidney-friendly diet. This is due to its high sodium content and its phosphate additives. Our Easy Low Sodium Cornbread is the perfect solution because it has 75% less sodium and is phosphate additive-free!

And, like all of our recipes, our Easy Low Sodium Cornbread recipe is simple enough for anyone to make! It uses normal, readily available ingredients and can be made from start to finish in around 30 minutes!  

Now you can enjoy a piece of warm, cornbread with your favorite meal, or as a snack or dessert. All while still prioritizing your kidney and overall health!

Jump to:

• Typical Sodium & Added Phosphates in Regular Cornbread vs Our Kidney-Friendly Low Sodium Cornbread
• Carefully Selected Ingredients for our Kidney-Friendly Low Sodium Cornbread
• Variations to our Easy Low Sodium Cornbread (Kidney-Friendly)
• Serving suggestions for our Easy Low Sodium Cornbread
• Storing our Easy Low Sodium Cornbread (Kidney-Friendly)
• Let's get baking!
• Easy Low Sodium Cornbread (Kidney-Friendly)

Typical Sodium & Added Phosphates in Regular Cornbread vs Our Kidney-Friendly Low Sodium Cornbread

Through much trial and error, we've developed a recipe that can hold its own in the taste and texture department. And it's still low sodium and free from phosphate additives!

Let's discuss in more detail.

Sodium

Regular cornbread is surprisingly high in sodium! A ~ 2 oz portion of cornbread prepared from a mix provides around 359 mg of sodium. The same size piece of homemade cornbread contains over 400 mg!

To put this in context, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and National Kidney Foundation recommend a daily sodium limit of 1500-2300 mg for healthy adults.  For those with certain chronic health conditions such as kidney disease, a limit of 1500 mg per day is recommended.

Therefore, one serving of cornbread provides roughly one-quarter to one-third of the recommended daily intake of sodium for those with kidney disease. That's a huge chunk of your sodium budget for a small food item!

In contrast, our kidney-friendly low sodium cornbread contains only 105 mg sodium for about the same size piece. That's ~ 75% less sodium!

Why is regular cornbread so much higher in sodium than our low sodium cornbread?

Sodium in most cornbread comes from many different ingredients which serve various purposes:

• Salt: Salt contributes to the texture of the typical cornbread. It also provides flavor itself and helps enhance the flavor of other ingredients. However, a typical recipe might call for ½ teaspoon of salt, which contains a whopping ~1200 mg of sodium!
• Baking Powder: Virtually all cornbread recipes or mixes use baking powder as a leavening agent. However, baking powder is very high in sodium. For example, a typical baking powder contains almost 500 mg sodium in 1 teaspoon! Most cornbread recipes contain at least 1 teaspoon of baking powder, often more!
• Baking Soda: Many recipes also use baking soda as an additional leavening agent, which contains 1260 mg sodium per teaspoon!
• Buttermilk: Buttermilk is frequently a key ingredient in cornbread. This is because its acidity helps activate the leavening agents, particularly the baking soda. One cup of buttermilk, which is a typical amount used in a cornbread recipe, contains 363 mg of sodium.
• Salted butter: Salted butter is often used as a fat source in cornbread recipes. One stick (½ cup) of salted butter contains ~720 mg of sodium!

Now that we know the sodium content of its ingredients, it's easy to see where all the sodium in just one piece comes from!

Phosphorus

Many people with kidney disease need to limit dietary phosphorus, especially added phosphates. Phosphorus intake recommendations do depend on what stage of kidney disease you are in and your bloodwork. (Please check with your doctor or renal dietitian for the phosphorus guidelines that are right for you. It is not a one-size-fits-all approach.)

The phosphorus in baking powder

The biggest contributor of added phosphates in cornbread is the baking powder. Almost all cornbread recipes contain it. It became my mission to go against the grain and develop a low sodium cornbread recipe without baking powder! (We'll talk more on that in the next section.)

A typical cornbread recipe might include 2 teaspoons (or more) of double acting baking powder. That amount would contain between ~ 400 mg phosphorus in double acting baking powder with aluminum and phosphates, and >1800 mg in double acting baking powder with straight phosphates!

Organic vs. Inorganic phosphorus

However, it's not just the amount of phosphorus in the baking powder that's a concern for many with kidney disease. It's the type of phosphorus.

Baking powder contains inorganic phosphorus, or phosphate additives, 90% of which are absorbed by the body. In contrast, organic phosphorus, or phosphorus found naturally in food, is absorbed at a much lower rate. This is especially true for plant sources of phosphorus.

So, for many with kidney disease, phosphate additives could cause their blood phosphorus levels to be too high. Which again, is why I was determined that our low sodium corn bread would not contain baking powder!

Case in point: I once worked with a woman who was on dialysis who experienced a sharp increase in her phosphorus levels. It was actually one of the highest levels that I had ever seen!

To investigate, we did a deep dive into what she had been eating. The ONLY difference pinpointed was that she had recently eaten several pieces of cornbread made from a mix. (Note: cornbread from a mix usually contains much more phosphate-containing leavening agents than homemade). When she stopped eating the cornbread, her phosphorus levels returned to her baseline!

Carefully Selected Ingredients for our Kidney-Friendly Low Sodium Cornbread

Now, I'd like to do a rundown of the ingredients in our low sodium cornbread. These ingredients make it uniquely low in sodium and phosphate additive-free! Careful attention was also paid so that it would be flavorful and moist as well! (Cornbread is notorious for drying out quickly).

Flour

This recipe calls for all-purpose white flour. You could probably use whole wheat flour or white whole wheat flour, if desired, for a little extra fiber. Your cornbread would have a little different flavor and texture, though.

We don't recommend using self-rising flour, which contains large amounts of leavening agents (i.e.: baking powder). As we discussed above, leavening agents contain a lot of sodium and phosphate additives.

Cornmeal

This recipe uses regular, medium-grain yellow corn meal. Equal parts flour and cornmeal are used.

Baking soda

As mentioned above, because our recipe needed to be "kidney-friendly", I did not want to use baking powder. Which left me with baking soda as a leavening agent.

However, my next obstacle was that I couldn't use too much baking soda due to its high sodium content itself! Remember, one teaspoon contains over 1200 mg of sodium!

Due to the careful selection of the other ingredients, the baking soda was kept down to ¾ teaspoon. When divided into 12 servings, this only contributes around 79 mg of sodium/serving. And best of all, our low sodium cornbread is still amazingly fluffy!

Milk + vinegar

As mentioned above, many cornbread recipes use buttermilk, particularly those using baking soda (in addition to baking powder) for leavening. The acidity in the buttermilk reacts with the alkaline baking soda to create carbon dioxide bubbles, thus creating volume!

But as we know, buttermilk is high in sodium. So, in this recipe, we resort to one of the oldest tricks in the book. We make our own buttermilk with vinegar and milk!

The process is simple. First, put one tablespoon of white vinegar in a one-cup liquid measuring cup. Then, fill it the rest of the way with milk. After a few minutes, the milk sours and curdles, and you have buttermilk!

Making your own buttermilk contributes around 100 mg of sodium/cup. If you recall, this is in contrast to regular buttermilk which contains >360 mg of sodium/cup.

Feel free to use whatever milk (ie: skim, 1%, 2%, whole) that you have on hand. (I used 1% milk which contains ~ 96 mg of sodium/cup.).

Note: This recipe wasn't tested with a plant-based milk, such as almond, soy or oat milk. However, other bakers have reported success when making "buttermilk" using plant-based milk and vinegar the same way as described above.

Eggs

Many cornbread recipes only use 1 egg for the same size pan that we use in our low sodium cornbread recipe. We use 2 eggs, beaten until light and airy, to give our low sodium cornbread a little extra "fluff".

Brown sugar

While you can certainly use white sugar or even honey instead, this recipe uses brown sugar for a few reasons:

• It gives the cornbread a richer flavor.
• It results in a moister product than white sugar.
• It is slightly acidic. This helps with leavening by reacting with the baking soda in the same way as the milk/vinegar does.

I'd like to mention that that our low sodium cornbread is on the sweeter side. This helps compensate for the flavor lost when the sodium is reduced. It uses ⅔ cup brown sugar.

You can choose to decrease the brown sugar to ⅓-1/2 c. However, I would suggest then bumping up the flavor in another way, perhaps by increasing the heat or spice. (We'll give some ideas coming up!).

Just know if you do reduce the brown sugar, your low sodium cornbread will likely be less moist. It could also be more dense.

To learn more about making food flavorful without salt, read our article: 10 Tips for a Tasty 2 Gram Sodium Diet: From a Dietitian.

Or try these recipes, which are great examples of tasty food without unwanted salt:

• Simple Salmon Stew Recipe
• Low Sodium Macaroni & Cheese (Dump & Bake)
• Easy Low Sodium Sausage
• 5-Minute Healthy Fried Rice Recipe

Oil

In my recipe trials, using oil rather than butter resulted in a fluffier and more tender cornbread. However, if you like the extra flavor, you can use melted, unsalted butter. Your cornbread will just have a little different texture.

Variations to our Easy Low Sodium Cornbread (Kidney-Friendly)

To "jazz up" your low sodium cornbread, try any of these ideas below. These will make your low sodium cornbread savory, spicey, or even sweeter! Keep in mind these changes will affect the sodium, phosphorus, and/or potassium content of your cornbread.

Sweeter Low Sodium Cornbread

• Drizzle your prepared low sodium cornbread with honey or maple syrup at the table.
• Make a honey butter spread by simply whipping together 3 parts unsalted butter and 1 part honey.
• Spread with your favorite jelly or jam.
• Try this recipe for maple butter (eliminate the salt).
• Top the batter with ~ ¼-1/3 cup chopped pecans and a light sprinkling of brown sugar before baking.
• Add ½ cup fresh or frozen blueberries and the zest of one lemon to the batter.
• Add ½ cup peeled and grated apple to the batter.
• Throw in ½ cup frozen or no salt added canned sweet corn before baking.
• Add ~ 1 teaspoon of vanilla and/or ~ 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, or to taste, to the batter.
• Reduce the oil in the recipe and add ½ cup canned pumpkin puree and 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice.

Savory or Spicy Low Sodium Cornbread

For a savory or spicy low sodium cornbread, reduce the brown sugar to ½ -⅓ cup. Then add any of the following to the batter:

• ~½ cup sharp cheddar cheese + ¼ cup chopped green chiles or 2 Tablespoons chopped jalapeño peppers. Use more for more heat.
• ~½ cup no salt added canned or frozen corn, and/or ½ cup chopped onion to the above, if you like.
• ~ ⅓ cup of crumbled low sodium sausage. Check out our recipe for Easy Low Sodium Sausage, which also lists some lower sodium store-bought sausage that is kidney-friendly.
• ~⅓ cup parmesan plus 1 teaspoon or more of black pepper.
• ~½ cup frozen or no salt added canned corn and ⅓-1/2 cup diced red and green bell peppers.

Serving suggestions for our Easy Low Sodium Cornbread

Try our Easy Low Sodium Cornbread with any of the following:

• Soup and stews. It complements our Simple Salmon Stew recipe well!
• Barbequed pulled pork, chicken, or ribs
• Classic fried chicken
• Black-eyed peas w/ collard greens
• Casseroles
• Alongside a nice dinner or side salad
• With a hearty breakfast meal (think eggs and lower sodium breakfast meat), or by itself as a light breakfast.
• As a dessert or snack with a hot cup of coffee or tea!
• As a "crumble in" with milk (keeping in mind the phosphorus and potassium content of milk if you need to limit these in your diet).

Storing our Easy Low Sodium Cornbread (Kidney-Friendly)

One of the things I have never cared for about cornbread is that it tends to dry out very easily. I swear, you make it one day, and by the next day it's dry and stale! So, it was really important to me that our low sodium cornbread be very moist.

Mission accomplished! Strangely, our low sodium cornbread seemed to be moister on day #2!

If kept air-tight, our cornbread will stay moist and fresh on the countertop for at least 4 or 5 days. Refrigerated, it will last about a week. If frozen in a freezer-safe, air-tight container or freezer bag, it will be safe to eat for up to 3 months.

Let's get baking!

We've run through why our low sodium cornbread is great for anyone on a low sodium and/or kidney-friendly diet. We've talked about its carefully selected ingredients, different variations, and how to store it. Now, it's time to get baking! I hope you enjoy our Easy Low Sodium Cornbread (Kidney-Friendly) as much as we have!