I love making corn bread in the air fryer. You get a delicious crispy crust without needing to preheat a pan. This is a European-style cornbread in that it’s less muffin-like and it is unsweetened. Don’t be fooled though, you’ll love this as a snack or with a stew. I grew up having this cornbread quite often, in Serbia where I’m from, it’s called Proja (pronounced pro-yah). I love it with cheese but traditionally it’s also filled sometimes with chopped smoked pork rinds or cooked spinach. It comes together in no time and with the air fryer, this cornbread is cooked in 20 minutes.
The Ingredients
These ingredients are pretty typical to have on hand in the house which means cornbread whenever you want! I really love feta cheese in mine, which is closest to the traditional way I’ve eaten it but you should feel free to add your favourite cheese.
- fine cornmeal
- all-purpose flour or all-purpose gluten-free flour
- baking powder
- salt
- sunflower or avocado oil
- mineral water
- full fat plain unsweetened yogurt or milk
- eggs
- feta cheese
This recipe features our flower-shaped bundt pan. You can pick one up right HERE.
Mix the Dry Ingredients
The best way to mix any batter is to first mix the dry ingredients and in a separate bowl mix the wet ingredients. First whisk together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix until it’s uniform in colour.
Mix the Wet Ingredients
Combine the oil, mineral water (which helps to leaven the cornbread), yogurt, and eggs in a bowl. Whisk together until the eggs are fully broken up and incorporated into the other ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry in a larger bowl and fold with a wooden spoon until fully combined. At first, it may appear liquidy but it’ll shortly get thicker.
Cook It
Add a bit of oil to the bottom of the flower bunt
pan until fully coated. Add half of the cornbread batter into the pan, then sprinkle on crumbled feta cheese and top it with the remaining batter. Air fry in a preheated air fryer for 20 minutes. Remove when it’s a deep golden brown. You’ll have to be patient before you flip it out! Wait 5 minutes, flip it carefully onto a cutting board and wait another 10 minutes (or 20 minutes) for it to cool before cutting. This is important. Cutting into it too soon will keep it from getting fluffy inside.
European Style Corn Bread in the Air Fryer
Equipment
- Insta-Flower Pan (or 3qt bunt pan)
- Air Fryer or Ninja Foodi
Ingredients
- 1 cup fine cornmeal
- ½ cup all-purpose flour or all-purpose gluten-free flour
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ¼-½ tsp salt depending on how salty your cheese is
- ½ cup mineral water
- ½ cup full-fat unsweetened yogurt or milk
- ¼ cup sunflower oil or avocado oil plus more for greasing bundt pan
- 2 large eggs
- 100 g feta cheese crumbled, about 1/2 cup
Instructions
- Whisk together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt until combined. Set aside.
- Whisk together mineral water, yogurt, oil, and eggs until eggs are fully combined.
- Preheat air fryer to 375 F
- Mix together dry and wet ingredients with a wooden spoon until fully combined.
- Add 1-2 tbsp oil to the bundt pan. Swirl so it coats the bundt evenly.
- Pour in half of the batter into the bundt. Scatter feta cheese evenly over the top of the batter in the bundt. Pour on top remaining batter.
- Air Fry for 20 minutes - it will be deeply golden brown.
- Remove and cool in the bundt pan for 5 minutes.
- Flip carefully onto a cutting board and allow to cool 10-20 minutes before cutting into it.
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More Vegetarian Yummers!
Check out our Vegetarian Holiday Brown Rice & Sweet Potato Casserole or our Raw Date Brownie Bites.
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Where do I find mineral oil? Can I substitute an oil like olive oil or coconut oil for the sunflower oil? I am allergic to avocados and have the oils I listed. Is this bread moist? I have a recipe for cornbread in the oven I love. Its moist. Maybe I will see if someone can help me convert it for the InstantPot.
Mineral water is basically carbonated water, so you can use topo chico or any carbonated, unflavored water.
As for the oil, Eva suggests substituting the sunflower or avocado oil with canola oil. Using olive oil will over-power the flavor and will not turn out very tasty.
This cornbread does turn out moist. The biggest difference you’ll notice making this recipe is that the bread has a denser crumble than the US version.
I made the cornbread! I didn’t have yogurt on hand, but with all the other ingredients it turned out great! Thank you for the recipe!