This easy gluten-free soda bread without buttermilk is super flavorful, soft, and ultra moist with a crispy outer crust! You are going to love how easy Irish soda bread is because you don't have to wait for the bread to rise. Make this recipe a holiday favorite for St. Patrick's Day!
Do you find you don't use buttermilk often enough to buy it? This is my favorite healthy Irish soda bread without buttermilk, because I really never have buttermilk around either. It is great for celebrating St. Patrick's Day along with Irish potato candy, green tea shot recipe, and these drinks for St. Patrick's Day!
Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 15 minutes, plus 10 minutes for the milk and lemon juice to thicken
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 50 to 55 minutes at 375 degrees F
- ⏳ Total Time: about 1 hour 15 minutes, plus cooling
- 🍽️ Serving: 12 slices
- ⚡ Calories: 225kcal per slice, per the recipe card
- 🥣 Ingredients: milk, lemon juice, butter, monk fruit or coconut sugar, egg, gluten-free flour, baking soda and salt
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Soft, moist and lightly sweet with a crispy outer crust
- ✋ Difficulty: Mix, knead 2 minutes, score, bake. No yeast, no rising
Quick Answer
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line an iron skillet or baking sheet with parchment paper. Stir 1 ½ cups milk (almond milk for dairy-free) with 2 tablespoons lemon juice and let it sit at least 10 minutes to thicken. Beat ½ cup softened butter with ¼ cup monk fruit or coconut sugar, then add 1 egg and the milk mixture. Add 4 cups gluten-free flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda and ½ teaspoon salt, mix into a sticky dough, and knead on a floured surface for 2 minutes. Shape a smooth ball, cut an X about ½ inch deep on top, and bake 50 to 55 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean and it sounds hollow when tapped. Cool before slicing.
Jump to:
- Quick Look
- Quick Answer
- Why Soda Bread Works Without Buttermilk
- What to Love About This Irish Soda Bread
- Key Ingredients
- Sugar-Free Option and Variations
- How to Make Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread
- Expert Tips
- More Dishes to Serve for St. Patrick's Day
- Irish Soda Bread FAQs
- Be Sure to Also Try These Baking Recipes
- Gluten-Free Soda Bread Without Buttermilk
All the details are below to help you make a successful gluten-free soda bread without buttermilk!
What makes Irish soda bread different from other breads? There is no yeast or waiting hours for this bread to rise. You can make this quick bread super fast! Enjoy it while sipping on a warm cup of green tea and honey!
Why Soda Bread Works Without Buttermilk
Click to see why it works
- Milk plus lemon juice makes the buttermilk. Ten minutes lets it thicken, any milk works.
- The acid makes it rise. Lemon juice mixes with the baking soda to help the bread rise, no yeast needed.
- Acid softens gluten-free dough. Just like vinegar in our other gluten-free breads, it makes the crumb soft and fluffy.
- A short knead is enough. Two minutes brings the sticky dough together.
- A smooth ball bakes evenly. Even sides keep the bread from splitting while it bakes.
- The X lets it expand. Scoring the top about ½ inch deep gives the classic soda bread shape.
What to Love About This Irish Soda Bread
- No yeast and no rising. You can make this quick bread super fast!
- This Irish soda bread is gluten-free! If you have too much Candida (yeast growth) in your body and can't have breads with yeast or gluten then this is the perfect gluten-free soda bread for you!
- No buttermilk needed. No problem if you have a lactose problem or you don't have buttermilk on-hand. We show you how to make gluten-free Irish soda bread without it!
- Love no yeast breads? Be sure to try my sourdough starter for some fresh gluten free sourdough bread!
Key Ingredients
- Gluten-free flour, natural sugar such as coconut sugar or monk fruit, baking soda, and salt - these are the dry ingredients for soda bread that come together to sweeten the bread and make it rise. This works best with Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Flour 1-to-1.
- Butter or vegan butter, milk of choice or non-dairy milk, lemon juice, and egg - are the liquid ingredients that help to bind the bread together and keep it super moist! Lemon juice mixes with the baking soda to help it rise.
You can also use the "buttermilk" in this recipe for pancakes and any other baked goods cup for cup. See recipe card for quantities.
Sugar-Free Option and Variations
How to make it sugar-free: Use Monk fruit or Swerve sugar-free sweetener for a sugar free version of Irish soda bread. Coconut sugar works great too and is a raw sugar that is much healthier than white sugar.
Savory - add ½ teaspoon of onion powder, 1 teaspoon dry basil, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder for a more savory soda bread recipe.
Sweet with dried fruit - try adding ½ cup of dried raisins or currants for a little more texture.
Recipe tip: Instead of using buttermilk in this soda bread I use a combination of dairy-free milk with lemon juice. The acid of lemon juice combined with baking soda helps the bread to rise. You can also use regular milk too if lactose is not an issue.
How to Make Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread
Let's get started making this delicious easy gluten-free Irish soda bread! Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line an iron skillet or baking sheet with parchment paper.
1Make the buttermilk and wet mix. Mix the milk and lemon juice and let it sit at least 10 minutes to thicken. Combine the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer, then add the egg and the milk and lemon juice mixture. Whisk to combine.
2Add the dry ingredients. Add the flour, baking soda and salt to the wet ingredients.
3Form the dough. Combine the dry mixture with the wet mixture and mix to form a dough. It will be sticky. Transfer to a floured surface and knead the dough for 2 minutes using your hands.
4Score the top. Place the dough ball on the parchment paper in the iron skillet. With a knife, cut an "X" on top about ½ inch deep.
5Bake. Bake for 50-55 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean from the center. The outside will be lightly browned and sound hollow when you tap it.
6Cool and slice. Let cool almost completely on a cooling rack, then slice and top with butter to serve!
As always, be sure to check out the full recipe details in the recipe card below.
Expert Tips
- The dough will be sticky. Use plenty of flour to knead it.
- Roll a smooth ball. Make sure the sides are evenly smooth or else the bread will split during baking.
- Give the milk 10 minutes with the lemon juice so it thickens like buttermilk.
- Test with a toothpick. It should come out clean, and the bread should sound hollow when tapped.
- Cool before slicing so the crumb sets.
- Need a homemade leavener? See my Homemade Baking Powder.
More Dishes to Serve for St. Patrick's Day
These are a few of my favorite dishes to enjoy for St. Patrick's Day with Irish soda bread: Irish Potato Candy, Green Tea Shot, Healthy Potato Salad and Kale and Ham Quiche.
St. Patrick's Day is an official public holiday in Ireland, always on March 17, as the death date of Saint Patrick. Countries all around the world celebrate with festivities, parades and traditional foods.
Popular St. Patrick's day foods are Irish stew, Irish soda bread, Irish potato candy, cabbage, corned beef and dark Guinness beer to name a few. We wear the color green to celebrate as Saint Patrick used the three-leaf shamrock as a symbol of the Holy Trinity. Toast the day with my green cocktails.
I hope you celebrate with this gluten-free soda bread!
Irish Soda Bread FAQs
Yes! Buttermilk makes baked goods extra rich so you can substitute buttermilk for milk in most baking recipes. It is a 1 to 1 ratio, for example if a recipe calls for 1 cup of milk, you can use 1 cup of buttermilk. And if you use buttermilk then make sure the recipe calls for at least ½ teaspoon of baking soda. This helps it to rise properly.
We often use vinegar in all our gluten-free dough recipes. Vinegar helps to lighten the dough of gluten-free flours. In gluten-free soda bread, we use lemon juice as the acid in place of vinegar to make the dough soft and ultra fluffy!
The acid in buttermilk helps to break down gluten and makes the bread more tender and soft. In gluten-free baking it is different. For gluten-free soda bread we still use an acid with milk to fluff up the bread, just like we do for all other gluten-free bread recipes. Acids like vinegar and lemon juice always make for a softer baked good.
Mix 1 ½ cups of milk with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and let it sit at least 10 minutes to thicken. It works just like buttermilk with the baking soda.
Yes. Use almond milk or any non-dairy milk with the lemon juice, and vegan butter in place of regular butter.
A toothpick comes out clean from the center after about 50 to 55 minutes. The top will be lightly browned and hard, and it will sound hollow when you tap it.
Be Sure to Also Try These Baking Recipes
More gluten-free baking: Homemade Baking Powder, Butternut Squash Flax Bread, AIP Pizza Crust Without Yeast and Maple Glaze Gluten-Free Scones. I hope you enjoy this gluten-free soda bread without buttermilk recipe! Follow along with me on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter for a feature and more recipe inspiration! And don't forget to leave a comment below!
Gluten-Free Soda Bread Without Buttermilk
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Ingredients
Buttermilk
- 1 ½ cups milk any kind, we use almond milk for dairy-free
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- ½ cup butter vegan or regular, softened
- ¼ cup monk fruit or coconut sugar
- 1 egg
- 4 cups gluten-free flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven 375 degrees F. Line baking sheet or iron skillet with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl combine the milk and lemon juice. Let it set at least 10 minutes to thicken.
- With an electric mixer, whisk together the butter and sugar. Then add the egg and milk/lemon juice mixture.
- To the wet ingredients add the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Using a spatula mix together to form a dough ball. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and using your hands knead it together for 2 minutes.
- Place the dough ball on the parchment paper lined iron skillet or baking sheet. Using a knife, slice an "X" in the center about ½ inch deep.
- Bake in a preheated oven until a toothpick comes out clean from the center. About 50-55 minutes. The top will be lightly browned, hard, and sound hollow to tap. Let it cool on a cooling rack before slicing.
Notes
- Savory - add ½ teaspoon of onion powder, 1 teaspoon dry basil, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder for a more savory soda bread recipe.
- Sweet with dried fruit - try adding ½ cup of dried raisins or currants for a little more texture.
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