This grain free, dairy free and paleo version of classic Irish Soda Bread is perfectly crusty on the outside, soft and tender inside and easy to make. A simple homemade dairy free buttermilk gives the bread great rise and flavor and it’s just barely sweetened with pure maple sugar.
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It took me a few tries to get this recipe for Paleo Irish Soda Bread right, and I was super happy with the final product!
I wanted a loaf that has a similar texture to the original version with wheat flour – dense but soft.
There are two main problems that arises with many paleo breads and they both involve texture. First, they tend to be either too dry and crumbly or too moist.
The second is that whether too dry or moist, they don’t have the “chew” or “stretch” that traditional bread. This is partially due to the lack of gluten, but also to the lack of starchy flours like rice flour that gluten free blends typically use to mimic wheat flour.
I typically get good results for breads when I blend three types of grain free flour – blanched almond flour, tapioca (or arrowroot) and golden flaxseed meal. (I like using the golden variety mainly for the lighter color.).
This bread was no exception! It’s more dense than my sandwich bread but just as soft, with the right amount of moistness in the crumb. Delicious on it’s own, but with a little salted ghee it’s absolutely amazing!
What You Need to Make Paleo Irish Soda Bread
This grain free Irish soda bread relies heavily on homemade dairy free buttermilk, made with a combination of coconut milk and vinegar or lemon juice.
It helps the bread rise (working with the baking soda) and gives it flavor as well. Here’s everything you’ll need to prepare the bread:
- full fat coconut milk, blended, if necessary
- apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
- eggs
- ghee, or vegan butter, melted
- blanched almond flour
- tapioca flour or arrowroot
- golden flaxseed meal
- maple sugar or coconut sugar
- baking soda
- fine sea salt
- raisins
How to Make Paleo Irish Soda Bread
Preheat your oven to 400°F. You can use a baking sheet, 10” cast iron skillet or 9-10” cake pan for this recipe. Line your pan of choice with parchment paper and set aside.
Whisk together the coconut milk with the vinegar or lemon juice to make “buttermilk”. Allow it to sit for 5 minutes. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs and ghee or vegan butter together with the buttermilk you just made, and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine all the almond flour, tapioca and flaxseed meal. Then stir in the sugar, baking soda and salt plus the raisins. Pour in the buttermilk mixture and mix well, until no flour spots show. The dough will be thick and sticky.
Transfer the dough to the parchment-lined pan or skillet and gently use your hands or plastic spatula to round it out, with as much height as possible. Using a very sharp knife, score an X into the top. This helps the bread bake properly.
Bake in the preheated oven until the top of the bread is golden brown and center is cooked through, about 35-40 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow the bread to cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
How to Store this Paleo Irish Soda Bread
Once the bread has fully cooled, slice and serve as desired. Since some paleo breads can be too crumbly to cut into while warm, I recommend cooling the bread fully (or almost fully) before slicing.
It’s delicious with a little slather of salted ghee or grass-fed butter and it’s a great bread to have with dinner as well.
Cover and store the leftover bread at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Tips for Paleo Irish Soda Bread
- Use parchment paper to line your pan or skillet to avoid sticking. Paleo baked goods can be stickier than traditional, and to avoid wasting a bunch of expensive ingredients, parchment is always the way to go!
- The dough will be a lot stickier than a traditional bread dough, more like a very thick batter. This is normal. Whenever my paleo dough is *easy* to work with, it’s basically a given that it will be a flop! This means you won’t be kneading the bread, but rather gently use your hands or a rubber spatula to “shape” the bread a bit before baking.
- It’s best not to try to substitute other flours for the combination in the recipe. The recipe has only been tested with these flours to be grain free and paleo, and something like coconut flour or cassava simply would not work as a sub here.
I hope you’re ready for a paleo twist on traditional Irish Soda Bread. Grab your ingredients and preheat your oven because it’s time to bake – let’s go!
Paleo Irish Soda Bread {Grain Free, Dairy Free}
Paleo Irish Soda Bread {Grain Free, Dairy Free}
Ingredients
- 1 cup full fat coconut milk blended, if necessary
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons ghee or vegan butter, melted
- 2 cups blanched almond flour
- 1 cup tapioca flour or arrowroot
- 1 cup golden flaxseed meal
- 3 tablespoons maple sugar or coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3/4 cup raisins
Instructions
-
Preheat your oven to 400°F. You can use a baking sheet, 10” cast iron skillet or 9-10” cake pan for this recipe. Line your pan of choice with parchment paper and set aside.
-
Whisk together the coconut milk with the vinegar or lemon juice to make “buttermilk” and allow it to sit for 5 minutes. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs and ghee or vegan butter together with the buttermilk you just made and set aside.
-
In a large bowl, combine all the almond flour, tapioca and flaxseed meal, then stir in the sugar, baking soda and salt plus the raisins. Pour in the buttermilk mixture and mix well, until no flour spots show. The dough will be thick and sticky.
-
Transfer the dough to the parchment-lined pan or skillet and gently use your hands to round it out, with as much height as possible. Using a very sharp knife, score an X into the top.
-
Bake in the preheated oven until the top of the bread is golden brown and center is cooked through, about 35-40 minutes.
-
Remove from the oven and allow the bread to cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, slice and serve as desired. Since some paleo breads can be too crumbly to cut while warm, I recommend cooling the bread fully before slicing.
-
Cover and store the leftover bread at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Want More Paleo Baking Recipes for Spring? Try One of These!
Lemon Crumb Cake with Creamy Lemon Curd
Carrot Cake Cupcakes {Nut Free}
Carrot Cake with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting
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Excellent flavor and texture! Thank you for all your hard work in these recipes.
It is a little crumbly and could also use caraway and cinnamon to taste more like traditional Irish soda bread.
It was so simple and came together quickly. Made some citrus infused butter to slather on!!!🥰
I made this on Sunday and 1/2 was gone by mid afternoon. SO GOOD! I didnt have golden flax and used what I had so it was a little darker but still really good and easy to make. Enjoyed it with some kerrygold butter and will definitely be making it again!
I know you mentioned in your article that you cant substitute for anything. However, I was wondering if I could sub for coconut oil instead of ghee
Fabulous! Great texture. Amazing flavor. Perfect. Thank you so much!!
I added a bit more almond flour (maybe 1/4-1/3 c more) to make it a bit less sticky. Very close to my traditional Irish Soda Bread recipe.
I used Kerry Gold butter instead of Ghee and of course topped it with Kerry Gold when we sliced into it tonight. 🙂
I just made this bread today and was not expecting much since I have made quite a few paleo breads in the past that were just ok. This was amazing and so so easy. My non paleo eating friend gave it a 2 thumbs up. Definitely allow the bread to sit awhile before slicing to avoid the crumbling. Make this bread, you will NOT be disappointed!!
Wow! This was seriously amazing! I did have to make one substitution for what I had in the house. In place of the 1 cup of flax meal I used 1 cup of whole psyllium husks. I will definitely make this again and again! Thank you!
My husband and I enjoyed this bread. Crispy outside and moist inside.
The only thing I changed was I made with Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer to omit the eggs and it was delicious!!! My kids loved it too. Definite make again. Love your recipes!
Have you tried this with the arrowroot? I am just curious because I have it already and wanted to make this ASAP😊
I love this style of cake recipe. Thank you so much for sharing!
thanks for giving me such a cake recipe Many thanks for sharing!
Hi. Will flax eggs work for this recipe?
I’ve never had Irish Soda Bread, but I made this for St. Patrick’s Day and it is fantastic!
This bread was a big hit at my St Patricks dinner party. It didn’t look like the photo as I think it was too liquid (because my eggs were XL and I used whole milk) and so the top was flat. But taste, crumb and texture were excellent and it was simple to assemble. Tastes better buttered. Slid easily out of the 20 inch cast iron pan.
Excellent texture, taste and there is no “gf” mouth feel. Plus it is incredibly fast and easy to make. Looks beautiful too. Made it twice, didn’t say it was gf, and there were many requests for the recipe. I think it needs buttering to raise it over the top and an extra 1/4 cup raisins. I made it with real milk, and butter, and it came out perfect
I like this cake type recipe. Thanks very much for your generosity!
Great post! I really enjoyed reading it. The tips you shared are really helpful and I will definitely implement them in my own work.
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Thank you for sharing your experiences and insights on this topic. Your story is really inspiring and it’s great to see someone who is so passionate about their work.
I am so happy I came across this recipe!! The bread is delicious! St. Paddy’s Day is saved! Thank you 🙂
Love that I can make grain-free soda bread to go with our corned beef and cabbage. Made this in my 10-inch cast iron pan. I happened to have a round silicone mat that fits perfectly in the pan. Saved me the trouble of having to cut parchment paper to fit. Bread slid right out after baking. It didn’t rise as much as I would have wanted even though I shaped it with wet hands into a fairly tall mound. It was also a challenge to score the “X” on the top. But those are minor gripes. It came out nice and crusty on the outside and soft on the inside. I like mine with Kerrygold butter but my husband prefers garlic butter. Delicious either way. I find that with Michele’s recipes, it’s best to follow them exactly. Trust the hard work she’s put into testing them.
I just made this recipe but still in oven so jury is still out. I’ll say more after it gets tasted etc. It went together very nicely.
This is absolutely deelish. I soaked my raisins in bourbon. I also added a sprinkle of caraway seeds. So perfect! Your amazing! Thank you love all your recipes
I absolutely LOVE this bread! Thank you so much for the recipe. I swapped out the flax for sprouted chia seeds, and even so, it was delicious! This is going to be a staple at our home.
OMG!!!
Thank you so much for this recipe!
I made Irish Soda Bread every year in my prePaleo life and it was something I looked forward to – my little way of celebrating the holiday – passed along my my very Irish mom ☘️.
Anyway I really missed making and eating it. So I was thrilled to see your recipe for it. And boy is it delicious! I like it more than my original wheat flour recipe — much more!
I brushed the top with a little coconut milk but otherwise followed recipe exactly!
Yum!
Thank you so much!
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Great post! I really enjoyed reading it. The tips you shared are really helpful and I will definitely implement them in my own work.
I love this bread! It tastes good and feels filling. Enjoy it plain or sometimes with a spread of ghee. It is especially good with a cup of black coffee.
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This bread is delicious! It’s better than the version made with wheat flour. Thanks so much!
While mine looked nothing like the picture – much grainier and darker – the taste and texture are very good!
Excellent! It’s still a little warm but I couldn’t wait to try it.
I’ve made this twice, SO delicious! I’ve made other versions, with similar ingredients, this one, hands down, the most moist and flavorful. Thank you for sharing!