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5 from 3 votes
by Marly
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This easy vegan Irish soda bread is perfect to celebrate St. Patrick’s day or any meal any time of year. This recipe creates a crispy, savory bread, made with whole wheat flour, orange zest, and raisins. Slices served with vegan honey butter are a favorite!
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If you love vegan bread recipes, be sure to check out my Vegan Cheesy Pull-Apart Bread. There’s also my Vegan Savory Zucchini Bread recipe.
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Traditional Irish Soda Bread
You’re probably used to making homemade bread with yeast. Me too. But soda bread recipes are more like an artisanal loaf is made with baking soda instead. It creates a crispier quick bread, which is something we love. I think you will too.
What Makes This Recipe Shine?
- Curdled milk is added to the dough to add amazing flavor dimension to this savory bread
- A combination of whole wheat and all-purpose flour gives this loaf a rustic flavor and texture
- Orange zest brings out the flavor of the dried raisins added to the dough
Key Ingredients
You can find the full printable recipe, including ingredient quantities, below. But first, here are some explanations of ingredients and steps to help you make this recipe perfect every time.
Here are the ingredients you’ll need for this recipe, including substitution ideas:
- Soy milk — I prefer soy milk because of its high-protein content, which allows it to curdle with the vinegar and adds more flavor.
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Flour — We’ll use a mixture of whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour.
- Coconut sugar — You can substitute granulated sugar.
- Salt — Use either table salt or sea salt.
- Baking Soda — Make sure yours is fresh by testing a bit of it in vinegar. If it bubbles, your batch is good to go. Learn more about how baking soda is vegan friendly and other ways to use baking soda in your plant-based kitchen.
- Vegan butter
- Raisins
- Orange zest — This is an optional ingredient.
- Ground flaxseed
- Cornstarch
Traditional Vs. Modern Irish Soda Bread
I’ve seen conflicting information aboutmaking traditional Irish Soda Bread. However, at its very core, the ingredients usually include flour, baking soda, sour milk, and salt. That is the list from the Irish Soda Bread purists. In fact, they say, “anything else makes it a tea cake!”
That said, the modern Irish Soda Bread is made with a variety of add-ins, including orange zest and currants. Try as I may, I couldn’t find currants, a special variety of dried grapes. And I figured if I had trouble finding it, you might too. So that’s why I used a variety of mixed dried fruit, including raisins, golden raisins, and dried cranberries.
I also used some orange zest to really bring out the flavors of the dried fruit.
Is Irish Soda Bread Vegan?
Traditional Irish Soda bread is not vegan because it’s made with both milk and eggs. However, you’ll see in this recipe that it’s very easy to transform the traditional recipe to make it vegan.
Marly’s Tips
Use these tips to make this vegan Irish Soda Bread recipe perfect every single time:
- Sprinkle the top with some flaky sea salt before baking
- Make vegan Irish soda bread muffins by dividing the batter into muffin pan compartments (either line the compartments with paper or brush them with oil first)
- Try different flours for different flavors and textures. I used whole wheat, but you can also use white wheat flour or buckwheat flour.
Serving Suggestions
Serve your slices toasted with some vegan butter or even vegan cream cheese on top.
More St. Patricks Recipes
If you love vegan St. Patricks recipes, be sure to give these a spin:
Vegan Irish Food
Vegan Shamrock Shake
10 mins total
Vegan Grasshopper Pie
290 mins total
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Vegan Irish Soda Bread
If you enjoy crispy, artisanal bread, then make this Vegan Irish Soda Bread, with raisins and hints of orange. A perfect St. Patty's Day bread.
5 from 3 votes
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Course: Bread
Cuisine: European
Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes minutes
Servings: 10
Calories: 285kcal
Author: Marly McMillen
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups plant-based milk
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 3 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 4 tablespoons vegan butter, cold and cut into cubes
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 1 tablespoon ground flax seed
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Instructions
Heat your oven to 400°F/200°C. Line a baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a small bowl, combine the milk and apple cider vinegar. Stir to combine. Set aside.
In a food processor bowl, combine whole wheat flour and 1 cup of all-purpose flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Pulse a few seconds to combine.
Chop the vegan butter into cubes and add to the flour. Pulse until it resembles a coarse meal, about 10 or so seconds. Add the raisins, orange zest, flaxseed meal, and cornstarch. Pulse to combine. Pour this into a mixing bowl and create a well in the middle.
Pour the soy buttermilk mixture vegan milk into the center of the bowl and stir from the center outward, incorporating the flour as you go.
Knead the dough in the bowl, only to incorporate additional flour until you have worked it all in and a dough ball forms. Don't knead too much.
Place the dough ball on your prepared pan. Make sure some raisins are popping through the top. If not grab some from the bottom and push them into the sides and top, for a more rustic finished loaf. Use a knife to cut an X into the top.
Bake 40 to 45 minutes. When you tap the top of the loaf, it should have a hollow sound. That lets you know it's done.
When done, remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before serving warm.
(The products above contain sponsored links to products we use and recommend)
Notes
* I used 3 cups whole wheat flour and the rest all-purpose flour.
** I could not find currants so I used a combination of regular and yellow raisins.
*** If the top crust starts to get too dark, create a “tent” using aluminum foil to protect the top
Calories: 285kcal | Carbohydrates: 53g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 386mg | Potassium: 276mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin C: 1.1mg | Calcium: 21mg | Iron: 2.6mg
The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a rating below then tag @namelymarly on Instagram and hashtag it #namelymarly. I love seeing your creations!
This post was originally published in 2017 and was updated to include new text and an updated recipe in 2021.
This was a sponsored post. All opinions are my own. See our full disclosure for more information.
