Corn tamales are one of my favorite dishes to order at Mexican restaurants. There are a lot of recipes for sweet corn tamale cakes, but most of them contain dairy and use mayonnaise for the sauce. So I came up with this recipe that’s really easy to make and contains minimal (and all dairy-free) ingredients. I also use gluten-free corn flour, so those on a GF diet can indulge too 🙂
I substitute Tofutti (tofu cream cheese) for mayonnaise and yogurt in the sauce. If you’ve read some of my other recipes, you’ll know Tofutti is one of my favorite dairy-free substitutes. I use it for so many things!
I also use coconut palm sugar in the sauce, which is brown, so just be aware that if you use coconut palm sugar it will turn the sauce a light brown color instead of white.
If you’ve never heard of Masa Harina, it’s a finely ground Mexican corn flour. I put off making this recipe forever because I had no idea where to buy it, then I accidentally stumbled upon it at Target. They sell both regular and gluten-free versions.
Skinny Corn Tamale Cakes (Vegan-Friendly, Gluten-Free) | Print |
- 1 can sweet corn
- ½ cup gluten-free masa corn flour
- ¼ cup dairy-free butter, melted (I use Earth Balance coconut butter)
- 3 tbsp coconut sugar
- Pinch of sea salt
- For sauce: 1 tbsp coconut sugar
- 1 tbsp dairy-free cream cheese (I use Tofutti)
- ½ tbsp dairy-free butter
- Pinch of sea salt, cayenne pepper and garlic powder, to taste
- 1 tomato, chopped, to garnish
- 1 avocado, chopped, to garnish
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Blend ½ can of corn using a blender or food processor until pureed.
- In a large bowl, combine pureed corn with ¼ cup dairy-free butter and 3 tbsp coconut sugar and stir, then add the corn flour, sea salt, and remaining canned corn and stir again.
- Scoop a large spoonful onto a baking sheet and mold into a round shape, or use a muffin pan to shape. (Each cake should be about ¼ cup and 2-3 inches wide. ) Repeat until all batter is used up.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until the bottom of each cake is golden brown.
- While cakes are baking, stir all sauce ingredients together (1 tbsp dairy-free cream cheese, 1 tbsp coconut sugar, ½ tbsp dairy-free butter, cayenne pepper, garlic powder and sea salt) and chill until ready to serve.
- Top corn tamale cakes with sauce and garnish with chopped tomato and chopped avocado pieces.

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