Paleo Corn-Free Baking Powder

With this simple recipe, you’ll be able to enjoy your favorite paleo pancakes and almond flour recipes that need baking powder to rise.

Paleo Baking Powder

A paleo-friendly baking powder does not contain grains. Since most baking powders have corn, they are not considered paleo or grain-free.

Today’s recipe is a great substitute if you need to replace traditional baking powder and make it paleo-approved.

Ingredients

This grain-free baking powder is made with simple pantry staples in less than 2 minutes. Here’s what you’ll need: 

• Baking soda: the alkaline element any baking powder needs.
• Cream of tartar: the acid needed to react to the moisture and raise the batter.
• Starch: potato, arrowroot, or tapioca. 

How to Make Corn-Free Baking Powder Substitute

Every good baking powder recipe needs baking soda (the alkaline), cream of tartar (the acid), and starch (to prevent caking). Most commercial baking powders use cornstarch because it’s cheap and easy to find. 

With this corn-free recipe, you have the option of using potato, arrowroot, or tapioca as the starch. 

I recommend making this in smaller quantities, under ¼ cup, so you’ll have a fresh batch of baking powder ready to go. Here’s how to make it: 

Measure the ingredients

• 1 part baking soda
• 2 parts cream of tartar
• 2 parts starch

Check the recipe below for quantities. 

Sift and combine
Sift the powders into a bowl and mix with a fork or whisk. 

Transfer
Using a funnel or a small spoon, fill the jar or container with your freshly made baking powder. Top with lid and seal. 

Cornstarch-Free Baking Powder

The biggest reason for needing a cornstarch-free baking powder is due to food allergies or dietary restrictions to corn, a grain.

A great substitute for cornstarch is potato or tapioca starch, which are both free of corn or grains.

What Does Baking Powder Do?

Baking powder is a leavening agent that gives baked goods and pancakes their ‘lift’ and makes them fluffy and crumbly.

The baking soda and cream of tartar both react to the moisture in the batter or dough, creating carbon dioxide that helps it to rise while cooking. The starch is necessary to bind the other two ingredients for this reaction.

If you want crumbly baked goods like muffins and scones, and fluffy pancakes, it’s an essential ingredient to use in traditional and grain-free recipes.

Corn-Free Baking Powder

This homemade corn-free baking powder works the same as a regular baking powder, giving recipes more volume, but contains no wheat or corn. 

Grain-free baking powder is also single-acting; meaning that you’ll need to bake your batter or cook your pancakes right away if you want to achieve the traditional fluff/lift. 

Commercial baking powders containing corn are double-acting; that means that they react twice, the first time with moisture (when mixed with wet ingredients in a recipe) and a second time when heated (during the cooking process).

Corn-Free Paleo Baking Powder Uses

Once you have a batch of this paleo baking powder, it’s ready to be used. Here are some of my favorite treats that call for baking powder:

• Paleo Chocolate Cake 
• Chocolate Mug Cake
• Carrot & Zucchini Bars
• Gluten-Free Pumpkin Scones

In my Clean Treats Cookbook, I have many more recipes to try out this paleo baking powder. It’s a collection of some of our most beloved baked goods and desserts, made without grains or refined ingredients; we’re talking brownies, cakes, and a Flourless Chocolate Cookie you’ll fall in love with. 

How to Store Corn-Free Paleo Baking Powder

You can store corn-free paleo baking powder in an airtight container, zip bag, or lidded jar at room temperature for up to 6 months.

A good tip is to label the container with the date you make it. After 6 months, its rising properties begin to decline, which means it’s time to give that batch a toss and make some more.