Vegan Irish Soda bread is a tasty rustic, no-yeast and no-knead bread that is very quick and easy to bake. A freshly baked whole wheat loaf can be ready in just an hour. A slice or wedge of this soda bread is perfect for mopping up tasty soups and stews. Our traditional soda bread recipe is prepared with whole-wheat or wholemeal flour, is a no-oil and no-added sugar soda bread. It uses just 5 simple ingredients along with a rolled oat topping and can be easily prepared as vegan.
Wholemeal Irish Soda Bread is a packed full of plant-based goodness. It's also very tasty especially toasted and spread with some plant-based butter or margarine and topped with a scoop of baked beans for breakfast, lunch, or a light dinner. Classic but so delicious!
History of Irish soda bread
Irish soda bread, a humble yet hearty rustic bread, can be traced back to 19th century Ireland. When prepared with whole wheat or wholemeal flour, it's often referred to as Irish wheaten bread. Soda bread became popular during the 1800s, with the invention of bicarbonate of soda, also known as baking soda.
However, the concept of soda bread isn't exclusively Irish as Native Americans, long before the Irish adopted the method, utilized the ash produced from burning wood, known as pearl ash, as a natural leavening agent for their bread.
The Great Irish Famine of 1845-1852 was a tragic period in Ireland's history. During this time, soda bread was a staple, mainly due to it only requiring a few inexpensive ingredients: flour, bicarbonate of soda, buttermilk, and salt. Today, Irish soda bread is now very popular worldwide and it is especially loved during St. Patrick's Day celebrations on the 17th of March.
One common feature of soda bread is the deep cross sliced into onto the surface of the bread before baking. This cross is more than just a mark or decoration as it symbolises the blessing of the bread. Also, according to Irish lore, the cross is said to allow evil spirits, the devil, or even mischievous fairies to escape from the dough before baking, ensuring a blessed baked bread!
For more information about Irish soda bread visit the website The Society for The Preservation of Soda Bread.
Irish Soda Bread is perfect for celebrating St Patrick's Day but it's also a great budget-friendly recipe to have up your sleeve for those times when you have run out of bread and can't get to the shops.
A few slices of soda bread coupled up with a can of baked beans or a few scoops of home-made baked beans in tomato sauce or Boston baked beans makes for quite a tasty lunch or light dinner.
Vegan Irish Soda Bread
Our family lived in Northern Ireland for many years, and two of our children were born on the Emerald Isle, so we have experienced lots of delicious Irish baked bread. While there's something very special about soda bread baked in its homeland, our recipe offers a tasty dairy-free version that is very similar to the original as the only difference is in the type of milk used.
After we moved back to Scotland, we discovered that Irish soda bread was not readily available in most supermarkets and shops, especially on rural Scottish islands, so baking home-made soda bread was a must.
The Society for the Preservation of Soda Bread maintains that a genuine Irish soda bread requires only four traditional ingredients: flour, buttermilk, salt, and baking soda. So we wanted to maintain the soda breads authenticness by simply replacing dairy milk with soya milk and a little apple cider vinegar to create a home-made dairy-free buttermilk. The acidic apple cider vinegar [or lemon juice] curdles the soya milk and during baking this acidity is vital as it reacts with the bicarbonate of soda, resulting in a close-crumbed but well risen bread.
You can get white or plain soda bread but using whole-wheat or wholemeal bread flour does give the bread a nice crusty exterior and a nutty flavour. The result is a homely bread that's hearty and satisfying, both in its dark, farmhouse-style appearance and its pleasantly chewy texture.
However, the best thing about our Irish soda bread is the amazing aroma it emits when baking, it's just so good!
How to prepare
You'll only need 6 ingredients for this easy soda bread recipe - plant-based milk, apple cider vinegar [or lemon juice], whole-wheat flour or wholemeal bread flour, bicarbonate of soda [baking soda], salt, and some rolled oats for sprinkling over the bread before baking.
Step 1: First, prepare the vegan buttermilk by mixing plant-based milk [such as soya, oat or almond milk] with either apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. Leave to curdle for at least 15-20 minutes.
Step 2: Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda, and salt together.
Step 3: Slowly add the vegan buttermilk and mix until you have a workable bread dough.
Step 4: Press the bread dough into a one and a half - two inch high round shape.
Step 5: Transfer to a baking tray.
Step 6: Using a knife or dough cutter score a deep cross across the dough surface, about half way down. Also make a little mark on each quarter to release any fairies!
Step 7: Brush the top with the remaining buttermilk and scatter rolled oats across the top.
Step 8: Bake for 30-35 minutes. The soda bread will be golden brown and firm when baked, and will sound hollow when the bottom is tapped.
Step 9: Cool on the baking pan or transfer to a cooling rack.
Once cool the Irish soda bread is ready to slice or pull apart into wedges. It's best to wait until the bread has fully cooled before slicing as otherwise if cut while very hot the crumb will be very dense.
Recipe notes
Storing
Store soda bread wrapped in kitchen paper, kitchen foil, within a bread bag, or wrapped in a clean tea towel. Place in a bread bin or keep somewhere cool and dry.
Soda bread is at its best eaten 1-2 days after baking, but older soda bread 3-4 days old can still be eaten, but will be better toasted or refreshed within a hot oven for a few minutes.
Freezing
Soda bread is perfect for freezing. Wrap well in a freezer-proof wrap and store for 2-3 months. Place a piece of baking paper between slices so that it is easy to pull out a few slices at a time. Or wrap the entire bread to freeze. We often use half a soda bread loaf as an accompaniment to a soup or stew and then freeze the other half for a future meal.
Toasting
Older slices of soda bread or day old soda bread is so delicious toasted and spread with some plant-based butter or margarine. Depending on the sizes of your soda bread slices you can toast using a toaster machine, a panini hotplate or similar, under a grill or broiler, or in a dry fry pan or skillet. Toast each side.
Refreshing
You can pop a wedge of soda bread into a warm-hot oven to freshen up and warm through. This is especially nice if you would like some warm soda bread to dunk in a soup or stew.
FAQ'S
The traditional method of dividing up soda bread for serving is to pull apart each quartered wedge. However trying to eat a large wedge is quite filling. But not impossible as often our kids have extra hungry appetites. Slice the soda bread into four sections and then slice each quarter into four more. Each slice will not be completely equal but you should be able to get 12-16 slices.
For soda bread we like to use unsweetened soya milk as it curdles well when mixed with apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. However, we have also used oat and almond milk and although they tend to curdle less the bread is still fine. Although, technically you can use any type of milk you prefer.
Yes, you can sub out the wholemeal bread flour for self-raising wholemeal flour.
Yes, both terms refer to the same type of flour.
Yes, you could replace the rolled oats with flaked rye, wheat, barley, quinoa flakes or millet flakes.
Yes, you can experiment with adding extra flavours such as dried mixed herbs, fresh chopped herbs, spices, nutritional yeast flakes, seeds or nuts. Some ingredients may require the dough to have a little extra liquid added especially if they are powdered ingredients.
There are a few things that you can do to make good use of stale soda bread. Here are a few ideas:
1. Reheat in a warm oven for a few minutes to refresh
2. Toast and spread with margarine/butter or margarine, peanut butter, fruit jam, mashed bananas, etc.
3. Place the soda bread into a food processor and pulse until breadcrumbs form. Either use the breadcrumbs right away or freeze until required. Frozen breadcrumbs thaw out very quickly. Alternatively, sometimes we use a cheese grater to grate stale bread by hand, it does work and if you get any larger bits its just rustic breadcrumbs.
You could always use a cup of soda bread crumbs to prepare this tasty 1940s Christmas pudding or use some of the breadcrumbs with our Vegan Chickpea 'tuna' & Potato Mornay which is similar to a vegetable gratin.
* Cut the soda bread into little squares and prepare croutons. For an easy home-made crouton method have a look at our Cream of Swede Soup recipe which features home-made crispy croutons.
* Add the soda bread in little pieces to a soup bowl and pour over hot soup such as Minestrone Soup or Italian Bean and Cabbage Soup and leave to soak up the soup for a few minutes before eating the bread soup. There are a few Italian and Spanish traditional soups that use this method as it makes good use of stale bread and helps thicken up soups.
* You can crumble the soda bread into any soup or stew you like and use this as a way to thicken the soup, sauce or gravy. Bread has long been used in traditional British cooking as a budget-friendly thickener.
⭐ Top Tip
Be careful not to over knead the bread dough as it can overwork the gluten and affect the bread texture. Simply form the dough with your hands and pat it down to the required size. This is a no-fuss bread which benefits from a rustic appearance so perfection is not required!
Warm Irish Soda Bread served with delicious bowls of Vegan Irish Stew. One of our favourite budget-friendly but very wholesome easy family meals.
More traditional Irish recipes - made vegan
Here are a few of our favourite Irish recipes that pair so well with home-baked wholemeal Irish soda bread - Our family particularly loves this easy staple soup Old-Fashioned Irish Potato Soup which makes good use of a bag of cheap potatoes, and this Irish Leek and Oatmeal Broth which is the perfect soup for those days when your feeling under-the-weather, and for heartier meals we love the classic Vegan Irish Stew and this less well-known but fun stew- Vegan Irish Corned 'beef' and Cabbage Stew.
Looking for a plain soda bread? It may not be Irish but our vegan version of the delicious Australian Damper Bread is similar to a plain Irish soda bread and is also a no-knead, no-rise, no-yeast quick bread recipe.
***please note: for US measurements click the 'US customary button' within the recipe and the measurements will switch to tablespoons, cups, and ounces.***
📖 Recipe
Irish Soda Bread (Vegan)
Equipment
- Mixing bowl
- mixing spoon
- Baking tray
- Baking paper. optional
- sharp knife
- Pastry brush
Ingredients
Vegan Buttermilk:
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar [or lemon juice]
- 400 millilitres plant-based milk [such as soya, oat, almond or your usual milk]
Soda bread:
- 500 grams strong wholemeal bread flour [wholewheat bread flour]
- 1 ¼ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda [baking soda]
- 1 ¼ teaspoons salt [we use sea salt]
Topping:
- 1 tablespoon rolled oats [porridge oats, jumbo oats, old-fashioned oats, or similar]
Instructions
Prepare the vegan buttermilk:
- Mix the apple cider vinegar with the milk. Leave for at least 15-20 minutes. This step can be done a few hours in advance.1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, 400 millilitres plant-based milk
Prepare the soda bread:
- Preheat your oven to 180 Fan, 200 Celsius, 400 Fahrenheit, Gas 6.
- Grease a baking tray with a small amount of oil or similar and dust with some flour. Alternatively place a sheet of baking paper over the tray.
- Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda, and salt together in a bowl.500 grams strong wholemeal bread flour, 1 ¼ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda, 1 ¼ teaspoons salt
- Give the vegan buttermilk a good stir. Pour the curdled milk into the flour mix, using just enough milk to bring the mix into a dough that can be shaped with flour dusted hands and is not too sticky. Don't pour it all in at once as there is usually some buttermilk left.
- Place your dough onto a floured work surface.Don't knead the dough too much as it will overwork it.Just bring it together and pat with your hands into a circle shape about 1 ½-2 inch high.
- Add extra flour if your dough is too sticky to work with or add extra milk if your dough is too dry to form into a dough. You can wet your hands with leftover buttermilk and pat onto your dough to fix any dry cracks.
- Place the formed dough onto the baking tray.
- Using a sharp knife score a cross through the bread to about ½ of the way down. Also add a small slit at each corner or in the middle of each wedge (to release any fairies/pixies!)
- Brush the bread surface with buttermilk. If you have used all your buttermilk brush with some extra milk.
- Scatter the rolled oats over the unbaked bread.1 tablespoon rolled oats
- Bake on the middle oven shelf for 30-35 minutes or until nicely golden brown, risen, and firm to the touch. Exact times will depend on your oven. Carefully turn your bread over and tap its underside. If it sounds hollow it's ready.We used a fan oven and our soda bread was ready just after the 30 minute mark.
- Transfer the bread to a cooling rack or leave on the baking tray to cool.
- If the bread is cut whilst still very hot it will look quite dense and moist inside so its best to wait until its cooler to slice. Although it will still be delicious if you can't wait.
Notes
- Nutritional information is provided for guidance only and is not a strict analysis as ingredients vary.
- Soda bread is at its best 1-2 days after baking but it will keep fresh for 2-3 days, but older soda bread 3-4 days old can still be enjoyed toasted or refreshed in the oven.
- Store soda bread wrapped in baking paper or kitchen foil, or within a bread bag, and place in a bread bin or similar.
- Alternatively go the traditional route and wrap in a clean tea towel and keep in a bread bin or somewhere cool and dry.
- Freeze soda bread, well wrapped, for 2-3 months. Add a small piece of baking paper between individual slices for easy removal of a few slices at a time.
- Soda bread is best enjoyed soon after baking, but older slices are amazing toasted or reheated in a warm oven for a few minutes to refresh.
- Toasted and buttered soda bread with baked beans scooped over and a little nutritional yeast flakes or grated vegan cheese, makes for a delicious hearty lunch or lighter dinner.
- Enjoy a wedge of soda bread with your favourite soup or stew, or as an accompaniment to a salad.
- Soda bread can be either sliced into portions or go rustic and pull apart the scored wedges.
Nutrition
Prepared our Vegan Irish Soda Bread? We would love to know how you got on with the recipe so do pop back and drop us a comment below and click the star ratings. Its very much appreciated. Thanks so much, Jacq x
Angela says
Nothing like the smell of fresh bread baking. We couldn't wait for this recipe to be done to eat it. Slathered with butter, it was so good.
Jacq says
Happy you enjoyed the soda bread. I love the aromas of fresh bread nothing beats it!
Amanda Wren-Grimwood says
I can just imagine a chunk of this dunked in soup or just spread with butter. Delicious!
Jacq says
Oh its perfect spread with vegan butter and dunked in soup. So good especially fresh from the oven 🙂
Taylor Kiser says
I love homemade bread! I can't wait to make this loaf!
Jacq says
Hope you enjoy 🙂
Dannii says
You can't beat homemade bread. This looks delicious.
Jacq says
Oh it is. Try a slice toasted with hot baked beans over. So good!
Tavo says
The recipe was so good! I love making bread and this was delicious!
Jacq says
Thanks so much for your comment. Very happy that you enjoyed the soda bread 🙂
Francy says
I like to add this bread to my St patrick day meal!it looks delicious 😄
Jacq says
Thanks! Hope you have a lovely St Patrick's Day meal!