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Thanksgiving · gluten free
A gluten-free Thanksgiving, with nothing missing
Half of Thanksgiving is already gluten free. For the rest it's one change a dish, and three recipes worth doing properly: the gravy, the stuffing and the pie crust. Cooking for a coeliac guest, or you are one? Start here.
The three that matter
A photo like itThe same Saturday gravy, thickened with cornstarch instead of a flour roux and seasoned with tamari instead of soy sauce. It's glossy, it's deep, and nobody at the table will know.
The full recipe ›
A photo like itGood gluten-free sandwich bread, dried until it's properly crisp, makes a stuffing with a crunchy top and a soft middle. The one change that matters: dry the bread longer than you think.
The full recipe ›
A photo like itOne crust for every pie on the planner: pumpkin, sweet potato, pecan and apple (double it for apple). An egg and a splash of vinegar give gluten-free flour the hold it's missing, and rolling between parchment stops the tearing.
The full recipe ›Already gluten free
Make these exactly as the planner writes them. Where a dish uses stock or sausage, read the label: that's where wheat hides.
One change each
Classic sage and onion stuffing
Gluten-free sandwich bread, dried longer, and a little less stock.
Gluten-free sage stuffing ›
Southern cornbread dressing
Make the cornbread gluten free (the skillet cornbread swap below), use gluten-free sandwich bread for the white bread. Stock labelled gluten-free.
Sausage, apple and sage stuffing
Gluten-free bread, dried and mixed the way the gluten-free sage stuffing does it, and a sausage that says gluten-free (some have breadcrumbs).
Gluten-free sage stuffing ›Make-ahead turkey gravy
Thicken with cornstarch, not flour, and use tamari for the soy sauce.
Gluten-free make-ahead gravy ›
Sweet potato casserole with pecan crumble
Use 1/2 cup almond flour or gluten-free 1:1 flour in the crumble in place of the flour. The rest is already gluten free.
Baked mac and cheese
Gluten-free elbows, boiled 3 minutes less than the box says (they go soft in the oven). Make the roux with 1/3 cup sweet rice flour (mochiko) in place of the flour: it cooks and thickens just like wheat flour. Top with gluten-free panko.
Green bean casserole, from scratch
Make the sauce with 3 tbsp sweet rice flour in place of the flour, and toss the shallots in 1/3 cup cornstarch before frying: they come out even crisper.
Parker House rolls
Rolls are the one thing to buy. Get good gluten-free rolls from a gluten-free bakery and warm them, wrapped in foil, for the last 10 minutes the turkey rests.
Skillet cornbread
Swap the 1 cup all-purpose flour for 1 cup (140 g) gluten-free 1:1 baking flour, and buy cornmeal labelled gluten-free: plain cornmeal is often milled next to wheat. Everything else stays the same.
A Thanksgiving cheese board
Gluten-free crackers, on their own board with their own knife, set out before anyone opens the regular ones.
Pumpkin pie
The gluten-free crust, blind baked. The filling is already gluten free.
Gluten-free all-butter pie crust ›
Bourbon pecan pie
The gluten-free crust. The filling is already gluten free.
Gluten-free all-butter pie crust ›
Double-crust apple pie
Two gluten-free crusts and a lattice top.
Gluten-free all-butter pie crust ›
Sweet potato pie
The gluten-free crust, blind baked. The filling is already gluten free.
Gluten-free all-butter pie crust ›Keeping the table safe
The recipes are the easy part. What makes a coeliac guest sick is the shared spoon.
Crumbs travel. A butter dish someone has been dragging a roll through isn't gluten free any more.
Put them on the table before the bread and the regular stuffing, with their own serving spoons.
A folded card in front of each dish: gluten free, or not. Your guest shouldn't have to ask about every bowl.
Stock, sausage, any spice mix and anything already brined or pre-seasoned. Those are where wheat hides.
Gluten-free leftovers packed first, before the serving spoons get mixed up.
Buying it in
Most Thanksgiving to-go menus, ours included, don't say what's gluten free, so ask before you order and say it's coeliac. For pies and rolls, a fully gluten-free bakery is the safe bet. Ours, by city:
The Thanksgiving to-go 50 › Every Chef Amazing recipe, marked gluten free or not ›
Send this to whoever's hosting
One link with every dish marked, the swaps and the three recipes. They'll thank you, and so will your guest.
How Chef marks a dish: the planner's recipes were tagged dish by dish, then every ingredient was checked again for wheat, barley and rye, including the hidden ones (soy sauce, stock, breadcrumbs, sausage). The three gluten-free recipes are Chef's own. Brands change their recipes: read the labels, and if it's coeliac disease, keep the gluten-free dishes apart. Photos marked "a photo like it" show the classic version.
Chef Amazing remembers every place you ate, keeps the lists friends send you, and helps you cook it at home.
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