I’ll be really candid here. Though I have hosted Thanksgiving Dinner, I’ve never actually hosted a traditional Holiday Dinner. If we go traditional with Thanksgiving or Christmas, it’s because we’ve driven the 24 hours home to Canada to be with family.
Last year we had our good friends for Thanksgiving. We smoked some salmon and had about a billion appetizers and tons of desserts. Not the traditional Turkey. (Though we got traditionally stuffed.) And because we must be terrible parents, my five year old thinks Chocolate Chip Pancakes is what everyone has for Christmas Dinner. We’re just going to go with that.
Fun Fact: The traditional Christmas Dinner I grew up with in Canada, is the exact same as the traditional Thanksgiving Dinner in the USA.
This year, I’m planning to actually do a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, totally gluten free. My parents are coming to visit and our college age daughters will be coming home on break, so it seems like a good time to become the house that does Thanksgiving.
So, I’m going to share with you what we’re going to have and a few more recipes to give you some options for your table. Give me your suggestions in the comments as well, I’m flexible! If you’ve got a great recipe, I’d love to try it! The links below all go to gluten free recipes.
If you’re looking for more gluten free Thanksgiving recipes, check out THIS awesome Pinterest board. I’ve invited some of my favorite Gluten Free bloggers to pin their recipes, and there’s tons to choose from.
Traditional Thanksgiving Meal Plan
Gluten Free Style
The Turkey
Not exactly sure how to cook that bird? Butterball has great “how to cook a turkey” info on their site with instructions for deep-fried, roasted, grilled and smoked turkey. Click HERE to get to the Butterball site
Gluten Free Appetizers:
Olive and Feta Cheese Appetizer Puffs
These little savory puffs are fast and easy to make and you can top them with whatever strikes your fancy. Sometimes we do olives, sometimes pizza sauce and pepperoni. They’re made with tapioca starch, I buy mine really cheap at an Asian Market.
Click HERE for the recipe.
Helen’s Amazing Layer Dip
This easy dip is a crowd pleaser. It’s got a sour cream and cream cheese base topped with chopped fresh salsa and cheese. Make twice as much as you think you’ll need and serve it with gluten free tortilla chips.
Click HERE for the recipe.
Spiced Nuts
These look seriously amazing and super easy to make. And they store well, so you could whip some up a couple of days before! (And then eat them all and make them again!)
Click HERE for the recipe.
Chex Mix
My mom always made some sort of cereal based snack mix for special occasions when we were kids. Chex has taken the cereal mix concept to the moon. Here’s a link to some great gluten free Chex Mix recipes (there are other gluten free recipes mixed in, but the Chex site doesn’t give you an option of choosing Gluten Free AND Chex Mix).
Click HERE for the recipes.
Artichoke and Roasted Garlic Dip
This dip sounds amazing. You could serve it with gluten free crackers or tortilla chips or try your hand at making your own gluten free baguettes (it’s way easier than it sounds!!)
Click HERE for the dip recipe
Click HERE for the gluten free baguette recipe
Gluten Free Sides, Salads and Dressings:
Crock Pot Mac and Cheese
This is my fellow Baton Rouge Mom Blogger Harmony’s favorite Thanksgiving Side. I really want to try it. But I’m a little afraid I’ll eat it all.
Click HERE for the recipe.
Garlic Herb Mashed Potatoes
This is a great dish if you have multiple food issues. It looks like it’s really flavorful even without the dairy or high fat content. Even though the recipe is dairy free, you can use regular milk if you want.
Click HERE for the recipe.
Ultimate Mashed Potatoes
This recipe looks super creamy with sour cream, butter and cream cheese. This is probably the recipe I’m going to use.
Click HERE for the recipe
Scalloped Potatoes Au Gratin
Are you more of a Scalloped Potatoes fan? (I like them with ham. Maybe we’ll have ham and scalloped potatoes for Christmas! You know, with our chocolate chip pancakes.)
Click HERE for the recipe.
A Lighter Green Bean Casserole
This recipe cuts down the calories of a traditional green bean casserole, but don’t worry, you can make up for it at dessert.
Click HERE for the recipe.
Mashed Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallow Gravy
You had me at Marshmallow Gravy.
Click HERE for the recipe.
Broccoli and Bacon Salad
Okay, everyone should have a broccoli salad on their Thanksgiving table. It’s a rule. And I’m pretty sure that with the bacon, raisins and cheese in this one, everyone will actually eat it. Yum!!
Click HERE for the recipe.
Watergate Salad
This is traditional fare in our house, we always serve this for Thanksgiving, even when we’re not having a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner. Alternatively we call it Green Fluff Salad or Grandma Dot’s Salad. It has Cool Whip, pudding and marshmallows. It’s dessert. Really. But some genius called it salad so you can eat it with the turkey.
Click HERE for the recipe.
Holiday Stuffed Pumpkin
How cute is this idea? Stuffed Pumpkin!! The stuffing looks tasty, but I might do this with a gluten free bread stuffing. Too cute. And you get a seasoned slice of pumpkin to eat with your stuffing.
Cornbread Stuffing
An easy gluten free fix to Cornbread Stuffing. I’ve never actually had cornbread stuffing, but I might try this recipe this year.
Click HERE for the recipe.
Stewart’s Traditional Gluten Free White Bread Stuffing
This is our traditional family stuffing. It has loads of butter, onions and poultry seasoning. We use gluten free bread so everyone can eat it, and stuff our turkey with it.
Click HERE for the recipe.
Easy Gluten Free Baguette
Everyone loves fresh bread. Here’s a sneak peek baguette recipe from Gluten Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day. Since I got the cook book, I’ve been making my own fantastic homemade bread every couple of days. It’s super easy. (Easy enough for me to make before anyone else is out of bed. I feel so Little House on the Prairie. Seriously, if I can do this on one cup of coffee, you could make it in your sleep.)
Click HERE for the recipe.
photo credit Stephen Scott Gross
Easy Homemade Cranberry Sauce
This cranberry sauce has a hint of ginger and cinnamon and it tastes even better if you make it a few days ahead and store it in the fridge. I’ll make it during the year to have with pork or chicken. This is really easy to make, you just boil things on the stove, and very impressive, but the canned sauce from Ocean Spray (and any other brand I can think of right now, but check labels!!) is just as gluten free, so you don’t have to stress about this one.
Click HERE for the recipe.
Gluten Free Dessert
Gluten Free Pumpkin Desserts
I’ve put together a whole bunch of gluten free pumpkin based desserts (pies, custards, cheesecake, squares, etc) right here because this time of year, we must eat as much pumpkin as humanly possible. It’s something to do with winter hibernation, or something.
Click HERE to go to the Pumpkin Recipe Post.
Pumpkin Spice Steamed Milk
Totally full? This Pumpkin Spice Steamed Milk might be just what you need (before you dig into the pumpkin pie, that is.)
Click HERE for the recipe.
Chex Scotcheroos
Okay, I’d never even heard of these until today, but they’re now on my menu. Thanks Pinterest Fairies!! Apparently you can also make them with Gluten Free Rice Krispies. I think I might do a test run. Or two. Just to make sure they’re okay.
Click HERE for the recipe.
Gluten Free Hello Dolly Magic Bars
Some people call these Hello Dollys, some people call them Magic Bars. Magic because you layer stuff in a cake pan, pour over a can of sweetened condensed milk, and bake, and Voila! Magic!
Click HERE for the recipe.
No Bake Marshmallow Bars
These are seriously addictive. And totally easy to make. These are what you whip up when you just remembered that you were supposed to bring a dessert. Melted chocolate chips, peanut butter and marshmallows.
Click HERE for the recipe.
Okay guys, before I go into a food coma just from writing this, I’ll turn it over to you. Do you have a favorite gluten free Thanksgiving Dish? Or a recipe that you’ve turned gluten free? Leave a comment, I’d love to read about it! Any questions? I’ll be around to answer them.
