Constructing A Gluten-Free Christmas Dinner

Stephanie Stiavetti | December 21, 2010 | 16 Comments

Preparing Christmas dinner is already stressful, especially if you’re cooking for a houseful of hungry holiday guests. If you add a gluten allergy to an already intimidating situation, it’s enough to put a well-meaning home cook over the edge!

Take heart, dear reader. Cooking a gluten-free Christmas dinner is not difficult at all. With a few recipes and cooking tips in your arsenal, you can easily feed everyone at the table an impressive meal without sending your gluten-y guests running for the door.

Hors D’oeuvres
Gluten-free hors d’oeuvres are probably the easiest part of the meal. A platter full of fresh veggies with ranch dressing is always a hit, as is a plate with sliced cheese and Kalamata olives. Traditional baguettes with olive oil and balsamic are out, but your local gluten-free bakery may carry gluten-free French bread — call to find out.

While veggies and cheese are great, what if you want to spruce up your early dishes with something special? Here are a few recipes that will liven up your pre-meal game.

Sides
Side dishes are another easy part of a gluten-free holiday dinner. Stick to vegetable-based recipes and you’ll find a lot of dishes that are gluten-free by default, requiring no doctoring or wheat analogues. If you really want to make something that involves bread crumbs or a crust, your local natural foods store will carry a selection of gluten-free options. For something more original, check out these wonderful sides by some of the internet’s best gluten-free cooks.

Green Bean Casserole
Tassajara Warm Red Cabbage Salad
Broccolini with Brown Butter and Cashews
Pumpkin Potato Gratin & Mushroom Swiss Chard
Wild Rice and Mushroom Bake Recipe
And what’s dinner without gluten-free dinner rolls?

Entrees
Christmas foods in the United States are much more free-form than traditional Thanksgiving fare, but a lot of folks still love their turkey or ham for dinner. Try thinking outside of the box when planning your holiday entree, taking a cue from these recipes.

Make-Ahead Gravy
Roasting the Perfect Turkey
Corn and Bean Casserole
Apricot Turkey
Gluten-Free Coconut Chicken with Sunbutter Sauce
Tiny Turkey Meatballs Atop Penne and Escarole
CrockPot Maple Ham Recipe
Are you a Honeybaked Ham lover? Then you’re in luck, because the company’s signature sweetened, cured ham is now gluten-free!

Dessert
For many, the best part of dinner comes after all the savory plates have been cleared. Many folks get tripped up when it comes to preparing gluten-free desserts, since baking with wheat flour is what we’ve all come to accept as the norm for American sweets. The following recipes are all gluten-free, but more importantly, they’re incredible desserts that everyone at your table will love.

Merry Christmas, everyone! I wish you all a drama and stress-free holiday dinner.

Tags: christmas, gluten-free, xmas

Category: Bay Area Bites Food + Drink, health and nutrition, holidays and traditions, recipes

About the Author (Author Archive)

Stephanie is a writer and cookbook author recovering from her former tech-startup life. On the side she's also a media consultant, specializing in all forms of digital goodness: audio, video, print, design, and social media. After leaving the tech world nearly a decade ago, Stephanie made a career jump to her lifetime love, writing. She currently writes for the Huffington Post, KQED's Bay Area Bites, NPR, and other select media outlets. Her first cookbook,Melt: The Art of Macaroni and Cheese, is due out in fall 2013 on Little, Brown with coauthor Garrett McCord. Being a recovering techy leaves an indelible mark, and everything Stephanie does is infused with her deep fascination with digital technology. She has been blogging since 1999, before blog engines even existed and a great readership consisted of a handful of friends who occasionally thought to check out your site. In 2005 she started her first food blog, which she repurposed in 2007 to become The Culinary Life. Stephanie can be called many things: food writer, essayist, professional recipe developer, cookbook author, social media consultant, videographer, documentary maker, website developer, archivist of life. Despite all of these titles, she most commonly responds to Steph.

http://frugalkiwi.co.nz Melanie @ Frugal Kiwi

Oooh, MUST try that Salted Caramel Hot Cocoa. Sounds incredible.
Sheryl

Thanks for all these amazing recipes – so many great ones to choose from that will take me way beyond the holiday season!
http://www.goodfoodstories.com Casey@Good. Food. Stories.

Merry Christmas! The broccolini with brown butter and cashews is definitely on my to-try list, I love all three ingredients, but I’ve never combined them – how is this possible?
http://cookitallergyfree.com/blo Kim-Cook it Allergy Free

Wow! What an awesome roundup of holiday dishes. I just officially decided that for the side dish that I am supposed to be bringing to the in-laws on Christmas Eve, I will be bringing that Pumpkin Potato Gratin from My Kids Eat Squid. It sounds decadent, naughty, and fabulous all at once (everything that a dish should be during the holidays)….Thanks for all of these ideas, Stephanie!!
http://www.thesensitivepantry.com Nancy @SensitivePantry

Wow, what a great selection of gluten-free recipes. Great for the holidays and all winter long. Thanks, Stephanie!
http://myitchytravelfeet.com Donna Hull

Thanks for introducing me to salted caramel hot cocoa. Yum!
Lexie

Thank you for the inspiration. Lots of good dishes to choose from here!
http://mothering.com/jennifermargulis/ Jennifer Margulis

We are having gluten-free guests for dinner tomorrow. These are excellent suggestions!
http://www.adventuresofaglutenfreemom.com/ Heidi @Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom

Oooo, so many wonderful new dishes to try, thanks for the info Stephanie.

Gonna go make a dairy-free version of that Salted Caramel Hot Cocoa right now!
http://www.alisacooks.com Alisa Fleming

Oooh, I have to second that salted caramel hot cocoa, though it all sounds delicious!
http://www.simplygluten-free.blogspot.com Carol, Simply…Gluten-free

What a fabulous round up, thanks for taking the time to do this amazing post!
http://glutenfreeeasily.com Shirley @ gfe

Another great job, Stephanie! I always love these types of roundups … they help us all. :-) Thanks so much for including two of my recipes; you are super generous!!

Like others, I’m totally onboard with the salted caramel hot cocoa. Will make it dairy free using almond milk and some coconut cream. I had never heard of this hot cocoa until Zoe (Z’s Cup of Tea) mentioned enjoying it at Starbucks recently. I tried it and fell in love!

Hugs and Merry Christmas!
Shirley
http://krisbordessa.com Kris Bordessa

What a great collection! I’m bookmarking this for later reference – I know I’ll use it beyond the holiday season.
Merr

I’m loving this catalog of recipes!
http://www.MyKidsEatSquid.com MyKidsEatSquid

Thank you so much for this list! I have a friend coming for Christmas dinner that is GF and I want to make sure that she can eat everything–especially when it comes to dessert. Very helpful.
Lee Holt

Thanks for this great collection of festive gluten-free recipes just in time for the holidays. Can’t wait to cook up and serve to guests at my holiday gatherings. Cheers.