As my fifth grain-free Thanksgiving arrives, I feel wise and weathered in my experience. I’ve perfected each of these recipes, and I look forward to sitting down to a feast with plenty of flavor and no gluten.
1. Turkey and mashed potatoes, as usual
I’m not in charge of the turkey this year, and the family member preparing it is making it gluten free. We’re not putting stuffing inside the bird, and instead using the following grain-free stuffing recipe.
For mashed potatoes, we’re preparing a basic recipe with ghee instead of butter and full-fat canned coconut milk instead of cream. This creates a lactose/casein free twist on the recipe without sacrificing richness or flavor.
2. Bread Free Holiday Stuffing
You won’t miss the bread in this vegetable-laden version. Said one of my readers, “Hands down best Thanksgiving side dish. Will be a Thanksgiving staple. Thank you for posting.”
RECIPE: Bread Free Holiday Stuffing
Make-ahead: Prepare a day ahead to allow flavors to meld more deeply. Re-warm in a 350 degree oven before serving.
3. Grain Free Gravy
We’ll use the juices from the roast turkey, but also keep some store-bought chicken broth on-hand to make my Grain Free Gravy.
Make-ahead: Prepare the day of the meal, so you can use the juices from the roast turkey. If you wish to make it ahead, however, you can use pre-prepared chicken or turkey broth.
4. Maple Spice Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
This is what I’ll be preparing for Thanksgiving, instead of the traditional Sweet Potato Casserole. It requires just minutes to make and still offers the flavors of pecans, warming spices, and maple syrup. This simple recipe means I can focus my energy on preparing the other components of the Thanksgiving meal.
RECIPE: Maple Spice Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Make-ahead: The sweet potatoes can be baked a few days prior, and re-warmed in a 350 degree oven until hot.
5. Paleo Green Bean Casserole
In short, the traditional Green Bean Casserole is a hot mess of gluten, neurotoxic MSG, and rancified rapeseeds. Ick. My version features a homemade Cream of Mushroom soup and a shallot + hazelnut topping.
RECIPE: Paleo Green Bean Casserole
Make-ahead: Prepare the soup a few days in advance. Make the casserole the day of the meal.
6. 3 Ingredient Cranberry Sauce
I once thought homemade cranberry sauce was a role for Martha Stewart. I believed only someone who could fold a fitted sheet was domestically gifted enough to make homemade cranberry sauce.
When I cut out refined sugar from my diet, the traditional canned cranberry sauce became off limits. Fortunately, homemade paleo cranberry sauce requires just three ingredients and about 10 minutes.
Make-ahead: Prepare up to five days ahead of time.
7. “Cornbread” Muffins OR Pumpkin Cornbread
If you are single-handedly preparing the thanksgiving feast, you likely have your hands full with the previous recipes. But, if you want an additional accompaniment or if others are chipping in with preparation, make my Paleo “Cornbread” Muffins. These melt-in-your-mouth muffins are delicious than dinner rolls, and they won’t give you a gluten hangover.
RECIPE: Paleo “Cornbread” Muffins (double the recipe)
Make-ahead: These are best prepared the morning of the meal.
UPDATE: Recently, my friend Jean guest posted a recipe for Paleo Pumpkin “Cornbread.” While I love my faithful cornbread muffin recipe, I also love Jean’s version!
RECIPE: Paleo Pumpkin “Cornbread”
Make-ahead: These are best prepared the morning of the meal.
8. Mini Sweet Potato Pies with Coconut Whipped Cream
Want a more traditional finale to your thanksgiving menu? Feel free to use canned or fresh pumpkin puree, instead of sweet potato puree, in these mini pies. These perfectly-portioned servings of pie will leave you satisfied but not over-stuffed. All the same, you may wish to double the recipe if you have two muffin tins…
RECIPE AND VIDEO: Mini Sweet Potato Pies
Make-ahead: These can be prepared a day or two prior. Store in the fridge, and keep the whipped cream and the pies separated until serving time.
HI Lauren, this is great! I don’t see a link for the cranberry sauce, am I missing it? Thnx
My mistake, I corrected that. Thanks for letting me know.
Sounds delicious! I follow the Gaps & AIP diet because I have so many food allergies I can’t follow just one or it is so restrictive! I followed strict Gaps for a long time in effort to heal my gut. I am allergic to so many foods you have listed which is making my Thanksgiving ideas so hard – it can be so emotional going to family gatherings where there is so much food that I can’t eat! I am used to bringing my food – but after this recent food allergy test it has narrowed my limited list of foods down even more. I am allergic to squashes, coconut, dairy, eggs, cauliflower, broccoli, nuts, seeds, tomatoes and so much more! Any ideas?!
Sarah, I’m kind of like you. But I’ve always liked food in its most natural state. So I have less problems than most. to make my turkey I buy the natural non Frozen kind at $1’59/lb put it in a .99 foil pan or electric roaster. I put about 1.5″ of water in the bottom, foil over the top cover and tire bird) put bird in oven to 350°, set the alarm for 6 hours and I go to bed. Sometimes it has to cook longer depending on weight of bird. You know when it’s ready because you’ll pull on the leg and it will fall off the bone. If you want to brown the skin that you won’t eat because it looks prettier take the foil off and let it cook an extra 15 minutes. It really does taste good without all those extra ingredients on it. Whatever herbs or flavors you have that you like and can eat make it on the side and then dip your turkey like you would if you were dipping it in gravy or whatever. There are a multitude of stuffings with and without bread that you can make make that on the side. I guess the trick is to cook everything in its natural state. And whatever flavors you want put it on the side and mix them after they’re on your plate. I do green beans but I don’t do that casserole stuff I’ve been blessed to never really care for it. I get a frying pan and what I call butter but isn’t there are a lot of fake butter is out there you just have to figure out which one you like best. Put that on the side of your plate. I take a frying pan a little bit of water and I fry my low sodium French style cut green beans after I rinse the can five or six times to get rid of all the extra sodium that they pack with it. I do add a little pepper in the frying step as you will not need as much and it does seem to cut the pepper strength in half or more so that I can enjoy the flavor but not the kick in the tummy later. Mashed potatoes are my favorite. Boil the small potatoes until you can put a fork in it with ease remove from water and rinse & mash. Depending on what you’re cooking you could add flavors to the water which the potato will absorb during the cooking process. I happen to like the potato without anything on it but my guests are different. So I have a potato bar on the table for people who want to add their own flavors to their mashed potato. if you want it creamier add a little bit of hot water. I would start off with a tablespoon and work my way up. Again it depends on how many potatoes you have just cooked. I love Laura’s recipes and I take all of what she writes and what I can’t put in it I delete for me and I tested on the side because I can have some but not a lot of everything. If you want more of my Thanksgiving leave a note here and I will write out the rest. But really Laura has great recipes if there’s something you can’t have don’t put it in the recipe. I’m guessing it will still taste great as it has for me. Thanks Laura for posting your stuff it has opened up my world to new herbs and spices I would have never tried and learned that I like them too. You truly are a blessing.
Hi Lauren!
This looks amazing!! Thanks for sharing. I was wondering if you could fix the link for the maple stuffed sweet potatoes? It doesn’t seem to allow me to click to get the recipe 🙂 Thanks so much!
Hi!
I can’t find the link for the sweet potatoes.
thanks for your great blog!
This is also my 5th grain-free/real food/etc. Thanksgiving (I’ll occasionally try some sourdough gluten-free breads). Funny how I don’t even think about being wise or weathered about it anymore; it’s just the way it is. I’ve been following your blog pretty much since its beginning (is it possible I even made Thanksgiving recipes from it that first year?! I certainly have other years) and I love to see how its grown and still find posts that are meaningful for me. Happy Thanksgiving!