9 Easy Gluten Free Meals that are Delicious

Gluten free meals can be a daunting thing to find. This is especially true when you are dealing with a new celiac diagnosis or are cooking for a gluten free family.

I do have a medical diagnosis that requires me to eat gluten free in order to stay healthy, so I am always on the lookout for easy gluten free meals. Eating more healthy is one of the ways I am always trying to improve myself.

Gluten free meals do not have to be complicated or require special ingredients though.

As a mom cooking for a family of six, meals have to be fairly easy for me to make them. I am taking all of the meals on this list straight from this week’s meal plan at our house.

The most complicated ingredients in these recipes is gluten-free noodles, and these days you can find those anywhere.

#1.) All Vegetable Night

Hey, Southern restaurants do it, you can do it too. Just make sure you include some kind of filling bean and carb.

Some of you are like, “Nope, no thanks,” and my husband and oldest son struggled with that too. But then Alan’s dad had a stroke, and we all started considering how we might cut back on animal fat a bit. I have to be honest though. I still probably use too much butter.

Here is what our all vegetable night looked like this week:

-Butter Beans (lima beans)

I boil frozen butter (lima) beans in water, black pepper sprinkled liberally, and olive oil for an HOUR. It is so important to do the whole hour. I use a couple of tablespoons of oil. To be honest, I just glug-glug it in without measuring the oil.

Once the boiling is done, I sprinkle in salt to taste. Taste it to help you decide how much salt you want.

-Homemade Mashed Potatoes

I had some potatoes, but I am not above using instant potatoes when I’m in a hurry. It is still potatoes, and I am convinced that most convenience foods are still healthier than eating out.

I chopped up five large potatoes, which was too much. But when I used five little ones last time it was not nearly enough. For a family of four, five small ones probably would have been perfect.

Chop your potatoes into roughly inch or two-inch sized cubes, and boil them for about 30 minutes. Then drain the potatoes in a colander. I added almost a whole stick of butter and liberally sprinkled in pepper and salt to taste.

Then I stirred the butter in to let it melt before I add in the cold milk. Once the butter is mostly melted, I start pouring the milk in a little at a time and stirring until I get a consistency that I like.

I do not use an electric mixer because that’s more to wash and clean up. Stirring is just fine, and it is very few lumps if you have boiled the potatoes for 30 minutes.

I’m like Phoebe on Friends. I like the lumps anyway.

-Steamed Broccoli with Butter and Garlic Salt

I steam frozen broccoli in the microwave with a tablespoon or two of butter and liberally sprinkled with garlic salt.

If the broccoli is not in one of those frozen steam bags that many veggies come in these days, I just empty the broccoli into my microwave steamer for six minutes with the seasonings and about 1/4 Cup of water.

I love my Pampered Chef microwave steamer. It is only $13, and it is so easy to use. This is not an ad. It is just an awesome gadget that is worth having.

-I also set out saltine crackers in case anyone just had to have bread, but no one ate them.

#2. Spaghetti

You can take almost any old favorite and turn it into a gluten free meal.

I think most of you know how to make spaghetti. The only modification you need to make this gluten free is to use plain ground beef and gluten free noodles. Most jars of spaghetti sauces are already gluten free.

These are my favorite gluten free spaghetti noodles:

#3. Hot Stuff Soup

I have blogged about this yummy soup before because it is an old family favorite. You can get the recipe here.

This is a tomato juice-based soup with ground beef, onion, bell pepper, basil, and noodles. The only modification you need here is to use gluten free pasta.

I use these:

#4. Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwiches with french fries and/or green beans

The way I make this is SO SO easy.

Just make sure you are using a gluten free BBQ sauce. We prefer Sweet Baby Ray’s. It is so good, but it is way cheaper than the sauces you find on the specialty aisles.

I take a pork roast and place it in a Pam-sprayed crock pot. I also put an onion sliced up in there with it. Sprinkle it good with salt, pepper, maybe some garlic, and some oregano. Pour on some BBQ sauce.

I pour a couple of cups of water around the roast. If it’s too soupy for you later, you can drain it, but dry meat is the last thing anyone wants to eat.

Let it cook ALL DAY. The actual secret to successful pulled pork BBQ is how long you cook it.

Around 5 or 6 pm, pour on more bbq sauce. If it doesn’t pull apart easily with a fork, it needs to cook longer.

For the french fries, I bake frozen ones in the oven that have no added gluten. They are just potatoes. For the green beans, I heat up canned ones on the stove, with a little salt and pepper.

#5. Fried Chicken Fingers with Strawberries and Baked Sweet Potatoes

Yeah…. We love potatoes!

To make the fried chicken our way, you need a little fryer. The fryer is my favorite because it does not make a mess of my stove. I use it on the counter. Counters are easier to clean up than stoves anyway.

I use this fryer:

I do this super basic.

Cut the chicken into strips. Thaw it thoroughly.

Pour oil to the fill line in your Granpappy. Plug in the fryer, and set it aside to preheat.

Dip your chicken into a bowl of milk and egg. Use buttermilk if you have it. I had to use regular milk, and it was still yummy and perfect.

Then put the wet chicken straight into your gluten-free flour mix.

For the flour mix, I use any gluten-free flour with pepper and parsley sprinkled in.

Make sure your chicken is well coated in the flour, shake off the excess, and carefully place it into the preheated, filled with oil, Granpappy fryer.

Each piece of thawed chicken needs to be in the fryer for about 7-8 minutes.

Baked sweet potatoes are easier than easy to make!

And I like them better than casserole. They are less like dessert this way, unless you also sprinkle brown sugar on top, which you totally can!

These were THICK sweet potatoes, so I baked two of them together in the microwave for 18 minutes. Do half of that if you are only baking one.

Then rub butter into them while they are still hot. So delicious!

#6. Grits and Pancakes

Grits are naturally gluten free, and they do not have to be hard to make. Use these:

I find the Quaker Quick Grits at any grocery store. You can cook them on the stove for your whole family, much more quickly than old fashioned grits.

To feed six, you need to put more than 1/2 Cup of butter in the pan once they are done. Butter is grits’ best friend. Then salt and pepper to taste.

Gluten free pancakes are better than regular pancakes in our opinion!

Buy a mix. It will work so much quicker and easier, and they are so GOOD. We’ve never tried a brand that was not good.

You can find these at any grocery store. Often they are right beside the regular Bisquick.

#7. Loaded Nachos

I have tried many recipes for this. The key to keeping it gluten free is to use real cheese. Often canned nacho cheese will have gluten added, so read your labels.

This recipe looks DELICIOUS. I am going to try it this week. I found it on Pioneer Woman’s site, so you know it has to be good.

#8. Chicken Alfredo in the Crock Pot

You have to be careful about alfredo recipes because many of them do use cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup. This one does NOT.

I love that it is in the crock pot. In fact, I try to turn most normal recipes into crock pot recipes because by the time 5:00 pm rolls around, chaos. Five o’clock is not when I want to cook dinner. Kids are underfoot, there are often places to be, and all energy has left the building.

You can find this yummy gluten free recipe for chicken alfredo here.

#9. Easy Salad with Grilled Chicken

Best mom hack ever. Get a bagged salad. Throw in your favorite salad ingredients, whatever you have on hand that you like, and then pop in this pre-grilled chicken. You buy the chicken in the frozen section of the store. I like to grill it in my grill pan on the stove, but you can also just warm it up in the microwave.

Here is what you need for this super easy short cut:

Did you find a few gluten free meals here you feel like you can confidently prepare?

Becoming gluten free or having to cook for someone who is can be jarring and mystifying. It has certainly been a rocky journey for me. These are a few of our favorite though, and I hope you try them out.

Are you a fellow celiac sufferer or do you have to be gluten free? I would love to hear more of your tips on living this lifestyle in the comments below.

For more healthy meal ideas see the article I wrote here when I first began cleaning up my diet to help deal with the health issues I was having.