How to Make a Recipe Gluten-Free

Layla joined me on a fun little nature hike this weekend

It was so "Twilight-esque"

Hi! I hope that you had a chance to relax and kick back a little this past weekend. Having one extra day to finish up the weekend to-do list, lounge around and get out and enjoy the semi-nice weather was great! More importantly, I want to give thanks to the veterans, soldiers and their amazing families. I am humbly grateful for your service and sacrifice.

As you know, I love to cook and am constantly browsing through cookbooks, Bon Appetite and food blogs looking for new recipes to try. Often times, a recipe that looks delicious contains gluten. There are a few quick and easy ingredient swaps that I use the first time that I try a new recipe. Sometimes the recipe turns out fantastic, other times it needs a little more work. Here are some of my go-to ways to turn a glutinous recipe into a gluten-free one.

How to Make a Recipe Gluten-Free

1. Flour - If a sauce or soup call for a little flour, I’ll substitute half the amount called for with corn starch. If it’s a major ingredient in the recipe (muffin or cookie) I’ll use my favorite brand of gluten-free flour, Better Batter. Another blend that I mix myself is:  1 ¼ cup brown rice flour, 1 ¼ cup white rice flour, 1 cup sweet rice flour, 1 cup tapioca flour, 2 teaspoon xantham gum.

2. Pasta – This is an easy one! Tinkyada brand brown rice pasta comes a variety of pasta shapes. The brown rice pasta from Trader Joe’s is excellent too. I have a feeling that it’s actually the Tinkyada one repackaged ;) Play around with the cooking times because I find that gluten-free pasta takes a little longer to cook than regular pasta.

3. Bread Crumbs – There are gluten-free bread crumbs available for purchase, but I have never bought them before. I like to crush either corn flakes or gluten-free crackers in a zip-loc bag with a rolling pin.

4. Soy Sauce – Regular soy sauce contains wheat. My favorite substitute is wheat-free tamari. Tamari is also made from fermented soybeans and tastes very similar to soy sauce. Always start with less tamari than the amount of soy sauce that is called for. You can always add more if you need to.

These are some of my regular ingredient swaps. Sometimes I have to get a little more creative than others, but it’s always fun to try new recipes out! Let me know some of your favorite ways to make a recipe gluten-free?