Amazing Allergy-Friendly Thanksgiving Stuffing (gluten free, grain free, dairy free, egg free)
November 17, 2019 — Written by Chris
I’m just gonna put it out there that I make the best Thanksgiving dressing (stuffing) I’ve ever had. It’s a cornbread dressing and man it’s good. But as we’ve added more and more diet restrictions to various members of our family, I’ve been trying to find a way to get all that same comfort and flavor, in a way that won’t make half of us completely sick by day’s end.
This vegetable-based dressing accomplishes just that. By using a couple different cooking techniques and flavoring certain parts of the dish separately, it maintains texture and gives all the flavor you’re looking for on Thanksgiving. It’s also very easily made vegan simply by leaving out the Italian sausage.
Allergy-Friendly Thanksgiving Dressing
Equipment
- Shun 8in Chef's Knife
Ingredients
To Roast
- 1 head cauliflower diced
- 1 white sweet potato diced
- 1 apple peeled, cored, diced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1-2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1/4 cup almond flour
For Sauteeing
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 4 links Italian sausage optional
- 2 stalks celery chopped
- 4 button mushrooms chopped
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 1 yellow bell pepper diced
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 1 tbsp fresh sage leaves only, chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves only, chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh oregano leaves only, chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves only, chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley leaves only, chopped
- 1 pinch nutmeg
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
Instructions
Roast
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and place a roasting pan inside to heat up while you prep the ingredients.
- Combine all the roasting ingredients together in a large bowl and toss to coat evenly. Add to the heated roasting pan in the oven and roast for 15-20 minutes, gently tossing halfway through to cook evenly on all sides.
Saute
- Preheat a frying pan on the stove on medium heat. Once heated, add the olive oil and Italian sausage. Cover to cook through, remove lid, turn and finish cooking. Set aside.
- Add the parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, and oregano to the oil in the pan and fry for 30-45 seconds. Add all the remaining ingredients and saute on mediume heat until al dente.
- Slice the sausages into pieces about 1/4 in thick. Add to the pan in the oven to roast with the cauliflower, sweet potato and apple for the final 5 minutes or so.
Finish
- Put the roasted vegetables and the sauteed vegetables together in a mixing bowl and gently toss together. Transfer to your serving dish and enjoy.
MORE THANKSGIVING FAVORITES:
Thanksgiving dressing
The Perfect Roasted Turkey
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Cranberry Sauce Worth Serving
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
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This recipe is great! I made it yesterday for Thanksgiving with a friend who was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder & needs to watch what she eats, and everyone went back for seconds. The vegetable prep definitely takes forever if you don’t have amazing knife skillz, but we just put on a fun playlist and spent an hour chopping and chatting and it became part of the fun.
Made this for thanksgiving. I subbed the Italian sausage for Field Roast Apple sage vegan sausage and it was delish!!!! Even my picky kids loved it!
Made this tonight! It was savory and delicious.
Looks great! How well does it hold up if you make ahead of time and just warm up before serving? Any advice? Thanks for the recipe!
It works ok, but does lose a little of the texture. Best way to warm it up is laid out in a thin layer on a preheated baking sheet under the broiler, just for the texture, but either way the flavor is still dynamite.
Oh, I loved stuffing when I could eat unrestrictedly! I made something last year that was great – hope I saved the recipe somewhere because I am looking forward to those flavors again. I can’t comfortably eat nightshades or mushrooms so this particular recipe is out for me (nor grains nor legumes woohoo!) but I am pretty creative in the kitchen so it works out.
Who else in the fam besides Julia is showing signs of food intolerances? None of my beeswax really, just it’s the first I’ve noticed y’all mention it.
Our oldest daughter :(
We do not have dietary restrictions in the family but this looks delicious! I will give it a test run before our big Christmas dinner. Have you shared your cornbreaded stuffing recipe before? Cooking for 20, the breading helps the budget stay under control ????
It’s linked in the post above! :)
Mmmm! I’ll make this with Gardein spicy Italian sausage slices for a true vegan dish! It seems like more of a hash or a sauté to me than stuffing, but will be a great complement to vegan Friendsgiving regardless. Thanks, Chris!
As someone who can’t regular stuffing, to me this tastes just like it!
Sounds amazing! I have celiac so finding a good GF stuffing has been challenging! I could see our whole family enjoying this!
Do you think the almond flour can be subbed for another grain free flour like tapioca or coconut?
Coconut flour is a great sub here!
Any sub for the almond flour? I can everything in it except that :(. I’m excited!!!!!
Corn, wheat, soy and most nuts (not pecans) are out ????
It can be subbed for coconut flour or be left out!
This looks yummy!! But a word of caution….as a parent of a child with life threatening nut and peanut allergies, labeling this recipe as allergy friendly is misleading. Of course I’d read the ingredients fully before I let my child eat it, but most people don’t understand the nuance and dangers of food allergies. Someone could bring this to a dinner and describe it as allergy safe and cause a deadly allergic reaction. Of course most allergy parents and children are very careful, but just wanted to advise!!
Sorry to hear your child has such a life threatening allergy. If they can have coconut, coconut flour is a great substitute or you can leave it out!
Thank you. Now that he’s almost 6 we’ve learned to navigate it. People mean so well, but frequently they’ve shown up with something they believed was safe (and honestly meant well), but it was dangerous for him. Some of the allergy friendly packaging is very misleading because it is actually not legally regulated. I try to give quick pointers when I can because people really don’t fully understand deadly food allergies. And even as an allergy mom, I don’t feel comfortable navigating anyone else but my own child’s. So I totally u defat and people not fully getting it.
I think it’s actually ok to be called a dressing/stuffing. Traditionally I think people want to see bread in it but so many people have food preferences/restrictions (me included bc I’m allergic to anything with rising yeast) that this is a great option for us!! Going to try it for Friendsgiving next weekend!
Wow this looks Delicious!!! I’m making this!
But it’s not stuffing/dressing, Chris.
It’s just not.
What should it be called? And why not dressing?
Needs a new name. Roasted Vegetables and Sausage. Plain and simple.
It’s beautiful and I’m sure a delicious side dish to any meal, but it’s not dressing.
I think the spirit of the recipe is stuffing for those that can’t eat stuffing. And as someone who can’t, I can assure others in the same boat–this tastes JUST like the real thing. It’s like…is cauliflower pizza really pizza? (When it’s your only option–it is and it’s delicious!)
Sounds wonderful but you need to give it a different name. I know you created this dressing to be a side dish for Thanksgiving, but add more links of sausage in the mix or use as a side for a roasted chicken and I’d be happy eating this as a dinner at any time of the year!
It’s so good! I had mine for dinner and breakfast!
Looks delicious any tips for making or prepping parts of the recipe in advance?
The part that takes the longest is the prep, so if you cut everything up ahead of time that would make it a lot easier come the Thanksgiving rush.