8 Healthy & Gluten Free Thanksgiving Sides Your Family Will Love

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The Other Side of Thanksgiving

Whether you’re hosting or not it is one of the most stressful things making sure everyone (you and your kids) have something to eat at Thanksgiving that is safe and delicious. Our first Thanksgiving with allergies included limited things for me to eat and a ton of separate dishes for “gluten free” and “normal” thanksgiving sides. The thanksgiving sides I was able to eat was usually Jello or some other sugary thing and a couple veggies. Everyone made an honest effort that I really appreciated but I saw room for improvement. First of all, we don’t make as many separate dishes anymore because there are delicious things that we can ALL eat, second of all good thanksgiving food doesn’t have to be full of sugar, it can be healthy and nourishing! I’ve brainstormed 8 allergy safe and healthy thanksgiving sides for EVERYONE at Thanksgiving to enjoy! They are cheap, simple and come with the cutest printable recipe cards to save for next year!

Your Family Deserves a Stress-Free Thanksgiving (Even With Food Allergies)

Managing allergies can feel very difficult around the holidays. Making sure your family doesn’t think you’re too demanding, making sure you can actually eat things, making sure grandma doesn’t have to call and ask a million questions and of course making sure no one feels left out.

As if there isn’t enough to worry about at a “normal” thanksgiving dinner, lets just add the cherry on top. Whether this is your first thanksgiving or your 10^th managing food allergies for yourself or other family members these sides dishes will make it so much easier and that much more delicious.

These recipes are the perfect example that healthy, safe eating doesn’t require wealth or compromise.

Quick Safety Tips

Here are some quick tips before we get ahead of ourselves on how to keep all the food safe even when you’re serving things that aren’t allergy friendly.

• Plan on need extra spoons, cutting boards, bowls and dishes
  • We want to keep all the spaces for allergy friendly preparing separate as well as serving utensils and bowls!
• Making a written list or document of allergens, things to look for, recommendations and what not to do for your allergies can streamline the process of making sure extending family understands what’s going on
• Label dishes clearly with signs or sticky notes. I personally like labeling rather than separating out “allergy safe food.” I think have separate things can isolate people easily rather than a quick label or announcement before eating.

8 Allergy-Safe & Healthy Thanksgiving Sides

I’m so excited for you to try these healthy thanksgiving sides! All will be under $15 to make for a large crowd, free of the top 9 allergens, most of these can be prepped ahead and a lot of these will definitely be kid-approved.  A couple recipes require substitutions that are listed (check out this blog post for common allergen substitutes that I use when changing a recipe). They are all flavorful and will add some variety and pleasant surprises to your Thanksgiving spread!

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Side Dish #1: Garlic & Herb-Roasted Root Vegetables

Roasted vegetables are my absolute favorite way to eat vegetables and you can season them any way you’d like to fit any season you’d like! This healthy thanksgiving side is naturally allergen friendly, creates a unique way to eat veggies and is so simple and quick! You can chop up the veggies the night before if you’d like. To feed 8 people this will end up costing around $10. A simple way to encourage people to eat more vegetables on thanksgiving.

Ingredients:

Carrots
Red Potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Onions
Parsnips
Garlic
Rosemary
Salt
Pepper
Thyme

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. Cut up veggies of your choice into bite size pieces. I don’t peel my vegetables but you can if you’d like before cutting them.
3. Mix veggies in a bowl with some olive oil and herbs and seasoning that you choose. I do about a 1 tbsp of each seasoning when making enough vegetables for 4 people, but season to taste. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper, dump the coated vegetables on and roast for 20-30 minutes at 425 degrees!

Side Dish #2: Dairy-Free Garlic Mashed Potatoes

I love all things potato on Thanksgiving but garlic mashed potatoes might take the cake. These are perfect for a large crowd and negates the need for gravy when you don’t want to make one that is gluten free. These have super simple substitutions without sacrificing the flavor of everyone’s favorite comfort food! Without a ton of additives these potatoes are perfect for a low cholesterol food on thanksgiving! This one is going to cost about $6 to serve 8 people. PLUS garlic is a great immune boosting food, perfect time to eat plenty of it being flu season!

Ingredients: (For feeding 8 people)

10 russet potatoes

2 sticks of dairy free butter or margarine

1 cup of soy milk (Soy milk is the best non dairy alternative for creamy potatoes because of it’s higher fat content)

¼ cup of chopped garlic

Salt

Pepper

Instructions:

1. Peel, cut and begin boiling potatoes in a large pot of water. The potatoes need to be covered by the water so they all cook evenly. They should boil for about 20-30 minutes depending on how many potatoes in a pot, cook until tender enough to poke easily with a fork.
2. Once the potatoes are tender, strain them and transfer them to a large bowl. You can mash them in a mixing bowl or by hand. If doing it using a kitchen aid, use the mixing attachment and start on the lowest setting. You’ll follow the same process if mashing them my hand. I find I get the creamiest result using the kitchen aid.
3.  As they start mashing slowly add the milk, butter and garlic. Potatoes vary in size and if you want them creamier or need more moisture add more milk 1/4c. at a time. Once completely mashed mix in the salt and pepper to taste. Do a taste test for more needed garlic
4. Serve immediately

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Side Dish #3: Maple-Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

This healthy thanksgiving side might get a lot of naysayers but I LOVE ROASTED BRUSSEL SPROUTS and I don’t care who knows it. They are seriously my favorite but they have to be cooked right. If you hate brussels  sprouts the problem might be you haven’t had them cooked right. That was my husband’s problem but I have converted him to my brussels sprout loving ways. This particular recipe is so good and provides the perfect sweet and savory combo adults and kids will LOVE. They key is to get these ones crispy! If you’re looking to save time on cook day you can trim and chop the sprouts the day before. This will cost about $10 to make if you do it with the bacon.

Ingredients:

1 lb Bacon

1/3c. Maple syrup

2lb Brussel sprouts

3/4c. Olive oil

1 tbsp Salt

½ tbsp pepper

Instructions:

1. Chop the bacon up and cook it in a skillet on the stove top till crispy. Remove from heat and set aside when done.
2. Chop the ends off the brussels sprouts and chop them all in half. They are going to shink in size by about half as leaves fall off and they are prepared.
3. Add the brussels sprouts to a bowl and coat with the olive oil and maple syrup, toss so you know they are completely coated. Leaves of the sprouts will probably fall off and that’s totally fine.
4. Add the salt and pepper and mix the brussels sprouts.
5. Stir in the bacon
6. Put on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper and roast in the oven for 30 minutes @ 425 degrees or until crispy on the edges.
7. Serve hot

Side Dish #4: Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping

This is the perfect dairy-free version of a holiday classic! This healthy thanksgiving side is also a bit healthier since it requires a lot less added sugar and you get to really enjoy the natural sweetness of the potatoes.

There are some substitutions that you’ll need to make it dairy free and gluten free since it is not my recipe! I have tried it with these adjustments and it tastes great while still being healthy! You’ll need to use dairy free butter, cut the sugar in half and use gluten free flour! This recipe will cost about $10 to make for a crowd of 8-10!

Side Dish #5: Green Beans with Lemon & Garlic

This is such a simple yet delicious dish. This is a great substitute for green bean casserole which is a little more expensive to make gluten and dairy free. It provides a light option among other heavy dishes that come with thanksgiving. These take little to no prep and will cost about $8 to serve 8-10 people.

Ingredients:

2 lbs Fresh green beans

2 Lemons

3 garlic cloves

1/4c. olive oil

Instructions:

1. Prep green beans by washing and snapping the ends off
2. Juice and zest lemons
3. Chop garlic
4. Mix garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil and green beans together
5. Salt and pepper to taste
6. Sauté beans in a skillet on medium heat till tender

Side Dish #6: Gluten Free Whole Grain Corn Bread

I love corn bread and a plus is that the grains and whole and minimally process compared to white rolls or other popular breads served at thanks giving. It is also super cheap to make! I’m not going to lie, the best cornbread I have had is from a box…. Krusteze gluten free corn bread mix, which I would highly recommend if you’re willing to spend a little more but if you want a homemade one this recipe is the best!

I like to top it with a whipped dairy free honey butter which is literally equal parts honey and dairy free butter stirred together vigorously until whipped and mixed. It’s really that easy!

Side Dish #7: Gluten free (NOT DAIRY FREE) High Protein Creamy Mac and Cheese

Mac and cheese might seem like one of those things you have to miss out on if you have alleriges, but you don’t. A weird thing about my allergies is that I am specifically allergic to milk but not cheese. I don’t know how it works but it does. So sorry to all you non cheese eater but…. I hope you gluten free eaters can enjoy this homemade mac and cheese! It can be high protein if you use chickpea noodles which I find make for the best creamy mac and cheese PLUS a hidden veggie (chickpeas) for kiddos and adults alike.

Ingredients:

2 boxes of Banza chickpea noodles (whatever shape you like best)

1.5 cups of cheddar cheese

1 cup of full fat mozzarella

2 tbsp gluten free flour

1 stick of dairy free butter / margarine

1 cup soy milk

½ pasta water

1 tsp garlic powder

½ tsp paprika

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp salt

Instructions:

1. Cook noodles according to instructions on the box
2. While they are cooking grate cheese and prepare butter and milk to add in as soon as they noodles are ready
3. Once the noodles are tender strain them (setting aside 1/2c. of pasta water for thickening) and do a quick rinse to remove extra starch.
4. Add the noodles back to the pot on low-medium heat
5. Add in milk and butter
6. Slowly add the cheese about 1/2c. every minute or so, so it all gets the chance to melt
7. Stir until everything is combining, there should be “extra” milk in the bottom that is boiling, making it look like runny mac and cheese, that’s perfect! If not add 1/4c. more milk. It should take an extra 5+ minutes to melt and combine
8. Once cheese and butter I melted and milk is boiling and in the flour and the seasoning! Stir until becomes creamy and smooth!
9. It if is not thick enough add a small amount of pasta water till you get the desired consistency.
10. Serve warm!

Side Dish #8: Autumn Harvest Salad with Balsamic Vinegar Dressing

I LOVE salads with fruit, nuts and cheese, they are my all time favorite. This specific salad holds a special place in my heart with all the combining flavors. It is a delicious way to consume your leafy greens and give fruit the perfect spot at the thanksgiving table. Serves 8-10 people, can easily reduce amounts of salad if needed.

Ingredients:

2 chopped Apples

16 oz of spinach

1 cup of feta crumbles

1/2c. candied walnuts

Balsamic Vinegar

Instructions:

1. Put spinach in a bowl
2. Chop apples into bite size pieces
3. Smash candied walnuts if they are whole to make them combine with the salad better
4. Add toppings on top of salad
5. Pour balsamic vinegar on the salad as dressing and mix.
6. Serve immediately

Connecting Thanksgiving to the 8 Pillars of Wellness

Thanksgiving isn’t just about food – it’s an opportunity to nurture multiple areas of family wellness, especially when you’re managing food allergies.

 These healthy thanksgiving sides support your family’s physical wellness by preventing allergic reactions while boosting immune function during cold and flu season. Managing allergies well reduces the anxiety and stress that often plague holiday gatherings, supporting your emotional wellness and helping kids or other family members with allergies feel included instead of isolated.

When you confidently prepare safe meals, you’re strengthening social wellness too – these dishes let your family participate fully in gatherings and teach others that food allergies don’t have to be scary or limiting. Learning to change and adapt recipes builds intellectual wellness through problem-solving skills that benefit your whole family.

These healthy thanksgiving sides are budget-friendly recipes also prove financial wellness is possible even with allergies – all 10 sides cost just $100-125 for 8 people, way less than specialty allergy products! Using seasonal produce keeps the price low and allows us to use what the earth is producing right now, there are also opportunities to buy local when we shop seasonal produce.  

Finally, gratitude practices and meaningful family traditions honor spiritual wellness at your table. This is what “health is never something we should sacrifice” looks like in action – safety, health, AND joy at Thanksgiving, regardless of your budget or allergy constraints.

Check out these 25+ gratitude activities to help you family get in the gratitude mindset for  this thanksgiving season!

Making Thanksgiving Memories That Last

Sometimes the stress or the meal can overshadow why we are really having Thanksgiving. It isn’t about perfect or healthy thanksgiving sides or the best turkey it’s about coming together as family to enjoy one another and remember what we are thankful for.

Our meal should be a focus of tradition over perfection! If we are making memories having fun and providing a safe space for everyone we have been successful! It doesn’t have to look like the spreads on Pinterest or be decorated perfectly, just memorable!

Amidst preparing healthy thanksgiving sides (and the rest of the meal) don’t forget to take pictures and document these wonderful memories you’re creating! Make thanksgiving about family and gratitude!

As you’re accommodating kids, adults, guests or whoever it may be show your kids that being different isn’t bad and everyone has a place at the table!

You’ve Got This, Mama

This Thanksgiving managing food allergies isn’t going to be as overwhelming or difficult with these 8 healthy thanksgiving sides! These healthy thanksgiving sides prove that you can have it all: low stress, traditions, safety, nutrition, flavor and stick to your budget! Living with allergies and striving to be healthy doesn’t require wealth and it is never something we should have to sacrifice! You’re not alone on your journey and our families are so much more than our food allergies!

Don’t forget to snag your free recipe cards, pin these sides for later and comment your allergy safe thanksgiving tips!