Instead of sharing each of these safe gluten and dairy free brands in every post, we figured we would create a resource guide where you can see what brands of different ingredients we enjoy using.
THIS PAGE IS ALWAYS BEING ADDED TO
There are a few things to point out before we get started. Please note that brands and manufacturers can change at any point in time what ingredients they choose to use and the factory conditions that they make their products in.
For those with life threatening allergies, knowing if something is made in a certified "insert allergen here" safe or free from facility is essential to help avoid cross contamination.
If you're just avoiding specific ingredients for health concerns, the possibility of cross contamination may not be as important to you.
At the time that each brand is added, we will have vetted that it is gluten and dairy free and add other notes that we can about each ingredient.
Please know that certain recipes do better with specific brands or types of ingredients and that is why we specifically recommend certain things- if you choose to use something else in its place, know that we may not have tested the recipe with that alternative and you are responsible for how the recipe then turns out.
This list can change at any point in time without our knowledge, so it's always best to do your own research to ensure these are still safe brands. Brands may try to cut costs by changing ingredients without making it well known and that can impact the health of their consumers.
Affiliate links will be included in this post. We are sharing links to ingredients or products that we use. We may make a small commissions off any purchases you make, but this is at no cost to you. Thank you.
Jump to:
Our favorite safe gluten and dairy free ingredients to have on hand
Milk alternatives
Generally, we prefer shelf stable Almond Milk, but this may change depending on the recipe.
Coconut milk- we like to use Goya Coconut Milk or
Butter Alternatives
There are a ton of brands out there now.
- Earth's Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks (affiliate link)- Our go to brand for years has been this.
Cheese alternatives
Important note: This ingredient has changed SO much over the last decade. Brands we didn't prefer before have improved, so this section may be ever changing. Also note that what we prefer as a family, may not be the same to your personal taste buds.
- Follow Your Heart Shredded Cheese - melts decently and tastes ok.
- Kite Hill Ricotta Cheese (from Almonds)- we love this for all of our Italian dishes like our Oven Baked Lasagna, our Lasagna Skillet, or our Lasagna Soup. It adds the creamy factor we are always looking for and that cheesy flavor.
Pasta Options
Different gluten free pasta brands will work better in some recipes than others. We try to recommend our favorites for each recipe.
- Tinkyada Lasagna Noodles - this is our preference for our Homemade Lasagna, our Lasagna Soup, and our Easy and Simple Lasagna Skillet.
Condiments
- gluten free soy sauce- make sure to grab a safe gluten free soy sauce options. There are a couple. Typically, we use Kikkoman Gluten Free Soy Sauce (affiliate link) as it's certified gluten free with no additives or preservatives. It's made from rice instead of wheat. We had a hard time finding it in stores local to us for a while, so we stocked up online. We've also used Coconut Aminos over time and have decent results as well with that. We've used BetterBody Foods (affiliate link) and it's made from Coconut Blossom Nectar and sea salt. And if we really want a bold soy sauce flavor, we go for San-J Gluten Free Tamari Soy Sauce (affiliate link). It's made with soybeans and not wheat.
- pure maple syrup- use your favorite brand. We love to use Maple Groves Farm Pure Maple Syrup (affiliate link).
Herbs and Spices
It's imperative that you are vigilent in checking your herbs and spices. Surprisingly this is where people tend to get lazy or lenient and just assume that it's safe. We have been surprised many times by brands that once were safe have changed their processing or additives (which we try to avoid) and now are no longer ones we can trust.
Important reminder- at the time of adding something to this list, it was safe. But do your due diligence and double check to ensure it's still a reliable brand and ingredient to have on hand!
- salt- Redmond Real Salt is a personal favorite as of recently. We did some digging on salt and learned a lot of things we had no idea about. Iodized table salt is making an exit from our kitchen and Redmond Real salt is finding its home here. From their website, "It contains 60+ naturally-occurring trace minerals, and it’s never processed or chemically treated. Our fine sea salt is our most popular grain size and makes a perfect everyday table salt."
Other Pantry Staples
- cornstarch- cornstarch is naturally gluten free, but some brands process it in plants that have wheat as well. So, always check your brands to ensure it's either tested for gluten or certified gluten free. Bob's Red Mill is a solid brand for gluten free ingredients. On the back of their bag of corn starch (affiliate link), they specify that it has been tested to confirm that it's gluten free in their control lab. Another brand, Anthony's (affiliate link) has on their bag that it's gluten free corn starch and it is batch tested and confirmed gluten free. It's also organic if that is your preference.
- Creamy Peanut butter- We like to choose one that is made with just peanuts and salt.
- Dairy Free chocolate Chips- Enjoy Life (affiliate link) makes really tasty gluten and dairy free chocolate chips to use in baking recipes. Need Dark Chocolate Morsels (affiliate link)? These are our favorite too!
Cereal
- Nature's Path Organic Crispy Rice cereal- we use this crispy rice cereal (affiliate link) in our Oh Henry Bars and any of our Rice Krispie Treats.
- General Mills Gluten Free Rice Chex (affiliate link)- this is our go to for things like Muddy Buddies or Puppy Chow.
Kitchen Tools and Gadgets
- Le Creuset Skillet - This is one of our favorites to cook things in. You can't go wrong with a quality, good, easy to cook in cast iron skillet.