Just Start with Gluten-Free Cooking
Gluten-free cooking is not about deprivation or replacing every ingredient with a specialty substitute. Most of the world’s great cuisines are already built around rice, corn, potatoes, or legumes rather than wheat. The real skill is learning which everyday dishes are naturally gluten-free, which need small adjustments, and how to build a pantry that makes weeknight cooking fast and satisfying. Once you stop thinking of gluten-free as a limitation and start treating it as a framework for exploring food, dinner gets a lot more interesting.
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How to Make Anything Gluten Free
Becky Excell · 224 pages · 2021 · Easy
Themes: gluten-free cooking, everyday meals, fakeaways, weeknight dinners
The cookbook that proves gluten-free cooking does not mean settling for bland substitutes or a limited rotation of safe meals. Becky Excell, the UK food writer behind the award-winning blog Gluten Free Cuppa Tea, spent years perfecting recipes that taste exactly like the originals, and this Sunday Times bestseller collects more than 100 of her best savory and sweet creations.
Why Start Here
Most gluten-free cookbooks fall into one of two traps: they either focus heavily on baking or they treat gluten-free cooking as a medical diet, stripping all the joy out of food. Excell takes neither approach. She starts from the meals people actually miss, things like chicken chow mein, fish and chips, pad thai, pizza, and crispy fried chicken, then shows you exactly how to recreate them without gluten.
The book is organized around the way people actually eat: brunch dishes, quick lunches, comfort food, “fakeaways” (homemade versions of takeout favorites), and weeknight dinners. Each recipe uses ingredients you can find in a regular supermarket, not specialty health food stores. Excell is pragmatic about convenience, using store-bought gluten-free flour blends and pasta where they work well, rather than insisting you make everything from scratch.
What makes this the ideal starting point is the accessibility. The recipes are written for people who are new to gluten-free cooking and need clear guidance on what to buy, what to avoid, and how to adapt their kitchen. Each recipe is labeled with helpful tags: 30-minute meals, one-pot dishes, dairy-free options, and vegetarian variations. You can open the book to almost any page and have dinner on the table within an hour.
What to Expect
A beautifully photographed 224-page cookbook with over 100 recipes spanning savory meals, snacks, and some sweet treats. The focus is firmly on everyday cooking rather than special occasions. Expect practical, no-fuss recipes that rely on widely available ingredients. Excell includes dairy-free, vegetarian, and low FODMAP labels throughout, making it useful for people managing multiple dietary needs at once.
Alternatives
Danielle Walker · 368 pages · 2013 · Moderate
The cookbook that launched the grain-free cooking movement, written by Danielle Walker after she transformed her own health by removing grains, gluten, and dairy from her diet. Diagnosed with ulcerative colitis at 22, Walker spent years developing recipes that are both healing and genuinely delicious, and this New York Times bestseller collects over 150 of her best.
Why Start Here
If your gluten-free journey is motivated by an autoimmune condition, food sensitivities, or a desire to go fully grain-free rather than simply swapping in gluten-free substitutes, this is your book. Walker goes beyond removing gluten. She eliminates all grains, refined sugars, and dairy, building recipes around vegetables, quality proteins, healthy fats, and natural sweeteners instead.
The range is impressive: breakfast dishes, soups, salads, main courses, side dishes, sauces, and yes, some desserts. Walker provides recipes for everyday staples like chicken fingers, meatballs, pizza, and tacos that satisfy the whole family without anyone feeling like they are eating “diet food.” The recipes are thoroughly tested, and Walker’s instructions are detailed enough that even cooks who have never worked with alternative flours or coconut aminos can follow along.
What sets this apart from other paleo or grain-free books is Walker’s emphasis on making food that feels normal. She is not asking you to eat salads for every meal. She is showing you how to cook the comfort food you love using different ingredients.
What to Expect
A substantial 368-page cookbook with full-color photography and over 150 recipes. The book covers the full spectrum of meals from quick weeknight dinners to weekend projects. You will need to stock some specialty ingredients like arrowroot starch, coconut flour, and ghee, but Walker includes a thorough pantry guide to help you get set up. The recipes skew toward American comfort food with some international influences.
Danielle Walker · 336 pages · 2014 · Easy
The practical follow-up to Against All Grain, designed specifically for busy weeknights. Danielle Walker answers the question every gluten-free cook faces on a Tuesday evening: what can I make that is quick, satisfying, and does not require a trip to a specialty store? This book provides eight weeks of complete dinner plans with shopping lists, make-ahead tips, and over 100 simple recipes.
Why Start Here
Where the original Against All Grain showcased what grain-free cooking could achieve, Meals Made Simple focuses on making it sustainable. The book is built around weekly meal plans, each with a shopping list and a prep guide that tells you what to make ahead on Sunday so the rest of the week comes together quickly. This structure is invaluable for anyone transitioning to gluten-free eating who feels overwhelmed by the daily question of what to cook.
The recipes are deliberately simpler than those in the first book. Most use fewer ingredients, shorter prep times, and techniques that a beginner can handle. Walker includes one-pot meals, slow cooker recipes, and dishes that freeze well, recognizing that real life does not always allow for elaborate cooking. Each recipe is still fully grain-free, dairy-free, and paleo-friendly.
What to Expect
A 336-page cookbook organized around eight complete weekly meal plans. Each plan includes a shopping list and make-ahead instructions, making it easy to batch-cook on weekends and assemble meals during the week. The recipes focus on dinner but include some side dishes and basics. This is the most practical of Walker’s books and the best choice if your primary goal is getting gluten-free dinners on the table consistently.