Top 9 Allergy Free Dinner Recipes & Meals (with Vegan Friendly Options)

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Managing dietary restrictions can be all consuming and overwhelming, especially if you’re new to food allergies. With that in mind, today we’re going to look at some delicious allergy free dinner recipes and meal ideas. Before we jump in though, I want to stress: anyone can be allergic to anything, or manage a food intolerance to anything. So the term “allergy free” may be a bit misleading.

When someone says allergy free, they’re usually referring to common allergens, also known as top or major allergens. Here in the US, we have what’s called the top 9 allergens. In Europe, they have the top 14 allergens. Each country or governing body will have their own set of major allergens.

The US top allergens are: wheat, milk, egg, soy, peanut, tree nut (including coconut as per the FDA), fish, shellfish, and sesame. These 9 ingredients cause the most reported allergic reactions and ER visits.

Going Back to the Basics

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk logistics. When you’re preparing allergy friendly dinners, especially if you’re busy (think holiday season) or new to the free-from life, think BASIC. Now is not the time to try a million fancy or complicated new recipes.

Instead, think about the main content/component of your meal. Is it a protein? Great. Now let’s build around that. What’s a simple starch you can serve? If you’re gluten free, dairy free, and many other frees, think about roasted potatoes, steamed rice, or a gluten-free pasta (there are loads of options to choose from these days).

Now we have a main and a starch. What else can we add to this meal? Anything. Fresh fruit is always my go-to since there’s no prep involved, just a little washing. This ultra basic formula can get you through the hardest of days. From there, start to explore different recipes your family will enjoy (I’ve linked to many later in this article).

for those who are feeling overwhelmed (specially if you’re newly diagnosed), use this formula for several months. During that time, learn more about your diagnosis, adjust to reading labels, new precautions you may need to take, and so on. Once you have a handle on everything else, then tackle adding new recipes.

Preventing an Allergic Reaction in Your Home

In case you’re reading this and you’re a mixed allergy household (where different people have different allergies), it’s important that you think about cross-contact. This happens when an allergen comes into contact with the food or prep/tools used for someone who is allergic to that item. A great example is a cutting board.

Let’s say you have a child who is allergic to strawberries. If you use the board to cut strawberries, then use it to slice banana (that will be served to the child with the strawberry allergy), there’s cross-contact between the strawberry and banana. This creates a risk of an allergic reaction due to trace amounts of strawberry being on the banana.

If you’d like to read more about this topic, and learn how you can prevent cross-contact in your home, read this article.

Cooking an Allergy Free Meal When You’re Managing a Mixed Allergy Household

If you’re living in a mixed allergy household, and cooking for everyone’s individual needs, that can get very exhausting very quickly. What you really need are meal ideas for the entire family, what I like to call Cooking for the Greatest Common Denominator (GCD). Yes, our middle school math lessons have finally come to help us.

Let’s say you have one child with a dairy allergy in the home, and another child has a wheat allergy. On top of that, your spouse has a different allergy, let’s say an egg allergy. Rather than cook three recipes, I want to encourage you to find delicious recipes that meet all of the needs in one go.

To aid in this, I’ve built the Advanced Recipe Search. You can use more than 100 filters (it covers food allergies, special diets, food intolerance, and much more) to find the perfect solution for your family. Give it a spin and get amazing recipe ideas.

If you need help with meal planning, RAISE also offers pre-made meal plans, and a meal planning tool that you can use on the website. You’re even able to print out shopping lists based on the recipes in your plan. This can be especially helpful if you’re a new mom or new to managing food allergies.

Allergy-Friendly Recipes I Think You’ll Love

Each of these delicious recipes is gluten free and top 9 allergy free. Some are top 14 allergy free as well.

Kid Friendly Top 9 Allergen Free Dinner Recipes

When serving kids, I like to think about colour, texture, and simplier flavours. These recipes are all gluten free and top 9 allergy free. Some are top 14 allergy free as well.

Allium Free Curried Apples & Rice Recipe (Vegan, GF, Top 9 Free)
Easy Butter Chicken with Shallots and Grapes (look at that colour!!)
Purple Cabbage & Chicken Ramen Recipe
Kid Friendly Chicken & Apple Tacos (Gluten Free, Top 14 Allergy Free)

Healthy Dinner Recipes for the Whole Family

If you’re looking for healthy recipes to serve your family, here are some of my top picks. I will remind you however, the term healthy is different to everyone.

Easy Recipes & Meal Ideas That are Top 9 Allergy Free

If you’re looking for EASY, be sure to look at pressure cooker recipes and sheet pan recipes. Many are naturally allergy friendly, or easy to adapt. These hands-off cooking methods can make your day feel a lot less stressful.

Top 14 Allergen-Free Recipes

Like it says on the tin, these recipes are top 14 free. I also think you’ll enjoy how easy they are to make.

Meatless Recipes I Think You’ll Enjoy

These vegan recipes I’m sharing are also gluten free and top 9 allergy free. Some are top 14 free as well.

Answering Your Allergy Friendly Dinner Questions

Do you have any tips for serving picky/selective eaters?

I’ll be honest with you: having a child who already has limited options refuse their safe food can be soul crushing. I’ve been where you are and here’s what I can tell you from the other side: it does get easier. However, getting to easier requires patience, consistency, and thick skin at times.

If you feel that your child’s picky eating is outside the scope of normal picky/selective eating, the Better Bites course from Kids Eat in Color may be helpful. It focuses on techniques, and it doesn’t matter how many safe foods your child has. The program works with what you’ve got.

For those of you who are managing normal/expected picky eating in children, here are a couple of tips. First, serve food in clear bowls. You know we talk about “food exposures” for kids? Well, it doesn’t count as an exposure if your child can’t see the food. Get down on their eye-level at your dining table. What can your child typically see? Make sure they’re able to see the food, and anything else you’d like them to be aware of.

Next tip: serve food family style. This allows your family to create individual bowls/plates that they’re more likely to eat. Here are a couple of examples of what a spread could look like.

Black Bean Burgers + Potato Salad + Sour Cream + Fresh Fruit + Tortillas
Gluten-Free Pasta + Chicken Cutlet (or Chicken tenders) + Red Sauce/White Sauce + Salad Greens
Sweet Potatoes + Seasoned Ground Beef + Fresh Fruit + Salsa (or another sauce)

With each of these examples, each item is its own serving bowl. Rather than serve plates of pre-made foods, allow everyone to serve themselves. Novelty tongs can be especially helpful for picky/selective eaters.

If your child consistently eats only starches, don’t raise the red flags just yet, as this is pretty typical. Kids NEED carbs and quick energy, which is why many gravitate towards carbs. If you’re concerned about protein and fat content, do the math. Most parents are shocked to learn how small a protein portion needs to be for their child to meet the daily minimum.

Hopefully this gives you a little peace of mind. If you’d like to dive further into this topic, check out the baby, toddler, and kid feeding courses by Feeding Littles. I’ve heard nothing but good things from parents who have enrolled.

Do you have recipes for creamy soups that are also wheat free and dairy free?

Why yes, yes I do. I’ll link to them, but here are a few tips for you, if you’d like to make your own custom creamy soups at home.

Some ingredients lend themselves really well to being creamy when blended (steamed carrots, butternut squash are two examples). Beets on the other hand don’t create a creamy mouthfeel when blended alone.

When making creamy soups that are dairy free and wheat free, you can use a wheat free/gluten free flour along with a dairy free milk to create a roux (thickener). This will allow you to make something super creamy that’s absolutely safe for you.

Many dairy free cheeses, as well as cashews, can make an excellent base for a creamy dairy free soup. This article shares more details with you. Now, here are some recipes for you to enjoy.

Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup Recipe
Cauliflower & Potato Soup Recipe (Vegan, Gluten Free, Top 9 Free)
Creamy Dairy Free White Bean Pumpkin Soup Recipe
Leek & Potato Soup Recipe (Vegan, Gluten Free, Top 9 Free)
Easy Parsnip & Carrot Soup Recipe (Vegan, Gluten Free, Top 9 Free)
Wheat & Dairy Free Cauliflower and Zucchini Soup Recipe

What’s a great main dish to serve at a dinner party that’s allergy friendly?

I’ve gotten this question often times when someone is hosting a gathering and at least one guest has a food allergy. Here are a few options that are very allergy friendly:

Steamed Rice + Steamed Veg + Seasoned Chicken (not breaded, just seasoned)
Taco Seasoned Ground Beef + Corn Tortillas + Salsa
Grilled Burger Patties

The neat thing about the taco beef and burger patties is that you can create a toppings bar. This allows you to have a range of items for guests to choose from. If you’ll be using packaged items (such as burger buns) keep the food labels visible so guests with food allergies can avoid the item if needed. Additionally, talk to your guests before the party. Find out what precautions you should take.

An easy way to help guests feel comfortable is to have a separate serving area (with separate serving tools) for the allergy friendly items.

I hope this article helps you as you feed your family well. Anddddd, if after all this talk about dinner you’re ready for something sweet, check out the top 9 allergy free desserts on RAISE.