Our Favorite Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Products: Kids Tested and Loved!

I often meet people who are newly going gluten-free and/or dairy-free for various health reasons.  ADHD, thyroid issues, infertility, you name it.  Invariably, they ask me for recommendations for gluten-free dairy-free products and recipes, and I am SO happy to give them.

It’s now been 6 years since we had to go gluten-free and dairy-free, due to my son’s food allergies.  It was devastating at the time, and it took us a long time to comfortably settle into a new way of cooking and eating.  Talk about a learning curve, right?  

But I am thrilled to say that I don’t miss much about the old way these days. It’s especially helpful that there seems to be a new gluten-free and dairy-free product on the market every time I go to the grocery store.

In this post, you will get a list of all my family’s favorite gluten-free, dairy-free products.  These are my top choices after having tried most of their competition.  You know they’re good when my gluten-loving daughter loves them, too! 

Our Favorite Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Products

A few words on sourcing before we dive in.  Most of these items are available at major supermarkets these days.  They may not all be available at one store, but if you’re willing to make a couple of stops, you’ll be able to find them near you.

Whole Foods is always a good retailer for gluten-free, dairy-free products.  If you have a health foods store in your neighborhood, they may carry these products, too.

Otherwise, I buy many of these items through Vitacost (they often have 20% sales that you can totally take advantage of).  Amazon is always an option if you can’t find something anywhere else.      

Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Dried Pasta

Jovial Whole Grain Brown Rice Pasta

Spaghetti, elbows, mafalda, and lasagna!  They are all so good and the closest to regular pasta that I’ve found. 

With dried gluten-free pasta, you have to watch closely how long you cook the noodles.  A minute too long, and it just all becomes mush.  Jovial has been the most consistent among the brands that I’ve tried. 

It also helps that it’s made only with organic brown rice flour and water.  Its packaging is recyclable and compostable (the clear film is compostable). 

I try other brands once in a while if a store is out of stock of Jovial noodles.  But I always come back because it’s simple and delicious! 

Le Veneziane Gluten-Free Pasta

While Jovial is our favorite dried pasta brand for sure, when it comes to capellini, or angel hair pasta, we really love Le Veneziane. 

This pasta is not made with organic ingredients and has corn as the main ingredient.  But for a very thin noodle like angel hair, this brand really retains the chewiness and firm texture that closely resembles regular pasta. 

Again, make sure not to overcook it. 

Our favorite way to eat it: save some of that starchy water on the side.  Drain when al dente, toss with vegan butter/olive oil, generously salt, and enjoy.  Add some of that starchy water back if the noodles stick together.  Yum!

Le Veneziane is unavailable at major U.S. supermarkets, but you can find it on Vitacost and Amazon.

Gluten-Free Flours and Baking

Bob’s Redmill 1-to-1 Baking Flour

This is my favorite day-to-day gluten-free flour.  I use it to make fluffy pancakes, crispy waffles, moist dinner rolls, and tasty pizza crusts.  It just works.

I’ve tried so many other brands over the years.  You follow gluten-free recipes online, and everyone seems to have a different favorite that they recommend.  Some recommend that you make your own blend (don’t have the time), and others sell their own (mail-order only!). 

Bob’s Redmill 1-to-1 Baking Flour is available at most grocery stores.  It is also the most versatile, allowing you to stick with this one bag for most of your gluten-free baking needs.  I like simple, don’t you?

Pamela’s Products Gluten-Free Bread Mix

I started making our sandwich bread at home towards the end of the Covid-19 supply chain chaos. 

Gluten-free bread that you find in your grocery store’s frozen isles are good enough.  But with supply chain issues, I had no idea which brands the store would have in stock.  Quality and price of the breads, however, varied widely.

So I started experimenting with baking the bread at home.  Several recipes and many, many trials later, I settled on Pamela’s bread mix.  It’s a pre-mix blend that is incredibly forgiving for the bread maker and the oven. 

The recipe calls for the bread mix, neutral oil, active yeast, water, and eggs.  We have replaced the water with organic whole milk, both for my son’s milk ladder (an allergy desensitization process) and a slightly firmer structure. 

The bread is so much superior to its store-bought counterparts, and super consistent.  It takes little time to put together, although you do have to let it rise and bake. 

I have not LOOKED at store-bought sandwich bread since we found Pamela’s.  You’re welcome.         

Bob’s Redmill Arrowroot Powder and Tapioca Flour

In gluten-free baking, arrowroot powder and tapioca flour often appear in recipes as a corn starch alternative. 

Corn can be a tricky subject.  Even though the Environmental Working Group (EWG)’s latest “clean 15” includes sweet corn as one of the cleanest produce, it is also a commodity crop that has been associated with genetically modified engineering and heavy pesticide use. 

For my son, urine testing over the past couple of years has shown high levels of glyphosate and other pesticides associated with corn.  The levels in my son’s body have come down significantly since we started monitoring and detoxing.  But I generally stay away from consuming conventional corn and related products. (We still enjoy Le Veneziane capellini, which is made with conventional corn in Italy.)

And this is where arrowroot powder and tapioca flour step in.  Each can be used exactly the same as corn starch.  I have never found a discernible difference, whether it’s for making roux or adding a quarter cup to a baking recipe. 

They’re also not that much more expensive than corn starch, conventional or organic. 

Rumford Baking Powder

I’d imagine that most baking powders currently available on the market are naturally gluten-free.  BUT, if you are like me and want extra assurance that it is, then Rumford baking powders are a great option.

Rumford baking powders are gluten-free and Non-GMO Project verified.  Although the manufacturer’s webpage does not indicate whether it is aluminum-free, plenty of retailer websites for the product say that it is. 

This product is available at most supermarkets and bulk food stores, including BJ’s. 

King Arthur Gluten-Free Pancake Mix

When we first started gluten-free cooking, King Arthur Gluten-Free Pancake Mix was a godsend.  It made gluten-free pancakes easy-breezy and incredibly tasty for the kiddos. 

These days, I make our pancakes with Bob’s Redmill 1-to-1 mentioned above with this recipe.  But if you want a pre-made mix that will deliver consistent results every time, this pancake mix will do just that.

A note on dairy-free milk for gluten-free baking: not all vegan milks are created equal.  Soy, coconut, cashew, and almond: they all stick to the flours differently and alter the final product. 

Stick with unsweetened almond milk when working with gluten-free flours (see below for recommendation).  Otherwise, your fluffy and crispy pancake may not be fluffy or crispy, no matter what mix or recipe you use.    

King Arthur Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake Mix

Sometimes, I make cake from scratch.  Most of the time, I use the King Arthur Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake Mix. 

Its winning points are that it is super easy to mix before you put the batter into the oven.  (Trust me.  The vanilla cake mix from King Arthur is WAY more complicated and not as light or moist.) 

It really is very hard to fail with this mix!

Welcome to the simple, gluten-free lifestyle.  Eat more chocolate cake. 

Enjoy Life Dairy-Free Chocolate Chips

Yummy…  Maybe I shouldn’t even include this in this list because there is really no alternative currently on the market.  But if you’re really just starting out and don’t know what’s out there, this will be helpful.

Enjoy Life chocolate chips are the only dairy-free baking chocolate chips you will find in your major supermarket.  They are made with rice milk and are delicious in every recipe. 

We always have some in our pantry for our pancakes and banana breads.  Their prices do fluctuate a lot, so stock up when you see a sale.

Hershey’s Cocoa, 100% Natural Unsweetened

With cocoa as its only ingredient, Hershey’s Cocoa 100% Natural Unsweetened is an affordable baking cocoa that will meet most of your chocolate baking needs. 

Let’s face it, the organic and fair-trade cocoa products are amazing.  But they are pretty pricey and usually unavailable at most grocery stores.  I once purchased Hershey’s 100% cocoa on a whim for a recipe and have been happy with it. 

Plus, it is super affordable at the time of this writing, and a container will last you a long time, depending on how frequently you bake.

Dairy-Free Butter and Cheese

Violife Plant Butter

Every vegan butter is a little bit different.  Each is best for a different purpose, in my opinion.

Full disclosure, our favorite spreading vegan butter is Myoko’s Creamery Oat Milk butter.  But that’s been unavailable for some time now, after a corporate drama.   

My favorite vegan butter for making grilled cheese and frosting is Violife Plant Butter.  It is available at most grocery stores, and its fats mimic those of butter closely. 

Earth Balance would be my fourth favorite, after another Myoko’s plant butter.  Earth Balance contains palm oil as an ingredient, and palm oil is not a sustainable ingredient at this time.  Earth Balance is also a little bit watery if you try to do anything other than spread it over your bread.  It makes good frosting, though.  

For many reasons, if you had to go with one plant butter, I’d stick with Violife. 

Violife Just Like American Cheese Slices

This is my son’s favorite cheese for his snack box, grilled cheese, and hamburger buns.  It tastes remarkably like the real thing and is delicious. 

It takes a minute for it to melt if you’re looking for a melty cheese. If you want to make sure it will melt, then read on.

Daiya Dairy Free Shreds

Cheddar, mozzarella, and Mexican blend.  Daiya shreds are our favorite dairy-free cheese when it comes to melted cheese.  On pizza?  Only the Daiya mozzarella!

I will say that I do not notice much difference in their tastes (mozzarella vs cheddar, for example).  So if you have one kind, you probably have them all. 

But the Daiya shreds melt beautifully on your pizza and grilled cheese. 

As with anything, check ingredients carefully when buying dairy-free cheese.  I’ve found wheat among the list of some other plant cheese ingredients, and that is no bueno in our book.      

Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Cookies

Kinnikinnick Gluten-Free Vanilla Wafers

The product is pretty self-explanatory.  These vanilla wafers are seamless substitutes for the real thing.  I put them in their snack boxes, and we love making banana pudding with these. 

Goodie Girl Mint Cookies

The Goodie Girl brand has a number of gluten-free dairy-free cookies currently available on the market.  The mint cookies are our favorite. 

The cookies are not overly sweet, light, crispy, and chocolaty with a hint of mint.  It just doesn’t get old.

Annie’s Gluten-Free Bunny Grahams

I only discovered these a couple of months ago and appreciate them. 

The bunny grahams are fun for my kids’ snack boxes.  My kids enjoy the little bunny shapes and choosing between vanilla and chocolate. 

With gluten-free dairy-free products, I sometimes feel like the fun is a little lost.  

It’s just a marketing gimmick, you might say, and you’d be right.  But sometimes, I appreciate that my kid can experience something closer to what other kids have.  So now I have these in my pantry regularly. 

Once Again Cinnamon Graham Crackers

For the longest time, we could not find good graham crackers to make s’mores with.  The ones on the market were either too thick and hard or not dairy-free. 

When I first tasted the Once Again Graham Crackers, I squealed with joy.  They are the perfect texture and flavor for a graham cracker and enjoyable with or without chocolate and marshmallow. 

I like to have them with chai tea when the weather gets cold.  Yummm… 

Other Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Pantry Items

Almond Breeze Unsweetened Original Almond Milk

As mentioned earlier, some plant milks do better than others when it comes to gluten-free baking. I’ve tried most other plant milks–coconut, cashew, soy, and oat–and find that almond milk performs the best with gluten-free flours.

It’s something about the degree to which the milk makes the flour wet. Different plant milks enable different levels of wetness for the gluten-free batter. Some make them too wet, some too dry.

Almond milk allows the best and most consistent outcome for recipes involving gluten-free flour, I’ve found. Pancakes, waffles, and dinner rolls. We always have these almond milks in the pantry just for this purpose.

Udi’s Gluten-Free Hamburger Buns

So we’d been buying Udi’s Gluten-Free Hamburger buns for a few years.  They were okay, and there weren’t many alternatives if you didn’t want to bake your own.

Then, some months ago, they changed their recipe.  For the better.  They are now soft and crispy when toasted, and perfect for a home-made burger. 

I scoop out some of the bread from the inside for my kids and myself.  Otherwise, the buns are a little thick.  But they taste great in the final burger.  Hamburger nights are one of my kids’ favorites!   

San-J Organic Tamari, 25% Less Sodium

As you can already tell, I come from a South Korean heritage.  I grew up on Korean food and, while I love all kinds of cuisines these days, still prefer Asian flavors to this day. 

Most soy sauces contain wheat in their ingredients.  Tamari is soy sauce made without wheat, and we love the organic and less-sodium version from San-J.  Clean and light, and simple. 

If you are allergic to soy or avoiding soy for various reasons, try San-J’s No-Soy Tamari. 

We tried going soy-free for a few months when we were working with a naturopath for my son.  I was disheartened, to say the least. The coconut aminos, popular among health circles as a soy sauce alternative, tastes nothing like the real thing.

I persevered. I researched. I found the pea tamari on Amazon. This was it! The San-J No-Soy Tamari tastes just like soy sauce but is made with peas. Thank you, San-J, for your innovative business.

Manishewitz Gluten-Free Matzo Meal

My son simply loves matzo ball soup.  He once told me that, if I made him lots and lots of matzo balls for his soup, he’d marry me. 

Now, we’ll see what he’ll say when he’s past 12 years of age, but I am not lying when I say he loves his matzo ball soup.

A good matzo ball soup replaces the traditional chicken noodle soup in our house.  This is because, as mentioned earlier, gluten-free noodles just don’t do well soaked in liquid for long. 

But a matzo ball is perfect in a rich broth of chicken and vegetables.  It’s high in protein because it’s basically a potato-egg dumpling; it has a perfectly pillowy texture that my kids love. 

I follow this recipe for the soup.  It’s what we eat when someone has a cold or is otherwise under the weather.  You won’t be disappointed. 

Aleia’s Gluten-Free Panko Breadcrumbs

Sometimes, I make fresh breadcrumbs from all the bread ends that I save in the freezer.  But if I am making a fried chicken or pork cutlet, Asian style, Aleia’s Gluten-Free Panko Breadcrumbs are my go-to. 

They are always fresh, light, and crispy when fried, just like regular panko.  

Eden Foods Canned Beans

Okay.  So maybe these are a no-brainer for being generally gluten- and dairy-free.  But, as we have learned, the Eden Foods canned beans are one of the few brands that pre-soak the beans before cooking.

Soaking beans prior to cooking makes them more digestible for your stomach.  If you have food sensitivities and are watching what you eat, these are the way to go for your next canned beans recipe. 

Final Thoughts

I probably have more, but will stop here. But these really are a few of my favorite things, gluten-free and dairy-free products version.

Changing the way you eat and what you eat can be tough. But rest assured that, in time, you will love the new foods and not miss much about wheat and dairy. And you are not alone, because more and more people are consciously choosing their foods, health conditions or not.

I hope you like the products I’ve listed here. I am grateful that they exist. There are way more gluten-free dairy-free products today than there were when I first started. Please let me know if you have a favorite product that is not listed here and want to share, as I am always looking for more options. 🙂