The Best Gluten Free Treats You Can Find at the Grocery Store

By Lanie Brice ‘24

When I was around 14 years old, I found out that I had a pretty severe gluten sensitivity. As a kid who lived off pasta, bread, and cheese in different variations for most of the years leading up to this moment, I was pretty upset to hear I’d never get to eat many of my favorite foods again. For a long time, I didn’t have baked treats or my old comfort foods because they weren’t as easily accessible, but over the last few years, grocery shelves have filled with tons of amazing gluten free baking flours as well as easy, quick recreations of delicious baked goods, pastas, breads, and more. While there’s plenty of amazing, naturally gluten free foods out there, sometimes you just want the chance to enjoy some of your old favorites, so I compiled a list of my favorite gluten free swaps that are both sweet and savory. Whether you’re celiac, gluten sensitive, or just want to try something different, all of these treats are just as satisfying and delicious as their gluten counterparts and are thoroughly delicious in their own right.

Savory Dishes

Capello’s Spinach and Cheese Ravioli from my freezer

Capello’s Ravioli

After growing up on a steady diet of pasta, pasta, and more pasta, I was devastated when I wasn’t able to eat conventional, gluten pasta anymore. Capello’s had me overjoyed when I stumbled upon their ravioli in the freezer section. While there’s a number of gluten free dry pastas, there’s really nothing that beats the taste of fresh pasta. Capello’s offers the best of both worlds because their almond flour pasta is frozen right after the fresh ravioli are made which gives it a delicious, restaurant-like taste. While they have cheese only options, I really love the spinach and cheese variation because the spinach is so finely chopped that you get to add an extra vegetable to your day without ever tasting it. Capello’s also makes their fresh pasta in other shapes like lasagna sheets and fettuccine. 

Annie’s Boxed Mac and Cheese

(Annie’s Organic Vegan Mac Gluten Free Rice Pasta)

You know the low quality dry pasta I was talking about earlier? This is exactly that in the most delicious way. If you’re gluten or dairy sensitive but want to experience childhood nostalgia through taste, Annie’s has you covered with this boxed mac and cheese to transport you back in time to your carefree Kraft days.

Simple Mills Crackers  

Simple Mills is a 10/10 brand for people with celiacs disease or a gluten sensitivity. As you’ll soon see, they make multiple appearances on this list for many of their amazing products. I absolutely love their sea salt almond flour crackers as a quick snack throughout the day. If you are looking for a replacement for a soda cracker or saltine, this will fit the bill and offer a bit more depth of flavor as well. These have become a favorite even among my friends who can eat regular crackers.

Caulipower Pizza 

Caulipower was one of the first gluten free brands I ever tried and is still one of my favorites. They use cauliflower as the base for their pizza crust which creates a lighter, thin crust pizza that’s a bit healthier than conventional pizza as well. I love their margarita flavor which is completed with a light sprinkling of cheese and diced tomato squares.

Sweet Treats

Nature’s Path Chocolate Dark Chocolate Chip Waffles

For those of you still mourning the loss of Eggo Waffles, I have found the perfect solution in these delicious freezer waffles that are just as convenient and slightly better flavor balanced than our childhood favorites. They work great toasted, but if you don’t have a toaster in your dorm room, I personally choose to microwave mine as I prefer the chewy, bready texture to a super crispy one. 

Simple Mills Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you’re a Chips A’hoy fan, these Simple Mills cookies will be your perfect match. The small, dense cookies deliver that same rush of processed cookie product with fewer chemicals and simpler ingredients. These make for great snacks or after dinner treats.  

Simple Mills Sweet Thins Chocolate Brownie

While there is the word brownie in the title, nothing about these thin, crispy cookies is reminiscent about brownies except for the chocolate flavor. The best way I can describe these cookies is to imagine a grown up version of a chocolate Teddy Gram. If you really want to lean in to that experience, they also offer these in honey flavor.

Katz Donuts

One of the hardest treats to replace in my experience are donuts. There aren’t many places that offer gluten free donuts, and the dessert presents many challenges if you want to make them yourself. You can imagine my excitement, then, when I stumbled upon Katz donuts in the freezer aisle at the Village Target. The chocolate glazed donut holes are a perfect match for the cakey donut holes from Dunkin’, and their glazed donuts are also a delicious breakfast that are the best match I’ve found for the ones you’ll find at popular breakfast chains. 

Tate’s Bake Shop Chocolate Chip Cookies 

Now if you want cookies that taste freshly baked, these perfectly capture the wonderful flavors in a zero effort cookie you can eat right out of the bag. These are on the thin and crispy side which gives them a completely different feel from the mini Simple Mills chocolate chip cookies. 

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