Here are the 10 best gluten free recipes of 2020, according to pageviews! These are the 10 newly posted recipes on the blog that you loved most this year—plus 6 that got honorable mention.
Dear 2020, I need a minute.
What a year, right? I'm not throwing 2020 in the trash heap, because I learned a ton, and I'm better for it.
We've all been touched by this crazy year. There's been so much pain, so much loneliness, so much heartbreak.
I am thinking of you, and doing everything I can to support you. Even if you are lucky enough not to have experienced direct loss (job, life, connection), we've all experienced loss as we've been alone, together.
My family has had its own share of loss, but we're okay and *knock wood* we're all healthy. My children aren't all totally thrilled with the New Cruelty of 2020 ?, but I just keep chanting save a life save a life save a life.
I'd never thought of myself as an optimist, since I'm kind of cranky? But it seems I'm a cranky optimist. The arc of history bends toward justice…because we bend it.
Food brings us together, even if only virtually sometimes. And I develop comfort food recipes, always and forever.
That's part of how I help (also, by donating money). So let's pop the hood ? on 2020's recipes, then. See what we've got!
How does a recipe make the Best of List?
These are the top 10 gluten free recipes published on the blog in 2020, determined by total pageviews. If I just showed you the top 10 recipes on the blog, published any time since 2009 (!), it would be almost the exact same list year after year.
That's just the way the Internet works. Well, that's mostly the way Google works. Search engines want fresh content, but not too fresh.
As a published post ages, it gets more attention, which leads to better rankings. And that makes it more likely that you'll find it and come visit me here on the blog. Welcome! ?
There's also the blogger trick of redoing and republishing older content. That's eligible for this list, and it's an Internet darling.
Why post this list anyway?
The short answer? It's fun! ?
You can see all of my published blog recipes right here, any time you like. But you can't see my private blog statistics (can you?).
Sometimes, if you're interested in such things, you might assume that your favorite recipe is everyone's favorite recipe. Or the pin you keep seeing on Pinterest must be raking in the pageviews.
Sometimes that's true; often it isn't. So here's a peek behind the curtain.
Creating this list also forces me to look at the cold, hard facts. Sometimes I'm proud as a peaco*ck of a certain recipe, but it passes into the night, unnoticed.
It's so important for me to see what you like. This blog is my job. It's not a personal journal, and I write for you.
Why include 6 honorable mention recipes?
When I see that there are some posts that didn't make the Top 10, but put in a really good showing despite having been published much later in the year, I want them to have their day in the sun. ☀️ If not this year, then when?!
The 10 best gluten free recipes of 2020
Here they are, from #10 through #1. Then, the 6 recipes that are worthy of honorable mention.
For each individual recipe, click the highlighted hyperlink below it for the full recipe and all its details.
Number 10 of 10. These naturally gluten free flourless brownies are rich and fudgy, with a Paleo option, too. Made simply, with melted chocolate and cocoa powder, for maximum chocolate flavor.
This recipe wasn't first published this year, but this is the year that it got a method makeover—and a beauty makeover. Look at that crackly top and tell me you don't want to make these.
Plus, they're perfect for new-ish gluten free bakers. They're made with 100% regular pantry ingredients.
Number 9 of 10. These soft gluten free cutout sugar cookies with a meringue-type frosting are a perennial favorite of mine. They were a 2020 republish, too, and practice makes perfect because they finally hit their stride.
These are your celebration cookies. Make them into heart, shamrock, Christmas tree, or pumpkin shapes.
Frost them with the fluffy, stable frosting like the clamshell container grocery store ones. Or cover them in royal icing.
Number 8 of 10. This flavorful loaf of gluten free sourdough bread is made with the simplest wild yeast sourdough starter. Your basic loaf of sandwich bread, no commercial yeast needed.
My traditionally published gluten free bread book has a whole chapter on wild yeast sourdough, and it's a whole thing. I just wasn't planning to recreate any part of it on the blog.
And then, 2020 came along and bought up all the commercial yeast, at least for a time. You asked, we baked.
Number 7 of 10. This recipe for gluten free monkey bread is easy to make, especially for the little hands of little kitchen helpers, and makes the house smell like warm, cinnamon goodness!
Number 6 of 10. If you’re looking for the perfect side to almost any meal, this naturally gluten free cornbread recipe is just the thing.
Originally our “old fashioned gluten free cornbread” recipe made exclusively with cornmeal, this post now has variations aplenty. This adaptable recipe can be made with all cornmeal, cornmeal and corn flour, or corn flour and all purpose gluten free flour.
Number 5 of 10. This easy gluten free chocolate cake is rich, dense and fudgy, and it’s all made in just one bowl. Make a double layer or single, with the simplest chocolate ganache frosting.
It's our go-to chocolate cake. And yes, it really is as moist as it looks. Every. single. bite.
Number 4 of 10. Picture the gluten free white sandwich bread you’ve been missing in your life, and know that the wait is over. It’s that simple.
This soft and tender bread bends and squishes, and I've finally shared complete instructions for making it in a pullman pan. You know, the kind of pan that makes square bread like you see in the photo above.
When I really (really) don't know what to make for dinner, but I've got some time, I'll make a whole loaf of this and serve it, sliced. Everyone figures out on their own what they want to do with their portion.
Number 3 of 10. The “2 ingredient” bread dough made famous by Weight Watchers is a shortcut way to make easy gluten free cinnamon rolls that taste like the yeasted kind and make any morning special.
Number 2 of 10. These classic set the standard for everything a cookie should be. They’re easy drop cookies, ready in a flash any time at all.
They're not fancy, but if you've been missing the classics now that you're gluten free, this recipe is like manna from heaven. The cookies are big, but not overwhelming. And the taste is spot on.
Number 1 of 10. This simple recipe for thick and chewy gluten free oatmeal cookies is crispy around the edges, soft and chewy the rest of the way through.
It's funny that the #1 most popular 2020 recipe on the whole blog … is the sort of recipe that tends to inspire readers to yell at me about oats.
Certified gluten free, “purity protocol” oats are, indeed, gluten free. If you're also sensitive to oats, then don't use them!
I have so many posts on the blog explaining all of this, and there are already enough links on this page (just use the search bar!). But rest assured, if you're with me, and you're pro-oats, we're in good company. These cookies are our favorite, and yours.
Honorable Mention
Often, the posts that get the most pageviews, even the ones that were published in the calendar year, are the ones posted early in the year. They have a head start!
But especially since 2020 was a rollercoaster of a year, and it called for all kinds of pivots in every area of our lives, these recipes are going to get their due. They were juuuuust outside the Top 10 (starting with 11 on down).
Some of them (like apple fritters) aren't going away. Others (see: wild yeast sourdough starter) were of a moment, mostly. But they're all part of the year's mosaic.
The perfect gluten free apple fritters are fried efficiently and quickly until they’re crisp on the very outside and soft and tender inside—with apple pieces cooked to fork-tender perfection. No yeast needed!
It isn't that convenient to deep fry anything. That's probably why so many of you asked for my blessing to “air fry” these fritters (blessing denied! It's too loose of a batter).
But you made this recipe anyway. You tagged me all over the place with your lovely fritters. We salute you, apple fritters!
How can I talk about our recipe for wild yeast gluten free sourdough bread without talking about our wild yeast gluten free sourdough starter. We made it from scratch, step by step.
We mostly made it for lack of commercial yeast, but some of us made it for love of the taste. I, for one, will not be carrying this tradition into 2021. But it has its charms…
This is perhaps the simplest recipe for gluten free artisan bread. Unlike the white sandwich bread above, this bread can be mixed by hand in one bowl with the most basic pantry ingredients.
It’s your everyday gluten free bread recipe. It doesn't make a ton, but you can make 2 loaves quite easily.
I think of it like a table bread. We were baking so much bread in 2020 that it felt like the right time to develop a dead simple recipe. We all loved it! And this one's a keeper.
Gluten free steamed Chinese meat buns are made with the same incredibly light and fluffy dough used to make bao buns, here filled with a simple savory meat mixture.
You can even make and steam the buns ahead of time, then just refresh them in the steamer before serving. I've also actually successfully made bao buns using the same dough, and a similar process (shape, rise, steam). So fun!
The dough for these gluten free French bread baguettes is simple to make, can be shaped right away, and baked into warm, fragrant loaves in minutes. Remember warm bread with butter in a bread basket?
These baguettes are ready so fast that I often make this recipe for dinner and serve it as subs. So far, other than garlic bread, their highest and best use appears to be … gluten free meatball subs.
Finally, these gluten free gingersnaps, with just the right warm spices and a little cracked black pepper, are baked low and slow for the perfect, ultra-crispy texture.
If you search “gingerbread” on this blog, you will find an embarrassment of riches, from cakes to cookies to crackers. But these are drop cookies, and they're just so snappy and spicy.
Keep them in a sealed glass jar at cool room temperature (out of the sun). They'll stay crisp!
Thank you, from my heart
I am truly so grateful for the trust you place in me. This was a year that we all felt a bit more vulnerable, so I did my best to offer some extra tender loving care.
And even though it's a struggle for me, I showed a bit more vulnerability in the GFOAS weekly email newsletter. If not this year, then when, right?
My husband lost his job this year, and it was scary. My children's normal lives were turned upside down, like all of ours. I never wanted to burden any of you with any of me, but this was the year that I took a chance and shared our struggles.
I'm so glad I did. There was some pushback, and it wasn't very kind (sometimes the angry emails are funny, but mostly these weren't). But more than that there was so much love ?, in both directions.
If you're not yet on the (completely free!) GFOAS Email List, I encourage you to join us. It's special, and I cherish that list more than you may know.
Happy New Year! ??? Hey 2020! ?? Time to go…
Much love,
Nicole
