Skip to Content
Recipes

Gluten Free Holiday Desserts Everyone Will Love

Gluten free desserts that belong on your holiday table.

Holiday meals are rarely simple. Between family traditions and crowded tables, making room for a gluten free guest can feel like one more thing to manage. Dessert is often the hardest, but it doesn't have to be.

From flourless Italian classics to bakery favorites, Appetito has covered gluten free sweets that focus on desserts your friends and family will actually want to eat.

Whether you are hosting a large group or bringing something sweet in hand, these Appetito-approved gluten free desserts make it easier to offer a dish that everyone at the table can enjoy.


Sign up for the Appetito newsletter and receive new recipes, stories, and Italian inspiration straight to your inbox.


Explore some of Appetito’s gluten free coverage from over the years:

cannoli brownie bites

Gluten-Free Cannoli Brownie Bites


Finding tasty gluten-free desserts can be challenging, but that’s about to change. Our New York City-based contributor, Morgan Hines, shares this recipe from Lindsay Grimes’ cookbook Something Sweet.

Gluten-free Struffoli in cups

Struffoli: How to Make Gluten-Free Italian Honey Balls

A sticky and satisfying Neapolitan holiday dessert can taste just as sweet when made with gluten-free flour.

Castagnaccio is a gluten-free, vegan cake made with chestnut flour.

Castagnaccio is a Decadent, Vegan and Gluten-Free Italian Cake

Food and travel writer Justin Patulli shares a decadent cake recipe featuring chestnut flour that is perfect year-round and both vegan and gluten-free.

Limonetti Cookies.

Limonetti Cookies, a Gluten-Free Nod to the Amalfi Coast

A crunchy and chewy gluten-free treat, these cookies get their brightness from limoncello.


Pignoli cookies.

Start a Holiday Tradition with Gluten-Free Pignoli Cookies

Danielle Kaye shares her gluten free version of a traditional family holiday recipe for Pignoli cookies - chewy almond-based balls with a hint of crunch and topped with fresh pinoli nuts.


olive oil cake

Ricotta Olive Oil Cake

Our contributor Michelle Sessa shares this versatile and light gluten free cake.


Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Appetito

Four Bassano del Grappa Restaurants Locals Don’t Want You to Know About

Just beyond Venice, Bassano del Grappa offers the kind of local restaurants and everyday Veneto culture many travelers spend years trying to find.

May 13, 2026

How to Make Mira’s Sardinian Culurgiones at Home

At Buffalo’s Mira, chefs Manny and Gina Ocasio are bringing lesser-known regional Italian dishes to the table, including the intricate handmade Sardinian pasta known as culurgiones.

May 13, 2026

Ronnie Fieg Opens Ronnie’s Pronto Beside Kith West Hollywood

The Kith founder’s newest hospitality venture brings Italian-inspired sandwiches, frozen matcha drinks, and New York café culture to Sunset Boulevard.

May 12, 2026

Exploring Sorrento’s Culinary Traditions with Access Italy

While many travelers come to Sorrento for its dramatic coastline and seaside beauty, the peninsula’s most authentic stories are found through its food, from family-run restaurants and local wines to generations-old culinary traditions.

Regina’s Grocery Brings Calabrian Flavor to Orchard Street

In Episode Three of Appetito’s Regional Italian Series, Regina’s Grocery on Orchard Street reveals how Roman Grandinetti transforms Calabrian flavor, family history, and neighborhood nostalgia into sandwiches that feel deeply personal.

May 12, 2026

Monteverde’s Chef Bailey Sullivan on Atipica Italian Cooking in Chicago

From Top Chef to one of America’s most celebrated Italian kitchens, Monteverde Executive Chef Bailey Sullivan discusses her approach to Italian cooking.

See all posts