Thanksgiving is just next week. Holidays can bring all the feels when you’re on a limited diet. There are so many festivities and traditions that center on food, it can be hard to miss out. The good news is, many of those foods can be slightly altered to be low histamine!

I rounded up all the recipes and tips I could find to share with you so you can have easy access to a low histamine Thanksgiving. We’ll start with-

The TURKEY!

Histamine levels rise quickly in meat, so take that into account when you decide how to thaw and cook your meat.

Thawing Turkey:

Try to time it so that you’re ready to cook your turkey as soon as it’s thawed, you don’t want it sitting thawed in the fridge for a couple days because the histamine levels will be a lot higher (source: MastCell360).

Cook from frozen- from the Spruce Eats

If you want to bypass the thawing, check out this tutorial from The Spruce Eats for cooking a turkey from FROZEN! That’s what I’m going to try this year. Here is another tutorial from The Kitchn on cooking a frozen turkey. You’re going to need a meat thermometer if you cook from frozen.

Cook in the instant pot- from Bacon is Magic

If you do thaw the turkey and want to cook it quickly, check out Bacon is Magic’s tutorial for cooking a whole turkey in the instant pot. You need a small turkey for this to work.

Whether you thaw and cook the turkey, or cook the turkey from frozen, the histamine levels will probably be similar. Thawing takes a few days in the fridge but it shortens cooking time. Cooking the turkey from frozen cuts out the thaw time but it takes almost twice as long to cook. So pick whichever option fits best for your schedule and don’t stress about histamine levels (I need to take my own advice 😆).

One thing you can do to help keep histamine levels low is to freeze the extra turkey meat immediately after dinner, don’t let it sit out on the counter for long.

Low histamine seasonings

Regardless of how you cook your turkey, you’ll want to use low histamine seasonings. Fresh herbs and spices are the lowest in histamine, but you can use dried if you need to. Try to use dried spices that have been open for less than 6 months.

Turkey Gravy

Who loves gravy? Me! It’s one of my favorite parts of thanksgiving dinner. The picture and link below is for a recipe by Spend with Pennies. She has instructions for thickening with cornstarch, flour, or making a roux. To keep it GF use gf cornstarch or substitute gf flour for the regular flour. Season with low histamine herbs like thyme, rosemary, or sage.

Spend with Pennies Turkey Gravy

Bread

In my family the bread is almost more important than the turkey. We LOVE bread. Below are some delicious recipes, there are histamine level 1 & level 0 options.

Life After Wheat GF Soft Garlic Breadsticks

Life After Wheat GF Cloverleaf Rolls

Low Histamine Baby Low Histamine Bread

Stuffing

Gluten Free Palate Gluten-free Stuffing

This delicious looking gluten-free stuffing has great reviews. The trick will be finding a low histamine bread. You can try making croutons out of my low histamine bread recipe, but full disclosure I have not tried it and am not sure it will work well in stuffing. Just wanted to give you the option tho!

Potatoes

Mashed

Take your recipe and swap regular milk for coconut, macadamia nut, rice, or oat milk. Swap butter with a dairy free margarine like smart balance, ghee if you tolerate it, or extra light tasting olive oil. Remember pepper is high in histamine, so leave it out. If you use dairy free milk or margarine the potatoes will be rated a histamine level 1.

Roasted Potatoes

If you’re not a fan of mashed potatoes, try roasted potatoes!

Tastes of Lizzy T Roasted Red Potatoes

Sweet potatoes with marshmallow

Everybody likes a different version of sweet potatoes, so I don’t have a specific recipe to suggest.

Here’s what you need to look out for to keep it low histamine: fresh sweet potatoes are low histamine. Canned sweet potatoes or candied yams are a level 1 or 2 histamine. Eggs are a level 1 histamine. Citrus is a level 2 or 3 histamine so omit this if it’s in your recipe. Marshmallows are likely a level 1 histamine. Here are some marshmallow options that are also gluten free.

Smashmallow

These are made with gluten free ingredients but they are produced on equipment that processes wheat so beware of that if you have a gluten allergy. Vanilla is rated a level 1 on the histamine scale. Coloring from fruits and vegetables may also cause a histamine reaction so just be cautious.

Walmart Brand

These marshmallows have some preservatives that may cause a reaction.

If you want to try making your own gluten free marshmallows here are two corn syrup free recipes that look promising:

Bless Her Heart Ya’ll Gluten Free Marshmallows

Laura Fuentes Homemade Marshmallow Recipe-No Corn Syrup

Veggies

Here are a couple veggie recipes you might enjoy. The bonus is they are also easy!

Dinner at the Zoo’s Honey Roasted Carrots

Martha Stewart’s Stir Fried Asparagus

Or if you want a veggie appetizer check out this fun tray:

Eating Richly Thanksgiving Turkey Veggie Tray

Fruit

Cranberry Sauce

For all you cranberry sauce lovers, you’re in luck, cranberries are low histamine! I never liked cranberry sauce myself, but I’m happy for those that do. Use fresh cranberries and if your recipe calls for citrus fruits omit them.

Fruit Tray

Some options include blueberries, blackberries, apples, grapes, peaches, nectarines, and cherries (although these are controversial as to how well they are tolerated).

Pie

Pumpkin pie is the classic Thanksgiving dessert. The great news is that pumpkin is low histamine! For lowest histamine, use fresh pumpkin. Here’s a tutorial from A Pinch of Healthy on how to cook a whole pumpkin in the instant pot & puree it. If you use canned pumpkin it will be a histamine level 1.

Below are two different pumpkin pie recipes. The first one is vegan and uses a regular pie crust. The second is gluten-free and dairy-free.

Nora Cooks Vegan Pumpkin Pie

Allergy Free Alaska Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie

Desserts

If you don’t feel like having pie try out this delicious carrot cake. This is what I had for Thanksgiving last year and it was SO good!

Low Histamine Baby Carrot Cake- GF, DF

And that’s the end of our recipe round-up.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you have a wonderful day celebrating with your family. Even amidst the stress of a global pandemic, taking a few moments to feel and express gratitude can lift our hearts and give us a moment of peace and calm.

Delicious food always helps too 😉

❤️ Stacy