Gluten Free Souffle

The fluffiest gluten free souffle with spinach and parmesan cheese makes a beautiful vegetarian main dish. I love making this dish for a special meal's centerpiece, although it's also perfect for a casual weekend dinner. Easily make it gluten-free by using sweet white rice flour in the roux.

Easy Gluten Free Souffle Recipe

This easy gluten free souffle recipe is so fresh and flavorful, and worth the bit of extra time it takes to make it. Soufflés can be tricky, but creating a successful gluten free soufflé is absolutely within reach! The gluten free souffle featured in this post is inspired by an Alice Waters recipe from The Art of Simple Food. To make the roux (a sauce used to thicken sauces, soups, and souffles), we swap sweet white rice flour (mochiko) for all-purpose flour. This simple substitution creates a gluten free base for the souffle and the rest of the ingredients are gluten free already. I love a souffle packed with tender baby spinach leaves and lots of Parmesan cheese and served with a crisp salad and roasted potatoes.

What is a Souffle?

A soufflé is a puffed up French baked egg dish that gets its name from the souffler, meaning to breathe or puff. If a souffle is done right it will emerge from the oven gloriously fluffy and puffed up (though it will start to deflate immediately after being removed from the oven's heat). Souffles can be made sweet or savory, complicated or simple. I wrote an article for NPR that includes a recipe for sweet potato souffle, chocolate souffle, and strawberry souffle plus a few more if you want to try other options.

Ingredients Needed

Here's a glance at everything that goes into this gluten free souffle recipe, with full ingredient amounts included in the recipe card at the end of this post.

• Spinach - I use baby spinach leaves.
• Green onions - Or you can sub 4 thinly sliced cloves of garlic.
• Heavy cream - I don't think there really is a substitute for heavy cream in this recipe - it gives the souffle the beautiful richness that distinguishes it from other egg dishes. In a pinch, you could try half-and-half.
• Butter - Use unsalted butter.
• Parmesan cheese - You can use grated or shredded Parmesan.
• Sweet white rice flour - Sweet white rice flour, often also seen as mochiko, helps to create a gluten-free roux.
• Milk - Whole milk is best!
• Eggs - Use large eggs in this recipe. You need 4 egg yolks and 6 egg whites.
• Salt - I always use fine sea salt in my recipes!

What Kind of Eggs are Best for Souffle?

Fresh, large eggs are best! If you have chickens or neighbors who share their freshly-laid eggs with you, souffle is a wonderful way to showcase them. That said, any type of egg will work, although try to use eggs that you've purchased recently rather than a carton that has been in the fridge for a while. Make sure to bring the egg whites to room temperature before whipping them for the best results.

Why Use Sweet White Rice Flour?

Sweet white rice flour, also sold as mochiko, is a naturally gluten free glutinous flour - meaning it's sticky and has wonderful binding properties for gluten free baking, sauces, and more. In cakes and breads, sweet white rice flour is often combined with a starchy gluten free flour such as tapioca flour and with a gluten free flour or flours such as oat, sorghum, brown rice, and more. I use it in my gluten free flour blend along with tapioca and oat flour to create a simple, effective gluten free 1:1 flour substitute.

How to Make a Gluten Free Souffle

There are more than a few steps for making gluten free souffle, but they're not complicated. You can get an idea of how to make this souffle below. Check the recipe card for the detailed instructions.

• Prepare: Preheat the oven to 375℉ and butter a 6-cup souffle or gratin dish.
• Wilt spinach: Chop or tear the spinach and steam it until wilted.
• Steep: Put the green onion and cream in a small saucepan over low heat, bring to a boil, then let it steep.
• Make roux: Melt butter in a saucepan, stir in the sweet white rice flour, and cook for 1 minute while stirring.

• Add milk: Whisk in the milk and stir until thick.
• Add cheese: Add the salt and stir in the Parmesan.

• Combine: Stir in the egg yolks, spinach, and cream mixture.
• Beat egg whites: Whisk or beat the egg whites until they form firm peaks.

• Fold: Gently fold ¼ of the whites into the base to lighten it.
• Finish: Gently fold in the remaining whites.

• Add to pan: Scrape the batter into the prepared dish.
• Bake: Place in the oven and bake until golden brown and set.

Souffle Tips

At its heart, souffle-making is a fairly simple endeavor. Good eggs are the most important ingredient here, followed by the advice to bring the egg whites to room temperature before you whip them. You want to get enough air into the whites so that they make the souffle rise nicely, but you don't want to overbeat them otherwise they can get too dry. A few more tips for gluten free souffle are below:

• Use fresh eggs: Use the freshest eggs you can get. This means that those eggs you've had kicking around the refrigerator for a few weeks might not be the best to use in your souffle. If you have laying chickens, you're all set, but for the rest of us, a fresh box from the farmers market or supermarket will work fine.
• Remove all yolks from the whites: When separating the eggs, be careful not to leave even a speck of yolk in the whites. Eggs just out of the refrigerator separate more easily, but make sure to get the whites to room temperature before whipping, as they will whip to a higher volume when not cold. This is important when you're making a souffle because the puffiness comes only from the egg whites.
• Use a clean bowl: Make sure the bowl and beaters are absolutely clean and dry when you start whipping the white.
• Work quickly: Once whipped, work quickly but gently to fold the whites into the souffle base. The goal is to maintain as much airiness as possible before baking.
• Make ahead: You can make the souffle base up to 24 hours in advance of when you plan to bake the completed souffle. Place it in an airtight container in the fridge, then bring it to room temperature along with the egg whites before proceeding with the recipe.
• Don't open the oven door! This is so difficult, but try not to open the oven door to peek at your souffle's progress. I've done this far more than I should admit and have suffered a somewhat deflated souffle.
• Other flavor suggestions: Try different cheeses, other vegetables such as asparagus, red pepper, or pureed sweet potatoes, and fresh herbs such as basil, oregano, and rosemary.

Serving Suggestions

Souffle needs an accompaniment of vegetables, either a crisp salad or a side of greens. As shown in the photos, I love to roast red and white cream potatoes (cut them in half and rub them with olive oil and salt) and sweet potatoes, then add them to a serving of gluten free souffle. And a bowl of crisp-caramelized roasted cauliflower and/or broccoli is always welcome.

Or, toss a skinny, spindly bunch of asparagus in a bit of olive oil and salt and roast them for about 20 minutes at 375℉. Gluten free souffle is also lovely served with fresh fish such as salmon: slip a pound of salmon into a bath of lemon juice, white wine, and salt and pepper and bake it at 375℉ for about 30 minutes. You could also keep it very simple and serve a souffle with a loaf of crusty, fresh bread.

Storage & Reheating Options

While a souffle has the best presentation soon after it emerges from the oven, you can save leftovers to enjoy another time! Here's how to do it:

• Fridge - Place leftover souffle in an airtight container and store it in the fridge for up to 3 days.
• To Reheat - You can reheat the souffle in the microwave in 30-second increments until hot, or gently reheat it in a 350℉ oven until heated through.

More Gluten Free Dinner Recipes

• Pasta Bake
• Broccoli Soup
• Gluten Free Asparagus Quiche