Gluten Free Cholent and Passover Stew Recipe

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Learn how to make a gluten free cholent which is perfect for Passover as well! You can also check out my list of Shabbat lunch ideas to try. This post contains affiliate links.

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With some family members suffering from Celiac disease, I’ve had to make gluten free cholent a number of times. I’ve tried it a few ways, but my absolute favorite: just do a Passover style stew with no grain. It’s so good!

You get rich, creamy potatoes with flavorful meat and onions for a comfort food that’s perfect for a Shabbat pre-nap lunch.

How gluten free cholent is different from regular

We love gluten free cholent so much that we often make it even when we don’t need to! Adding a grain to your cholent is what makes the liquid turn to “gook” (yes, that’s really what I call it). Leaving it out leaves you with a rich, hearty dish that is good leftover too! So while you can try gluten free cholent with alternatives such as brown rice or oat groats, I prefer to simply leave it out, making it Kosher for Passover too.

So this gluten free cholent also serves as “the cholent for the cholent haters”. My almost six year old detests cholent, will not touch meat from the cholent, but loves it when I make this stew as it stays gook-free.

Cholent lovers (myself included) will find that it’s not the same thing as a way-too-heavy cholent meal but is still a heavenly dish for Shabbat lunch. And since I hate waste, especially food waste, I like to make gluten free cholent year-round, even for us carbaholics as it serves us very well as leftovers too.

A Kosher for Passover Cholent Recipe

This year, Passover comes on Shabbat. While cooking is permissible on holidays (as long as you don’t light the fire), on Shabbat it isn’t. So there is also a specific need for Kosher for Passover cholent this year. My mother always made hers as a simple, flavorful meat and potatoes dish.

I make my cholent in a crock pot – specifically a four quart one. If you have a large chunk of meat, you’ll probably want a larger 7 quart one.

I always use a solid piece of meat, and not stew meat. I don’t have it down to a science which cut is best and often get what’s on sale. Soft and fatty meats stay juicier and in my experience, stew meat cubes dry out way too quickly – I only use them when making crock pot mushroom barley soup.

To add amazing flavor, I saute onions. But if you know me at all, you’ll know that I’m a completely lazy cook. To save on dishes, I simply slice onions into a layer of olive oil at the bottom of my crock pot, and leave it for a few hours, half-supervising and stirring occasionally. It might annoy the true foodies but for those of us who need easy it’s a lifesaver!

Dislaimer: I am NOT a foodie. I never took a cooking class. I just like to dabble and experiment in the kitchen and break a few rules too… and then share my successes with you, as long as they’re easy!

How to make a delicious gluten-free cholent that’s kosher for Passover too

There’s a printable version of this recipe at the end of the post, but it relies on a third party plugin so in case anything ever happens to that I always include the written recipe here too!

Ingredients

• 2 large yellow onions
• 2 T olive oil
• 5 frozen garlic cubes, or 5 cloves sliced
• 1.5 lb (or whichever size you need) soft fatty meat such as flanken
• Waxy potato such as Yukon Gold (I usually put in about five medium to serve four people)

Spices & seasoning:

• 1 T salt
• 1 t pepper
• 2 T chili powder
• 2 T paprika
• 1 T garlic powder
• 1 T onion powder
• 2 T honey
• Optional: a few tablespoons of bbq sauce
• Optional: 1/2 cup wine

Equipment:

• 4 qt slow cooker
• Veggie wash and scrubber

Gluten Free cholent recipe

1. Cover the bottom of your slow cooker with about 2 T of olive oil and turn it to high. Slice your onions into rounds and mix it well with the oil. Leave it until it starts to caramelize, about four hours. Check on it occasionally and stir.
2. If you’d like, you can add garlic cubes and let that saute a little until fragrant.
3. Add your meat and season it well. I like to place the spices, and sometimes bbq sauce and wine directly onto the meat. I let it cook for a little like that so that the meat can absorb the flavor.
4. Scrub your potatoes well. Cut them into large chunks (1/2-1/4 potato) depending on your preference. If you cut it too small it’ll turn to mush. Mine are usually about 1.5 inches inch in size. If you prefer to peel your potatoes, you might want to leave them larger as you don’t want them turning to mush.
5. Place the potatoes in the crock pot surrounding and over the meat. Mix it a little so that the spices will flavor the potatoes well too. Cover with water, turn to low, and cook overnight.

Notes

• If you place the meat over the potatoes, it might absorb more flavor. However, you’ll want to make sure your meat remains submerged or it’ll dry out. If the potatoes stick out a little they sometimes caramelize a bit.
• Add a bit of heat with cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes
• Play around a little. Try it with a bit of duck sauce or ketchup.
• I sometimes add fun spices to the mix – Trader Joe’s are my favorite. I’ve done it with Chili Lime, Ajika Georgian, BBQ 101, and others.
• You can make this gluten free cholent recipe as large or small as you’d like. Just be wary of the seasoning. Potatoes can quickly get bland.
• Since you’re omitting the grain component of cholent, you have more space in your slow cooker for kugel! Wrap a chunk of this potato kugel recipe in foil and place it in the cholent, slightly submerged, for a heavenly overnight potato kugel.

How do you make gluten free cholent? Comment below!

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