One of the things I love about cold weather is eating soup. This is one of our favorite soups. Truly, every member of my family really likes it, and I have extended family who enjoy it too. With sausage and potato in it, you can serve it as a main dish, and if you have meat and potato guys like I do, they are sure to love it.
Some of you have seen this soup before in my menu plans and in the recipe index, but I’m republishing it because it is worthy of extra attention. If you haven’t tried this gluten-free potato chowder yet, get busy! It’s also very easy to make dairy free and it tastes just as good.
This recipe is adapted from one in Bette Hagman’s book More from the Gluten-Free Gourmet.
Potato Chowder

Ingredients
- 1 pound bulk sausage, cooked and crumbled (the kind in a tube, not links or patties)
- 1 cup onion, chopped
- 1 cup carrot, shredded
- 1/4 cup butter or oil of choice
- 4 cups potatoes, sliced
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup milk or milk substittue (almond milk works well)
- 2 Tablespoons rice flour
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In the bottom of a large saucepan, saute the onion and carrot in the butter.
- Add the chicken broth and potatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the potatoes are cooked.
- With a hand potato masher, break up the potatoes until they are only small lumps.
- Add the rice flour to the cold milk and blend with a fork. Add to the potato mixture.
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat and add the cooked sausage. Heat through.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
Notes
Frozen peas could be added after the meat is added. The soup should then be cooked a couple of minutes more.
This recipe is submitted to the Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life as Mom which has a Food Allergy/Special Diet theme this week. Be sure to check out the other recipes. This is also submitted to Friday Foodie Fix at The W.H.O.L.E. Gang where you can find other recipes with carrots.
That sounds great. I love potato soup when I am sick. Thanks for sharing.
I love potato soup and when it's potato chowder, that's even better! I love the ease of making soup and not worrying about measuring, too, Linda. Thanks for pulling this out of your archives for us!
The Holiday Food Fest is such fun! 🙂
Shirley
That looks yummy! Thanks for sharing!
~Liz
Linda – this looks awesome! Will it work with any other GF flours other than Rice? I want to get the ingredients and make it at home tonight but not sure if the local supermarket has Rice flour.
This sounds wonderful, and sounds like a good soup to make my hubby happy! Yum!
Jill – You could try replacing it with corn starch, but I think rice flour or sweet rice flour is a better choice. I'm not sure something like sorghum or millet would work very well.
Mmm…I can't remember the last time I had potato chowder…I love the ingredients you have in this one!
Thanks, Linda! I'll look for the Rice Flour – I should probably have it in my pantry anyway.
WOW! I made this for dinner tonight and my non-GF husband had 2 1/2 bowls! I picked up some rice flour from the health-food store on the way home so now I have some of it in the pantry. DH wants me to leave it a little chunkier next time – I didn't have a potato masher so had to improvise with a wisk. Thanks for the recipe, Linda!
This looks great. I love hearty soups and chowders.
Have you tried using rice milk to make this dairy free?
No, I haven't tried rice milk. I know it works well in a lot of baking, but I don't know about a chowder. You could omit the milk and rice flour, maybe adding a little more broth. It would still be good, just not a chowder.
Anonymous and Linda, if you make a roux with a butter alternative, rice milk and gf flour first then add it to the soup it will be thick enough to maintain the consistency you want for chowder.
Jess
Thanks Jessie, great idea.
Wow, potatoes and you add in sausage. I think I'm in love. Adding in carrots is also a great choice. I'm going to give this one a try. Thank you for sharing this on Friday Foodie Fix.
Just found out I have celiac, so along with my heart diet. This has been a challenge so just came across ur website n excited to learn new recipes thanks
I am going to try this recipe .
Please send this recipe and more, for my husband and I r both diabetics.
I’m in Australia and some foods have different names here (eg your hamburger is a meat pattie I think whereas hamburger here is the breadroll, salad and meat pattie) and reading this recipe says sausage however I’m not sure what you’re mean. Sausage here is a mix of fine ground meat, cereal & herbs stuffed in a casing
Sausage can take different forms here. What I’m referring to is like this recipe: http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/homemade-breakfast-sausage/
YUUUMM! I made this a couple of nights ago and will defiantly be making this again! It’s been a little rough finding recipes my wheat intolerant 17 yo son likes and your website has been a game changer for us. Thank you so much!
I’m glad to hear that. With my three young men eating all my food, I’m not surprised that your son likes it too!
Great teaching experience for my 10 year old! Tonight she was peeling, shredding, sauteing, mixing and taste testing. I just supervised, sliced the potatoes and ran the immersion blender. She did everything else and it was fantastic! We used almond milk, Italian sausage and my favorite GF flour blend- Premium Gold Flax and Ancient Grains All Purpose Flour. Now that we’ve done this is it will definitely be a “go to” base to get creative with.
I’m glad to hear that your daughter got involved and that you’ll use the recipe to get creative in the future. Thanks for commenting!
Have you tried it with bacon instead of sausage? I’m not fond of the texture of sausage…
Sounds delicious, can’t wait to try it. My daughter is celiac and a vegetarian so I’ll make it without the sausage for her.
Wondering how this would taste without the sausage. Can something other than pork be put in its place? I have a child that cannot have it.
I would try turkey sausage.
Thanks making the soup as I type!
This looks so good Linda! A perfect comfort food for this time of year. 🙂 Hope you have an amazing 2015!
Thanks, Carol. Happy New Year to you!
Linda, this sounds so good! I can almost taste the sausage, veggies, potatoes and creamy sauce right now…it would be just right for our snowy evening.
Pat
Thanks, Pat. You’re right, it’s perfect for a cold evening like tonight.
This looks amazing. I have burger thawed out for dinner. Soup sounds really good. I’m sure the flavor would be different, but think I will try it instead of sausage. What spices would you add??
I use sage and thyme in homemade sausage, so those would be good options.
This soup is delicious! Have made it many times!! The sausage REALLY gives it a lot of flavor!!
So glad you like it as much as we do! Thanks for the comment.