If you think great-tasting, easy-to-make, gluten free hamburger buns are impossible, prepare to be surprised! You can make them any size or shape you want, really.
From Kaiser Roll size to sliders — when you make ‘em yourself, you can make ‘em just the way you want! Gluten free … and delicious.
Start with my gfJules Gluten Free Bread Mix, and all you have to add is some liquid ingredients. No guessing or measuring flour or gathering other ingredients. You can rely on my award-winning gluten free Bread Mix to deliver great results as sandwich bread or as buns!
I use these little English Muffin rings for my buns, but you could use a bun pan made for this purpose, mason jar rings, or just shape rings out of aluminum foil. This hot dog bun pan is also a great investment if your family really loves their dogs!
*For more information on bun pan options and how to use them to make buns, hop to my blog post all about it!*
This same base recipe also makes an amazing Gluten Free Beer Bread. Use gluten free beer, of course, (consult my tasting notes to find one!) and enjoy this favorite twist on traditional sandwich bread.
The effervescence of the beer helps give this bread beautiful lift, and creates a light, airy structure that is truly wonderful. Hop here for the full Gluten Free Beer Bread Recipe.
If you are making buns instead, I have two options: one recipe from scratch using my gfJules Flour — a light and airy bun; and this one using my gfJules Bread Mix — a more whole grain, moist and hearty bun outlined below.
Choose whichever suits your fancy!
Gluten Free Hamburger Buns Recipe from Mix
Gluten Free Hamburger Buns Recipe with gfJules Bread Mix
Soft and delicious gluten free hamburger or hot dog buns using my easy gfJules Gluten Free Bread Mix!
Ingredients
- 1 gfJules Gluten Free Bread Mix (with yeast packet)
- 1 ¼ cups warm water
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 large eggs (or substitute like flaxseed meal + water OR 1/2 cup aquafaba)
- 4 Tbs honey, agave, date syrup, OR coconut nectar
Instructions
For more information on bun pan options and how to use them to make great looking hamburger buns, hop to my blog post all about it!
- Bring wet ingredients to room temperature, then combine in a large mixing bowl. Slowly stir in the dry ingredients of the bread mix and stir to integrate well. Add the yeast packet and continue to beat for several minutes (may stir by hand or use a stand mixer with a flat paddle attachment). The dough should be well-mixed.
- Scoop into oiled bun pans or English Muffin rings on parchment-lined baking sheet. Do not fill rings or pans more than 2/3 full.
- Smooth tops with a wet rubber spatula. Brush on egg wash (1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon water) OR milk OR oil. Sprinkle with seeds or other toppings, if desired.
- Oil waxed paper or parchment and lay on top of buns. Rise in a warm location like a warming drawer or an oven preheated to 200° F then turned off.
- Rise for 30 minutes, then turn oven on to 350º F (static) or 325º F (convection) and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centers of the buns comes out clean.
- Allow to cool before slicing as buns.
Don’t forget to pin it for later.
I just made the Light and Airy buns today, and boy were they delicious!!! I did not have club soda or gingerale on hand, but did have a bottle of Redbridge beer on hand, so I used that. And, since I cannot eat eggs, I substituted all 3 eggs with flax seed/warm water mixture. I also sprinkled the sesame seeds on top. The buns turned out wonderfully! My daughter was just as excited to have a bun as I was. I was able to get a dozen out of the recipe and I have frozen half of them for future use. Thank you for such a great recipe and great flour to work with!
Anne – those sound like great subs! So glad they worked for you! I bet the Redbridge lended a great flavor, too! Thanks for sharing your substitutions!!
I tried the light and airy buns today. There were 4 gluten-free people here and they loved them and thought the name was appropriate. So much better than the dense commercial buns.
Totally agree Diane! So glad you got to share the yummy GF bun-love with others today! I just made that recipe as a loaf tonight … total yum!
Tried these twice today, the first batch I had too much dough they rose super high, so they fell but even the second seems to have fallen, any suggestions?
Jeanette, I had the exact thing happen. The first time I didn’t read the directions about not letting them more than double in size while rising. The second time I was super careful and they rose a lot during the actual baking and then fell. If you figure anything out, I would love advice.
the second batch sufficed for brats but they were still very dense. 
Jeanette & Laura – which recipe did you follow – the hearty whole-grain version or light and airy version? Let me know so I can help figure out what might be making them too dense! Thanks, gals!
I just made your buns from the mix. They are not runny at all, and the mixture is certainly ‘bread-doughy.’ The taste was GREAT, but the texture was quite dense. It wasn’t exactly what we expected as they were heavy and didn’t brown at all. However, we really appreciate how soft they are. They seem best when toasted and I bet they will be marvelous open-faced with a poached egg and some veg & cheese for breakfast. Yum!
Jules, this recipe is great using Woodchuck Hard Cider (which is gluten free) instead of the beer/gingerale! You should have smelled my kitchen while these baked. I went with the flax seed alternative over egg again. Since I am not yet doing well with drinking any alcohol, I have four more batches’ worth of rolls supplied with the cider. :o)
Mary – that variation sounds totally delicious! I have some Samuel Smith’s Organic GF Cider with me … I may have to give that a try!!!
Hi! I live in the Rocky Mountains outside of Denver at about 8300 ft. It took me several years to “fix” my low altitude recipes for up here. NOW I’m having to be gluten-free. Help! Anything we high-altitude folks need to know when using your wonderful flour? My step daughter turned me on to your flour on a DC Groupon. I’ve been using yours and it’s better than any other I’ve used. Thanks!
Hi Pam, I’m so glad you’re loving my flour and thanks much to your step-daughter!! She’s clearly got excellent taste!
About the high altitude baking, it’s funny, but with my flour I haven’t found many changes need to be made! I’ve baked many times at friends’ houses at 6500 and 7700 ft and the only thing I change is that I add 1/4 cup extra flour to my cookie recipes! Breads, cakes, muffins … they all seem to turn out fine without adjustment! Best of luck and let us know how your baking experiments are going!
I am getting ready to order a 5# bag of your flour mix. How can I cut the recipe down to make 4 hamburger rolls?
I know baking sometimes require reduction by weight and not volume.
15 days gluten free, and missing a nice jucy hamburger on a bun!
Hi Sammy, yes – you are right about the particulars of cutting a recipe in half! If I may, the easiest suggestion I have is to make the full recipe, but to freeze the leftovers so you always have a great bun ready for your next sandwich or burger! It’s easier and a time-saver to just do it all at once, plus, halving yeast recipes like this is not always an easy task!
I tried making these buns today and like one of the other comments, the batter was so runny. You said you even poured yours free-form on parchments but mine just spread all over the pan. I tried using the english muffin rings too and it ran underneath the ring. I am an experienced bread baker so was really disappointed in the outcome of this recipe. Do you think there is too much liquid? Also, most GF recipes tell you “proof” the yeast in the liquid, this one just said add to the recipe at the end, most unusual for a bread recipe. Any hints you can give me in making this recipe a success would be greatly appreciated.
Terri – I’m sorry your batter turned out so runny. I’m not sure what could have made it that runny, as the batter should turn out thin, but not runny. There are a number of ingredient substitutes offered — did you end up substituting several different ingredients? What kind of milk powder did you use? What kind of liquid did you use? Did you beat the batter for several minutes once all the ingredients were all added? (That step will help to thicken the batter somewhat.) Regarding the yeast step, I don’t proof the yeast in many of my recipes since I use fast rise yeast which makes that step unnecessary. Email [email protected] to walk through all the steps so that we can figure this out together and make it work for you!
As another option, you can always try my sandwich bread recipe or my mix, both of which also make delicious buns, but in a more whole-grain, artisinal style. That dough is quite thick, so you won’t have any problems with it in your pans or on parchment.
Jules, I followed recipe exactly only I used Red Mill All Purpose GF Flour. I also used Carnation powdered milk because I use that in my bread machine. I did mix it for about 5 minutes and used the rapid rise yeast. I will give your other recipe a try. Thanks for your reply!
Terri, I’m glad to know what you used, because now I can tell you definitively what the problem was!
Every “all purpose” gluten-free flour behaves differently, as they each use different flours and differing proportions; also, those without any xanthan gum in them will produce very different results if you don’t also add xanthan gum. My recipes call for my flour mixture because that’s what works in my recipes. If you haven’t worked with my flour yet, you may not know that it already has xanthan gum mixed in, so I never add it to my recipe ingredient lists. Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Flour does not have xanthan gum in it; it also performs differently because it contains bean flours and has a different whole grain:starch ratio than mine.
I know it sounds a bit technical, but I think you’ve now seen how they produce very different results! I don’t know what changes you would have to make to my recipe to use Bob’s instead of my flour, but a start would be to add xanthan gum, which will help to hold the dough together; perhaps there is a recipe on the Bob’s site for homemade buns using his flour you could follow with that ingredient?
Give this recipe a try with my flour next time, and I think you’ll be pleased with the results!
All the best to you in your gluten-free baking adventures!
For someone with a milk allergy could you use Rice or Almond Milk? I have never seen hemp milk before in our stores and not sure if she would like coconut milk. Don’t want to have to buy something I’m not sure all I would us all of.
Cindy – I use soy, coconut or almond milk as a milk sub in all my recipes. Rice milk works ok, but tends to be thinner. You should try the coconut milk – it’s delicious and you can buy it in the refrigerator section of most grocery stores now!
I am going to try this weekedn! So excited!
Looks amazing! I’ve been looking for a great bun recipe! Thanks!
I am used to baking with active dry yeast, but I have noticed that instant yeast is recommended in several GF recipes, including this one. Does instant work better in GF recipes?
Mari- I like using fast rise yeast in most of my GF yeast breads because you don’t want to do the punch-down and second rise with gluten-free yeast doughs, so it works well to use the accelerated rise yeasts that don’t need that extra rise time.
I made these Friday night so I’d have a sandwich to take with me for an event. I used the flaxseed & water option in place of eggs and the buns are awesome. I did this batch with gingerale. Can’t wait to get a heavier-duty mixer so I can make more.
I made these buns today and they were a HUGE hit!! I love them!! Everyone loved them!! I even toasted one at bedtime and put some butter and strawberry jam on it. SUPERB!!! Thank you so much for the recipe! I will use again and again!!!
YUM Holly – that sounds amazing for breakfast! Thanks for sharing that great idea! : )
Will these buns freeze ok?
Hi Michelle, yes, once cooled, put them in freezer bags and they should keep in the freezer for at least a couple months. Thaw slowly, or wrap in a paper towel and microwave on low power to thaw or just toast them. Enjoy!
I would love to make this for my daughter, but she is also sensitive to eggs. Will an egg substitute work for this recipe? I’ve heard you say that you should not use a substitute when a recipe calls for more than 2 eggs…
Hi Sheri, this recipe is in my book Free for All Cooking. In that book, I offer two suggested egg substitutes for this recipe. It’s not ideal to sub for more than 2 eggs, but in this recipe it actually works pretty well. I suggest either a flaxseed+water mixture or another egg sub from my book which is 1 Tbs. milk powder (or non-dairy milk powder) + 1 Tbs. cornstarch + 2 Tbs. warm water = 1 egg. If your daughter can’t do gluten and eggs, I’d highly recommend Free for All Cooking as a great resource and substitution guide, as well as recipe book.
Just checking: not just the eggs, but all the ingredients should be room temperature, including the sparkly/gingerale/gfBeer?
Am also going to do the flax seed substitution for the egg. Looking forward to this!
Hi Mary, in recipes using yeast, you’ll get a better rise when the ingredients are at room temperature, or even slightly warmed. It won’t ruin the recipe if they’re not, but it works much better if they are. I just made these again last night and I used a room temperature Estrella Damm Daura gluten-free beer and they turned out great!
My sweet husband surprised me and made this recipe for me this weekend, so that my daughter and I could enjoy a grilled hamburger! The buns were so soft and delicious!! I want to make some hot dog buns next. Thank you for the recipe!
Dawn – I saw your photos on your blog – they looked amazing! What a great hubbie you have! Would you link to your blog here so others can see your yummy photos?? Thanks for sharing!
Ive made this recipe using a bread machine and a KitchenAid mixer. The results have been sort of spongy and eggy, not like a standard burger bun. I’ve also baked it as a loaf and it is moist Doesn’t toast so well, but is ok for sammies.
Hi Becca – what liquid are you using when you make it?
Jules, I have a question, please! I am getting ready to make your hamburger buns for the first time. I noticed the directions have you mix the wet ingredients first and then add the flour mixture. Then it says add ale – do I need to do the sparkling water in the first wet ingredients and ALSO add ale after the flour mixture?
Does that make sense? I only noticed it calling for 10 oz of sp. water, ginger ale, or GF ale…. Just want SUCCESS the first time! Thanks for all your help and tips. I appreciate you more than you will ever know! And I LOVE your products!
Sorry for any confusion in the recipe, Julie. I mix all wet ingredients except ale, then add in the dry ingredients, alternating with ale so it doesn’t get clumps in the batter. It would probably work still be ok to add ale with wet too though, just be sure to beat the batter well to remove clumps and keep it airy. Hope that helps!
I was very careful to measure everything right to the T…but mine turned out SUPER runny…what might I have done wrong?
Hi Lynda,
This recipe is fairly thin before baking, but it should set up when baked – did it not rise and bake out right for you? Sometimes GF bread doughs behave more like batters before baking and it can be disconcerting, but bake them out anyway, because they end up baking out beautifully. My beer bread recipe is the same way, producing a batter that you scoop into popover trays for rolls or a loaf pan and it bakes out just right!
I plan to make these Saturday for my family. I bought the hot dog pan from King Arthur but am not sure how it will work out if the batter is too thin. Do you have any suggestions? How do you get your hot dog buns to hold shape? Thank you so much for your insight. You have really helped me these last few months.
Rachele – in my experience, the batter is thin, but not too thin for those kinds of pans. I even dollop out the dough on parchment if I want a kaiser-roll, free-formed kind of shape for hamburger buns, and it’s not too runny for that. Have fun – these buns are yummy!