How to Make Gluten-Free Roux for Soups, Gravies, and Mac and Cheese

A roux is fat and flour cooked together, and it works fine gluten-free. The technique does not change. The flour does.

Use a GF flour blend or sweet rice flour. Sweet rice flour makes an especially silky roux because it is finely milled and high in starch. It browns a little faster than wheat flour, so keep the heat at medium and stir constantly.

For a white roux (bechamel, mac and cheese sauce), cook 2 to 3 minutes until it smells faintly nutty. For gumbo, keep going. A dark roux takes 20 to 30 minutes of patient stirring, and the GF version gets there the same way wheat does. Do not walk away. It burns suddenly.

Add liquid gradually and whisk hard at first. GF roux can lump if you dump cold milk in all at once. Warm the milk first and add it in splashes, whisking smooth between each. Once you trust your roux, gumbo night is back on the menu: gluten-free gumbo with GF roux.

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