The BEST and Safest Allergy-Free S’mores with Homemade Marshmallows

Yay! It’s free from gluten, nuts, dairy, egg, soy, and all the other top 9 major allergens! Contains corn—see notes at the end of the post for substitution recommendations. Note: This post contains affiliate links, so any purchases made on Amazon through the links will help support Yay, It’s Free From This!

S’mores are such an awesome treat, especially when temperatures drop and fire pit season starts. But I can tell you there have been too many times that s’mores happen spontaneously at family or friends’ houses and my kids are completely left out because of their food allergies. On the off chance the crackers are gluten-free, there’s probably egg or dairy in them. And/or the chocolate has dairy plus nuts or nut cross-contamination. Prepackaged marshmallows usually contain soy and carrageenans as well. SO, if you’ve been looking for a completely free from, safe, but heavenly s’mores recipe, then this one is for you and yours!

Make Your Own Marshmallows

I highly recommend making your own marshmallows. Once you try a homemade marshmallow, you’ll never go back to store-bought, I guarantee it. Plus, it’ll be soy-free and free of carrageenans, an additive which some folks are sensitive to. Use high quality grass-fed beef gelatin, such as Great Lakes Unflavored Gelatin and you’ll have a much healthier marshmallow. My marshmallow recipe is based on Alton Brown’s recipe found here. I’ve been making this for years now and it makes for quite a treat when we have friends over. I’ve also packaged them to make hot chocolate gift baskets for Christmas. 🤓

Marshmallows are relatively easy to make! First, combine the gelatin with half a cup of cold water in the bowl of your stand mixer. While that’s blooming, in a small saucepan, add the other half cup of water, plus the corn syrup, sugar, and salt. Cover and heat this over high heat without stirring for about 4 minutes. Remove cover and clip on a candy thermometer. Heat this until it reaches the soft-ball stage, 235ºF-240ºF. Watch this carefully and do not exceed 240ºF! This takes about 8 minutes for me. Immediately remove from the heat. Turn the mixer on low, and slowly pour hot mixture down the side of the bowl and into the gelatin. After all of the mixture has been added, turn the mixer on high and whip for about 12 minutes. 

In the meantime, combine powdered sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Have a small strainer ready. Grease a metal 13″ x 9″ pan with shortening (or nonstick cooking spray). Add cornstarch mixture to the pan and move around until evenly coated. Pour the cornstarch mixture back into its bowl. This will be used later for dusting the top and cutting. Grease a spatula to prep for transferring the marshmallow mixture to the pan. Add the vanilla during the last minute of mixing. Scrape the marshmallow into the pan; working quickly to spread it evenly. Dust the cornstarch mixture over top, covering every surface of the marshmallow mixture (it’s super sticky otherwise), then use hands to press down to even out further. 

Allow to ‘dry’ uncovered at least 4 hours or overnight. Turn marshmallows onto cutting board, then cut into large cubes with a pizza cutter. Dust and store at you go. These will keep for about 3-4 weeks at room temperature in an airtight container.

Free From Graham Crackers

It is incredibly hard to find free from, safe graham crackers on the market. If they are gluten free, there’s dairy, and if there’s no dairy, there’s egg. If it’s free from it all, it’s usually cross-contaminated with an allergen. For example, Schar’s Honeygrams or Nairn’s Original Oat Grahams, both delicious and free from almost everything except both “may contain” tree nuts or milk.

As a result, I make my own graham crackers using Minimalist’s Baker’s recipe found here, so the kids can safely have s’mores. This would’ve been part of this post, BUT I just discovered Partake’s new Classic Grahams at my local Target store. I’m pretty sure this a new product from them. Their Birthday Cake and Chocolate Chip cookies are already a staple in our home for snacking and school lunches. We tried these graham crackers, and they do have that classic graham cracker flavor and are so perfect for s’mores. I will gladly take this shortcut!

Free From Chocolate

For chocolate, my #1 is always Enjoylife’s dark or semi-sweet chocolate. If you can’t find the full chocolate bars, you can use their morsels to make the s’mores. It’s not as convenient for outdoor s’mores, but still doable. It works best if you’re doing it in a toaster oven or regular oven indoors.

Otherwise, Trader Joe’s Oatmilk Chocolate bars are amazing as well. They have a crispy version, which I think makes for a better s’more! No Whey chocolate bars are another option. I didn’t have any in my pantry for this post, but I do buy whole cases of their Milkless chocolate bars sometimes and give them as prizes or rewards for the kids.

Make the S’mores!

Of course it’s most fun to roast the marshmallows over a campfire or fire pit, but it’s easiest and quickest to do them in a toaster oven. I’ve also made a huge batch on a large sheet pan in the regular oven. That was for my son’s very first official birthday party when he turned 5. It was a campfire theme and instead of cake, we did these allergy-free s’mores. The possibilities are endless, my friends!

So I did these in my toaster oven, at 425ºF, for about 3 minutes but had to take them out with about 20 seconds to go. The marshmallows go from perfectly toasted to burnt in about 15 seconds, so watch them carefully!

Let them cool for a few minutes. Sandwich them and then unapologetically devour them without a care in the world! YUM!