The Best Gluten Free and Vegan Soft Foods to Eat After Dental Surgery, Part 2

Whether you’re having your wisdom teeth removed or getting major gum graft surgery like me, going on a soft foods diet can be challenging - especially if you have dietary limitations. When I had my first bout of gum surgery last year, I shared a round up of some of my favorite gluten free and vegan soft foods and was amazed at how helpful readers found it.

So, since I got my second gum graft surgery done earlier this fall and again had to eat soft foods for two weeks, I thought I’d share even more of my favorite dental surgery foods. As always, follow your doctor’s instructions for what foods are OK to eat after your particular oral surgery. However, this list should give you some more ideas of tasty gluten free and vegan foods, recipes and products to enjoy after dental surgery! 

1. All the hummus (homemade or store bought). 

I was fortunate enough to receive a big goodie box of Blue Moose Hummus a few days before my gum graft surgery, and they definitely came in handy for my soft foods diet! Hummus is an easy way to get some vegan protein without having to chew anything, and you can eat it alone or pair it with foods like potatoes, mashed vegetables and avocado.

If you have a blender on-hand, it’s also super easy to whip up a homemade vegan hummus for you to enjoy while you recover. My personal favorite hummus recipe is my Creamy White Bean Beet Hummus. The beet adds a little bit of sweetness, and the dose of antioxidants definitely won’t hurt during your dental surgery recovery. You can also experiment with making different hummus flavors by using add-ins like lemon, oregano, spinach, thyme, etc.   

2. Gluten free and vegan ice creams...including Halo Top for a “lighter” option. 

Compared to my first gum graft surgery, this time around definitely involved a lot more ice cream...and that’s totally ok! The truth is, it can be hard to get all the calories you need when eating gluten free and vegan soft foods. Not to mention that you’ll probably be craving some major comfort food after having your dental surgery.

Obviously, it’s important to make sure that whatever ice cream you choose is smooth and doesn’t have any chunks that require chewing. This time around, I loved Coconut Bliss’s Chocolate Caramel Ice Cream. If you want a lower calorie option, Halo Top’s new vegan flavors are also insanely good! So far, I’ve tried and loved Salted Caramel (the best!) and Vanilla Maple. Cappuccino was OK, and I’ve heard good things about Chocolate. If you have celiac disease like me, make sure you only pick from Halo Top’s certified gluten free flavors. And if you need even more gluten free and vegan ice cream ideas, check out my list of my seven favorite dairy free ice creams!

3. Puréed broccoli or other steamed vegetables. 

I know I mentioned pureed vegetables in my last soft foods diet roundup, but I tried a couple new veggies this time so I thought I’d share the winners. The surprising favorite was actually broccoli purée just made from steamed and blended broccoli. Compared to other veggies, broccoli purees very smoothly, which made it an ideal side for the first few days after your dental surgery. If you want a cheddar and broccoli soup kind of feel, you could also make the purée runnier with plant-based milk and add some vegan cheddar cheese on top.

I also really liked puréed spaghetti squash for something a little sweet, and puréed green beans were surprisingly hardy. I’m not going to lie. Purees get old pretty quickly when they’re all you can eat, and you might start feeling like you’re surviving off of baby food. However, having as many different puréed vegetables to choose from as possible made my soft foods diet feel a little less boring. And adding a little bit of spice (such as curry powder, oregano or thyme) can make a big difference. 

4. Soft gluten free bread soaked in water or plant based milk. 

Another challenge of eating soft foods after wisdom teeth surgery or another other dental procedure is finding enough “plain” foods. As much as I love vegan ice cream, I could only eat so many sweet foods, and I didn’t feel like pureed broccoli for a night snack! So one of my go-to’s was actually soaking some gluten free bread in a bowl of water or milk until it would nearly dissolve on my tongue.

If you want to try soaking bread, you should definitely pick as soft of bread as possible. For instance, gluten free bagels with a lot of structure won’t break down that much. But soft gluten free rolls (like from Bfree Foods or a local gluten free bakery) are perfect! 

5. Homemade protein mug cakes.

While I tried to eat mostly healthy, I definitely gave my sweet tooth what it wanted during my gum graft recovery...so chocolate showed up quite a lot! Another of my favorite night snacks was a soft gluten free and vegan mug cake. Some nights, I loosely followed this recipe to create a chocolate protein powder mug cake. The biggest tweak I made to that recipe was replacing the egg with a mashed banana or a chia egg (formed with my latest addiction of Foods Alive's Chia Protein Powder + 3 TBSP of water. I'm a Foods Alive ambassador, by the way!). Both ways turned out delicious! 

Other nights, I just added roughly one half of a mashed banana, 1.5 TBSP of coconut flour, 1/4 tsp of baking powder, cinnamon, 4 TBSP of water/milk and whatever flavor add-ins I wanted into a mug and microwaved it for around 1 minute. The best part is that the flavor options for a gluten free mug cake are seriously limitless. For a chocolate cake feel, use vegan chocolate chips and cacao powder. Or you can add chopped berries (if your doctor gives you the OK to eat them!) for a blueberry muffin mug cake.

And I gotta say...the one good thing about gum graft surgery is that you have a really good excuse for eating banana ice cream and a chocolate mug cake for dinner! 

6. Puréed pasta with tomato and cheese sauce. 

Even four to five days into my gum graft recovery, my mouth was still too sensitive for a lot of chewing but I was desperate for a different carb than potatoes. So I over-cooked a bunch of pasta...and threw it in my food processor with a little water. And you know what? It turned out pretty tasty!

My “pasta” dinners on this vegan soft foods diet were definitely not Instagram worthy, but they were a great way to add variety. Since I mixed Tinkyada's rice pasta with Banza (made out of chickpeas) and Modern Tables' lentil pasta, I also got a nice boost in protein, too! I served my puréed pasta with tomato sauce and some of my homemade vegan cheese sauce, and I ate it several days in a row without complaint. 

7. Applesauce - bonus if it’s uniquely flavored! 

Applesauce isn’t a unique recommendation for a soft foods diet, but its popularity after wisdom teeth removal or other dental surgery is well deserved. To shake things up, I found some blueberry unsweetened applesauce at my local Aldi, and the unique flavor made applesauce a lot more appealing.

You can also spruce up applesauce by incorporating your own add-ins, like extra cinnamon, vanilla extract, protein powder, etc. If you’re low on bananas, applesauce is also a great substitution in gluten free mug cakes as well. 

8. Protein drinks (homemade or bought). 

This time around, I also focused on getting more protein during my dental surgery recovery, which I think definitely improved my energy levels throughout. If you have a protein powder you like (I’m in love with LivWell’s gluten free and vegan vanilla and chocolate protein powders), you can easily whip up your own protein shake with water or plant-based milk. I also love making vegan protein ice cream using frozen bananas or this recipe with coconut milk.

I recently got to try Koia's vegan protein drinks, though, and I liked the taste so much, I bought several cartons in Colorado (where I could find them in stores) and took them with me in a cooler to Minnesota. (Now that’s dedication). I hated the Cinnamon Horchata flavor, and the chocolate was OK, but the vanilla bean version is amazing. It’s sweet without tasting overly sugary or fake and is super smooth and filling. I’m kind of sick of these drinks now that I’ve had so many in such a short amount of time, but I’d definitely buy them again. 

9. Cooked rice blended with milk, cinnamon, vanilla and bread. 

During the first days after my gum graft, I was craving something plain, warm and comforting but couldn’t chew enough for rice or bread yet. The food processor to the rescue! I simply made rice porridge out of some ground rice and hot water (roughly 1/4 cup of ground rice to 1 cup of hot water) and soaked some bread in water until soft. 

Then, I transferred the porridge into a food processor with the bread, cinnamon and vanilla, and blended until a mostly smooth paste. I wanted a relatively liquidy final result, so I also added some plant-based milk, but you can make this mix as thick as you want. As for how it tastes, I’d say a mix between oatmeal and bread pudding! 

10. Alllll the condiments, from ketchup and mustard to avocado. 

When you’re eating mashed potatoes, pureed pasta and soft veggies for 7+ days in a row for dinner, condiments, sauces and spices make all the difference. You’ll want to be cautious about acidic sauces. At least for me, ketchup irritated my graft site for the first couple of days. 

Once you can tolerate various condiments, though, some of my favorites are ketchup, mustard, mashed avocado, tomato sauce and my homemade vegan cheese sauce. I also made an avocado sauce (that was a little more like mousse) by blending around one avocado with cashew milk, a little apple cider vinegar, oregano, thyme and water to thin it out. Chilled in the fridge, this sauce felt so soothing on my mouth and it tasted just as good on pasta as with potatoes.  

11. Yogurt with mashed banana and chocolate sauce, nut butter or jam.

I thought I’d end this soft foods diet roundup with an oldie but a goodie: a yogurt parfait. I loaded up on my favorite So Delicious coconut yogurt for my gum graft recovery, and was very thankful I did. The best thing about yogurt is how many ways you can eat it. Turn it into dessert with mashed fruit, chocolate sauce (I’ve been loving this chocolate spread from The Date Lady) and nut butter. Or make yogurt a little more savory by pairing it with sweet potato. The options are endless, and all the probiotics you get from the yogurt won’t hurt either! 

The Bottom Line of Eating Soft Foods After Dental Surgery 

Dental surgery ain’t fun. Whether you’re getting your wisdom teeth removed or going through a gum graft, that’s just reality. However, the soft foods diet you follow during your recovery can be more exciting than just mashed potatoes, smoothies and ice cream. And, at least in my experience, the more options you can give yourself, the more tolerable your recovery will feel. 

Now that a month has passed since my gum graft, I’m (thankfully) feeling more normal and enjoying anything I want to eat. So if you are just starting your dental surgery recovery or are doing research to prepare for your soft foods diet, know that it will get better....

...and that the crunchy foods you can’t eat now will definitely be worth waiting for! 

Have you ever had to follow a soft foods diet? What were some of your staple foods? Tell me in the comments!