“Convenience”
probably isn’t a word you’re used to. In fact, you could probably drive
past dozens of casual restaurants and fast food chains before you found
a place where you felt it was safe to eat a gluten-free meal or snack.
While nobody should eat fast food very often, many of us
unfortunately find ourselves in situations where we need to eat quickly
and inexpensively, and we need to attempt a gluten-free meal at a fast
food restaurant.
If you’re following a gluten-free diet, you can be tempted to lower
your guard at these restaurants. Allergen information can be tough to
find and the staff may not be much help either.
Well, we’ve decided to help you out by shedding some light on just
how gluten-free friendly (or, in most cases, unfriendly) some of these
restaurants are. In fact, we researched the gluten-free options at 50 of
the most popular fast food chains in the United States and we’ll be
sharing those findings with you over the next few weeks.
Now, it’s worth mentioning that we certainly don’t recommend going
out and eating fast food all the time (or even regularly). Eating a
balanced gluten-free diet that targets key vitamins, minerals and fiber
is crucial to everyone on a gluten-free diet.
In this first installment, we’ll explore the gluten-free options at
Subway, Starbucks, Five Guys, Quizno’s, In-N-Out Burger, Church’s, Papa
John’s, and Captain D’s.
Subway’s Gluten-Free Options
Subway thoughtfully offers a common allergen chart which lists all of
their regular, non-specialty items. The chart lists 12 different
problematic ingredients, and which products contain them – one of these
ingredients is gluten. Nearly all of Subway's salads are gluten-free
except for the meatball marinara, seafood sensation and sweet onion
chicken teriyaki. Surprisingly, all of the salad dressings look
gluten-free as well. Obviously, hold the croutons, and don't even think
about dessert. Not only do all of the cookies contain gluten, but so
does the yogurt parfait! Just like other places, they too caution that
items may come in contact during preparation and to be safe, you should
always notify the server of your allergy or sensitivity.
Of course, you could be lucky enough to visit one of the few Subways
that is testing a gluten-free bread and even has a gluten-free brownie.
However, these tests have been going on for some time now, and it
doesn’t look like things are picking up very quickly. According to the
GlutenFreeAndFull blog, there are Subways with gluten-free bread in
Duluth, Minnesota; Dallas / Fort Worth and Tyler, Texas; Gig Harbor /
Tacoma, Washington; and Portland, Oregon.
If you don’t live in one of those areas,
click here to view Subway’s full allergen information on their products sold at every location.
Starbucks' Gluten-Free Options
For a moment, it appeared as if Starbucks was really ahead of its
time when it launched a gluten-free almond orange cake in 2009. However,
after quickly discontinuing the gluten-free pastry, Starbucks doesn’t
appear to make any accommodations for the gluten-free dieter.
Starbucks is now infamous for making no comments or promises of any
kind regarding their prepared beverages. Various celiacs (including
myself) who frequent Starbucks, however, report having no reaction to
brewed coffee or espresso. Milk-based drinks such as Frappuccinos and
lattes are another story. Starbucks makes it very difficult to find the
full ingredient list for many of their syrups. For this reason, they’ve
caused a good deal of frustration in the gluten-free community. The
crummy part about that, is that even if you order a drink without syrup
(e.g. a soy latte), you need to be cautious since the steaming wand
could be contaminated from a previous drink that used a syrup. There
are, however, bottled versions of Starbucks’ Frappuccino and various
other beverages that are labeled gluten-free.
For food options, stick to the packaged goods like Food Should Taste
Good chips, KIND snack bars and Lucy's cookies. They do serve prepared
salads but make no effort to guarantee their safety for the gluten-free.
Five Guys Gluten-Free Options
Five Guys Burgers and Fries does not list specific allergens in their
food items, except to say that all of their buns have gluten in them.
As their menu is fairly well limited to - as their name implies -
burgers and fries, they do not offer chicken, breaded or otherwise, or
onion rings, so there is little danger of
gluten cross-contamination in the cooking oil. Safe items therefore would be bunless burgers and hot dogs, and fries. Sorry, no chili at this place.
Quiznos' Gluten-Free Options
All breads and wraps at Quiznos have gluten, and like most other
restaurants, all food is prepared in common areas with risk of gluten
cross-contamination. That said, relatively safe bets are the harvest
chicken, honey mustard chicken, cobb, peppercorn caesar with chicken or
Mediterranean chicken salads. Any of the dressings are fine except the
creamy bacon, Alfredo and Pan Asian. Also avoid the rice noodles, and
the soups, including the chili, as well as all desserts except the
yogurt parfait with mixed berries.
In-N-Out Burger Gluten-Free Options
While In-N-Out Burger does not publish an allergen guide, they
control their burger-making process from beginning to end, starting with
high quality premium beef chuck, prepared and ground in-house by
butchers at their patty-making facilities in California and Texas.
Burger patties are made with 100% pure beef, free from additives or
fillers, and shipped fresh, not frozen, to their restaurants.
In-N-Out Burger only offers burgers, fries and drinks, so the fries,
made from fresh potatoes and cooked in 100% pure, cholesterol-free
vegetable oil, are in no danger of cross-contamination from breaded
chicken products or onion rings. And In-N-Out Burger's "not-so-secret"
menu finally reveals offerings that fans have been ordering for years,
including the "protein style" - your favorite burger wrapped in
hand-leafed lettuce instead of a bun.
Church's Chicken Gluten-Free Options
Like other chicken places, Church's yummy fried chicken is all
breaded in wheat products. The only items listed on their allergen
guide as not containing gluten are the corn, jalapeno peppers, coleslaw,
collard greens, green beans, cajun rice, red beans and rice, gravies,
sauces, condiments and beverages. The French fries don't contain
gluten, but check whether they have a dedicated fryer before trying
them.
Papa John's Gluten-Free Menu
Papa John's does not offer a gluten-free pizza. All of their crusts -
thin, hand-tossed and original - are made from wheat. With no salads
on the menu, the only gluten-free item is the roasted chicken wings.
All of the dipping sauces are gluten-free, however, as are, of course,
the beverages. But don't even think about dessert!
Captain D's Gluten-Free Options
Captain D's no longer publishes their allergen guide, but a previous
version from 2011 lists items that don't contain wheat or gluten as the
broiled catfish, wild Alaskan salmon, seasoned tilapia, shrimp scampi,
shrimp skewers, wild Alaskan salmon salad, baked potato, side salad,
roasted red potatoes, coleslaw, corn on the cob, green beans, broccoli,
all dressings and sauces except the ginger Teriyaki sauce, and of
course, all of the beverages on the menu. Hopefully, they will have an
updated allergen guide available soon.
So there you have it. Hopefully, you’ll find this information helpful when you need to find something safe to eat in a pinch.
And, as always, remember to be vigilant about suspicious ingredients,
hidden gluten and cross contamination whenever you eat out.
Comments
I live in Portland where they are piloting the GF option. They do not take from the regular assembly line; rather, once you tell them you are celiac, they go in the back and open up ALL NEW ingredient that they place right on your sub. FYI- you need to ask them to do this and by stating celiac, it puts them into this mode versus "GF trendy."
Good luck!
They have stores in Calfornia in the LA area, some in San Diego and a few other places. Las Vegas has quite a few in the hotels and in town. Not sure where else, but available on their website.