The Ever-Changing Gluten-free Menu at Chili’s Restaurants

Chili’s Bar and Grill Restaurant is a national chain with locations scattered across the country. They have had a gluten-free menu for some time now, and also have dairy-free, nut-free, and other allergen-free menus on their website. I was very impressed with this at first, but as time went by I noticed that the menus change almost monthly. The downside to this is the inability to find a safe meal and train local wait-staff to prevent cross contamination.

The plus side of the menu changes means that there are new gluten-free options to try all the time. They recently introduced classic chicken tacos made with corn tortillas which were fantastic, though I only had the chance to try them once before they were no longer offered. I have tried the new beef tacos, which were less than impressive. The side dishes, black beans and rice, were very good though. I also like their loaded mashed potatoes, but I prefer them without the bacon bits.

They have added two new soups to the gluten-free menu, the Chicken and Green Chilie and the Corn Soup, both of which are really delicious. The chicken soup is a brothy, light soup with thin shavings of chicken. The corn soup is a sweet, thinner version of cream corn, without the mashed corn kernels. Both are a light start to a great meal.

I used to really love the Honey BBQ ribs, which are no longer on the gluten-free menu. I am bummed about the change, but excited about the new foods on the gluten-free menu.  If you have a favorite gluten-free bun or bread, there are now several burgers/sandwiches on the gluten-free menu to try. Keep in mind that you should always ask for the latest gluten-free menu, and check the date in the upper left-hand corner. Chili’s is not the kind of restaurant where you can have a favorite dish and order the same thing every time you go, simply because of the nature of their evolving menu. The location I visited most recently not only had the current menu available, it was laminated and bound with all of the allergen menus, and this was in a very small town. I was impressed and I hope this is a sign of their dedication to honor the allergen-free menus they are preparing for their customers. Check out the latest gluten-free menu from Chili’s by clicking here.

As with any dining out situations, always ask questions and make sure your food is gluten-free (by checking for special items, such as dressing on the side or no tortilla strips) before the server walks away from the table. Since their menu changes a lot, the Chili’s wait-staff is probably not going to know all of the ingredients of a dish, especially a new dish. Ask for a manager if you have questions about ingredients or cross contamination.