Can Gluten be Cooked Out of Food?

My bet is that the person who asked this question was told by a well-meaning friend or relative that you can crank the oven up to 500 degrees and cook the gluten right out of any dish. Oh if were only that easy – we’d all have it made in the shade! Gluten can not be cooked out of food, but some processing practices do remove the gluten protein. Baking or frying is not the same as processing so one has absolutely nothing to do with the other.

While it’s true that some gluten-containing foods are so highly processed that no gluten is present in the finished product, baking dishes at high temperatures will not remove gluten in any way. Anyone who tells you this can be done is confused and is likely not following the gluten-free diet themselves. At least for their sake I sure hope they’re not!

You can not remove gluten from gluten foods by frying foods either. There are a lot of inaccurate myths that float around in cyberspace and it’s confusing for people new to the gluten-free diet. The processing of certain foods which renders them gluten-free is not something one could do in a home kitchen. In the case of alcohol and vinegar derived from gluten gains, the distillation process removes the gluten protein. Baking or frying something at high temperatures does not remove the gluten in any way.

The gluten-free baking mix line Tastes Like Real Food contains wheat starch. Yet, due to the processing the ingredient goes through, the level of gluten present in the finished product is considered gluten-free. Gluten-free guidelines indicate there is less than 20ppm of gluten – not that there is no gluten whatsoever. Many gluten-free foods do have undetectable levels of gluten, of course. Those items are considered gluten-free.

Before believing a well-meaning, but misguided friend or relative when it comes to your diet, do the research needed to learn the truth about whatever you don’t understand or something that doesn’t make sense to you? If a statement seems unreasonable, it probably is exactly that. If your mother-in-law tells you that she ‘baked’ the gluten right out of the casserole by cranking the oven up to 500 degrees, kindly tell her that is not possible and that the food is not safe for you to consume.

Have a question about the gluten-free diet which we haven’t covered yet?  You can now submit your questions here! (Note: All medical questions should be directed to your physician)