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Is Olive Oil Gluten-Free?

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff

Yes – olive oil is gluten-free as long as it is made only from olives, as most are. Read the label because anything is possible, but so far I’ve not run into olive oil that contains gluten. Light olive oil, extra virgin olive oil, and plain olive oil are all gluten-free. Flavored olive oils are generally safe but remember to read the label, as always. Cooking oil labels, even when several ingredients are listed, are usually quite easy to read and understand.

Plain canola oil, soybean oil, and vegetable oil are all gluten-free. Other safe oils (assuming they are just made from oil – read the label) are grapeseed, sesame, safflower, coconut, corn, and peanut. Vegetable shortening, such as Crisco, is gluten-free – both the butter and original versions.

Annie’s Naturals makes some gluten-free herb dipping oils and flavored olive oils. All of the items in their line that are gluten-free are labeled as such. The company maintains a gluten-free product list on its website. Annie’s Naturals sells travel-sized salad dressings, including an olive oil packet. The travel-sized olive oil and many of the dressings are gluten-free, making them handy when traveling or eating out at a place that can’t confirm the safety of their dressings for you.

Most cooking oil sprays are gluten-free, but both Crisco and Pam brands make a cooking spray with flour. On those products, wheat is listed clearly on the label, as required by law. Some store brands might have a version of the cooking spray with flour but they will also list wheat on the label if present.

Five Guys Burgers has dedicated fryers and uses peanut oil for their fries. They are probably the best French fries I’ve ever had. Anyone who is allergic to peanuts would want to avoid the fries at Five Guys, but the oil is safe for people who can’t tolerate gluten. Remember to ask if a restaurant has a dedicated fryer for French fries before ordering. Many places use the same fryer for all fried foods and therefore all items cooked in the fryer contain gluten.

What Ice Creams are Gluten-Free?

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff

Many ice creams are gluten-free, but most of them are not labeled as such. Several companies maintain gluten-free product lists on their websites. There are gluten-free ice creams available from many companies, including but not limited to, Breyer’s, Dreyer’s, Edy’s, Haagan Dazs, Mayfield and Ben & Jerry’s. Many of the manufacturers’ websites will list the flavors that are gluten-free, even though none of their items are labeled gluten-free.

Many private label gluten-free ice cream options are available. Check your local grocer’s website for their gluten-free product list. In the Atlanta area, Publix, Ingles and Kroger offer many different flavors of gluten-free ice creams. In the Midwest Hy-Vee offers gluten-free options and in California Safeway has quite a selection. For non dairy desserts, check out Purely Decadent products. That line even makes a gluten-free cookie dough ice cream! For gluten-free gelato, look for the Talenti brand. OK – it’s made in the U.S. but it’s one the best gelatos we’ve had outside of Italy! Dryer’s, Edy’s, Hy-Vee, Publix, Kroger and Safeway offer some gluten-free sherbets, sorbets or both. Julie’s Organic Ice Cream teamed up with Glutenfreeda to make the first gluten-free ice cream sandwich available in the U.S. They are sold at Wholes Foods locations nationwide.

One of the best frozen gluten-free desserts we’ve tried is Gaga’s Sherbetter. It’s a dairy free, gluten-free treat that has more flavor than any other similar product we’ve had. It’s all natural and doesn’t contain any artificial preservatives, flavors, or sweeteners. Sherbetter is sold in many health food stores, some grocery stores and at Whole Foods nationwide. The most popular flavors are the fruit varieties but Sherbetter makes a chocolate flavor as well. Gaga’s was featured in gluten-free Living magazine a while back.  Their frozen bars are the perfect summertime treat!

It’s somewhat easy to avoid gluten in ice creams. Many of the ones that contain gluten do so in an obvious way. Key phrases to watch out for are pie, cookie, cobbler, cookies and cream, cookie dough and the like. The Purely Decadent Cookie Dough dessert is the only one I’m aware of that is gluten-free but others might exist. Most cookie dough ice creams contain dough made with wheat flour, and therefore wheat will clearly be listed in the ingredient label.

More and more products are being labeled gluten-free these days. To date, the items I’ve seen marked gluten-free are most of the gelatos from Talenti, all Sherbetter flavors and all Purely Decadent products.  It’s likely that in the near future, we’ll start to see ‘gluten-free’ popping up on ice cream cartons from many mainstream companies as well.

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

Bertucci’s Gluten-Free Menu

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff Leave a Comment

Bertucci’s is a growing restaurant chain with over 90 locations throughout the United States. Due to this growth, it looks like they got the attention of the Gluten Intolerance Group (GIG) which helped them to create a gluten-free menu and make it available to the Celiac community on their official website.

Official Website Menu Information: Bertucci’s Gluten-Free Menu
Location Finder: Find a Bertucci’s Location Near You

If you have a Bertucci’s Italian restaurant in your area and plan to visit, here are the foods that should be safe to eat:

Bertucci’s Gluten-Free Menu

Appetizers

  • Shrimp Scampi Appetizer – Tender shrimp simmered in a light garlic cream sauce. Order without grilled crostini.
  • Mussels Caruso – North Atlantic mussels cooked to order in your choice of a fragrant herbed white wine sauce or our spicy plum tomato sauce. Order without grilled crostini.
  • Antipasto Misto – Brick oven-roasted peppers, zucchini, artichokes, olives, prosciutto, fresh asparagus, broccoli, fresh mozzarella, and grape tomatoes served with baby field greens and balsamic vinaigrette.

Salads

  • Insalata – Mixed leaf lettuce, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, black olives, and Romano cheese.
  • Salad Vivaldi con Pollo & Bello – Baby field greens tossed with balsamic vinaigrette, grape tomatoes, roasted olives, and red onions, topped with grilled chicken and roasted Portobello mushrooms.
  • Tomato & Mozzarella Caprese Salad – Grape tomatoes and fresh mozzarella mixed with extra-virgin olive oil and herbs, over a bed of baby field greens tossed with balsamic vinaigrette.
  • Caesar Salad – Crisp romaine lettuce and Bertucci’s own Caesar dressing. Topped with shaved Italian cheese. Anchovies upon request. Order without garlic croutons.
  • Grilled Chicken Chopped Salad – Grilled chicken on a mix of chopped romaine and iceberg lettuce, cucumbers, zucchini, onions, green peppers, carrots, plum tomatoes, and Romano cheese tossed with a gorgonzola cheese dressing. Garnished with a cilantro pesto sauce.
  • Venetian Spinach Salad with Grilled Chicken – Grilled chicken breast on top of a bed of spinach, grape tomatoes, red onions, shredded Romano cheese, and balsamic vinaigrette.
  • Salad Giardino with Grilled Chicken – Grilled chicken breast on a mix of field greens tossed with grape tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, green peppers, red onions, olives, shaved cheese, and balsamic vinaigrette.

Soup

  • Sausage Soup – A hearty soup with rice, spinach, tomatoes, and sausage.

Entrées

  • Grilled Steak & Chicken Combo – A combination plate with 6 oz. of sliced flat iron steak, grilled, cooked to medium, and a grilled lemon-thyme chicken breast over diced Tuscan tomatoes. Served with fresh asparagus and red-skin mashed potatoes.
  • Filet Mignon with Chianti Sauce – 8 oz. center-cut beef tenderloin grilled to order, flavored with herbed butter and a Chianti sauce. Served with red skin mashed potatoes and fresh asparagus.
  • Balsamic Chicken – Grilled chicken breasts drizzled with a balsamic glaze. Served with string beans and red skin mashed potatoes.
  • Pollo Sanremo with half Insalata – Grilled chicken breasts cooked in a light lemon sauce with roasted black olives, thyme, and capers. Served with asparagus and a half Insalata.
  • Grilled Salmon Fillet – A grilled fillet cooked with lemon butter and fresh herbs. Served with string beans and red skin mashed potatoes.
  • Salmon Florentine – Norwegian salmon fillet brick oven-roasted with white wine, lemon, and caper sauce on a bed of wilted baby spinach.
  • Eggplant Parma with String Beans – Eggplant layered with tomato sauce, provolone, and grated Romano. Served with a cup of sausage soup or half Insalata.

Side Dishes

  • Spinach & Artichokes – A delightful combination, gently sautèed with roasted garlic butter sauce and sprinkled with cheese.
  • Broccoli Romana
  • Fresh, crunchy florets flavored with roasted garlic and lemon wine sauce. Topped with grated Romano cheese.
  • Red Skin Mashed Potatoes – Freshly prepared red skin mashed potatoes.
  • Roasted Tuscan Vegetables – Brick oven-roasted peppers, artichokes, zucchini, eggplant, broccoli, diced tomatoes, and roasted garlic.
  • Fresh Asparagus – Tender asparagus with a touch of butter and Romano cheese.
  • String Beans – Sautèed with a touch of butter.

Desserts

  • Bomba – Vanilla and chocolate gelato wrapped in chocolate with almonds and a red heart of maraschino cherry. Served open with a dollop of whipped cream and chocolate sauce.
  • Chocolate Budino – Rich and creamy, bittersweet chocolate mousse finished with whipped cream.

Have you had a chance to try the gluten-free menu at Bertucci’s?   Please write a review or share your experience in the comments!

As always, when dining out gluten-free, do your due diligence and make sure the staff understands your needs. There are very few restaurants that are 100% gluten-free, so cross-contamination is always a risk. If you don’t feel comfortable with what you are hearing from the staff, perhaps it is best to dine elsewhere.

For information about other gluten-free restaurants menus, check out our gluten-free restaurants page.

Garlic Jim’s Gluten-Free Menu

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff Leave a Comment

The gluten-free restaurant menu submissions continue to roll in and we’ve had some good ones being submitted. In this post, we will be featuring the gluten-free menu available from Garlic Jim’s restaurants. If you aren’t familiar with this franchise, Garlic Jim’s is a pizza chain that recently introduced a gluten-free menu.

Official Website Menu Information: Garlic Jim’s Gluten-Free Menu
Location Finder: Find a Garlic Jim’s Location Near You

Garlic Jim’s gluten-free menu is pretty impressive for a pizza place. According to the official website’s locations page, it looks like you can find Garlic Jim’s in many different states. As of today’s date, they have locations available in California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Tennessee, Oregon, and Washington.

Have you gotten a chance to try the gluten-free pizzas available at Garlic Jim’s? If so, please share your experience in the comments!

As always, when dining out gluten-free, do your due diligence and make sure the staff understands your needs. There are very few restaurants that are 100% gluten-free, so cross-contamination is always a risk. If you don’t feel comfortable with what you are hearing from the staff, perhaps it is best to dine elsewhere.

For information about other gluten-free restaurants menus, check out our gluten-free restaurants page.

Is Rice Gluten-Free?

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff

Rice, in its pure form, is gluten-free. The problem you can run into with rice is the way it’s cooked, or rather what it’s cooked in. Many restaurants use chicken stock to cook their rice. Some chicken stocks contain gluten, so any rice cooked in such stocks is not gluten-free. Always ask about how rice is cooked when dining out unless you are ordering rice off a gluten-free menu. I’ve run into rice cooked in gluten-containing stocks when dining out more times than I can count. Since I always ask about rice before ordering, I’ve never unknowingly ordered any that contains gluten.

Another way to find gluten in rice in restaurants is in a sauce that is added to it. Sometimes it is possible to order safe, plain rice with no sauce and sometimes it’s not. It depends on whether the rice comes in a bag already in the sauce or if the sauce is made in-house and added to plain rice. Even when the latter happens, all the rice and sauce might be mixed up before each shift, so there is still no way to order plain gluten-free rice. It is quite annoying not to be able to have something as simple as rice when dining out, but it’s often a problem. Never assume anything is gluten-free when dining out.

Several rice products available at the grocery store contain gluten. At last check, every Rice-A-Roni product contained wheat. Don’t ask me why – the amount of products that companies add wheat to is mind-boggling. Lundberg Farms makes many wonderful gluten-free rice meals. Our house favorite is Creamy Parmesan Risotto. Tasty Bites makes several rice products that are gluten-free. They even make microwavable rice pouches that are ready in only 90 seconds. Both Lundberg and Tasty Bites’ gluten-free products are marked as such. Most of the Publix rice products are gluten-free but are not marked as such. Many of Uncle Ben’s rice products are gluten-free, but they were not labeled that way the last time I checked them at the store. As always, if the products are not marked gluten-free, a label reading is required.

Other brands that make some gluten-free rice products include (but are not limited to) Mahatma, Minute Rice, Thai Kitchen, Rice Select, and Ortega. Most of the gluten-free products from these lines are not labeled gluten-free so you have to read the labels to make sure you get a gluten-free product. When gluten is used in a rice product, it is generally in the form of wheat, which is legally required to be listed on the label. Therefore, hidden gluten is usually not a problem in rice products. There are a couple of items that list malt in the ingredients. The malt in these items is almost always barley malt, which should be avoided.

Labels on rice are some of the easiest to read and understand, in terms of what is and is not gluten-free. Rice pasta and rice noodles are also generally gluten-free and the ingredients in those are usually rice, rice bran, and water. Again, the labels for these are typically very easy to read and understand. Enjoy your rice, rice meals, and rice pasta. Luckily, these days there are plenty of safe options to choose from!