Have you noticed a McDonald’s on every street corner in your area? Most people seem to take McDonalds for granted, but for someone with celiac disease, if you are traveling or stuck out in public for whatever reason, having a McDonald’s nearby can be very beneficial.
In my experience, they are probably one of the best gluten-free restaurants because they are everywhere and they are great about disclosing ingredients on their official website. This allows you to have options if you are stuck in situation where you don’t have any gluten-free foods with you.
Although this is subject to change, here is a current list of McDonald’s gluten-free items for your reference:
Update: Due to the large number of questions regarding McDonald’s french fries and hashbrowns, we removed them from our list and addressed these questions in this post: Are french fries gluten-free? For McDonald’s specifically, make sure to read the comments for answers to your questions!
McDonald’s Gluten-Free Menu Items
- Apple Juice
- Coffee
- Hot Chocolate
- 1% Low Fat Milk, White or Chocolate
- Orange Juice
- Soft Drinks
- Chocolate Triple Thick® Shake
- Strawberry Triple Thick® Shake
- Vanilla Triple Thick® Shake
- Condiments/Sauces
- Butter
- Chicken McNugget® Honey
- Chicken McNugget® Hot Mustard Sauce
- Hotcake Syrup
- Jam
- Ketchup
- Lettuce
- Margarine
- Mayonnaise
- Mustard
- Onions
- Pickles
- Tartar Sauce
- Tomato
- Apple Dippers and Low Fat Caramel Dip
- American Cheese
- Beef Patty (no bun)
- Breakfast Beef Steak
- Canadian Bacon
- Fruit ‘n Yogurt Parfait (no granola)
- Ice Cream Sundaes including nuts
- McFlurry® with M&M’S® Candies
- Sausage
- Scrambled Egg
- Caesar Salad w/o Chicken
- Side Salad
- Newman’s Own® Creamy Caesar Dressing
- Newman’s Own® Cobb Dressing
- Newman’s Own® Low Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette
- Newman’s Own® Ranch Dressing
- Newman’s Own® Salsa
As always, remember to check McDonald’s official website for changes in ingredients before dining out.
to linda, i work at an applebees and i was also just recently diagnosed with celiacs and i can confirm ...
where did you have this meal? I have been looking for new places to take my 9 year old daughter ...
Eat-N-Park now also has a gluten free menu. They are great about keeping everything from being cross-contaminated as well, as ...
Had an EXCELLENT gluten-free meal last night. Enjoyed every bite! We were told that Monday 3/8/10 they will ...
I was told at Applebees that the hamburg is gluten free but NOT the chicken! Can you pleae clarify???? 
I have found it depends on the subway. There is one near my house thats great about making sure ...
McDonald’s hashbrowns are not gluten free. Careful.
Your right Teya. It is listed right on their website ingredient list.
Yes, that is true, however I don’t believe Hashbrowns were included in the above list.
People also need to be careful and avoid french fries as they used to be gluten-free, but aren’t any longer.
Yes, but condiments don’t make a meal…you can’t get full on that inadequte ingredient list. I just avoid places that don’t have a real ‘gluten-free menu’
mcdonalds sausage is NOT gluten free! i went on the mcdonalds website and it has MSG!!!!
Jill, monosodium glutamate is NOT gluten. MSG is simply just bad for you, but it is okay for celiacs to eat food with it.
MSG stands for mono sodium glutamate (sp?), so in Jill’s defense, it could contain gluten
MSG has nothing to do with gluten. Glutamate is another name for glutamic acid, which is a non-essential amino acid, and has nothing to do with gluten. It is, however, a neurotransmitter, and especially when complexed with sodium (ie monosodium glutamate=MSG) it can cause bad reactions in some people when consumed.
Bottom line: MSG does not contain any gluten, but you may have a bad reaction to it for different reasons.
The more you know
However…
Some of the same words used to conceal MSG also contain gluten. Hydrolyzed soy protein, for example.
I have a booklet that i brought from HY-Vee. It a pocket dictionary “Acceptability of Foods & Food Ingredients for the Gluten-Free Diet”- Canadian Celiac Association. Its says here, ” A flavor enhancer produced through fermentation of molasses from sugar cane or suger beets. A small precentage of the general population may have a reaction to MSG which is unrelated to gluten.” I do not remember which book i have that i study about sausage. We do need to be caution about eating sausage because some sausage do have gluten in it.
Chicken mcnuggets contain wheat. What the..?
Hi Blair!
Nowhere does the above list include Chicken McNuggets. It does include “Chicken McNuggets Honey”, etc.
In the”Ask GFQ” section, Tiffany says that the fries and hash browns are indeed gluten-free, that when tested there is no gluten detected. How do we know which one is correct?
My daughter was eating them the other day, and wow they smelled good, but I have been too scared to have one. Can I??
Anne,
Fries are a tricky subject. From my understanding, the fries are gluten-free, but many McDonald’s locations don’t maintain a dedicated fryer exclusively for fries/hashbrowns. I have had a problem at one location in our area, but the other two have always been fine, so you’ll want to talk to your local McDonald’s to confirm they maintain a dedicated fryer for their hashbrowns/fries.
Actually McDonald’s official web site has ingredient list, and it says their fries contains WHEAT and MILK. Same as their Chicken Nuggets/
Is your soft ice cream gluten free and toppings?
Yes, their french fries have gluten but they have tested them after being cooked and they test as gluten free. My daughter has never had a problem eating their french fries.