If you need to eat on the go, I’m sure at some point you might have typed into Google’s search bar, “Are Mcdonald’s fries gluten-free?” or perhaps “Are McDonald’s french fries safe for Celiacs?” I mean, they’re potatoes. And potatoes don’t have gluten, right? Nevertheless, there could be something more going on, and you’ll need to know about it first!
None of us want to give up convenient or tasty food because of this disease, yet we all know that we have to give up so much! It truly sucks, as our glutinous friends and family are quick to remind us. Thanks. Not helpful.
Sometimes we get a hall pass on the odd occasion, and and if McDonald’s fries are gluten-free, they may be one of them. No, I don’t mean hall pass, as in allowing ourselves to cheat (a.k.a. self-sabotage) and damage our intestines! I mean a hall pass, legit. Here’s what you need to do:
Checking to see if your McDonald’s fries are gluten-free
1. Go to the McDonald’s website for the country that you’re in, and look at the ingredients. If your country’s fries and hash browns have any gluten ingredients in them, forget it. Go no further; they’re off the table for you. (I’m talking to you, McDonald’s US!).
2. If there are no gluten ingredients (like McDonald’s in Canada, Mexico, Spain, Serbia, and lots of European countries, etc.), then wondering, “Are McDonald’s fries gluten-free?” is easily answered, but…when you walk into or drive through the McDonald’s in your area, ask to speak to a team lead or manager before you order. They generally have access to the nutrition and ingredients information. My experience tells me that the BIG restaurants with the McCafe sections are more likely to be better candidates for safe fries for us. And accordingly, that means that the ones, e.g., inside Walmart or the tiny ones, are not as optimistic.
Speaking of Europe, did you know that not only are McDonald’s fries gluten-free in most of their countries, but that many of them offer gluten-free buns? I know, we don’t go to Europe to eat at McDonald’s. Now that we have that out of the way…
If we do feel like a little overseas Mickey Dee’s, We can at last enjoy their burgers or grilled chicken sandwiches at the same time as their famous fries that are gluten-free there! I KNOW!!!!!! This is very exciting, yet McDonald’s Canada and MacDonald’s USA have no plans to allow us to eat a full and filling meal by offering gluten-free buns. Boo.
3. Use this script (it’s kind of like my restaurant script, but specifically for fries):
“Hi, I have Celiac Disease and cannot have any gluten coming in contact with my food whatsoever. Could you please tell me if your potato fryer…
A) only ever has potatoes in them
B) is self-contained and filters its own oil and
C) the oil in the potato fryer is never in contact with the oil from any breaded product fryers?
Why is all this important for Celiacs?
Some McDonalds have separate fryers for every single one of their fried products. Some McDonald’s have a separate fryer for potatoes and another fryer for all other fried products. But here’s the part you have to watch out for in figuring out are McDonald’s fries gluten-free in a specific location:
Some McDonald’s filter the oils from the potato fryer and the breaded products fryer TOGETHER, thereby cross-contaminating the potato fryer oil, then they just put the newly-filtered oil back into each fryer. If this is the case, you CANNOT eat the fries. Because as I’ve said before, gluten particles are almost impossible to strain 100% out. So are McDonald’s fries gluten-free? Not in these restaurants.
I weep little tears inside my head and silently cuss out the franchise when I hear that it’s one of the “bad” oil filtering practices. (In fairness, it’s usually smaller facilities that do this because they don’t have a large enough food prep area to do it differently).
Most McDonald’s have changed over to the completely enclosed self-filtering systems for the potato fryer, making the fries and, likewise, the hash browns safe for us to eat. The oil does not mix with the breaded products. But it’s still good to ask, just to be 100% sure.
So if you really wish you could enjoy those famous fries again (if it turns out that your desired location of McDonald’s French fries are gluten-free)…go ahead and ask a few questions. You may just get your wish!