Today, it’s estimated that about 30% of Americans avoid gluten in their diets. In a country of nearly 335 million, that’s a lot of people! So you can safely bet that one of America’s most popular fast food chains, the beloved Taco Bell, will have plenty of gluten-free customers rolling up to the drive thru window on a regular basis.
If you’re one of them, and you’re wondering what gluten-free foods you can enjoy on the Taco Bell menu, you’ve come to the right place. The Tex-Mex chain has made efforts in recent years to meet the needs of various dietary restrictions, whether it be vegan, vegetarian, or keto. And allergies and food sensitivities are certainly included in that list – so they’ve made sure their customers have some gluten-free options on the menu.
Whether you have celiac disease, a gluten intolerance or sensitivity, or you avoid gluten for any other reason, Taco Bell is somewhere you can go for a quick, affordable meal that’ll provide you with plenty of gluten-free choices. Let’s run through everything on the current menu that you can grab to go.
Gluten-free items available on the Taco Bell menu
Luckily, the nature of Mexican food as an overall cuisine makes it pretty easy to find gluten-free options. With base ingredients like meat, cheese, beans, and vegetables in many of the dishes – and especially thanks to flour-substituting ingredients like corn – there’s generally a lot of foods you can mix and match to create a satisfying gluten-free meal. And Taco Bell is no exception.
That said, it’s important to state that if you avoid gluten for medical reasons and potential cross contamination could be harmful to you, then it’s best to avoid fast food restaurants in general. Taco Bell doesn’t officially claim that any of their menu items are gluten-free, because they can’t necessarily guarantee that the food doesn’t come into contact with gluten through things like shared surfaces, tools, and frying oil.
Otherwise, the main problem ingredient to watch out for will be what everyone thinks of when they hear gluten: flour. At Taco Bell, that means your main culprits will be flour tortillas, baked goods and sweets like the Cinnamon Twists and Cinnabon Delights, and the fries and potato bites since those are both made with enriched wheat flour. While eliminating flour tortillas means you can’t order items like quesadillas or the fan favorite Crunchwrap Supreme, you do have some leeway with Taco Bell’s burritos, since you can modify them to remove the tortilla and eat them as bowls.
As long as you know which ingredients contain wheat and avoid those, there are a plethora of items and ingredients at Taco Bell that don’t contain gluten and are completely up for grabs. The menu includes several items that are gluten-free as is, like those that come in a corn tortilla or in bowl form, and many more that you can easily modify to be gluten-free and diet-friendly – so you can customize to your heart’s content.
More good news: with a long list of signature sauces (which loyalists everywhere love about Taco Bell) there are also plenty of gluten-free sauces on the menu, which you can always add to your order for an extra boost of flavor. Some sauces that contain wheat or gluten to watch out for: the Breakfast Salsa, the Nacho Cheese Sauce, and the Fire Sauce.
If you’re avoiding gluten, you don’t necessarily have to avoid Taco Bell – here’s the complete list of gluten-free menu items and ingredients that you can order next time you’re in the mood to Live Más.
| Gluten-Free Menu Items (As Is) | |
| Hash Brown | |
| Crunchy Taco | |
| Crunchy Taco Supreme | |
| Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos Taco | |
| Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos Taco Supreme | |
| Power Menu Bowl (Chicken, Steak, Veggie) | |
| Black Beans | |
| Black Beans & Rice | |
| Pintos N Cheese | |
| Gluten-Free Menu Items (Modifiable) | Necessary Modifications |
| Cheesy Toasted Breakfast Burrito (Bacon or Sausage) | No tortilla, no Nacho Cheese Sauce |
| Grande Toasted Breakfast Burrito (Steak, Sausage, Bacon) | No tortilla, no potatoes |
| Bean Burrito | No tortilla |
| Cheesy Bean & Rice Burrito | No tortilla, no Nacho Cheese Sauce |
| Grilled Cheese Burrito (Beef, Steak, Chicken, or Black Bean) | No tortilla, no Nacho Cheese Sauce |
| Beefy 5-Layer Burrito | No tortilla, no Nacho Cheese Sauce |
| Burrito Supreme | No tortilla |
| Chipotle Ranch Grilled Chicken Burrito | No tortilla |
| Beefy Melt Burrito | No tortilla, no Nacho Cheese Sauce |
| Fiesta Veggie Burrito | No tortilla |
| Chicken Chipotle Melt | No tortilla |
| Gluten-Free Tortilla Shells | |
| Crunchy Taco Shell | |
| Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos Shell | |
| Tostada Shell | |
| Gluten-Free Ingredients + Add-Ons | |
| Eggs | |
| Bacon | |
| Sausage | |
| Seasoned Ground Beef | |
| Steak | |
| Chicken | |
| Black Beans | |
| Refried Beans | |
| Seasoned Rice | |
| Jalapeno Peppers | |
| Lettuce | |
| Onions | |
| Guacamole | |
| Tomatoes | |
| Cheese (Cheddar, Three Cheese Blend) | |
| Sour Cream | |
| Chips | |
| Tortilla Strips | |
| Gluten-Free Sauces | |
| Avocado Ranch Dressing | |
| Creamy Chipotle Sauce | |
| Creamy Jalapeno Sauce | |
| Mild Sauce | |
| Hot Sauce | |
| Diablo Sauce | |
| Red Sauce | |
| Green Sauce | |
| Spicy Ranch Sauce | |
| Spicy Chile Verde Sauce | |
| Mexican Pizza Sauce | |
| Gluten-Free Beverages | |
| Coffee (Hot or Iced, Black or With Creamer) | |
| Cinnabon Delights Coffee | |
| Unsweetened Iced Tea | |
| Fountain Sodas | |
| Mountain Dew Baja Blast Freeze | |
| Watermelon Berry Freeze | |
| Watermelon Berry Lemonade Freeze | |
| Blue Raspberry Freeze | |
| Orange Juice |
Yes! Taco Bell’s corn-based tortilla shells are gluten-free, so that includes the Crunchy Taco Shell, Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos Shell, and Tostada Shell. Taco Bell’s tortilla chips and tortilla strips are also gluten-free.
Although the ingredients listed on Taco Bell’s Nacho Cheese Sauce do not include any gluten or wheat products, Taco Bell has this item listed on their website’s allergen tool as containing gluten. It’s assumed that this sauce contains some form of gluten, and should be avoided for gluten-free diets.
Taco Bell’s Fire Sauce Packet is listed as containing wheat, which is derived from the natural flavors included in the ingredients.
Unfortunately Taco Bell’s Mexican Pizza, one of their specialty items, is not gluten-free. While the base ingredients don’t contain gluten, the Mexican Pizza Shells used to make the item are tortillas made with enriched wheat flour.
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