Are potatoes gluten-free? Yes. The chips are another story

Yes. Potatoes are naturally gluten-free, and so are potato starch and potato flour. Boiled, baked, roasted or mashed at home, they’re one of the easiest gluten-free staples there is.

What to check

• Chips and fries in restaurants. The potato is fine, the fryer often isn’t. If the same oil fries breaded chicken, battered fish or onion rings, the chips pick up gluten. Ask whether the fryer is dedicated to chips.
• Coated or seasoned fries. Some frozen and restaurant fries are coated in a wheat-flour batter to make them crispier. Check the pack, or ask.
• Gnocchi. Potato gnocchi almost always contain wheat flour. Gluten-free gnocchi exist; look for them labelled.
• Instant mash, potato salads and gratins. Can contain wheat flour, stock or a flour-thickened sauce. Read the ingredient list.
• Roast potatoes. Sometimes dusted with flour before roasting, or roasted under a joint with a flour gravy. Worth asking at Sunday lunch.
• Crisps. Plain salted crisps are usually fine; flavoured ones can contain wheat or barley malt vinegar. Check the ingredients.

Potatoes are a gluten-free friend everywhere in the world. At home, no questions. Eating out, ask about the fryer and the coating.

Keep reading

• The Hidden-Gluten Watchlist: the 15 forbidden names and the ones to check
• Shared fryers and gluten-free fries
• Potato starch in the Flour Library
• Potato flour vs potato starch
• Is vinegar gluten-free?

Sources: Codex Alimentarius (gluten-free = 20 mg/kg or less), EU Regulation 828/2014, Coeliac UK, NHS. We inform, we don’t diagnose: for medical questions, your doctor or dietitian has the last word.