Is sugar gluten-free? Yes, including brown and powdered sugar

Yes. Sugar is gluten-free: white, brown, cane and beet sugar.

What to check

• Icing (powdered) sugar sometimes contains an anti-caking starch, usually corn or potato. Wheat would be named on the label in the EU and UK.
• Flavoured sugars and sugar decorations: read the ingredients.
• Glucose syrup and dextrose made from wheat are refined to the point that they’re gluten-free.

Keep reading

• Is glucose syrup gluten-free?
• Is caramel gluten-free?
• Is vanilla extract gluten-free?

Sources: Coeliac UK, EU Regulation 1169/2011 and 828/2014, US FDA gluten-free rule and FALCPA, Codex Alimentarius (gluten-free = 20 mg/kg or less). Checked 28 September 2026. We inform, we don’t diagnose: for medical questions, your doctor or dietitian has the last word.