Celiac Disease Grocery List

Controlling celiac disease is not so much about foods you should eat as foods you shouldn’t eat. The foods on this list are considered to be generally safe for people with celiac. You’ll need to carefully check labels on all foods marked with an asterisk (*) because ingredients can vary from brand to brand.

Because most of the popular grains contain gluten, it is important to try new, safe whole grains. You’ll also need to eat plenty of vegetables and fruits to make sure that you get a wide variety of naturally occurring vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants. Toward the end of the grocery list, I’ve listed additives and ingredients that are also thought to be safe.

FRUITS

  • ALL fresh fruits
  • ALL frozen whole fruits with no additives

VEGETABLES AND LEGUMES

  • ALL fresh vegetables
  • ALL frozen vegetables with no additives, breading, or sauces
  • *Beans, canned
  • Beans, lentils, and peas, dried
  • Olives
  • Potatoes (all varieties)
  • *Pumpkin, canned, 100% pure puree

SEAFOOD

  • ALL fresh fish and shellfish
  • ALL frozen fish and shellfish with no additives or sauces

LEAN PROTEINS

  • ALL fresh meats and poultry with no breading or additives
  • ALL frozen meats and poultry with no breading or additives
  • Eggs
  • Tofu

NUTS AND SEEDS (Preferably Unsalted)

  • ALL natural nut butters
  • ALL nuts
  • ALL seeds (except rye and barley)

GRAINS, CEREALS, PASTA, AND MORE

  • Amaranth
  • Arrowroot starch
  • Buckwheat
  • *Cereals, dry: puffed and flake varieties made with amaranth, buckwheat, corn, millet, rice, or soy
  • *Cereals, hot: cream and flake varieties made with amaranth, cornmeal, buckwheat, hominy grits, rice, quinoa, or soy
  • Corn bran
  • Corn chips, plain
  • Corn flour/corn meal products
  • Crackers, gluten-free (such as brown rice, corn, and lentil)
  • Flour: amaranth, buckwheat, carob, chickpea, lentil, millet, potato, quinoa, rice, sago, sorghum, soy, tapioca, teff
  • Grits (corn or soy)
  • Kasha (not the same as Kashi)
  • Masa
  • Millet
  • Pasta made from beans, brown rice, corn, peas, potato, quinoa, lentils, or soy
  • Polenta
  • *Popcorn, air-popped and gluten-free packaged varieties
  • Potato chips, plain or *flavored
  • Quinoa
  • Ragi
  • Rice (preferably brown or wild)
  • Rice cakes, plain
  • *Soba, 100% buckwheat
  • Sorghum
  • *Soy crisps
  • *Tacos shells made with corn, hard and soft
  • Tapioca starch/flour
  • Teff
  • *Tortillas made with corn, soy, or brown rice
  • Tortilla chips, plain or *flavored

DAIRY

  • *Cheese (preferably reduced-fat), not blue cheese
  • *Cottage cheese (preferable fat-free or 1% low-fat)
  • *Cream cheese (preferably reduced-fat)
  • *Ice cream (check labels; ingredients will vary from flavor to flavor)
  • Milk (preferably fat free or 1% low-fat)
  • *Milk alternatives (soy, almond, rice)
  • *Sour cream (preferably fat-free or reduced-fat)
  • *Yogurt (preferably fat-free or low-fat)

MISCELLANEOUS

  • ALL pure herbs (check ingredients of *herb mixes)
  • ALL pure spices (check ingredients of *spice mixes)
  • Apple cider vinegar
  • Baking chocolate
  • Baking powder
  • Baking soda
  • Canola oil
  • Cocoa powder
  • Coffee, instant and ground (check ingredients of *flavored coffees)
  • Corn syrup
  • Cornstarch
  • Cream of tartar
  • Garlic
  • Gelatin
  • Honey
  • *Hummus (check labels; ingredients will vary from flavor to flavor)
  • Jam and jelly
  • *Ketchup
  • Maple syrup
  • *Mayonnaise (preferably reduced-fat)
  • Molasses
  • *Mustard
  • Olive oil
  • Pickles
  • Relish
  • *Salsa
  • *Soft tub, trans fat–free spread (regular and reduced-fat)
  • Sugar
  • Tea, black and green (check *flavored and herbal tea varieties)
  • Vanilla and other extracts
  • Vinegar, balsamic, red wine, or white
  • Wine, red and white

SAFE (GLUTEN-FREE) ADDITIVES

  • Acacia gum
  • Adipic acid
  • Agar
  • Algae
  • Algin/alginate
  • Allicin
  • Annatto
  • Arabic gum
  • Arrowroot
  • Ascorbic acid
  • Aspartame
  • Aspic
  • Astragalus gummifer
  • Benzoic acid
  • BHA
  • BTA
  • Dextrose
  • Ester gum
  • Fructose
  • Guar gum
  • Locust bean gum
  • Malic acid
  • Methylcellulose
  • Microcrystallin cellulose
  • Pectin
  • Pepsin
  • Stearic acid
  • Sulfites
  • Tapioca starch/flour (not pudding)
  • Whey
  • Xanthan gum

* The asterisk (*) indicates foods whose labels need to be carefully checked for gluten.

Get my Gluten-Free, Whole-Grain Shopping List.