Ultimate El Pollo Loco Gluten-Free Menu Guide For 2025
Famed for their flame-grilled citrus chicken and other gluten-aware dishes, our El Pollo Loco gluten-free guide will show you the pitfalls to avoid.
Mexican cuisine can be pretty tricky to integrate into a celiac’s gluten-free diet, as so many of its delectable staples and signature foods are built with gluten in mind, whether it’s wheat-flour flatbread wrappers or wheat-thickened sauces. 🌵
With that said, it’s not impossible, and we’ve seen a growing cohort of Mexican restaurants and fast-food chains adopt a more gluten-friendly approach to our beloved tacos, burritos, quesadillas, tortillas, tostadas, and so much more. 🌮🌯🥙
Either through extensive customization or using wheat-free components, they’ve shown us that you can make delicious Mexican food safe for celiacs, and it looks like El Pollo Loco might be cashing in on this welcomed trend, too! 🌶️🔥
They’re famous for their fire-grilled, citrus-marinated chicken and other Latin-inspired sides, and perhaps best of all, most of their core menu items, including plain grilled chicken, rice, beans, and fresh salsas, are naturally wheat-free. 🥗🍗🍚
This opens up a decent chunk of their menu that’s relatively low-risk compared to most of its rivals, though, of course, you still have to be on the lookout for both cross-contamination and some of their wheat-based marinades and sides.
The latter includes a variety of sauces, as well as items wrapped in wheat flatbreads, but to make sure you know which ones to avoid, our El Pollo Loco gluten-free guide is here to help you figure out which parts of their huge menu are safe!
Table of Contents
Disclaimer
Nonetheless, it’s important to bear in mind that El Pollo Loco does not operate dedicated gluten-free kitchens, and most items are made on shared grills, cutting boards, and prep stations, with staff who handle both wheat and no-wheat foods.
In other words, cross-contamination is a very real concern that you have to be aware of, in addition to the fact that even those menu items that do not naturally contain any wheat might still pick up trace gluten via cross-contamination. 👉🚫🌾
This includes other glutenous components aside from wheat, such as malt, barley, rye, and/or oats, which are carried throughout a kitchen environment through shared utensils, fryers, ladles, or work surfaces, and other cookware or utensils.
As such, with that much cross-contamination in mind, you should ideally treat even the most gluten-friendly items on El Pollo Loco’s menu more like “gluten-sensitive” rather than being 100% certified “gluten-free” and truly celiac-safe. ⚠️
To make matters more confusing, as with most other restaurants, El Pollo Loco doesn’t test its menu items to meet the FDA’s super strict <20 ppm gluten threshold for a particular food or drink item to be labeled and certified as “gluten-free”. 🌮🌯🥙
Therefore, if you have celiac disease or any other dietary restrictions, remember to tell the staff and ask them to take extra precautions while preparing your food. El Pollo Loco even has this to say about cross-contamination and allergens:
El Pollo Loco does not claim that any of its foods are free from allergens, including gluten. There is a potential for cross-contamination as individual foods may come into contact with each other during preparation. Suppliers may also prepare ingredients in plants that process peanuts, tree nuts, or other allergens. Customers with allergen sensitivities should consider the potential for cross-contamination when dining at El Pollo Loco.
El Pollo Loco Allergen Policy (Gluten-Free)
But hey, on the bright side, at least El Pollo Loco does make it a bit easier for you to filter through their entire, gigantic menu to figure out what’s safe for you to eat, and which ones you’d want to avoid with a 10-foot pole! 😱
This starts by heading over to the official El Pollo Loco website, and once you’re on their homepage, scroll all the way down to the website footer, and click or tap on the tiny text and symbol there that says “Nutrition”. ✍📝
Clicking or tapping on this will open a new tab, which will load up or download a PDF file for El Pollo Loco’s nutrition guide, which includes some valuable allergen information, too. Here’s what you can learn from this PDF file:
- Nutritional Information – There’s a pretty detailed nutritional breakdown for every single item on El Pollo Loco’s menu, which is great if you’re really conscious about your diet and you’d like to know how many calories (among other nutritional data) a particular dish has.
- Allergen Information – This is what we’re really looking for, as it tells you what allergens are included in each menu item, so for celiacs or anyone here with severe gluten intolerance or sensitivity, be on the lookout for (and then avoid) any menu item that contains wheat in it.
In addition to this PDF file, there’s another that you can find buried a bit deeper within El Pollo Loco’s website, which gives you a more specific rundown of wheat gluten and how its presence impacts El Pollo Loco’s menu. 📑👉🌾
On this PDF file, you can learn about what’s defined as “gluten-free”, as well as a handy list of every single menu item that doesn’t include wheat gluten, though El Pollo Loco makes it clear that this still doesn’t count as “gluten-free”.
Burrito Bowls, Burritos & Bowls
One of El Pollo Loco’s specialties is their burritos, which come in all shapes in sizes, from just a standard handheld burrito to a burrito bowl, as well as hearty and filling protein bowls alongside it, too, though be wary that not all of them are safe. 🌯
✅ Street Corn Double Chicken Burrito Bowl
❌ Queso Crunch Double Chicken Burrito Bowl
❌ Guacamole Chicken Burrito
❌ Chipotle Guacamole Chicken Burrito
❌ Queso Guacamole Chicken Burrito
❌ Original BRC Burrito
❌ Classic Chicken Burrito
✅ Original Pollo Bowl
✅ Grande Avocado Chicken Bowl
✅ Double Chicken Bowl
For context, let’s take a closer look at how these burritos and bowls are actually made:
Street Corn Double Chicken Burrito Bowl: Grilled double chicken layered over rice with charred street corn, cheese, and salsa. By ingredient, this bowl is wheat-free, though request a fresh scoop and separate utensils to reduce cross-contact risk on shared lines.
Queso Crunch Double Chicken Burrito Bowl: Double chicken with queso and crunchy tortilla-style topping. The crunchy add-in contains wheat or is handled near wheat products, so this bowl contains gluten and is unsafe for celiacs and highly gluten-sensitive diners.
Guacamole Chicken Burrito: Grilled chicken, guacamole, rice, and salsa wrapped in a flour tortilla. The flour tortilla contains wheat by ingredient, making this burrito unsafe for anyone requiring strict gluten-free handling, so avoid it unless a certified gluten-free tortilla is available.
Chipotle Guacamole Chicken Burrito: Chipotle-seasoned chicken with guacamole and fillings wrapped in a standard flour tortilla. The wheat-based tortilla and shared toasting/assembly surfaces make this item unsafe for celiacs, as well as those needing strict gluten avoidance.
Queso Guacamole Chicken Burrito: Chicken, guacamole, and a queso-style sauce folded in a flour tortilla. The tortilla and possible cheese-sauce thickeners introduce wheat or cross-contact risk, so this menu item is not safe for strict gluten-free diners, either.
Original BRC Burrito: Signature burrito wrapped in a wheat flour tortilla with rice, beans, and chicken. The flour tortilla is an ingredient-level gluten source, and the preparation uses shared utensils, so avoid this item if you need gluten-free assurance.
Classic Chicken Burrito: Grilled chicken, rice, beans, and sauces rolled in a flour tortilla. The wheat tortilla and shared assembly areas create both ingredient and cross-contact hazards, so this classic burrito is unsafe for celiac diners by default.
Original Pollo Bowl: Grilled pollo, rice, beans, pico, and simple toppings served in a bowl. By recipe and ingredient, this is wheat-free, and it’s one of the safer options, but ask for clean utensils and separate prep to limit trace cross-contact.
Grande Avocado Chicken Bowl: Avocado, grilled chicken, rice, and fresh veg served in a bowl. Ingredients are naturally wheat-free, making this a good choice for gluten-sensitive diners if staff use fresh gloves and a clean serving vessel.
Double Chicken Bowl: Two portions of grilled chicken with rice, beans, and toppings in a bowl. Ingredient-wise, this bowl is wheat-free, though you should still request separate utensils and a fresh scoop to avoid contamination from nearby tortillas or fryer stations.
Alas, since most of El Pollo Loco’s burritos come wrapped in a flour tortilla, with no real gluten-free substitute, not to mention the inclusion of crunchy wheat toppings on some of their bowls, you do have to be extra careful when ordering. 🥗🥙
Tacos, Quesadillas & Nachos
Watch out, more handheld goodness is on the way! Aside from their burritos, El Pollo Loco has a decent selection of tacos, taco bowls, quesadillas, and nachos, presenting convenient and flavorful options for diners, though caution is advised. 🌮
✅ Shredded Chicken Crunchy Taco
✅ Chicken Taco Al Carbon
❌ Chicken Avocado Taco
❌ Salsa Verde Chicken Quesadilla
❌ Creamy Chipotle Chicken Quesadilla
❌ Shredded Chicken Nachos
Just to make sure that we got that right, let’s take an even closer look at each of them:
Shredded Chicken Crunchy Taco: Crispy shell filled with slow-shredded grilled chicken, lettuce, and salsa. By ingredient, this item is listed as wheat-free, but remember to ask the staff to use a fresh scoop and confirm the shell is corn to reduce cross-contact risk.
Chicken Taco Al Carbon: Grilled marinated chicken with pico and cilantro served in a tortilla. This is listed as safe by ingredient, though confirm the tortilla type and request separate prep away from flour tortillas and fried items to further lower cross-contact risk.
Chicken Avocado Taco: Grilled chicken, sliced avocado, and toppings in a standard wheat tortilla. The tortilla contains wheat, so this item is not safe for celiacs, and a substitution would require a certified gluten-free or corn tortilla confirmed by staff.
Salsa Verde Chicken Quesadilla: A folded flour tortilla filled with chicken and salsa verde, then grilled. Unfortunately, the flour tortilla contains wheat, and this item is unsafe for anyone needing strict gluten avoidance unless a verified gluten-free wrap exists.
Creamy Chipotle Chicken Quesadilla: Melted cheese and chipotle chicken folded into a wheat flour tortilla. Ingredient-level gluten is present in the tortilla and likely the seasoning, so avoid this item unless the location offers a certified gluten-free alternative.
Shredded Chicken Nachos: Tortilla chips topped with shredded chicken, cheese, and sauces, which is also listed as containing wheat ingredients or prepared with wheat-containing components, making it unsafe for celiacs without gluten-free chips being available.
As you can see, some of these handhelds rely on wheat tortillas, shells, or have crunchy mix-ins, though some of El Pollo Loco’s taco bowls and grilled taco options could be made a tad safer by opting for corn tortillas instead. 🥗🍅🥬🍚
Tostadas & Salads
Alternatively, for something a bit lighter, healthier, and more casual, you could check out El Pollo Loco’s salads and tostadas, which are simple, though quite deceptive if you’re not very careful about keeping an eye out for gluten! 🥗🍗🌶️
✅ Citrus Avocado Fresca Salad
❌ Double Chicken Tostada
❌ Classic Chicken Tostada
✅ Double Chicken Avocado Salad
To compare these against the rest of El Pollo Loco’s huge menu, let’s take a deep dive:
Citrus Avocado Fresca Salad: Mixed greens tossed with citrus segments, ripe avocado, cotija cheese, and a citrus vinaigrette. By ingredient, this salad is wheat-free, but request no tortilla strips or other crunchy mix-ins, and ask for fresh utensils to avoid cross-contact.
Double Chicken Tostada: Crispy tostada shell topped with shredded chicken, beans, lettuce, and salsa. The tostada shell contains wheat and is unsafe for celiacs, though you might want to ask if a bowl or lettuce base can replace the shell for a safer alternative.
Classic Chicken Tostada: Crisp flat tostada layered with seasoned chicken, cheese, and pico de gallo. The wheat-based shell makes this item unsafe for gluten-free diners, and shared fryers/handling increase cross-contact risk, so avoid this entirely unless modified to a bowl.
Double Chicken Avocado Salad: Hearty salad with grilled chicken, sliced avocado, corn, black beans, and mixed greens. Ingredient-wise, this item is wheat-free, but confirm dressings contain no wheat and request separate plating and a fresh scoop to reduce cross-contact.
Thankfully, the salads are usually naturally wheat-free by ingredient, though remember to omit any wheat-based crunchy add-ons, while El Pollo Loco’s tostadas are made with wheat shells, with an abundance of cross-contamination. 🥙🌮
Chicken Meals, Fire-Grilled Combos & Kids Meals
Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper review of El Pollo Loco’s menu without checking out arguably their most popular signature menu item, their flame-grilled citrus-marinated chicken, and great news, most of them are reasonably safe, too! 🍗🌶️
⚠️ 2 Piece Meal
⚠️ 3 Piece Meal
⚠️ 4 Piece Meal
✅ Fire-Grilled Chicken Breast
✅ Fire-Grilled Chicken Wing
✅ Fire-Grilled Chicken Thigh
✅ Fire-Grilled Chicken Leg
⚠️ Original Pollo Bowl Combo
⚠️ Chicken Tacos Al Carbon Combo
❌ Classic Chicken Burrito Combo
⚠️ Two Legs Kids Meal
❌ Original BRC Burrito Kids Meal
Let’s take a peek at what’s inside each of these delectable proteins and tasty combos:
2 Piece Meal: Two flame-grilled chicken portions served with your choice of sides and tortillas. The chicken itself is wheat-free by recipe, but bundled sides or flour tortillas may contain gluten or be prepped on shared surfaces, so treat the full meal with caution.
3 Piece Meal: Three pieces of fire-grilled chicken served with sides and a tortilla option. Ingredient-wise, the chicken is gluten-free, but as noted earlier, it includes sides or flour tortillas that often contain wheat, and shared prep increases cross-contact risk for celiacs.
4 Piece Meal: Four fire-grilled chicken pieces with your choice of sides. The protein is wheat-free by ingredient, but the combo packaging can include tortillas, chips, or other items that introduce gluten or cross-contact, so be sure to ask to omit or swap risky sides.
Fire-Grilled Chicken Breast: Marinated, flame-grilled chicken breast seasoned and served hot. By recipe, this is gluten-free, but confirm the marinade has no wheat-based soy or thickeners and request separate plating and clean utensils to reduce cross-contact risk.
Fire-Grilled Chicken Wing: Charred, seasoned chicken wing cooked over fire for smoky flavor. The wings are wheat-free by ingredient, though shared tongs, grills, and sauces may increase contamination risk, so ask staff to handle them with fresh gloves and clean tools.
Fire-Grilled Chicken Thigh: Juicy, marinated thigh grilled over fire for depth of flavor. Ingredient-level wheat risk is low, but cross-contact can occur on shared grills and prep stations, so request separate plating and confirm marinades and sauces are wheat-free.
Fire-Grilled Chicken Leg: Seasoned, fire-grilled leg piece served with classic sides. The leg is free of wheat by recipe, yet shared cookware, sauce ladles, or tortilla handling can lead to trace contamination, so remember to ask the staff for isolated prep and a clean plate.
Original Pollo Bowl Combo: Pollo bowl with rice, beans, salsa, and a side bundled together. The base bowl is usually wheat-free, but the combo may include tortillas or sides prepared on shared equipment, so treat the bundled meal with caution and request safe swaps.
Chicken Tacos Al Carbon Combo: Grilled chicken tacos served with sides and tortillas. The grilled chicken filling is typically wheat-free, but flour tortillas, chips, or shared prep of sauces can introduce gluten, so ask for corn tortillas and separate prep when possible.
Classic Chicken Burrito Combo: Flour tortilla wrapped burrito with rice, beans, and chicken. The burrito uses a wheat flour tortilla and therefore contains gluten by ingredient, making it unsafe for celiacs unless a certified gluten-free wrap is available.
Two Legs Kids Meal: Two grilled chicken legs bundled with a kid-side and a tortilla or roll on the side. The protein is gluten-free by ingredient, but the bundled sides and any breaded or tortilla items may contain wheat, so treat the combo as a cautionary order.
Original BRC Burrito Kids Meal: Kid-sized Original BRC burrito served with sides. This item contains a wheat flour tortilla and is therefore not safe for celiac diners by ingredient, so avoid this completely unless a verified gluten-free substitute is offered.
Most of El Pollo Loco’s grilled proteins are naturally low-risk by ingredient, though some of their combos require caution, as some of the sides and tortillas bundled with them might introduce wheat-based tortillas and other glutenous components. 🌯
Sides, Salsas, Snacks & Sweets
To complement your entrees, El Pollo Loco has a massive lineup of sides, salsas, snacks, and sweets. You get small plates and add-ons that could make or break a gluten-friendly meal, but mercifully, some of them are naturally wheat-free. 🍲🥣🍚
✅ Caramel Flan
✅ Chips & Guacamole
❌ Chips & Queso
✅ Homemade Tortilla Soup
✅ Chicken Taco Al Carbon
❌ Original BRC Burrito
❌ Cinnamon Churros
✅ Tortilla Chips
❌ Queso Blanco
✅ Corn Tortillas
❌ Flour Tortillas
✅ Creamy Cilantro Dressing
✅ Ranch Dressing
✅ Sour Cream
✅ Rice
✅ Pinto Beans
✅ Charro Beans
✅ Corn
✅ Broccoli
❌ Macaroni and Cheese
❌ Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
✅ Loco Side Salad
✅ Coleslaw
✅ Avocado Salsa
✅ Salsa Fresca
✅ Salsa Roja
Just so we’re 100% certain that some of these sides are unsafe, let’s take a closer look:
Caramel Flan: A creamy baked custard made with milk, sugar, and eggs, topped with caramel. By ingredient, it has no wheat, but request separate utensils and a clean plate to avoid trace cross-contact from nearby bakery or fried items.
Chips & Guacamole: House-made guacamole served with tortilla chips. The guac and corn chips are wheat-free by recipe, yet confirm that the chips are not from a line shared with battered items and ask for fresh tongs to lower cross-contact risk.
Chips & Queso: Warm cheese dip served with tortilla chips. The queso often contains wheat-based thickeners or processed cheese blends, and they’re served with shared chips or ladles, so this item contains gluten and should be avoided if you’re a celiac.
Homemade Tortilla Soup: Brothy soup with shredded chicken, vegetables, and tortilla strips. The broth and chicken are typically wheat-free, but the tortilla strips and possible flour thickeners create a moderate cross-contact risk, and request no added strips to be safer.
Chicken Taco Al Carbon: Grilled marinated chicken served taco-style on corn tortillas. The grilled chicken is gluten-free by recipe, so choose corn tortillas and ask staff to use fresh gloves and separate tongs to reduce cross-contact with flour tortillas or battered items.
Original BRC Burrito: Large burrito rolled in a wheat flour tortilla with fillings and sauces. The flour wrap is an ingredient-level gluten source, and this item is unsafe for celiacs unless the chain offers a certified gluten-free alternative, which it does not by default.
Cinnamon Churros: Fried dough sticks coated in cinnamon sugar. These are made from wheat flour and fried in shared oil, so they contain gluten and carry a high cross-contact risk, which should be avoided at all costs for strict gluten-free diets.
Tortilla Chips: Crisp corn tortilla chips served as a side. Made from corn by ingredient, and they’re also generally low risk, though confirm they are stored and served away from battered items and fried crumbs to further minimize cross-contact.
Queso Blanco: White cheese dip is commonly thickened and served warm. This item frequently contains wheat-based thickeners or is processed where bakery items are present, so it contains gluten and should be avoided by celiac diners.
Corn Tortillas: Soft corn tortillas made from masa. By ingredient, these are wheat-free and a safe taco base when ordered fresh, though remember to ask staff to warm and plate them away from flour tortillas and shared griddles to reduce contamination.
Flour Tortillas: Soft wheat flour tortillas used for burritos and tacos. These contain wheat by ingredient and are unsafe for anyone requiring strict gluten avoidance, including celiacs and folks with a severe gluten intolerance or sensitivity.
Creamy Cilantro Dressing: A blended dressing of cilantro, mayo, and citrus. The dressing recipe contains no wheat ingredients, and pre-portioned serving reduces cross-contact, though ask for a clean spoon and separate container if you’re highly sensitive.
Ranch Dressing: Classic dairy-based ranch dressing. By recipe, it does not include wheat ingredients. Still, you should remember to request a fresh pour or sealed packet and avoid shared ladles to minimize trace contamination risks.
Sour Cream: Plain dairy sour cream used as a topping. Ingredient-level wheat-free, and it’s a pretty safe condiment overall, but ask for a clean scoop or sealed portion to avoid cross-contact from shared utensils.
Rice: Steamed or seasoned white rice. Rice is naturally wheat-free and one of the lowest-risk sides, though request separate serving utensils and a clean container to avoid crumbs from nearby baked goods.
Pinto Beans: Seasoned pinto beans cooked simply. By ingredient, these are wheat-free, but confirm no flour thickeners were used, and ask staff to plate them away from breaded items to reduce cross-contact chance.
Charro Beans: Pinto beans cooked with bacon, onion, and seasonings. The recipe typically contains no wheat, but shared pots and ladles can transfer crumbs, so request a fresh ladle and separate plating for extra safety.
Corn: Steamed or roasted corn side. Ingredient-level wheat-free and low risk, though ask staff to avoid shared tongs used for breaded items and request clean plating if you are highly sensitive.
Broccoli: Steamed or roasted broccoli side. Naturally wheat-free by ingredient and a safe vegetable option when staff use clean tongs and fresh plating away from fried or baked goods.
Macaroni and Cheese: Elbow macaroni in a cheese sauce. The pasta contains wheat by ingredient, and the dish is prepared on shared lines, so it is unsafe for celiacs and should be avoided unless a certified gluten-free pasta is offered, which isn’t.
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy: Mashed potatoes served with gravy. The gravy is often thickened with wheat flour and prepared with shared ladles, so this item contains gluten and poses a cross-contact hazard for strict gluten avoidance.
Loco Side Salad: Mixed greens and vegetables served as a side salad. By ingredient, it is wheat-free, but request no croutons and ask for separate tossing utensils to limit contamination from any adjacent bakery or pasta prep.
Coleslaw: Shredded cabbage in a creamy dressing. Typically wheat-free by recipe and one of the safer sides, although ask for a clean container and utensils to avoid trace contamination from bakery or fried items.
Avocado Salsa: Chunky avocado-based salsa served fresh. Ingredient-wise, this is wheat-free and a good choice, but request fresh scoops and clean serving utensils to reduce the chance of cross-contact from other topping bins.
Salsa Fresca: Fresh tomato, onion, and cilantro salsa. Naturally wheat-free by ingredient and low risk, though avoid shared ladles or spoons and request separate serving utensils if you need extra caution.
Salsa Roja: Cooked red salsa with tomatoes and spices. The cooked salsa is wheat-free by recipe, but verify no thickening agents are added and ask for fresh utensils to minimize cross-contact with baked or fried items.
Most of El Pollo Loco’s sides are safe, particularly the vegetables, salsas, beans, rice, and corn tortillas, though there are dangerous exceptions that include their flour tortillas, some cheese dips, as well as the macaroni and cheese, gravy, and churros. 🌮
Drinks
As with most restaurants, beverages are typically quite safe and relatively low-risk for celiacs, especially compared to most other items on El Pollo Loco’s menu, particularly if you order a factory-sealed bottled or canned drink. ☕🍵🥤🧃
✅ Coca-Cola
✅ Cherry Coke
✅ Coke Zero
✅ Diet Coke
✅ Dr. Pepper
✅ Horchata
✅ Diet Dr. Pepper
✅ Fanta Orange
✅ Fuze Sweetened Raspberry Iced Tea
✅ Gold Peak Mango Passion Fruit Iced Tea
✅ Gold Peak Unsweetened Iced Tea
✅ Gold Peak Sweetened Iced Tea
✅ Aguas Frescas Mango Lime
✅ Aguas Frescas Strawberry Hibiscus
✅ Hi-C Flashin’ Fruit Punch
✅ Minute Maid Lemonade
✅ Minute Maid Strawberry Lemonade
✅ Sprite
✅ Barq’s Root Beer
✅ Vitaminwater XXX
✅ Bottled Water
Just to make sure that these are actually safe for celiacs, let’s take an even closer look:
Coca-Cola: Classic cola made from carbonated water and cola syrup. There is no wheat in the ingredient list, but fountain pours can pick up crumbs from nozzles, while sealed bottles or a wiped nozzle are safest for celiac diners, cross-contamination-wise.
Cherry Coke: Cherry-flavored cola syrup mixed with carbonation. Ingredient-wise, it contains no wheat, yet fountain dispensing can introduce trace contamination, so choose a factory-sealed bottle or ask staff to clean the nozzle before pouring for extra safety.
Coke Zero: Zero sugar cola made from carbonated water and sweeteners. No wheat ingredients are used, but fountain nozzles are shared, and as always, sealed cans or bottles are the lowest risk, and ask staff to wipe the spout if ordering fountain.
Diet Coke: Low-calorie cola using artificial sweeteners and carbonated water. It contains no wheat by recipe, but avoid open fountain dispensers if you are highly sensitive, and request a sealed bottle or a freshly cleaned nozzle for peace of mind.
Dr Pepper: Spiced cola beverage made from syrup and carbonation. There is no wheat in the standard formulation, yet sealed packaging is safest. For a fountain serve, ask staff to wipe the dispenser to reduce remote cross-contact risk.
Horchata: Rice and cinnamon-flavored drink, typically made with milk or rice milk. By ingredient, it does not include wheat, but shared blenders or ladles can introduce crumbs, so request freshly cleaned equipment and separate utensils when ordering.
Diet Dr Pepper: Zero sugar Dr. Pepper that’s made with sweeteners and carbonated water. It contains no wheat ingredients, and sealed bottles or cans are the lowest risk. If you’re using a fountain, you should ask staff to clean the nozzle before pouring.
Fanta Orange: Orange soda produced from flavored syrup and carbonation. No wheat ingredients are present in the ingredient, but sealed cans or bottles minimize cross-contact. For fountain pours, make sure to ask for a wiped nozzle to reduce any trace contamination.
Fuze Sweetened Raspberry Iced Tea: Flavored iced tea sold bottled or from a dispenser. The ingredient list is wheat-free, yet bottled versions avoid dispenser nozzle cross-contact. Ask for a fresh pour from a clean nozzle if you are sensitive to trace exposure.
Gold Peak Mango Passion Fruit Iced Tea: Brewed iced tea blended with fruit flavors. The recipe does not include wheat, but shared beverage lines and pitchers can carry residue, but sealed bottles or a wiped pour spout are preferable for highly sensitive diners.
Gold Peak Unsweetened Iced Tea: Plain-brewed black tea served chilled. Ingredient-wise, it contains no wheat, and it’s a fairly low-risk choice. Still request a fresh pour and a cleaned nozzle to avoid any unlikely cross-contact from dispensers.
Gold Peak Sweetened Iced Tea: Brewed tea sweetened and chilled. There are no wheat ingredients, yet fountain or pitcher service could introduce trace contaminants, while sealed bottles or asking staff to pour from a cleaned dispenser lowers cross-contact risk.
Aguas Frescas Mango Lime: Fruit-based fresca made from mango, lime, water, and sugar. By ingredient, it contains no wheat. Otherwise, if it’s prepared in-store, ask for a cleaned container or sealed alternative to avoid any cross-contact from shared tools or blenders.
Aguas Frescas Strawberry Hibiscus: Refreshing strawberry and hibiscus flavored agua fresca. Ingredients are wheat-free, but freshly blended batches and shared pitchers can pick up crumbs; request clean utensils and a rinsed blender jar if ordering blended versions.
Hi-C Flashin’ Fruit Punch: Fruit punch syrup mixed with carbonated water or fountain systems. The syrup has no wheat, though fountain nozzles are shared in busy service lines, and always choose sealed packaging or request a wiped nozzle to limit trace exposure.
Minute Maid Lemonade: Classic lemonade made with lemon, sugar, and water. There is no wheat in the recipe, but shared pitchers or dispensers can harbor cross-contact. Bottled options or a fresh pour from a cleaned spout are the safest options for celiacs.
Minute Maid Strawberry Lemonade: Lemonade blended with strawberry flavor or purée. The ingredients do not contain wheat, yet blended batches or shared dispensers can introduce cross-contact, so ask staff to rinse blender jars and use clean utensils before preparation.
Sprite: Lemon-lime soda using flavored syrup and carbonation. No wheat ingredients are used, and sealed cans or bottles are the lowest risk options here. If you’re ordering fountain Sprite, request a wiped nozzle to further reduce the chance of trace contamination.
Barq’s Root Beer: Root beer brewed from flavored syrup and carbonation. The standard recipe contains no wheat. Bottled or canned Barq’s is safest. For a fountain serve, ask staff to clean the dispenser nozzle before pouring to avoid remote cross-contact.
Vitaminwater XXX: A fresh and flavored beverage sold sealed in bottles. Factory sealed packaging means negligible cross-contact risk and no wheat in the ingredient list, making this one of the safest drink choices for celiac diners.
Bottled Water: Factory-sealed bottled water contains no wheat and poses essentially zero cross-contact risk. This is the safest beverage choice for people with celiac disease or severe gluten sensitivity when dining out.
Yep, as expected, El Pollo Loco’s cold drinks and fountain classics are quite safe, though be sure to always be on the lookout for cross-contamination, and request a wiped nozzle, fresh pours, or cleaned blenders to further minimize cross-contact. 🍋
To Sum Up
Compared to a lot of the other recent Mexican restaurants that I’ve covered lately, El Pollo Loco is a rare bright spot for celiac diners and those seeking to remain gluten-free, with a modest selection of relatively safe, low-risk dishes. 🌮🥙🌯
Sure, much of their menu is still 100% off-limits to celiacs, and this is primarily the flatbread items–quesadillas, burritos, tacos, and tostadas–alongside a handful of wheat-containing sides, and some of their combo meals require caution, too. 🥗
Nevertheless, if you’re willing to look past them, you’ll find a hearty, filling selection of safe sides, tasty salads, wheat-free bowls, and perhaps best of all, you then have El Pollo Loco’s signature flame-grilled citrus-marinated chicken! 🌶️🔥🍗🐔
That, and a drink, really is all you’d really need to leave satisfied, and as long as you’re very diligent about cross-contamination, El Pollo Loco gets a double thumbs up for me, especially if you’re craving some celiac-friendly Mexican food. 👍
In the meantime, if you want recommendations on other restaurants with plenty of gluten-free items, make sure to stay tuned to us here at Great Without Gluten for even more celiac-friendly and gluten-free eating out guides! ✍📝
And, while you’re here, you might also want to check out my other eating out guides and some tasty gluten‑free recipes!
If you’re craving other fast-food or casual dining chains and gourmet meals, do check out my other celiacs-friendly, gluten-free dining out guides to Bob Evans, BJ’s, Maggiano’s, Carrabba’s, MOD Pizza, Little Caesars, Qdoba, Whataburger, Tim Hortons, Arby’s, In-N-Out, Del Taco, Noodles and Company, California Pizza Kitchen, Raising Cane’s, Baskin-Robbins, and more! 🍔🍟🍗
Stay safe and gluten‑aware, my celiac friends! 💖🥗
Frequently Asked Questions
While creating this El Pollo Loco gluten-free menu guide, I found some rather interesting questions floating around social media and food-based community forums, so I thought I’d share what I think of them here:
Is El Pollo Loco gluten-free?
No. El Pollo Loco doesn’t operate a certified gluten-free kitchen, and while some menu items are naturally wheat-free, other dishes include flour tortillas, breaded components, or sauces thickened with wheat, so remember to be mindful of any cross-contamination risk.
What El Pollo Loco menu items are safest for celiacs?
Some of the safer options here include their flame-grilled citrus chicken, plain rice, pinto or charro beans, corn tortillas, fresh salsas, and bottled drinks. These items are typically wheat-free by recipe, though you should still ask the staff for extra precautions, just in case.
Can I make El Pollo Loco dishes gluten-free by modifying them?
Yes, to an extent, but it depends on the location. You might be able to swap out the flour tortillas for corn tortillas, skip battered or breaded proteins, and omit queso or other wheat-containing add-ons, but before you lock in, remember to ask the staff if it’s possible.
How should I order at El Pollo Loco to minimize cross-contact?
First off, inform the staff that you have celiac disease or a severe gluten intolerance, ask for fresh gloves and clean utensils, request that your item be plated separately, avoid shared fryers and toasters, and ask them to confirm any sauces or marinades for hidden wheat.
Where can I find the official El Pollo Loco allergen and ingredient information?
You can find a nutrition and allergen guide directly on El Pollo Loco’s website, which is very easily accessible, and there’s even another PDF file to disclose their use of wheat gluten, in addition to a list of menu items that El Pollo Loco notes as not containing any wheat gluten.
Photo Credit
Paul Sableman from St. Louis, MO, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Becky ✍️
Hi, I am Becky. I am a passionate recipe maker and having been a coeliac (celiac) for 30+ years I focus on gluten-free recipes. My blog is my online cookbook of gluten-free tasty recipes. You can follow me on X: @beckygwg
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