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The Complete Popeyes Gluten-Free Menu Guide For 2025

From their famous fried chicken, crispy tenders, sandwiches, and tasty biscuits, our Popeyes gluten-free guide looks at how much of their menu is celiac-safe!

There’s no more treacherous of a hellscape for celiacs like us to dine at than your local drive-in and fast food restaurant, with wheat and gluten aplenty every single place you look! 🍗🍔

While some fast food joints go out of their way to accommodate people with celiac and severe allergies to gluten, others don’t really offer much leeway or options. 🥪🍟

The same story can be said with Popeyes, sadly, with a huge chunk of their menu made with a variety of wheat-based batters and buns, with only a small selection of gluten-free dishes.

This means you can pretty much count out their iconic, crunchy, batter-coated chicken, and a good portion of the rest of their huge menu contains wheat breads or breading. 🚫🌾🍞

Otherwise, the only truly (somewhat) celiac-friendly items at Popeyes would be the Blackened Chicken Tenders and their extras, like the seasoned rice and bean sides, among a few others.

All in all, it’s quite a restrictive selection, let alone all the cross-contamination red flags at your local Popeyes kitchen! 😷

So, whether you’re stopping by for a quick swig of Popeyes’ fountain drinks or lemonades, our Popeyes gluten-free guide will take a closer look at what we celiacs can order.

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Disclaimer

TL;DR, the noteworthy celiac-safe and gluten-free foods at Popeyes are their Blackened Chicken Tenders, Red Beans & Rice, Cajun Rice, Coleslaw, and Jalapeños – that’s really mostly it! 🍚

However, I should mention that Popeyes doesn’t operate a dedicated gluten-free kitchen, and they also don’t test menu items to meet the FDA’s <20 ppm ‘certified’ gluten threshold.

In other words, this means that even those items that don’t technically contain any gluten or wheat in the recipe or ingredients might still pick up trace gluten or wheat in the kitchen.

Of course, it’s not just wheat, but that also includes other allergens that celiacs can be allergic to, including barley and rye, with significant cross-contamination at Popeyes. ✍

This also means that Popeyes preps everything on shared equipment, such as fryers, toasters, and grills, which is then shared and used for gluten-free and gluten-filled items.

With so much trace gluten going around, for the purposes of our Popeyes gluten-free guide, it might be best to view this as gluten-sensitive, and not safe for celiacs. 💯

If you can tolerate some gluten (you are not a celiac) and you want to give Popeyes a shot, here are my top tips to making sure that you can still enjoy some dishes:

• Always make sure you let the server and/or the kitchen staff know that you either have celiac disease or a severe gluten allergy.
• With an abundance of caution in mind, you could also ask the Popeyes staff to use a fresh pair of gloves, use clean utensils, and handle your order on clean prep stations.
• You might also want to consider ordering some of the simpler dishes and menu items, such as drinks, unbreaded chicken, rice, and beans, to help minimize the cross-contact risks.
• Additionally, I’d 100% suggest bookmarking and keeping yourself up-to-date with the Popeyes allergen guide to see which allergens specific menu items might come with.

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Popeyes Allergen Policy (Gluten-Free)

Speaking of, even though much of the Popeyes gluten-free menu has wheat (enemy #1 for any celiac), they do have a comprehensive list of nutritional and allergen info on their website.

First up, I’d suggest checking the official Popeyes Nutritional Information webpage, where you can find one of three links that open up a separate PDF file (for viewing or downloading):

• Up top, the first links leads you to the Popeyes (USA) Nutrition Guide PDF file, where you could find detailed nutritional breakdowns for every single Popeyes menu item, like calories, protein, carbs, cholesterol, fat, fiber, and more, giving you a good idea of how much you’re eating.
• The next link leads you to the Popeyes Allergen Information PDF file, which is what we’re now looking for as celiacs and/or people with severe gluten allergies, as it gives you a breakdown on all the different allergens that might come with every single menu item, without exception!
• That Allergen Information PDF is pretty useful if you’re trying to filter down the Popeyes menu to exclude anything you can’t eat, including common allergens such as milk, egg, soy, peanuts, fish, and more. For celiacs like us, you ought to pay close attention to the ‘wheat’ column.
• Last but not least, there’s the Popeyes Ingredient Information PDF file, where you could find a detailed list of all the ingredients used in each menu item, which is actually another good way to filter out anything you can’t safely eat, such as wheat flour, wheat gluten, and more.

So, with that out of the way, let’s take a closer look at just how many things you could safely order from the Popeyes gluten-free menu, or if celiacs like me should just avoid them! 🍔🍗

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Signature Chicken

Of course, how can we talk about Popeyes and go through the Popeyes gluten-free menu with no mention of their legendary fried chicken dishes – simple, but absolutely delectable! 🍗🔥

Sadly for me and you, while Popeyes’ famous hand-battered chicken is the star of their menu, every single one is coated in wheat-flour batter and then cooked in shared fryers. 🌾🤚🚫

So, regardless of which parts of the chicken you pick – the wing, leg, breast, or thigh – and no matter which flavor you choose – spicy or classic – they’re completely unsafe for celiacs.

❌ Classic Signature Chicken
❌ Spicy Signature Chicken

For the sake of completeness, let’s take a closer peek at why these didn’t make it into my Popeyes gluten-free shortlist:

Classic Signature Chicken: Each piece (wing, leg, breast, or thigh) is dredged in a wheat-flour batter, seasoned, and deep-fried in shared oil, making it unsafe for celiacs.

Spicy Signature Chicken: The same cuts as earlier, just tossed in spicy batter blend, then fried alongside the classic variety, which is also hazardous for celiacs.

Alas, even if these chicken dishes didn’t come with wheat or gluten in the ingredients or recipe, they’re fried in shared fryer oil, so the cross-contamination alone is off the charts! 📈📈📈

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Tenders

If you need something a bit crispier and easier to eat than regular bone-in chicken, there’s also their super tasty tenders, and one of them even qualifies for the Popeyes gluten-free menu!

Unfortunately, out of the three tenders that Popeyes currently offers, two of them are coated in a wheat-flour batter and then fried in shared fryer oil, making them unsafe for celiacs. 🍗

❌ Classic Tenders
❌ Spicy Tenders
⚠️ Blackened Tenders

So, to see why most of these didn’t make it into our Popeyes gluten-free shortlist, let’s break apart each of these tenders one by one:

Classic Tenders: Hand-cut white meat strips dredged in seasoned wheat-flour batter and then deep-fried in shared fryers, which contain wheat by recipe and have high cross-contact risk.

Spicy Tenders: Same cut, tossed in a spicy wheat-flour coating and fried alongside the Classic Tenders, which also contain wheat and share equipment with other wheat items.

Blackened Tenders: Unbreaded chicken strips seasoned with a spice blend and grilled or even seared, and it has no wheat in the seasoning, though it’s still cooked on shared grills.

Remember that even though the Blackened Tenders don’t come with wheat or gluten either in the recipe or ingredients, cross-contamination is still worth being careful about! 🍗🌾🍞

So, even these ‘safe’ tenders might be worth avoiding, especially if you’re a sensitive celiac, as Popeyes’ official allergen guide helpfully marks that all three tenders are fried. 👩‍🍳🍽️

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Wings

Equally as iconic as Popeyes’ chicken dishes and tenders, their bone-in and boneless wings are a key pillar in our Popeyes gluten-free menu, but for celiacs, it might as well not exist. 🐔

Offered with a variety of sauces, all of them are either breaded in wheat-flour batter or they’ll be brushed with sauces using shared equipment and utensils, posing a risk of cross-contact.

❌ Classic Boneless Wings
❌ Spicy Bone-In Wings
❌ Honey BBQ Wings (Boneless or Bone-In)
❌ Honey Lemon Pepper Wings (Boneless or Bone-In)
❌ Roasted Garlic Parmesan Wings (Boneless or Bone-In)
❌ Signature Hot Wings (Boneless or Bone-In)
❌ Sweet ’N Spicy Wings (Boneless or Bone-In)

Let’s break down these bone-in and boneless wings to see how they stack up in our Popeyes gluten-free menu:

Classic Boneless Wings: White meat strips battered in wheat flour and then fried, which is 100% unsafe for celiacs.

Spicy Bone-In Wings: Whole wings coated in spicy wheat-flour batter, which also makes it hazardous for celiacs.

Honey BBQ Wings: Tossed in a honey-BBQ glaze after wheat-batter fry, with pretty severe cross-contamination.

Honey Lemon Pepper Wings: Fried in wheat batter, then finished in a honey-lemon pepper sauce, but that batter is a no-go.

Roasted Garlic Parmesan Wings: Battered wings tossed in garlic-Parmesan sauce, also using shared utensils, so be wary of cross-contact.

Signature Hot Wings: Extra-spicy battered wings with hot sauce, but once again, the batter makes it a danger for celiacs.

Sweet ’N Spicy Wings: Breaded wings in a sweet-spicy glaze, and like the other wings here, folks with gluten allergies should avoid!

Unfortunately, with the same chicken wing batter base used across all of their wing dishes, on top of the fact that it’s made with flour in mind, celiacs ought to avoid this entirely. 🌾🍗

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Seafood

Before we go too far in our Popeyes gluten-free guide, let’s quickly take a look at the only two seafood dishes on their menu, which are no different than their chicken dishes, sadly. 🍤🦐

Popeyes’ seafood selection is fully breaded and then fried in shared fryer oil, thus making this hazardous for celiacs or anyone allergic to gluten, in addition to the cross-contact risks. 🍿

❌ Popcorn Shrimp
❌ Butterfly Shrimp

So, let’s see what they’re made of to see why they didn’t make it into my Popeyes gluten-free shortlist:

Popcorn Shrimp: Bite-sized shrimp pieces coated in a seasoned wheat-flour batter and deep-fried in the same fryers used for chicken and other battered items, which also contain wheat by recipe and ingredients, and it carries a high cross-contact risk.

Butterfly Shrimp: Large shrimp split and prawned, then coated in wheat-flour batter and deep-fried in shared oil, which contains gluten by recipe and ingredients, as well as the cross-contact risk from the shared fryer oil and cooking process.

There’s not much to say here, as the fried and battered shrimp bits aren’t celiac-friendly, so it might be safer for you to order the Blackened Tenders or Popeyes’ side dishes. 🍤🍚🍗

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Sandwiches

Of course, how can we talk about the Popeyes gluten-free menu without a passing mention of their superbly popular chicken sandwiches! So, could celiacs at least have this one? 🍔

Welp, nope! Popeyes’ fan-favorite chicken sandwiches are built on wheat-based buns and use breaded chicken fillets, which are then cooked in shared fryers, using shared fryer oil. 🥪🍗

❌ Classic Chicken Sandwich
❌ Spicy Chicken Sandwich
❌ Bacon & Cheese Chicken Sandwich
❌ Ghost Pepper Chicken Sandwich
❌ Blackened Chicken Sandwich

Now, let’s take apart these sandwiches to see why they didn’t qualify for our Popeyes gluten-free menu:

Classic Chicken Sandwich: A buttermilk-marinated, breaded chicken breast filet topped with pickles and mayo, and served on a toasted wheat bun. It sadly contains wheat by recipe and ingredients, and it’s then fried in shared oil.

Spicy Chicken Sandwich: It’s the same buttermilk-breaded filet and tossed in a cayenne-spiced coating, with pickles and spicy mayo on a wheat bun, which also contains wheat, and it’s then cooked in shared fryer oil, posing a huge cross-contact problem.

Bacon & Cheese Chicken Sandwich: Breaded chicken filet topped with crisp bacon and melted cheese on a wheat bun, which contains wheat in both the breading and the bun, with shared fryer and prep risk for added cross-contamination, as well.

Ghost Pepper Chicken Sandwich: Breaded chicken filet tossed in a ghost-pepper glaze, served on a toasted wheat bun, which is totally unsafe thanks to the wheat batter and the bun, and that glaze is also prepared on shared lines – more cross-contact problems.

Blackened Chicken Sandwich: Unbreaded, spice-rubbed chicken filet, served on a toasted wheat-flour bun with pickles and mayo. So, while the filet itself has no gluten ingredients, the bun contains wheat, and it’s then assembled on shared prep stations.

As much as I’d love to try out some of Popeyes’ chicken sandwiches, I’d rather not risk a visit to the hospital, no matter how tasty they might look, thanks to all that wheat and gluten! 🍞🌾

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Signature Sides

On the bright side, there are at least a couple of celiac-safe options here in the sides section of our Popeyes gluten-free menu, with no less than three gluten-free dishes! 🍟🧀🥔🍠

Popeyes’ classic Southern sides are mostly items that come with wheat-based ingredients and share fryers with battered items, but others here are naturally gluten-free by recipe! 🍚

❌ Biscuit
❌ Cajun Fries
❌ Homestyle Mac & Cheese
❌ Mashed Potatoes with Cajun Gravy
⚠️ Red Beans & Rice
⚠️ Coleslaw
✅ Jalapeños
❌ Nuggets

So, let’s see why some of these safely made it into my personal Popeyes gluten-free shortlist, while others didn’t make it:

Biscuit: Made from enriched wheat flour and buttermilk, and then baked, which also contains wheat by ingredient and shares ovens with all the other wheat-based breads.

Cajun Fries: Potatoes tossed in Cajun seasoning (which contains wheat flour as a binder) and then fried in shared oil, which contains wheat and some high cross-contact risk.

Homestyle Mac & Cheese: Pasta shells in a creamy cheese sauce, though the pasta is wheat-based, and the cheese sauce may contain flour thickeners, for a double-hit of gluten.

Mashed Potatoes with Cajun Gravy: Mashed potatoes are gluten-free by ingredient, but the Cajun-style gravy is thickened with wheat flour, so not only does this contain wheat, it’s also then ladled from shared kettles.

Red Beans & Rice: Kidney beans stewed with rice and seasoning, which contains no wheat ingredients by recipe, though it’s cooked on shared equipment, so watch for cross-contact.

Coleslaw: Shredded cabbage and carrots in a mayo-based dressing, and there are no wheat ingredients here, though it’s prepared on shared prep tables, so be on the lookout for any cross-contamination.

Jalapeños: Pickled whole jalapeño peppers, with no wheat or gluten ingredients and served without cross-contact steps, so it’s a fairly safe choice, overall.

Nuggets: Bite-sized chicken pieces hand-battered in a wheat-flour coating and then deep-fried in the same shared fryers (with shared fryer oil) as the tenders and wings, so it contains wheat by recipe and ingredients, not to mention the high cross-contact risk.

Really, then, you only have three ‘safe’ choices – Red Beans & Rice, Coleslaw, and Jalapeños – though the latter option is likely way safer against cross-contact than the others. 🌶️🌶️🌶️

So, if you’re a super-sensitive celiac like me, your selections here are pretty limited, as there’s some risk that the Red Beans & Rice and Coleslaw dishes may pick up trace gluten! 🌾🍚🚫

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Breakfast

It’s worth mentioning that the Popeyes gluten-free breakfast menu is available at select locations only, but even if your local chain has one, they’re a landmine for celiacs, anyway!

The Popeyes breakfast line-up is almost completely built on wheat-based biscuits, tortillas, as well as batters, making it unsafe for celiacs or anyone allergic to gluten. 🌯🥙🌭

❌ Chicken Biscuit
❌ Sausage Biscuit
❌ Egg Biscuit
❌ Egg & Sausage Biscuit
❌ Bacon Biscuit
❌ Sausage & Gravy Biscuit
❌ Grits
❌ Hash Rounds

Let’s see what these delectable breakfast dishes are made of to see how they compare in our Popeyes gluten-free list:

Chicken Biscuit: A fried chicken tender sandwiched in a wheat‐flour biscuit, and both of these components contain wheat, and they also share prep equipment.

Sausage Biscuit: Pork sausage patty on a wheat biscuit, which contains wheat in the biscuit, in addition to sharing ovens and griddles, with a lot of cross-contamination.

Egg Biscuit: Folded egg on a wheat biscuit, but the biscuit is made with wheat flour, and cross‐contact from the sausages and the chicken prep is a huge red flag.

Egg & Sausage Biscuit: Egg and sausage patty in a wheat biscuit, so there is a double wheat exposure and shared contamination risk from the toaster.

Bacon Biscuit: Bacon strips on a wheat biscuit, and the biscuit contains gluten, not to mention that the bacon is handled on the same surfaces as other proteins.

Sausage & Gravy Biscuit: Wheat biscuit topped with sausage gravy thickened with flour, and both the biscuit and the gravy contain wheat in the ingredients.

Grits: Ground corn with water and salt, so while the grits contain no gluten by recipe, they’re then cooked in kettles that also prepare gravy and batters, raising cross‐contact red flags.

Hash Rounds: Shredded potatoes formed into rounds and fried, and while there’s no wheat in the ingredients, they’re then fried in shared oil with other breaded items.

If that’s not bad enough, every single breakfast item is prepared on shared toasters, griddles, and prep tables, where gluten-filled ingredients are present and might mix together. 🥓🍳

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Dipping Sauces

While so far, there’s not a whole lot in the Popeyes gluten-free menu that’s friendly to celiacs, at least if you need to dip them in something, their dipping sauces are mostly safe. 🌶️🍯🍲

Popeyes currently offers nine signature sauces, and all but one of them don’t contain wheat-based ingredients by recipe, though you might want to be extra careful with cross-contact. ❗

✅ Bayou Buffalo
❌ BoldBQ
✅ Blackened Ranch
✅ Buttermilk Ranch
✅ Mardi Gras Mustard
✅ Sweet Heat
✅ Tartar
✅ Wild Honey Mustard
✅ Cocktail Sauce

With that out of the way, let’s see what these Popeyes gluten-free dipping sauces are made of:

Bayou Buffalo: A vinegar-rich, lightly spiced sauce, with no wheat flour or gluten-containing thickeners mentioned anywhere, but the pump handle shares space with the breading station.

BoldBQ: Tangy barbecue sauce with molasses and spices, though the bottles are stored near fryers, and this is the only dipping sauce here that contains wheat, as per the allergen guide.

Blackened Ranch: Creamy dressing with blackening spices, and while there’s no wheat in the base, it’s dispensed from the same line as marinated items.

Buttermilk Ranch: Classic ranch dressing containing dairy and herbs, with no trace of gluten ingredients, though cross-contact from shared ladles is possible.

Mardi Gras Mustard: Sweet mustard blend with honey and Creole spices, and the ingredients list mentions that it’s gluten-free, though the pump’s proximity to fried items warrants caution.

Sweet Heat: Sweet chili-style sauce with sugar and chili flakes, and while there’s no wheat in the ingredients list, it’s dispensed in the same station as the Blackened Tenders and wings.

Tartar: Mayonnaise-based with pickles and capers, and it’s also gluten-free by ingredients, but watch out for contamination in the dipper from the seafood prep station.

Wild Honey Mustard: Blend of honey, mustard, and seasonings, and while there are no wheat ingredients in this sauce, it’s served from communal dispensers.

Cocktail Sauce: Ketchup and horseradish blend, with no gluten in the recipe, but cross-contact from shared pump heads is possible, so be on the lookout for that.

Again, let this be a reminder that while most of these dipping sauces don’t contain wheat and gluten in the ingredients list, they’re dispensed from shared pumps and prep areas. 🍲🥣

With such close proximity to Popeyes’ many battered and breaded items, you have to be a bit more attentive and careful when it comes to cross-contact, especially if you’re very sensitive.

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Desserts

If you’re looking to end your trip down to Popeyes with something sweet, they don’t have that many dessert options – just a few, unless you count the seasonal stuff – but that’s unsafe, too!

Meanwhile, their famous Cinnamon Apple Pie has a crust that is made out of wheat flour, and it is then baked alongside other gluten-containing items, with high cross-contact! 🥧🍎🍰

❌ Cinnamon Apple Pie
❌ Chocolate Chip Biscuits
❌ Strawberry Biscuit
❌ Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie

Just for the sake of completeness, let’s see what else about these dessert items makes them a bad fit for our Popeyes gluten-free menu:

Cinnamon Apple Pie: A warm, flaky pastry filled with cinnamon-spiced apple slices. The crust contains enriched wheat flour and butter, and it’s baked in shared ovens with other breaded items, thus making it unsafe for anyone with celiac disease or a gluten allergy.

Chocolate Chip Biscuits: Sweet wheat-flour biscuits studded with chocolate chips, and they also contain wheat in the dough, which is then baked alongside other biscuits, posing a big cross-contamination risk.

Strawberry Biscuit: Wheat-flour biscuit layered with strawberry filling, but unfortunately, it’s unsafe due to the wheat in the biscuit, as well as the prep on shared baking trays, which will pose a similar cross-contact risk as earlier.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie: Pastry crust made with wheat flour, then filled with strawberry-cream cheese mixture, which subsequently contains gluten in that crust, and it is then baked in shared ovens, too.

In short, here’s another no-go for celiacs like you and me, and for folks with gluten allergies, given that the Popeyes dessert menu contains wheat and gluten to the brim. 🍫🍪🍓🧀

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Beverages

On that note, if you are a celiac or have gluten allergies, and if you need something refreshing to drink, at least this part of the Popeyes gluten-free menu is quite safe all around. 🥤🍹🍸

Popeyes’ fountain drinks, teas, and lemonades are gluten-free by recipe and provide the safest options on the menu, though just be mindful of shared dispensers and ice scoops. ☕🍵🍷

✅ Coca-Cola
✅ Diet Coke
✅ Sprite
✅ Fanta Strawberry
✅ Fanta Orange
✅ Hawaiian Punch
✅ Mountain Dew
✅ Pepsi
✅ Diet Pepsi
✅ Dr Pepper
✅ Unsweetened Tea
✅ Sweet Tea
✅ Minute Maid Lemonade

For context, here’s how these hearty drinks fit into our Popeyes gluten-free menu:

Coca-Cola / Diet Coke / Pepsi / Diet Pepsi / Dr Pepper / Sprite / Fanta Strawberry / Fanta Orange / Mountain Dew / Hawaiian Punch: All of them are your standard fountain cola and fruit-flavored sodas. These contain no gluten ingredients, though those dispenser nozzles sit alongside other syrup pumps, so try asking the staff to wipe them clean before use.

Unsweetened Tea / Sweet Tea: Brewed iced tea (plain or sweetened) contains only tea leaves and sugar, with no gluten ingredients, either. Just make sure that the ice scoop, as well as the tea spigot, are clean of any syrup residue.

Minute Maid Lemonade: Fresh-tasting lemonade made from lemon juice, water, and sugar, with no gluten ingredients to be found! Like all the other drinks here, confirm that the drinks dispenser has been cleaned of any cross-flavor residue.

Oh, and some even more top tips for extra safety: try asking for a new cup from the stack and ask the Popeyes staff to wipe down the dispense nozzles or use a fresh pump before filling up.

Moreover, for iced drinks, it won’t hurt to make doubly sure that the ice scoop wasn’t used for any of Popeyes’ frozen desserts or syrups, to further minimize the cross-contact risk. 🌾🚫

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To Sum Up

As a whole, celiacs and anyone out there with severe gluten allergies might have a better time just avoiding the Popeyes gluten-free menu altogether, as it’s non-existent! 🍗🍔

If you do find yourself at Popeyes and you need to find something to eat, then your options are either the Blackened Chicken Tenders, the Red Beans & Rice, the Coleslaw, or the Jalapeños.

Otherwise, you can at least find loads of gluten-free and wheat-free dipping sauces, though I’d wonder if it’s worth visiting Popeyes just for the dips, with so few options elsewhere. 🍚🍲

Plus, even those ‘safest’ Popeyes gluten-free menu items have a pretty significant risk of cross-contamination, given that they’re cooked and prepped alongside other wheat items. 🚫🌾

Shared fryer oil, grills, toasters, utensils, and prep stations aren’t something you ought to play around with, especially if your celiac disease or gluten allergy is just as sensitive as mine.

If it were up to me, given that most of Popeyes staple menu items – their sandwiches, chicken, tenders, and wings – are a no-go zone for celiacs, I’d probably just go somewhere else! 🍟🥪

In the meantime, 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 celiac-friendly, gluten-free dining out guides to Krispy Kreme, Panda Express, Taco Bell, Olive Garden, Buffalo Wild Wings, Panera Bread, Denny’s, Texas Roadhouse, Dunkin Donuts, Sonic, Dunkin Donuts, Five Guys, Chipotle, Starbucks and more! 🍔🍟🍗

Stay safe and gluten‑aware, my celiac friends! 💖🥗

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Frequently Asked Questions

While working on creating our Popeyes gluten-free guide, I found a couple of pretty interesting questions online, so I thought I might want to try and answer them here:

Does Popeyes offer any gluten-free menu items?

Popeyes doesn’t operate a dedicated gluten-free kitchen, so not a single menu item carries the formal ‘gluten-free’ label FDA rules. However, a handful of dishes contain no gluten or wheat ingredients by recipe, though you might want to be very careful with cross-contamination.

Are any of Popeyes’ chicken items safe for celiacs?

Right now, Popeyes’ chicken dishes are mostly unsafe for celiacs, save their Blackened Chicken Tenders, which are unbreaded, spice-rubbed strips, and they’re also free of wheat flour by recipe and ingredients. Meanwhile, everything else is coated in wheat flour or is served on a wheat bun.

Which Popeyes signature sides can celiacs safely order?

By recipe and ingredients, the only Popeyes gluten-free signature sides that you can order are their Red Beans & Rice, Coleslaw, and Jalapeños. Meanwhile, all their other sides here contain wheat or use flour thickeners, and even those safe ones still pose cross-contact risks.

Is Popeyes’ biscuit or dessert safe for gluten-free diets?

No. The legendary Popeyes Biscuits, Cinnamon Apple Pie, and all other pastries (e.g., Chocolate Chip Biscuits and Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie) are made with enriched wheat flour and then baked or fried on shared equipment, with significant cross-contamination to consider.

How can I minimize cross-contact with gluten at Popeyes?

Remember to always let the staff know that you have celiac disease or a severe gluten allergy, so they might take extra precautions, such as changing to fresh gloves, using clean equipment and utensils, as well as making sure they have a clean prep area to handle your meals.

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