Nutrixe
At a Mexican restaurant, someone with coeliac disease starts with a strong ally: corn, which contains no gluten and is the base of the traditional tortilla. That’s what makes Mexican one of the easiest cuisines to eat without wheat, and one of the best represented in our listings. But the word “corn” isn’t enough: in shops as in restaurants, a “corn” tortilla can contain more wheat than corn, and the nacho fryer may also be used for churros.
Corn tortilla, flour tortilla: the real difference
The traditional Mexican tortilla is made from masa: corn cooked in limewater (nixtamalised), ground, then mixed with water and salt. Nothing else. This tortilla is gluten free by nature, and it’s the one used for tacos in central and southern Mexico.
The flour tortilla (de harina) is associated with northern Mexico and Tex-Mex cooking. It wraps burritos, most quesadillas outside Mexico, and wraps. It is wheat.
In between sits a hybrid that fools many people: the soft “corn and wheat” tortilla. On the product records we checked on Open Food Facts on 25 September 2026, Marque Repère’s “8 Tortillas de Maïs”, sold in French supermarkets, lists wheat flour as the first ingredient, at 35%, ahead of corn flour, plus wheat protein. U’s tortillas, long sold as “Tortillas souples de maïs” (soft corn tortillas), have the same base with added wheat gluten; their current packet now reads “Tortillas blé et maïs” (wheat and corn). The same logic applies wherever you shop: the name on the packet is not the recipe.
Wheat-free by nature
Pure corn tortilla
- Nixtamalised corn masa, water, salt
- The base of traditional tacos, tostadas and chips
- In Spain, the Hacendado corn tortilla we checked contains no wheat
- Still exposed to cross-contamination on a shared griddle
Read before you buy
Supermarket "corn" tortilla
- Often a corn and wheat blend, wheat listed first
- Sometimes with added wheat gluten
- The name isn't enough: only the ingredient list counts
- Look for a gluten-free label
Even a pure corn tortilla isn’t an absolute guarantee: corn can be contaminated at the mill or factory, as our article on rice, corn and quinoa explains. A gluten-free label on the packet remains the safest marker, and our guide to reading gluten-free labels covers the others.
Photos and ingredient lists: Open Food Facts, a collaborative open-licence database, retrieved on 26 September 2026. Recipes change: the label on the packet in your hand is what counts.
Tacos, burritos, quesadillas: dish by dish
Tacos. On pure corn tortillas, the safest dish on the menu. Two questions remain: are the tortillas 100% corn, and are they warmed on the same griddle as flour tortillas? A floury griddle is enough to contaminate a gluten-free tortilla.
Burritos, wraps, chimichangas. Flour tortilla, unless stated otherwise. Avoid, or swap for a “burrito bowl” (the filling on a plate with rice and beans) if the kitchen offers one.
Quesadillas and fajitas. Outside Mexico, quesadillas are often made with flour tortillas and fajitas come with flour tortillas. In Mexico, quesadillas are also made with corn: ask.
Enchiladas. Corn tortillas rolled and covered in sauce. The tortilla is usually wheat-free; the sauce is another matter (see below).
Tostadas, guacamole, pico de gallo, frijoles, rice. Often wheat-free. For beans and rice, ask how they are cooked and seasoned.
Nachos and the fryer: the real weak spot
Plain tortilla chips, in the vast majority of cases, are just corn, oil and salt. We checked around a dozen brands in France and Spain on Open Food Facts, with no wheat in the recipe; Waitrose’s own salted tortilla chips list maize flour, sunflower oil and salt.
The risk lies elsewhere. First, in the seasoning of flavoured versions. A striking example: Doritos “Nacho Cheese” recorded in the Netherlands contains wheat flour in its cheese seasoning, while the version recorded in France lists none. Same brand, same name, different country, different recipe. Then, and especially in restaurants, in the fryer: house chips may be fried in the oil also used for churros (wheat dough), breaded calamari or onion rings. It’s exactly the problem with chips, and it’s solved by the same question: “Are your tortilla chips fried in a separate fryer?”
Churros and beer: two classics of the Mexican meal contain gluten. Churro dough is made with wheat flour, unless a gluten-free recipe is prepared separately. And Mexican beer is barley beer. Several of our fully gluten-free Mexican listings carry a “beer” warning for exactly this reason: the kitchen is dedicated, the bar isn’t.
Sauces, mole and spices
Most fresh salsas (tomato, onion, chilli, coriander, lime) are wheat-free. Cooked sauces need more care, and the trickiest is mole, the dark sauce of dried chillies and chocolate, whose ingredient list is long and changes from kitchen to kitchen. We have a precise example of what that means: in Pontevedra, Galicia, Rincón Mexicano (4.6★, over 1,200 reviews) adapted almost its entire menu to be gluten free with ACEGA, the Galician coeliac association, except the mole enchiladas, which contain gluten. An almost entirely gluten-free menu, but a mixed kitchen: the listing says so.
Watch out, too, for ready-made taco or fajita spice mixes and bottled sauces, which should be read like any processed food.
Our 100% gluten-free taquerias
Out of nearly a hundred verified Mexican places in our listings, more than 80 are fully gluten-free kitchens. They are concentrated in North America and Australia, but Europe has a good number, and the UK is well served.
- In the UK: in Edinburgh, Bodega, where no wheat products enter the building and fryers are dedicated; in London, Tacos Padre at Borough Market; in Bristol, Condesa, where all tortillas are corn; in Bath, Dos Dedos; in Gloucester, Elote Tacos.
- In Spain: in Seville, Mano de Santo (4.5★, nearly 4,900 reviews), a taqueria with trained staff and even gluten-free bread and beer; in Córdoba, Cielito Lindo, part of the Córdoba Sin Gluten network; in Sanxenxo, D’aki Tako; in Calella, COCO Cantina Mexicana.
- In Germany: in Karlsruhe, Taquería Taol, which describes itself as the country’s first 100% gluten-free taqueria; in Stuttgart, Tacolega, featured by the German coeliac society DZG; in Berlin, El Amigo; in Hamburg, Chico Malo.
- In Italy: in Turin, Alma Latina, with a gluten-free and lactose-free menu and links to AIC since 2012; in Bergamo, El Boss del Taco, AIC-certified.
- In Belgium: in Antwerp, El Gato Gordo, with house-made corn tortillas (only the beer contains gluten).
In France, by contrast, the places we have verified are adapted menus in mixed kitchens, such as Stories in Chamonix, which presses its own tortillas from French corn, or Casa de Coco at Disneyland Paris, covered in our Disneyland Paris guide.
They are all on the Nutrixe map, with their level and warnings. And if you know a gluten-free taqueria we’re missing, suggest it.
In short
- A pure corn tortilla (masa, water, salt) is gluten free; flour tortillas and “corn and wheat” blends are not.
- In supermarkets, some tortillas sold as “corn” list wheat flour first: read the ingredients.
- In restaurants, ask whether tortillas are 100% corn, and whether the griddle and fryer are shared.
- Burritos, churros, beer and some moles contain gluten.
- Our listings include more than 80 dedicated Mexican kitchens worldwide, including several in the UK.
This information does not replace medical advice. The compositions quoted come from labels checked in September 2026 and can change from one country and year to the next: the label on the product in your hand, or the restaurant's precise answer, is what counts.
