Is paella gluten free? Tapas, churros and jamón in Spain

Spain is one of the easiest countries to eat gluten free, because much of its cooking contains none by its ingredients: rice, potatoes, eggs, fish, cured ham, olive oil. The traps lie elsewhere: in fried food (croquetas, calamares, churros), in the bread hidden in some cold soups, and in shop-bought seasonings. Here is what to know dish by dish, and where to eat each one safely.

This guide is about the food. For the country itself (regional associations, best-covered cities, useful phrases), read our guide to gluten-free travel in Spain.

Is paella gluten free? Rice yes, sachets not always

A classic Valencian paella is rice, olive oil, meat or seafood, vegetables, saffron and stock. None of these ingredients contains gluten by nature, which makes paella one of the easiest dishes to order.

The risk comes from shortcuts. In its 2025 food classification, the Federation of Coeliac Associations of Spain (FACE) lists:

• as generic products, gluten free by nature: rice grains (with advice to check the label, as some packs mention traces) and natural colourings in threads, such as saffron;
• as products to check: stock cubes, ready-made soups and stocks, pimentón, ground spices and seasonings, and shop-bought fried tomato sauce.

In other words, a paella made with homemade stock and saffron threads is fine; one made with a cube and a seasoning sachet depends on those products. In a restaurant, ask “¿El caldo es casero?” (is the stock homemade?).

Two cousins of paella deserve a word. Fideuà replaces rice with wheat noodles: it contains gluten unless made on purpose. Arroz negro gets its colour from squid ink, which FACE lists as generic when pure (ink, salt, water).

Where to eat it in a gluten-free kitchen:

• Restaurante Jábega, Seville, a Valencian-style arrocería with a 100% gluten-free menu (paellas, fideuás), a member of the Sevilla Sin Gluten network, 4.7/5 (see the listing);
• Aborigen, Peníscola, a 100% gluten-free Mediterranean restaurant known for its paellas, certified by ACECOVA, the coeliac association of the Valencian Community (see the listing);
• Llima Gastrobar, Zaragoza, where rice dishes and paellas are the speciality, on a 100% gluten-free menu confirmed by the Aragon coeliac association (see the listing);
• Restaurante Orión, Alicante (San Juan), rice dishes, fried food and croquetas with no wheat product on the menu (see the listing).

A paella from a mixed kitchen is not necessarily dangerous, but our listings show the difference: Somni in Valencia serves paella with dish-by-dish allergen labelling, yet stays classed as “options”, with two risks noted: cross-contamination and flour in the air.

Tapas: what is safe, what is battered

A tapa is not a dish but a format, and the format helps: small portions, often simple, often without sauce. The classics fall into three groups.

Gluten free by recipe: Iberian or serrano ham, plain olives, gambas al ajillo (prawns, garlic, oil, chilli), Galician-style octopus (octopus, potato, pimentón, oil), boquerones en vinagre. Two caveats: seasoned olives and pimentón are among the products FACE says to check, and these dishes often arrive with bread in the dish for mopping up.

Gluten in the recipe: croquetas, calamares a la romana, anything “rebozado” or “empanado”, montaditos and bocadillos. And salmorejo from Córdoba: this cold tomato cream is emulsified with bread, part of its traditional recipe. Gazpacho depends on the house: some cooks add bread, others do not. Ask.

To check: patatas bravas. The potatoes are fine, but FACE lists ready-made brava sauce among specific products, and the potatoes often go through the shared fryer. Same logic for fried pimientos de padrón.

Tortilla, croquetas, calamares

Tortilla de patatas is eggs, potatoes, oil and, depending on the school, onion. No gluten ingredient: it is often the safest tapa in an ordinary bar. Still two questions: is it homemade (“¿Es casera?”), and were the potatoes fried in oil also used for battered food?

Croquetas are the opposite: a béchamel thickened with wheat flour, rolled in breadcrumbs, then fried. Calamares a la romana are coated in a flour batter. To eat them, you need a place that makes them gluten free and fries them separately. Spain has many:

• Solo de Croquetas, Madrid, a bar devoted to croquetas, more than 30 kinds, all described as gluten free by the owners, 4.6/5 from more than 5,700 reviews (see the listing);
• LaLina Bravas y Tapas, Madrid, which calls itself “el Paraíso de los Celíacos”: bravas, croquetas and classic tapas all gluten free; the Chueca branch displays the FACE logo (see the listing);
• Barete, Barcelona, a 100% gluten-free tapas bar in the Eixample, croquetas and salt-cod churros included, 4.9/5 (see the listing);
• Los Segovianos, Mérida, a family bar where croquetas, calamares and cochifrito are gluten free, down to the bread and beer (see the listing).

A useful counter-example: Las Kubas in Valladolid offers its whole displayed menu gluten free, but its kitchen also handles regular burger buns. We class it as “gluten-free menu”, not “dedicated”.

Pescaíto frito: when Andalusia changed its flour

Andalusian fried fish (pescaíto frito) is traditionally dusted in wheat flour. Yet this is where Spain found its most striking answer: freidurías fully converted to gluten free, where the flour and oil are the same for everyone.

• El Pescaíto de Carmela, Granada: prawn croquetas, fried salt cod, mixed fried fish, with “carta 100% sin gluten” stated on the official website; 4.5/5 from more than 10,000 reviews (see the listing);
• Poseidón, Seville, a freiduría in the Kansas City district converted to gluten free, listed by the Sevilla Sin Gluten network (see the listing);
• Los Mellizos Soho, Málaga, a fully gluten-free seafood restaurant, pescaíto frito included (see the listing).

Seville has more, covered in our Seville guide.

Churros: always wheat, except in dedicated obradores

No ambiguity: churro dough is wheat flour, water and salt, and recipes recommend strong flour, chosen precisely for its gluten. Porras are a thicker version of the same dough. A classic churrería fries everything in the same oil: even a “gluten-free” churro would not be safe there.

The dipping chocolate is not neutral either: FACE lists drinking chocolates and soluble cocoa among products to check.

We have no traditional churrería converted to gluten free in Spain, but several dedicated places make churros:

• EXENTO Obrador Gluten Free, Valdemoro (Madrid region), a 100% gluten-free obrador making churros and porras, 4.6/5 (see the listing);
• La Casa del Celiaco, Murcia, a dedicated bakery-café with churros on Saturdays (see the listing);
• Espai La Vall, Tarragona, a fully gluten-free family café-restaurant, churros included (see the listing);
• Gelée Boutique, Logroño, a dedicated shop with homemade churros (see the listing);
• La Papita de Leche, Valencia, a Venezuelan stand whose churros are made from maize and cassava flour and fried in a dedicated fryer (see the listing).

Jamón and embutidos: not the same category

FACE draws a clear line. Dry-cured ham and shoulder (Iberian, serrano, sliced or diced) are generic foods, gluten free by nature; it advises checking the label when sold sliced. Cecina and bacon fat are in the same group.

Chorizo, fuet, morcilla, sobrasada, salchichón, sausages, cooked hams other than “extra quality”, marinated loins and meatballs are in the products to check category: their recipe may include gluten ingredients, and only the label or the FACE list will tell you. In a restaurant, where you cannot see the label, it is a question to ask. We go into detail in our article on cured meats.

The FACE logo: what it guarantees

Venues supported by FACE or its member associations display the “FACE Restauración Sin Gluten” badge, renewed every year. According to the federation, the programme covers training for all staff, kitchen and front of house, a visit to assess whether a safe gluten-free offer is possible, adapted procedures from buying raw materials to service, and analytical checks through random, periodic sampling. Regional associations also run their own networks: ACECOVA in the Valencian Community, Sevilla Sin Gluten, the Aragon coeliac association, ACEPA in Asturias.

As in Italy, the badge does not say whether the kitchen is mixed or dedicated. That is the information Nutrixe adds. We list 348 verified places in Spain, 308 of them dedicated, all on the map. The largest cities have their own guide, such as Madrid. And to make yourself understood in the kitchen, our coeliac restaurant card in several languages has a Spanish version.

In short