Are Burger King's New Satisfries Gluten Free?

So what if they're lower fat, are they gluten free?

No gluten ingredient Burger King Fries and Satisfries

Burger King announced today new lower fat french fries or Satisfries. According to the press release the new fries have 40% less fat and 30% fewer calories than the leading (McDonald's) french fries. [Note: this is based on weight, not menu size - small, medium, large, King, etc.] [A little back-of-the-envelope math from the BK nutrition page leads me to believe the Satisfries contain 20% less fat and 20% less calories than BK's regular fries.]

But lets face reality, we're much less concerned about fat and much more concerned about gluten. For that, it mostly comes down to cross contamination. Just like Burger King's regular fries the new Satisfries contain no gluten ingredients. If your local restaurant has a separate fryer and safe handling procedures then the fries should be gluten free. Here are the ingredients from the BK website:

SATISFRIES™: Potatoes, vegetable oil (contains one or more of the following oils: canola, soybean, cottonseed, sunflower, corn), tapioca starch-modifies, contains 2% or less of corn starch-modified, paprika extract (color), rice flour, salt, sodium acid pyrophosphate (to maintain natural color), turmeric extract (color), xantham gum.

I stopped at a Burger King on the way home tonight and purchased a small regular fries and a small Satisfries (pictured above). [The satisfries were $.30 more by the way.]  Personally, I thought the new Satisfries tasted better and were fluffier on the inside.

In the end it really comes down to the cross contamination in the fryer and after they are fried (the BK I stopped at didn't but most share a warming bin for the onion rings and fries with just a metal divider between them). With so many other dining options now, I don't often risk a stop at Burger King.


For more thoughts on gluten free french fries, including a list of which restaurants and chains offer them click here: Gluten Free Fries!

And click here for more Gluten Free Fast Food / Chain Restaurants!