Gluten Free Madrid: A Complete Guide for Celiacs

Wondering where to eat gluten free in Madrid? Don’t you worry, there are plenty of great gluten free restaurants in Madrid – both dedicated gluten free and accredited by the local Celiac Associations – along with at least five dedicated gluten free bakeries where you can get your pastry and bread fix.

We spent a week eating our way through Madrid on our month-long trip to Spain, and fell in love with Spain’s capital. Over the course of over a decade living and traveling with Celiac Disease, it’s among the top few cities in terms of gluten free options.

Madrid is often overlooked for other cities in Spain like Barcelona, but we think it’s well worth your time. Especially if you need to eat gluten free.

Several of the best (gluten free) pastries, pizza, and other dishes we ate in Spain were in Madrid, and the Prado Museum’s impressive collection of art is a must-see on any Spain itinerary.

While Spanish cuisine is generally fairly Celiac-friendly, there are a few things to watch out for. Small kitchens where bread gets tossed around, contaminated fryers, and gluten-reduced beer made with barley masquerading as “gluten free,” to name a few.

In this guide, we’re going to give you all the tools and information you need to navigate Madrid gluten free. We’ll go through some tips for traveling gluten free in Madrid (that points out some of those things to watch out for), then jump into the best dedicated gluten free restaurants, gluten free bakeries, and Celiac Association-accredited restaurants for you to enjoy.

We ate at almost all of them – with one or two exceptions – and also included our picks for the five best things we ate in Madrid, if you’re short on time.

Sound good? Let’s get into it!

PS: if Madrid is a part of a broader Spain itinerary, don’t miss our guide to gluten free Barcelona, which features our picks for the city’s best gluten free restaurants and bakeries.

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post, like hotel links, are affiliate links, meaning at no additional cost to you, we make a little bit of money if you click through and book. That being said, we would never recommend something to you that we don’t stand behind 100%.

Tips for Traveling Gluten Free in Madrid (and Spain in General)

Spain is among the easiest countries to travel gluten free thanks to good labeling laws and active local Celiac associations who arm restaurants with the knowledge they need to serve safe gluten free meals. As you can probably imagine, there are still a few things to watch out for. 

Gluten free beer is actually gluten-reduced. Or gluten removed, depending on the wording you’re used to at home if you’re from the US and Canada.

For some odd reason, despite being ahead of the US and Canada in labeling in a lot of regards (no “gluten free” oats, barley and rye need to be bolded in the ingredient statement, etc), in the EU, it is legal to call a beer brewed with barley gluten free.

In the EU, every last gluten free beer I came across was gluten-reduced. You can imagine my frustration when I sat down at dinner in Florence, saw gluten free beer on the menu, and spent 6 Euros on it only to find out that malted barley was the first ingredient. Infuriating.

Celiacs shouldn’t drink gluten-reduced beer. See here for why. Or here. 

The Celiac Association is your friend. There are actually multiple resources for Celiacs in Madrid – FACE (Spain’s Celiac Association), Madrid Sin Gluten (the local FACE association for Madrid), and Celiacos Madrid, Madrid’s Celiac Association.

They do a good job educating and accrediting restaurants (among other establishments) that can serve people with Celiac Disease safely.

Celiacos Madrid, in particular, has a nice guide to navigating Madrid gluten free, which you can find here. Here’s what their symbols looks like – you’ll often find it on the door of the establishment. 

Tapas restaurants have small kitchens. Watch out for cross-contamination. Even if they pull out an allergen menu that says the tortilla is gluten free, that does not mean it’s prepared in a way that is safe for Celiacs.

This is especially true with fried food, which is often prepared in a contaminated fryer (except for a few places, this was the case at almost every place where I asked).

Lucky for you, the restaurants accredited by the associations above know this, and are knowledgeable about minimizing cross-contamination. 

The Best Gluten Free Restaurants and Bakeries in Madrid

Now that we’ve covered some of the things you need to know to navigate Marid gluten free, let’s get into specific gluten free restaurants and bakeries in Madrid where you can find Celiac-safe food. 

These restaurants are broken up into three different categories for clarity’s sake.

• First, we’ll go through dedicated gluten free restaurants, where the entire kitchen is gluten free and the risk of cross contamination is low.
  
  
• Next, we’ll cover dedicated gluten free bakeries, where you can get your hands on all sorts of gluten free pastries, again with minimal risk of cross-contamination.
  
  
• Last will be restaurants that are NOT 100% gluten free, but are accredited by one (or more) of the local Celiac Associations.

It’s worth repeating – your experience may be different than mine. So much of being able to get safe gluten free food when traveling hinges on your ability to communicate your needs to servers and other waitstaff – whether it’s asking if the plantains are fried in the same fryer as tequenos, or asking if the gluten free bread is toasted in the same toaster as regular bread.

This is especially true in places that are not dedicated gluten free, where the risk of cross-contamination is higher. 

You will need to be able to communicate those things in Spanish. We, luckily, are able to cobble together enough Spanish to get by, but I still invested in a gluten free restaurant card in Spanish just in case my fifth grade Spanish wasn’t enough.

If you’re not sure about your ability to speak Spanish, I’d recommend doing the same. It’s well-worth $9 for peace of mind and reducing the food-related stress when traveling, in my opinion. 

We made it to ALMOST every place on this list, though not quite all of them. In each section, you’ll find our thoughts on the food and recommendations on what to order if we did visit. 

If you’re curious what our process for discovering and vetting gluten free spots looks like, you can read our gluten free FAQ. 

The Five Best Things We Ate in Madrid

If you’re in a hurry, here are the five best gluten free eats we found in Madrid, in order. 

1. Any and every pastry from Sana Locura. Fluffy and buttery croissants. A delicious apple crumble. And we haven’t even gotten to their bread! 
   
   
2. Gluten free bread from LAIB. 
   
   
3. Gluten free pizza at Grosso Napoletano Sin Gluten.
   
   
4. The Japanese-style curry at Okashi Sanda. 
   
   
5. Venezuelan-style Arepas at Guasa. 

Dedicated Gluten Free Restaurants in Madrid

There are a bunch of dedicated gluten free restaurants in Madrid where you can get everything from traditional Spanish cuisine to gluten and dairy free Japanese food. 

Restaurante Vegetariano Artemisia Sol: 100% Vegetarian & Gluten Free

Restaurante Vegetariano Artemisia is the first ever 100% gluten free AND vegetarian restaurant in the entire country, which is something they’ve been doing since 2016. Everything is both gluten free and vegetarian, and they have a ton of vegan options too. 

They have two restaurants just a few blocks away from each other, one in the Huertas neighborhood, one in the heart of Sol-Gran Vía. 

They have a deal where it’s 20% off if you do take away, so we grabbed dinner to go to eat back at our apartment.

We shared the Zucchini Queen of Africa, which is stuffed roasted zucchini topped with a pistachio sauce, and the Greek Moussaka. Both were good, but would have been better if we had enjoyed them right after they were made rather than walking 15 minutes back to our apartment with them.

We’d recommend dining in, even though it is more expensive. 

They have some delicious-looking gluten free desserts like tiramisu and a mango peach cake (at the time we were there, anyway), but we had already had two pieces of cake from a nearby bakery, and were too full to try them. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try them, though!

As de Bastos: Upscale Spanish Tapas 

We didn’t make it to As de Bastos – it’s pretty far north, and we decided we’d rather make it to all the restaurants and bakeries in the city center before running up there.

Which is a shame, because it looks fantastic, and is a great place to go if you’re craving Spanish food in a 100% gluten free environment. 

Start with a selection of tapas like jamon, patatas bravas, and croquetas, and move onto some bigger (though still shareable) dishes like octopus and fried calamari. Yes, gluten free.

They also have some bigger main dishes, like meats and fish dishes, but we’d probably have stuck to the shareable plates. 

Post-dinner, they have a selection of gluten free desserts that rotates, so you’ll be in for a surprise when you sit down. 

It’s a 25 minute metro ride from the Gran Vía metro station on Line 1, which really isn’t too far for a nice dinner that’s completely safe for Celiacs. 

Dedicated Gluten Free Bakeries in Madrid

There are (at least) five dedicated gluten free bakeries in Madrid, and all of them offer something slightly different. If you can’t tell based on reading the blurbs below, we have some pretty clear favorites. 

Sana Locura: Our Favorite Gluten Free Bakery in Madrid

While some of the bakeries below specialize in pastries or bread, Sana Locura does both really, really well, which is why it’s at the top of our list of both gluten free bakeries in Madrid, and the top things we ate in Madrid. 

As you walk in, you’re greeted with a veritable cornucopia of baked goods – sweet pastries, tarts, savory pastries, breads of all shapes and sizes, and even panettone (a sort of sweet bread that’s eaten around the holidays). 

The croissants are spectacular – buttery, flaky, and everything you want out of a croissant. They might be the closest to a regular croissant that I’ve had since my diagnosis – they’re that good. The other standout was the Napolitana filled with cream.

The Napolitana pastry is one of our favorite pastry-related discoveries in Spain – it’s kind of like a pain au chocolat that you’d get in Paris, but it can be filled with multiple different fillings (cream and chocolate are the most common). It’s part croissant, part filled pastry. 

Last, but certainly not least, was the apple crumble tart that we had, which was also great and was gone so fast that I completely forgot to take a picture of it. 

The only downside is that it’s a little far from the center of Madrid. It’s up in the Salamanca neighborhood, which is northeast of the city center.

It takes about 20 minutes to get there on the metro, and I’d highly recommend making the journey. It’s a lovely, leafy neighborhood, and the bakery is worth the price of admission (which is, in this case, the price of metro tickets and whatever pastries you choose). 

It was so good, we went back a second time despite the distance. This time, we loaded up on croissants to enjoy in Granada, where we were headed later that day, and ventured into the savory pastry case to try a couple of filled savory pastries – one with cheese and onion, one with spinach and raisins.  

This review may or may not be influenced by the fact that the woman behind the counter complimented my Spanish, AND remembered me when I showed up a couple of days later a second time, this time with Alysha in tow. Everyone inside was very friendly, and very helpful in explaining exactly what every single pastry in the case was (in Spanish). 

Pastelería La Oriental: All the Pastries!

Pastelería La Oriental has two locations immediately next door to each other. Why, you ask? Because there is one full of gluten (the one on the right, in green), and one 100% gluten free.

They wanted to create a place where they could bring their pastry expertise to serve the gluten free community, but realized the only way to do that is to have a completely separate bakery and kitchen. 

They are certified by both FACE and the Madrid Celiac Association, which is a good sign that they’re doing things right in terms of creating safe gluten free pastries. 

The entire, relatively small space is full of pastry cases, which are in turn full of all sorts of pastries. The pastries are the highlight here, though they also have breads and cakes, among other things. 

If Sana Locura was the best gluten free croissant we’ve had in a while, this one was a close second. We also had a Berliner, a new favorite discovery, which is a German doughnut that is fried and then filled with cream (though I’m sure there are other flavors).

And, of course, we had to get a beloved Napolitana, which was every bit as good as any other version we had in Spain. 

We tried their bread, which was fine, but if you want the best gluten free bread in Madrid, you should probably go to LAIB (in our humble opinion, anyway).

LAIB: Best for Gluten Free Bread

We got a loaf of bread at LAIB, and it was moist and soft on the inside, crusty on the outside, and all-around nearly perfect in terms of texture, taste, and consistency.

Their whole thing is to prove that it is possible to make amazing bread with alternative grains – namely rice, millet, and buckwheat. They were making sourdough (which is added to their breads to give it a little bit of tang, which we like) well before it became cool in 2020. 

We had their Hogaza, which is a giant round loaf of bread with the crusty outside and chewy inside. If you’ve had your fair share of gluten free bread, you know how difficult it can be to nail that texture, and we think LAIB did just that. 

I love that they have an entire machine dedicated to slicing the bread – the man behind the counter asked me if I wanted it sliced, I said yes, and within about 15 seconds he had dropped it into this machine and it had come out perfectly sliced. Like magic. 

We were also hungry when we stopped by, so we grabbed a baguette con pasas (raisins) to enjoy in Parque el Retiro, which is a few blocks away. Whoever came up with the idea of putting raisins in bread should be made a saint, or maybe given a Nobel Peace Prize, or something. 

You can see a selection of their products on their online store. Their bakery is south of Parque El Retiro, close to Madrid’s main train station, Atocha (here on Google Maps). 

Celicioso: Gluten Free Cakes and Cafe

Celicioso is part cafe, part cakeshop. And the part that I think you should focus on is the cakeshop. Everything is both gluten free and organic, and they have vegan options. 

They’re one of the oldest gluten free bakeries in Spain, opening their doors in the dark ages of gluten free food way back in 2012. Since then, they’ve expanded into a mini-gluten-free empire in Madrid. 

They have many locations around the city at this point, after expanding significantly over the past several years.

Each of them has a big pastry case full of a variety of cakes and pies – some vegan – and cupcakes. Carrot cake, cheesecake, more traditional Spanish cakes. All the cakes! 

We got a slice of berry cheesecake and a slice of Tarta de Santiago, which is an almond-citrus cake traditionally from Galicia in northern Spain that turned out to be the clear winner in terms of the Celicioso cake shootout.

Apparently it’s usually made with lemon, but this one heavily featured a citrus flavor. Give us anything with citrus in it please. 

That’s not to say the cheesecake isn’t good, just that the Tarta de Santiago was spectacular. 

They also have more of a cafe-style menu with things like sandwiches and salads, which would make it a good stop for lunch or an afternoon snack. 

0% Gluten: Solid Gluten Free Cafe

0% Gluten is part cafe, with a menu that includes sandwiches and toasts among other things, and part bakery, with pastry cases full of handmade pastries.

You can see straight through to the open kitchen, at least at the location we found up in Chamberí. They also have locations all over Spain, including in Barcelona and Cádiz. 

All of their locations are 100% gluten free, and they do extensive R&D (and have their own flour blends) to make sure they’re creating the best possible product for Celiacs. 

We thought their products were pretty solid. We sat in the sun just outside their shop on a leafy street in northern Madrid and enjoyed a Palmera, a flaky, puff-pastry (ish) delight in a fun shape, and a Napolitana con crema, our favorite kind of pastry in Spain (though we prefer the chocolate filling). 

Other Gluten Free Restaurants in Madrid (NOT Dedicated Gluten Free)

With the exception of one restaurant – Guasa, where I had a long conversation about cross-contamination and am confident they do a good job – all of these restaurants are certified by the Celiac Association (though they are not 100% gluten free).  

In these cases, more so than the dedicated gluten free restaurants above, you’ll need to be super clear with the wait staff that you need to eat gluten free.

If you’re not confident in your ability to communicate your needs in Spanish, I highly recommend investing in a gluten free restaurant card from Jodi over at Legal Nomads, which covers everything – including cross-contamination (which is something most cards miss). 

I speak rudimentary Spanish, and I still bought one for my trip. Well worth the $9 for peace of mind, in my book. 

LaLina Tapas & Copas: Celiac-Friendly Tapas in La Latina

I ventured out to LaLina solo on a Saturday afternoon, and by the time I was leaving around 2:00 pm, their outdoor patio area was absolutely packed. Which is generally a good sign.

It’s in the heart of La Latina – the neighborhood in Madrid most known for amazing tapas – which is a lovely place to spend an afternoon. 

If you’re asking me where to go for gluten free tapas in Madrid, this is probably the first place I’d send you. 

Another good sign? All of the items on their menu have gluten free versions, and they come out with a little “gluten free” flag in them to delineate between the different versions and prevent mix ups. Their menu is clearly labeled so you can see which dishes are available gluten free.

Make sure to tell them you are a Celiac! “Soy Celiaco” (or Celiaca, if you’re a woman). 

Since I was alone, I only ordered a couple of things to enjoy on their sunny patio. I went with the patatas bravas (duh), which come in a staggering number of versions (I went with the straight bravas sauce – the delicious tomato-ey spicy sauce) and a cheese plate, which comes with some gluten free crostini.

One other thing – I’d suggest making reservations. Nearly every table was booked.  

Taberna La Concha: Old School Tapas Spot

I opted for LaLina over Taberna La Concha, which has a more old-school vibe to it and is right on Calle Cava Baja, the most famous tapas street in Madrid (and all of Spain, probably). The interior looks like it hasn’t been updated in a couple of decades, which I mean in a good way. 

It’s accredited by Madrid’s Celiac Association, and it’s a great place to go to experience gluten free tapas in a traditional setting. You’ll be able to try things like cured duck with slices of orange on toast and anchovies in pesto sauce, among many other different tapas offerings. 

Guasa Madrid: Venezuelan-Style Arepas!

If you have been following us for any time at all, you know we’re always in for arepas.

If you aren’t familiar with arepas, here’s a primer.

In this case, we’re talking specifically about the Venezuelan variety, which are stuffed full of a variety of fillings (our favorite is usually avocado, beans, cheese, and sweet plantains). 

The thing that made me a little wary at Guasa, a restaurant serving up a modern take on traditional Venezuelan arepas, is that they sell tequeños, which are basically fried and breaded cheese sticks.

My first question was “do you fry the tequeños in the same fryer as other things” which they explained, no, they do not. 

My second question was “are there any other things on the menu that contain gluten.” Unfortunately, the answer to that question is yes. The crispy onions – which are on one of the arepas, contain gluten, though they can make that particular arepa without them if you ask nicely. 

Their menu is clearly marked with allergens (though that doesn’t necessarily mean that things are safe from cross-contamination, which is why I asked about the fryer). Aside from the tequeños and fried onion topping, I don’t see anything else with gluten at the moment.

HOWEVER, that could change, so make sure you tell them your needs so they can help you find something safe to eat. 

Maestro Churrero: Gluten Free Churros & Chocolate

Look, if you want churros con chocolate, this is the place to do it. Though they sell regular churros, they’re accredited by the Celiac Association, and have separate preparation areas for the gluten free churros. Here’s the blurb on their website about the gluten free churros. 

“We are the only churros that offer gluten-free churros. Made in an external workshop and taking maximum care of any cross contamination that may exist.”

However, before you go in, you should know that you’re going to be disappointed.

Between the long wait (which I’m totally fine with, but it probably took 20 minutes to get our food), subpar chocolate (we’ve had much, much better in Spain), and the undercooked churros, it’s not great. 

I say that as someone that went in with relatively low expectations after reading some pretty scathing reviews. 

It’s worth going if you REALLY want to try gluten free churros, but I would say find a place that has gluten free hot chocolate and just sip on that instead if you’re not too worried about missing out on churros. 

Oh, and if you are going to go to Maestro Churrero, go to this location, where the service was much, much better. 

Where to Find Gluten Free Groceries in Madrid

If you’re planning on spending your time in Madrid in a place with access to a kitchen and are wondering whether or not you’ll be able to find gluten free products at the supermarkets in Madrid, let me stop you right there. 

Yes. Yes you will. The grocery store selection in Spain is the best in Europe in our experience, as long as you know where to look. 

If you’re wondering what to look for on packaging in Spain to see if something is gluten free, head over to my guide to eating gluten free in Spain, which has an entire, detailed section on just that. 

One of my, Matt, favorite pastimes is going into every grocery store imaginable to look at the selection of gluten free products. For two reasons.

One, I love food, specifically gluten free food, and more specifically new gluten free food.

Second, I used to work in the food industry, and like seeing what different grocery stores look like in different countries (for inspiration in case I end up back in that world). 

We have a few grocery store chains that we loved, and went back to over and over and over again all over Spain. Most of them have a completely separate gluten free section somewhere in the store where you’ll find a collection of the best gluten free products they have.

Though it’s mostly bread, pasta, and stuff like that, and you’ll actually find even more things labeled “sin gluten” if you poke around the aisles a bit. 

Here are the grocery store chains we loved. Though, you should know, you’ll find gluten free items at just about every grocery store in Madrid. Especially at more health-oriented stores. 

El Corte Inglés: This is a massive department store, with all sorts of different sections from electronics to clothes (they have a whole section exclusively for Nespresso machines). And they have a supermarket. Though the selection generally varies by location, the gluten free section is huge, and stocked with all sorts of gems. Seriously, you should go at least once. It’s amazing. 

Carrefour (and Carrefour Express): The Express version of Carrefour, which is mostly what you’ll find within the city center, still has a nice gluten free selection despite the small footprints (but nothing close to El Corte Inglés, if we’re being honest). They’ll usually have things like gluten free bread and pasta, but might not have more specialty items like baguettes or cookies, depending on the location. Bigger Carrefour stores (not labeled “Express”) generally have a better selection. 

Mercadona: The least fancy store here with the best prices. Their selection is smaller, and varies wildly by store. They’re generally on the outskirts of Madrid, and you’d likely have to go out of your way to find one if you’re staying in the center. 

---