Gluten Free Madrid: A Complete Guide for Celiacs

Our Favorite Gluten Free Restaurants and Bakeries in Madrid

And now, on to the restaurants and bakeries themselves!

Over the years, we’ve realized that it’s important to us to prioritize supporting the businesses that support the Celiac community.

That means doing our best to make it to every single dedicated gluten free restaurant and bakery in a city to include it in our guides. 

Generally speaking, I’m not someone who is going to wait until I show up to a restaurant to spring my questions on them and expect them to be able to serve me UNLESS it’s a place that gets great reviews from other people in the gluten free community. 

I use a combination of Google Maps, Instagram, and Find Me Gluten Free to find restaurants that have been recommended by other Celiacs, and I go from there. 

A couple of rules for me: I don’t do pizza places or bakeries that are mixed (with a few exceptions), because I have recently gotten into baking bread and making pizza at home and flour ends up EVERYWHERE.

It must be impossible to keep them separate in a normal kitchen unless you have a completely separate prep area and oven, which most places just don’t have.

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 tequeños, 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-contact is higher.

Eating out with Celiac Disease comes with an inherent risk. You need to clearly communicate your needs to staff everywhere, but it’s especially important here. 

While there are certainly more options in Madrid (depending on your risk tolerance), this is a collection of places that we feel offer the best shot at getting safe gluten free food in Madrid.

At the end of the guide, we’ll include a handy map of these spots so that you can visualize how it all fits together and make plans for your specific trip. 

The only two places here that are NOT dedicated gluten free are the churro spots at the end. Both of them, though, have processes in place to separate gluten and gluten free churros, and I felt safe and confident eating at both. 

BONUS: I’ve personally eaten at every single restaurant in the main section of this guide! 

Our Favorite Gluten Free Restaurants in Madrid

Here are all of our favorite gluten free restaurants in the Spanish capital, ordered roughly in the order we’d recommend them.

As a reminder, every restaurant in this section is dedicated gluten free.

Okashi Sanda (Japanese)

Okashi Sanda was my absolute favorite gluten free food experience in Madrid. Mostly because gluten free Japanese food (that goes beyond sushi) is pretty difficult to find anywhere, even here in Portland where we have TONS of great options. 

Immediately after eating here, I Facetimed Alysha raving about how good my meal was.

Then, I stopped myself, and realized that actually, I have NO IDEA if it’s “good” or “authentic” or not because I’ve NEVER had anything to compare it to before, gluten free or not. 

I’ve now been here four times across three trips in the past several years (and it will be my first meal on my next trip to Madrid, whenever that ends up being). 

It’s a dedicated gluten free and dairy free establishment, and their whole goal was to go beyond sushi and sashimi, which is the predominant type of Japanese food that you can find gluten free. 

Instead, you get a really fun menu with Japanese dishes that I have literally never found a gluten free version of anywhere else I’ve been. 

My favorites are the yakisoba (stir fried noodles, which we had twice on this last trip), takoyaki (kind of like octopus croquettes with a nice sauce on top), and donkatsu (fried pork in a great soy-based sauce), though there are so many other things that also look delicious. 

Don’t miss their housemade desserts, especially their cloud cheesecake and matcha cake (which has been sold out every time I’ve been, but I’m determined to try it someday!). 

They now have two locations in Madrid – one in Malasaña, one in Lavapiés – and I would highly recommend making reservations for one of your nights in Madrid, because it is not often that you get to have gluten free Japanese food, especially gluten free Japanese food that is not just sushi. 

Senza Glutine di Grosso Napoletano (Pizza)

Grosso is the best example of a phenomenon I’ve only really found in Spain, but would like to see expand to all corners of the globe. 

That phenomenon is where you have a mini chain of restaurants where somewhere between one location and a handful of locations are dedicated gluten free. 

This is a different approach than having gluten free options at all of the locations because it minimizes the risk of cross-contact in the kitchen, especially in a pizzeria, and makes it a much safer option for Celiacs. 

Generally speaking, outside of Italy where they have an active Celiac association offering guidance on how to prepare gluten free food safely in a mixed environment, I avoid eating at pizza places with mixed kitchens.

Why? Because I’ve gotten into making my own gluten free pizza at home, and by the time I’m done making a couple of pizzas for Alysha and I, every last square inch of exposed surface in the kitchen is covered in a thin layer of gluten free flour. 

Now, imagine that kitchen is a mixed kitchen, and you’ve just made 100 gluten-filled pizzas when an order for a gluten free pizza comes through. 

Unless you have the time to deep clean (not practical in a busy kitchen) or completely separate equipment (not practical in a small kitchen), everything that gluten free pizza touches will almost certainly have some level of contact with flour. The point here is that it’s risky. 

Enter Grosso Napoletano, a Spanish chain of pizza restaurants who have a location or two in most bigger Spanish cities that are completely gluten free. They’re called “Grosso Napoletano Senza Glutine.”

They have a fancy pizza oven that gets HOT, which is essential for the Neopolitan-style pizza they make here. 

On my first visit, I was CONVINCED that they had to be using gluten free wheat starch because of the texture, but I have asked several times on recent trips and, nope, they use a similar blend of rice, buckwheat, and other flours to the pizza I make at home.

This is, perhaps, the best gluten free pizza I’ve ever had outside of Italy. And, even taking Italian places into account, it’s still right up there. 

If pizza is what you’re craving, this is where I’d send you without hesitation (also, don’t miss the chili oil!).

They have a bunch of gluten free locations in Madrid, which you can see here (they’re the green ones on the map). 

Restaurante Casa San Juan Comida Española (Spanish Cuisine)

If you’re looking for my favorite place to experience more traditional Spanish food in Madrid, Casa San Juan is the answer. 

This tapas spot in the center of Madrid is dedicated gluten free, and on my first visit here I stepped in out of an intense rain storm to find comforting classics like patatas bravas and huevos rotos con jamón (fried eggs on top of a bed of fries with cured meat on top, one of my favorite discoveries on that trip). 

They also have a wider menu featuring paella (which I would save for when you get to Barcelona or Valencia, because it’s not really a thing that gets eaten in Madrid), main dishes of meats, seafood, and veggies, and more. 

I ordered WAY too much food for one person, but I wanted to try three classics here – a tortilla con patatas (con cebolla, with onions, which is the only acceptable way to eat it), patatas bravas, and huevos rotos con jamón. 

The food was pretty good – not my favorite in Madrid, but perfectly worth a stop (for lunch) given the central location. 

The ambiance is very old school, with lots of wood paneling, but the staff were very friendly. 

The next time I was in Madrid, it was with Alysha and I brought her here for lunch one day.

It turns out that the single best bite of food we had on that trip was the leeks in romesco sauce here, and we still talk about it (and how we should learn how to make romesco sauce, which we still haven’t gotten around to). 

The point is that, of the gluten free spots in Madrid that focus on Spanish food, this is the place that does it best (I think). 

Make a reservation if you want to eat here. Every time I’ve been here, I’ve seen people turned away because all of the tables were reserved (even though the place was mostly empty at that exact time). You can make a reservation here. 

Pasta Balboa (Pasta)

Hey, gluten free chefs across the world: take this concept and bring it everywhere. 

In the world of Italian food outside of Italy, we get a fair amount of gluten free pizza, but not as much gluten free pasta. 

Pasta Balboa is a concept that I’m a big fan of. They’re experts in dried pasta, and make a bunch of different kinds using various gluten free grains from simple spaghetti and fusilli to filled pastas.

The idea here is that they take those pastas, make a bunch of sauces to pair them with, and then you choose your pasta shape, choose your sauce, and voila! Delicioso!

It’s simple and delicious, and relatively affordable for the amount of food you’re getting. 

We had the Calabrese – spicy sausage and a tomato-based sauce – and their pumpkin/curry pesto (which was really interesting and not at all what we were expecting) with their handmade gnocchi. 

It’s just across the northern border of Malasaña in Chamberí (like many places in this guide), which has quickly become our favorite part of Madrid. 

Pink’s (Casual Burgers)

This is another great example of the phenomenon of restaurant chains that are NOT gluten free, but have one specific location that is totally gluten free.

Pink’s is a popular no-frills smashburger chain in Madrid that does just that.

It’s a very popular chain, and it reminds me a little bit of In-N-Out here in the States in that the menu is simple, and they do what they do extremely well. 

They only have one location that is 100% gluten free, and it’s this one north of the city center (I walked from Malasaña). 

They basically have two things on the menu: burgers and fries (which you can get with or without spicy seasoning). You also get to choose your sauce for the fries (I went with spicy mayo). 

Smashburgers are all the rage these days (according to my hip cousin in LA – hi Aubrie!), and this was my first experience with that type of burger, where the meat is pressed super thin and carmelized on a flattop grill (that maillard reaction!). 

Ardemos (Burgers)

Ardemos is a hip burger joint on the northern border of Malasaña, close to the Bilbao metro station.

I was not prepared for the vibe when I walked in and was greeted with low light and pink fluorescent lights spelling out “F#ck Gluten” and fake graffiti all over the walls.

Everything here is gluten free, and the burger was really solid. I had the “Satisfied” with bacon and caramelized onions, and enjoyed it. The fries are good, too. 

They also have smashburgers, chicken burgers, and even a vegan burger (with Beyond Meat), along with some starters like nachos, chicken fingers, and mac and cheese. 

Overall, I enjoyed it, but I preferred Pink’s in terms of the food (though there are far less options at Pink’s as far as burger toppings). 

LaLina Tapas y Bravas (Tapas)

Of the two dedicated gluten free Spanish places that we came across in Madrid, this is the more casual of the two options, and the menu is a little less sprawling than Comida San Juan. 

Rather than featuring dishes from all across Spain, LaLina focuses on what we decided is sort of the Spanish version of “pub food”, with lots of potatoes (various versions of patatas bravas, huevos con rotos, a burger, etc etc) and is a little more low-key and casual. 

When I first visited LaLina years ago, they only had one location (the one in La Latina, which is still there) and it was not 100% gluten free. 

Fast forward to today and they have two locations in Madrid – one in La Latina and one in Chueca – both of which are dedicated gluten free. 

Overall, we liked the food we got at LaLina (especially the patatas bravas and croquettes with goat cheese), though we think the menu is more interesting at San Juan and nothing here really blew our socks off. 

Still, a good casual option for having some nice Spanish food in a dedicated gluten free environment with a couple of locations around Madrid. 

Solo de Croquetas (Croquetas)

If you speak Spanish, then you can probably guess exactly what Solo de Croquetas is all about. The name translates to “only croquettes.” About as direct a name as you can possibly get. 

Croquettes are a quintessentially Spanish dish, but they’re usually coated in breadcrumbs AND fried in the same fryer as other gluten-filled things, so they’re almost always off-limits for Celiacs. 

At Solo de Croquetas, you can try allllll the croquetas your heart desires. They set out to make croquettes accessible to a range of different dietary restrictions – gluten free, lactose free, and vegan, mostly. 

They have a mix of innovative sweet and savory options, with vegetarian and vegan options too.

We tried a selection of six, and really liked the chocolate brownie (not surprising, hard to mess up a fried ball with chocolate inside), the arroz con leche (which had some nice baking spice flavors going on), and the Mojo Picón, a vegan croquette with a spicy filling. 

There are two locations in Madrid, but the one you want is on Calle de Echegaray in Barrio de las Letras (here on Google Maps), just west of the Prado Museum (a MUST on any Madrid itinerary).

There’s another location further north, but it’s probably too far for most tourists to go. 

Pizza Natura Saludable y Sin Gluten (Pizza)

Look, we love pizza. We’ve recently gotten into making gluten free pizza here at home (our pantry now has three 25lb bags of gluten free flours that Matt mixes to make the crust). 

However, at a certain point, you kind of just have to understand that the pizza is inherently going to be somewhat unhealthy, given the crust and cheese. 

At Pizza Natura, they’re trying to make the pizza healthy while maintaining the taste, texture, and deliciousness.

And, if we’re being honest, they didn’t really hit the mark on that front.

They use a combination of flours including quinoa and millet (which I use at home too!), but the crust came out thin, soggy, and fairly “meh.” 

The one thing I will say is that they have a more progressive set of toppings than you usually see at more traditional pizza places.

They also have vegan options, which is another thing you usually don’t see all that often. 

I had the truffled egg pizza – a splurge that the server recommended – and could barely taste the truffle, which only added to the disappointment. 

The takeaway here is that it’s safe for Celiacs, but there are better gluten free pizzas to be had in Madrid (at Grosso Napoletano) if you’re looking for a classic Italian pizza.

Go here if you also need to eat vegan, or are looking for some less traditional, more fun topping options.  

Goiko Gluten Free (Burgers)

This is another example of a restaurant chain with multiple locations where exactly one of them is fully gluten free (rather than each of them offering gluten free options with more risk for cross-contact), which I am 100% here for. 

As I’ve already mentioned, I love this model, and wish other places around the world would copy it. 

Goiko is a chain of semi-upscale burger restaurants across Spain, and they have a 100% gluten free location up north of the city center on the border between Chamberi and Salamanca (it’s a few blocks northwest of Sana Locura). 

If you’re craving a burger while you’re in Madrid, this is a solid place to get it (though it’s a little further outside of the main center of Madrid than the other two options above). 

There, you can get a selection of their burgers (not all of them are available gluten free, but they do have a nice selection of beef, chicken, and smash burgers on the gluten free menu) along with chicken strips and tequeños, delicious cheese-filled pastries that come from Venezuela that we’re big fans of (and Spain is the only place we’ve ever found a gluten free version). 

I had their classic burger, with tomato, lettuce, pickles, and BBQ sauce, and it was nice.

The bun was pretty good, and I would go again next time I’m in Madrid (though I should say I slightly prefer Pink’s in almost every way). 

The tequeños are also fun, and I always like chicken strips and BBQ sauce because it reminds me of U.S. road trips growing up and stopping at Wendy’s (well before being diagnosed with Celiac Disease). 

La Tape (Spanish Cuisine)

On one of my trips to Madrid in the past couple of years, I was staying relatively close to La Tape, and decided to make it my lunch stop on one of my last days in the city.

They’re on a sunny corner in Malasaña, which is our favorite place to stay in Madrid, though you should know that it’s more expensive to sit on their outdoor terrace. 

It’s a craft beer bar that also happens to be dedicated gluten free (remember that the gluten free beers are what we know as “gluten-removed” or “reduced” in the States, which you can’t call gluten free here). 

I actually didn’t realize it when I showed up, but on weekdays at lunch time they have a fixed price lunch menu with two courses, which is what I ended up getting. The food was pretty good, and the price would be hard to beat. 

The food on their main menu here (not the fixed price lunch menu) is less traditional than some of the other spots, but looks interesting.

I had my eye on the burgers, but they weren’t serving them when I was there. 

Restaurante Vegetariano Artemisa (Vegetarian)

Restaurante Vegetariano Artemisa 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. 

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.

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!

Our Favorite Dedicated Gluten Free Bakeries in Madrid

Here are all of our favorite gluten free bakeries in Madrid. There are a bunch of them!

For each, we’ll tell you in the heading what we think they’re good at so that you know where to go if, say, you’re in the mood for a napolitana, or if you need a loaf of gluten free bread.

Sana Locura Gluten Free Bakery (Bread + Pastries)

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). 

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 (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.

If you are relatively early in your gluten free journey and searching for a place that will overwhelm you with the number of different gluten free pastries available, this is the spot. 

You’ll walk into the small, unassuming storefront and immediately be surrounded on three sides with gluten free bread, pastries, cookies, cakes, pies, and every other kind of baked delight that you can think of. It’s quite overwhelming. 

I’ve been here three or four different times and every time I run into the same paralysis as I try to choose what I want (without ordering everything). 

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

LAIB (Bakery – Bread)

On our first trip to Madrid years ago, we made a detour to the southern end of the park to get a loaf of bread at LAIB, and it was well worth the metro ride. 

It was moist and soft on the inside, crusty on the outside, and all-around nearly perfect in terms of texture, taste, and consistency. 

It’s our favorite gluten free loaf of bread in Madrid, and we’ve been here three different times across trips and it lives up to our own personal internal hype every time. 

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 five or so years ago. 

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). 

Ame Gluten Free (Bakery – Pastries)

This relatively new gluten free bakery (I asked and they were a couple years old when I visited last) is up in Chamberi, just across the northern border of Malasaña.

In a city full of pretty excellent gluten free bakeries, this was probably my favorite of the bunch for the quality of the pastries they have. 

I like to judge gluten free bakeries in Europe by their croissants because I know just how difficult it is to make a good croissant (even with regular gluten-containing flour), and if you’re able to execute a laminated gluten free pastry that isn’t extremely dense, you deserve all the praise in the world. 

After eating their croissant (and a few other pastries), I gushed about how good it was in broken Spanish, describing a lot of gluten free croissants in other places that are kind of just brioche-flavored cupcakes in the shape of a croissant. The laminated layers aren’t really there. 

Not so, here! You can taste all of the hours of work that went into making their pastries because the texture is nice and light (relatively speaking, of course), which probably took several hundred batches of failed croissants. 

The person behind the counter explained that they had to experiment with a couple of different flours to find the right combination.

This set my gluten free wheat starch antenna up, especially given the nice texture, so I asked if they use gluten free wheat starch in their products. 

While they do use gluten free wheat starch, they don’t use it in their pastries, only in their cookies and breads, which I found kind of interesting because that’s not the application I would have thought made the best use of the texture benefits that come with that product. 

Great pastries, though a more limited selection than, say, Pastelaria Oriental Sin Gluten and Sana Locura. Worth the journey north, we think. 

Celicioso (Bakery – All Around)

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. 

chök (Bakery – Pastries)

If you’ve traveled across Spain to cities like Barcelona and Madrid, you’re likely to have come across a gluten free chök location before.

I first came across them in Barcelona, and I have the same general take on them today as I did five years ago: they’re good, but you can likely do better. 

They’ve expanded rapidly over the past few years, and every time I’m back in Spain they seem to have multiplied exponentially since the last time. 

Important to note that not all of their locations are gluten free.

Instead of trying to do both regular and gluten free pastries out of the same kitchen in all of their locations, they designate one or two locations in the major cities to be 100% gluten free. 

Here’s the deal with chök: at their gluten free locations, all of their pastries and cakes are pretty good, but they’re VERY expensive for what they are, and they’re almost more for Instagram than eating (they’re very pretty). 

They also don’t really have anything that is super “Spanish” or unique. It’s a lot of doughnuts, cookies, brownies, and cheesecake, rather than anything that’s uniquely Spanish. 

Not all of their locations are gluten free, though the majority are. The gluten free locations say “sin gluten” all over the windows, and you can always double check with the staff. 

The gluten free locations in Madrid are here and here on Google Maps. 

This time, we got a cookie and a mango cheesecake, and similar to my past experiences, they were both pretty tasty and photogenic, but they were also expensive for what you’re getting. 

Worth a stop to satisfy a sweet craving if you find yourself nearby, but not necessarily my favorite pastries in the world. Especially in a city like Madrid which is chok (ha) full of great gluten free pastries. 

Where to Find Gluten Free Churros in Madrid

As I mentioned, these are the only two places in this entire guide that are NOT dedicated gluten free.

However, both are certified by the local Celiac association and have processes in place (and separate equipment) to manage cross-contact with gluten. I felt safe eating at both.

Chocolateria 1902 (Churros con Chocolate – NOT 100% GF)

If you want good gluten free churros con chocolate (more on this in a second), you should go to Churrería Chocolateria 1902, which is on a busy street in the city center. 

On our previous trip to Madrid, we went to a different churro spot with gluten free options and walked away VERY disappointed. So disappointed that I didn’t even consider going back on this latest trip. 

However, this place was fantastic, and is probably a must-do while you’re in Madrid. 

This was absolutely a situation where I was walking around Madrid’s center between stops on my itinerary, and happened to notice the logo for the Celiac Association in the window.

So I hopped on Find Me Gluten Free and Google Maps to see what the reviews had to say. 

Sure enough, it seemed that they have processes in place to minimize cross-contact (such as separate fryers and different colored plates to signify gluten free). 

It’s a counter service situation (sort of), where you’ll walk in (more likely, wait in line because this is a very popular spot), order at the register (make sure to say “sin gluten” when you order), and take your receipt to a table, where a server will grab it and bring back a delicious plate of churros. 

Your churros should come out of the kitchen on the second floor (where they prepare gluten free churros), and they should come out on a plate that is BLACK.

I’d also make sure to confirm with the server who brings them that they are gluten free (you can just say “sin gluten?”). 

Maestro Churrero (Churros con Chocolate – NOT 100% GF)

Look, if you want churros con chocolate, this is… an option. 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 (though we’d still recommend 1902 instead), 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. 

Other Places with Gluten Free Options in Madrid

Think of this as a section of places that showed up in my research, but I didn’t personally eat at while I was in Madrid for whatever reason. 

Because Madrid is a big city, there are way too many gluten free restaurants to visit in a single trip. 

Or, in this case, even in multiple trips that span more than two weeks. 

So I’m going to use this section as a place to house other recommendations I’ve gotten (or found myself) for gluten free restaurants in Madrid that I haven’t personally made it to yet, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t!

Plus, that will make it easy for me next time I’m in Madrid, because I’ll have my “must-do” list in one place.

Bastardi – Restaurante Sin Gluten: 100% gluten free Italian food. This is the place I’m most sad we missed on our last trip because we love pasta, and they have a few of our favorites (bolognese, amatriciana, carbonara) that we make regularly at home, along with some more adventurous pastas, pizza, and tiramisu for dessert. 

ZITA – Gluten Free Bakery: I stayed a few blocks away from this quick service gluten free bakery on the northern border of Malasaña, and it was a good spot to grab a quick pastry or sandwich for a train or plane trip. Good bread and pastries, though not my favorite of either in Madrid. 

As de Bastos: I didn’t make it to As de Bastos – it’s pretty far north, and I decided I’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 jamón, 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. 

Empanadas Maíz Sabor: A Colombian restaurant with empanadas (made with corn on the northern end of South America) and arepas, along with other sides that are worth getting. Everything is gluten free, so no worrying about how the fryer affects the sweet plantains or empanadas.  

San Fries: We’ve seen these little fry shops popping up all over Europe recently, and they remind us very much of Amsterdam, where fries in a cone is basically a daily afternoon snack when we’re there.

Everything here is gluten free, so no cross-contact in the fryer. Get a cone of fries, choose your sauce and toppings, and head over to nearby Plaza Mayor for some of the best people watching in Spain. 

Holy Grain Bakery: Yet another dedicated gluten free bakery in Madrid. It’s a small gluten free bakery on the eastern end of Parque el Retiro, and they’re known for their cinnamon rolls (and other pastries and baked goods). 

McDonalds & Burger King: We went back and forth several times about whether or not including McDonalds and Burger King was, philosophically, something we wanted to do in this guide.

On the one hand, we absolutely would not recommend eating at either during your short time in Madrid. Save your precious, limited meals for other great food!

On the other hand, I, Matt, also recognize that as a Celiac, this may be one of your only opportunities to experience what it’s like to eat a burger from one of these American fast food chains.

Both offer gluten free burgers in Spain that are accredited by the local Celiac Association.

I went to McDonalds (where they make the gluten free burger with a Schar bun) and watched the employee receive my order, wash their hands, change gloves, and move to a separate part of the kitchen to prepare it.

In Spain, you can order a gluten free burger through the electronic kiosks at both chains.

For McDonalds, it’s a little confusing. You have to go to a normal Big Mac and opt to customize it, then remove the “regular” bun and replace it with a gluten free bun.

At Burger King, they have a separate gluten free section at the electronic kiosk where you order. 

Where to Find Gluten Free Groceries in Madrid

If you’d like to cook for yourself while you’re in Madrid, I have some great news: Spain is an excellent place for finding gluten free groceries. 

One of my favorite pastimes (which likely comes from working in the food industry) is going to all the different grocery stores in a new place. These days, it’s mostly to see how they organize their gluten free items. 

So as we’re walking around exploring a new place, I’m prone to dragging Alysha into multiple different grocery stores to see how many gluten free things they have, and whether they have a dedicated section. 

My first recommendation is to visit El Corte Inglés, a chain of huge department stores that you’ll find all across Spain and Portugal. 

They usually have a supermarket tucked away somewhere in the building (usually in the basement), and it is easily the best place to find gluten free groceries in any Spanish city. 

The gluten free selection is MASSIVE. Every Schar product on the face of the earth, a couple of good gluten free pastas (we bring back gluten free Rummo pasta every time we’re in Europe), and plenty more. 

There are two right in the center of Madrid, here and here, and we also like to stop by here to grab snacks for plane or train journeys. 

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.