Culver's, is a beloved fast-food chain in the Midwest, celebrated for its unique offerings such as ButterBurgers, cheese curds, and frozen custards. This quick service option prides itself on delicious food and hometown hospitality.
Trying to enjoy a fast food option like Culver’s when you have a gluten sensitivity can be complicated. Culver’s is not a gluten free establishment, but they have created an allergen menu and put some precautions in place for gluten free eating.
Quick Guide:
- Culver’s does label some menu options as gluten free and has gluten-free buns
- Since Culver’s is not a dedicated gluten-free establishment, there is some risk for cross contact/contamination.
For more gluten-free menus, check out this Jersey Mike's menu guide, Burger King menu guide, or my ultimate guide to the best gluten free fast food options.
Keep reading to learn about the Culver's Gluten-Free Menu and some of our best tips for safe dining at Culver’s.
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The gluten-free guide below is based on personal experience and research. Always be sure to discuss any medical changes with your doctor for your personal medical needs. Additionally, this post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. My full disclosure isn’t that interesting, but you can find it here.
Understanding Gluten-Free Needs for Fast Food
While many fast-food restaurants like Culver’s offer some gluten-free items, it's crucial to approach dining out with caution, especially for individuals with celiac disease, gluten sensitivities, or wheat allergies.
One of the most significant risks with eating out gluten free is cross contact. When gluten free food comes into contact with food or cooking equipment that contains gluten, it can contaminate the gluten free food to unsafe levels.
This means that finding a restaurant with gluten free menu options isn’t enough. In order to eat safely, you also have to understand how food is handled and prepared in each restaurant.
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Risks of Cross-Contact at Culver's
Culver’s, like many other fast food restaurants, has a high risk of cross contact in their kitchen. That’s because they use a shared kitchen to prepare gluten containing and gluten free foods.
Cross contact happens when gluten free food comes into contact with other foods or surfaces that either contain, or have been in contact with, gluten. Things like knives, spoons, tongs and countertops are examples of places that cross contact can easily occur.
At Culver’s there are other types of equipment that can cause issues as well. For example, they use a shared deep fryer for all of their fried foods, gluten free or not, and the grill that they use for hamburgers is also the same grill that they use for toasting bread.
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Unfortunately, while they do have gluten free custard, their custard toppings are another risk area for cross contact. Shared spoons and prep areas for toppings make them a risky item.
Due to these risks, Culver’s recommends informing a restaurant manager when placing your order if a food allergy or sensitivity is a concern.
Culver’s Gluten-Free Menu
Culver’s has created an allergen guide to help you navigate gluten free eating at their restaurant. For easier navigation, the allergen menu is broken down by category and is really interactive. In fact, it might be my favorite allergen menu to navigate to date!
For easiest sorting you can use the “Lifestyle & Allergen” filter at the top. Simply slide the button to ‘On’ and select which allergens you want to avoid. This will give you all of the options that are listed as gluten free.
If you are looking to determine if a particular menu item is gluten free, you can do that too! Find the corresponding category, select whichever menu item you’re interested in and then you have the option to customize it. So for example, you can select the gluten free bun option for a burger to determine if it’s gluten free.
What I love about this allergen menu is that it gives you the allergen info for the full menu item, but also breaks out the ingredients of each component of the dish. So for example, while a specific burger may show as containing gluten, you can then look at the ingredients that are included to see which ones contain wheat (or other allergen ingredients).
Below are the Gluten Free Menu Options at Culver’s. Keep in mind that cross contact can still occur with some of these items.
Seafood & Salads
- Chicken Cashew Salad
- Cranberry Bacon Bleu Salad
- Strawberry Fields Salad
Sides
- Crinkle Cut Fries
- Coleslaw
- Chili Cheddar Fries
- Mott’s® Applesauce
- Side of Thick Cut Bacon
- Steamed Broccoli
Drinks
- Fountain Drinks
- Coca Cola®
- Coca Cola® Zero Sugar
- Culver’s Diet Root Beer
- Culver’s Root Beer
- Diet Coke®
- Diet Dr. Pepper®
- Dr. Pepper®
- Fanta® Orange
- Hi-C® Flashin’ Fruit Punch
- Mello Yello®
- Minute Maid® Lemonade
- Powerade® Mountain Blast
- Sprite®
- Fresh Brewed Iced Tea
- Fresh Brewed Iced Tea
- Fresh Brewed Sweet Tea
- Fresh Brewed Tea, Sweet
- Half Lemonade/Half Unsweet
- Half Sweet/Half Unsweet
- Bottled Water
- Chocolate Milk
- Coffee
- Decaf Coffee
- Mott’s® 100% Apple Juice
- White Milk
Fresh Frozen Custard
- Concrete Mixer
- Vanilla Frozen Custard
- Chocolate Frozen Custard
- Shake
- Create Your Own Dish
- Sundaes
- Caramel Cashew Sundae
- Turtle Sundae
- Culver’s Root Beer Float
- Toppings & Mix-Ins
- Andes® Creme De Menthe Thins
- Bananas
- Blackberries
- Blueberries
- Butterfinger® Pieces
- Candy Sprinkles
- Cashews
- Chocolate Syrup
- Dove® Chocolate
- Espresso Flavor
- Heath® Bar Pieces
- Hot Caramel
- Hot Fudge
- M&M® Minis
- Mango Fruit Topping
- Maraschino Cherry
- Marshmallow Creme
- Mint Syrup
- Novelty Chocolate Topping
- Peaches
- Pecans
- Raspberries
- Reese’s® Peanut Butter
- Reese’s® Peanut Butter Cups
- Root Beer Syrup
- Salted Caramel
- Snickers® Candy Bar
- Strawberries
- Whipped Cream
- Wild Cherries
- Lemon Ice
- Lemon Ice Cooler
- Lemon Ice Smoothie
- Lemon Ice Dish
- Sauces, Dressings, Condiments
- Black Pepper Packet
- Butter Packet
- Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
- Cocktail Sauce
- Culver’s® Signature Sauce
- Culver’s® Vinaigrette
- Della Terra® Marinara Cup
- Dip & Squeeze Ketchup
- Frank's RedHot® Buffalo Sauce
- Fry Sauce
- Honey Mustard Dressing
- Horseradish Sauce
- Hot Sauce
- Ken’s® Blue Cheese Dressing
- Ken’s® Boom Boom Sauce
- Ken’s® Country French
- Ken’s® Raspberry Vinaigrette
- Mayonnaise Packet
- Salt Packet
- Spicy Brown Mustard Packet
- Sweet Baby Ray’s® BBQ Sauce
- Tartar Sauce Cup
- Thousand Island Dressing
- Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese Sauce
- Yellow Mustard Packet
Tips for a Safer Culver's Experience
While Culver’s has more gluten free options than some other fast food restaurants, eating there comes with a lot of risk and requires an abundance of caution.
If you are dining out gluten free at Culver’s be vigilant in assessing the risk of cross contact before choosing your items. Also make sure to advocate for yourself by informing a manager on staff of your gluten allergy before ordering.
Did you find this guide on eating gluten free at Culver’s helpful?
If so, please share on social media and pin this article to Pinterest for future reference!
Other gluten-free fast food guides:
- Burger King Gluten Free Menu
- Your Guide to Gluten Free Chipotle
- Chick-Fil-A Gluten Free Options
- Arby’s Gluten Free Guide
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