More people are pivoting to a gluten-free diet than ever before. The most recent data shows that as of 2017, an estimated 3.1 million individuals in the United States adhere to a gluten-free diet — approximately triple the number in 2013. While the options for gluten-free eating have increased exponentially in the past few years, it can still be a challenge to figure out which foods are truly gluten-free.
Whether you’re just curious about gluten, starting a new diet or even fairly experienced in scouting out appropriate foods, you may be wondering: Are eggs gluten-free? The short answer is yes, with some qualifications.
Gluten is a storage protein in wheat grains, as well as barley, rye, and several other grains. Gluten comes from the endosperm, which is a type of tissue present in the grain seeds ground to produce flour for our consumption.
Gluten is an amalgamation of hundreds of different proteins that are related, but unique. Gluten is heat-stable and helps bread expand while it’s rising in dough form. The specific protein responsible for bread rising before and during baking is called gliadin. It’s also what causes a loaf to hold its shape while baking and after it’s cooled.
The protein glutenin produces both the elasticity of dough and the chewy texture of bread, which is why it’s challenging to find the right combination of alternative flours if you’re attempting to make gluten-free bread.
Some people choose the gluten-free lifestyle, but others must adopt it to control a condition called celiac disease. This autoimmune disease can strike people with a genetic predisposition for it, causing damage in the small intestine when they consume gluten. Worldwide, about one in every 100 people is affected. Health experts estimate 2.5 million Americans have celiac disease but are undiagnosed, placing them at risk for severe health complications.
Celiac disease causes the body to launch an immune response to gluten that attacks and damages the small intestine, blocking its ability to properly absorb nutrients. Celiac is dangerous because it leads to a variety of other health problems.
Even people without celiac disease can benefit from a gluten-free diet. Gluten may have adverse effects for those with irritable bowel syndrome, for example. Other people may have non-celiac gluten sensitivity, which comes with much of the digestive upset, joint pain, and fatigue that characterize celiac disease without showing intestinal damage.
The majority of people who start a gluten-free diet are doing it for perceived health benefits, and are generally called “people who avoid gluten” (PWAG) for scientific research. Research from 2014 showed that 72% of people who adhered to a gluten-free diet were classified as PWAG rather than having celiac disease.
Despite the growing popularity of this diet, it’s not easy to stick to. A gluten-free diet completely excludes the gluten protein, found in wheat, barley, rye, and the wheat-rye hybrid known as triticale. The first and most significant challenge in a gluten-free diet is usually eliminating bread and pasta.
It’s vital to integrate healthy fresh foods into your diet to maintain your nutrition. These naturally gluten-free foods are a good foundation on which to start:
There are also plenty of grains you can turn to besides wheat, barley, and rye. They include:
It’s possible to mill many of these foods into flour and use them in most of the situations you’d use wheat flour. If you are looking to bake, you’ll find gluten-free recipes tend to use multiple types of flour in the pursuit of the perfect texture.
While a diet composed only of fresh foods would be ideal, it is not practical for most people. People on a gluten-free diet need quick, convenient snacks and meals too, and that’s a good reason experts have forecast the global gluten-free food market will reach a valuation of almost $7.6 billion in the United States by 2020.
The definition of gluten-free espoused by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is more complicated than you might expect. For food manufacturers to be able to label their product gluten-free, it must contain less than 20 parts per million of gluten. This figure is equivalent to 0.002% gluten, which is a minuscule amount, but may still cause a reaction in people with severe celiac disease.
There is also the fact that this label is voluntary and the FDA does not inspect manufacturers to ensure they are adhering to the 20 ppm rule. If you have a high-level sensitivity to gluten, you can look for certified gluten-free products. These products come from manufacturers that have volunteered to undergo inspections by one of three different certification bodies. Each of these organizations has different thresholds for how much gluten a certified product can have.
One confusing label is “no gluten ingredients.” Ostensibly, this should mean the products are gluten-free, but in many cases, they do not meet gluten-free standards due to cross-contamination in the manufacturing process. If a food that is gluten-free on its own comes down a production line that also processes gluten-containing foods, the result may be harmful to those with celiac disease.
Someone with a mild sensitivity or who has chosen a gluten-free diet for other reasons can often consume foods with a “no gluten ingredients” label without experiencing adverse side effects, but there are no guarantees, and the level of gluten will vary by manufacturer and individual product.
Yes. In their natural state, eggs are completely gluten-free. You can boil, poach, and fry eggs to your heart’s content while still keeping to your gluten-free diet. If you’re experiencing reactions to eggs on a gluten-free diet, one of two culprits is the cause.
You may have a sensitivity to eggs themselves. Eggs are one of the eight major food allergens that make up the bulk of allergy reactions in the United States, and part of your symptom set might be due to the eggs that are frequently an ingredient in foods like bread, rather than gluten itself.
Not only are eggs themselves gluten-free, they’re instrumental in many of the packaged and homemade foods you will be able to eat on your diet. The things people often miss most on a gluten-free diet are bread and other baked goods like muffins or cookies, and eggs can drastically improve a recipe that might otherwise turn out dry and crumbly.
In a traditional bread product based on wheat flour, gluten works to trap air bubbles and hold them in place. The leavening agent, usually yeast, makes the network of bubbles expand, and the bubbles then set as a result of heat. The combination of expansion and elasticity then set into a more rigid form, creating the chewiness that characterizes bread.
Manufacturers and home bakers have to find a way to replicate the texture as closely as possible, and egg proteins can help. Upon exposure to heat, the protein strands become denatured, so they trap air as well as moisture when they come back together again. In combination with the right combination of flours, eggs can make gluten-free bread alternatives highly palatable. Here are some further ways in which eggs can elevate gluten-free foods.
Whether you plan to cook or bake homemade gluten-free dishes or go for pre-packaged foods, eggs will almost certainly play a significant role in your diet.
While eggs are a cornerstone in a healthy gluten-free diet, there are some cases in which they may not be completely gluten-free. For those who adopt this diet primarily out of choice, it may not be a big deal. But for someone with celiac disease, it’s critical to know exactly what might make eggs cause a reaction.
When considering eggs cooked by themselves, cross-contamination is the biggest culprit. If you were to cook some pancakes for your family and then proceed to fry an egg in the same pan, the gluten remaining in the pan could be enough to set off a reaction in a highly sensitive individual. A good rule of thumb is to avoid the possibility of cross-contamination by using separate utensils, pots, and pans for your eggs when cooking for gluten-tolerant and gluten-free people at the same meal.
You also need to be careful about what you cook your eggs with. It’s common to cook eggs with breakfast sausage, for example. But some sausage brands use wheat gluten to enhance texture, and depending on the brand, that may be enough to trigger a reaction when you cook the meat in contact with or in the same pan as your fried or scrambled eggs. Always choose foods labeled gluten-free, or take the time to inspect the ingredients list of what you’re cooking to make sure they don’t contain any surprise gluten.
Because eggs are a part of so many foods, you’re bound to encounter a dish you didn’t expect to feature gluten. These dishes are ones you need to look out for when you’re out at restaurants or sampling some of the fare at a gathering like a potluck.
Eggs Benedict is a staple of many brunch menus. The most obvious issue here is that the ham or bacon, poached egg, and hollandaise sauce traditionally get served on an English muffin. In many cases, you can remedy this issue by ordering the dish sans muffin on a bed of greens or a similar alternative.
However, one component many people overlook is the hollandaise sauce. The traditional preparation contains only egg yolk, melted butter, and lemon juice, but it’s also notoriously difficult to stabilize. For that reason, and in some cases, a desire to lighten up the recipe by eliminating some butter, restaurants and home cooks will sometimes use white flour in their recipe. Be sure to ask the restaurant or cook if their hollandaise is gluten-free.
Like eggs Benedict, the crux of the issue with quiche is the foundation — in this case, the crust. The great thing about quiche crust is that you want it to be crumbly and flaky to some extent, so it’s easier to create with fewer hard-to-find ingredients than an English muffin would be.
Alternatively, you can capture the rich, eggy goodness of a quiche without worrying about a crust at all. If you want, you can repurpose your favorite quiche recipe to bake without a crust, and end up with quiche’s close relation: the frittata.
A pan of baked eggs is a great way to feed a table of hungry guests, and it can be entirely gluten-free. However, it’s quite common for baked eggs to be more of a casserole, and that can involve bread. When there are big pieces of bread in a dish like this, they are often easy to see. However, they may be mostly at the bottom, or the cook might have used breadcrumbs instead.
In some cases, you might see a creamy or cheesy sauce on a dish like this, such as bechamel. This French sauce begins with a roux, a mixture of flour and butter, so you certainly want to ensure that’s not part of the dish.
Looking for some new egg recipes to incorporate into your collection? Here are five simple gluten-free recipes that feature eggs.
This recipe will deliver the tender and fluffy texture of a quiche, without the crust to worry about. It’s a low-effort dish that can thoroughly impress guests or make for an indulgent solo meal you can take to work for lunch.
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This simple grilling recipe will bring out the best in a hearty portobello mushroom. If you don’t like mushrooms, you can use a small to medium-sized red pepper cut in half vertically.
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This filling breakfast recipe is great for those who have a hard time getting their family on board with gluten-free meals. It’s fun, simple, and perfect for persuading picky eaters. This recipe serves one, but you can easily multiply it to suit your needs.
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These breakfast cups, made in a cupcake or muffin tin, are a great way to feed a crowd with their hearty mixture of potatoes, eggs, cheese, and bacon. They’re highly versatile, and you can fill them with nearly any combination of ingredients you can think of.
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This twist on baked eggs has an incredibly silky texture and an extra helping of protein thanks to cottage cheese, making it a surprisingly decadent, yet relatively healthy, breakfast or snack. This recipe makes six servings and can easily scale to serve a crowd. Experiment with different cheeses and fillings to create a unique flavor. You’ll need a blender and muffin tin liners for this recipe.
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Sticking to a gluten-free diet is much easier when you embrace all the possibilities of eggs. To make the tastiest and most nutritious dishes, you need the best eggs — and Sauder’s is proud to supply them. Our unique process yields a variety of egg products you can incorporate into a wide range of gluten-free recipes. If you’re interested in seeing the Sauder’s difference for yourself, we invite you to locate our eggs at the store nearest you.
This post was last modified on March 17, 2022
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