The sneaky bit

Hidden gluten,
Indian edition.

The wheat you can see is easy. It's the invisible sources — in your masala dabba, your namkeen, your shared tawa — that catch people out.

The sneaky bit

The wheat you can see is the easy part.

Cutting out roti and biscuits is obvious. What catches people out in the first few months is the gluten hiding in plain sight — in the masala dabba, the namkeen packet, and the shared kitchen. Here are the ones that matter most in an Indian kitchen.

The big one

Hing (asafoetida).

Pure asafoetida resin is gluten-free — but the "compounded hing" most households buy is almost always cut with wheat flour or wheat starch as a binder, to stop it clumping and to soften its intense flavour.12 Because hing goes into so many everyday dals and sabzis, even the tiny quantity used can push a dish past the 20 ppm gluten-free threshold.2 Fix: buy hing that's explicitly gluten-free (usually cut with rice flour), and when eating out, ask specifically whether hing was used.1

Read every packet

Ready masalas, sauces, and snacks.

  • Ready masala & spice mixes — garam masala, sambar and chaat powders can carry wheat as an anti-caking agent or filler.
  • Soy sauce & Indo-Chinese — standard soy sauce is brewed with wheat; so are many ready gravies and "Manchurian" mixes. Use tamari or a labelled gluten-free soy sauce.
  • Sweets, namkeen & papad — many mithai use maida binders; namkeen may be dusted with atta or fried in shared oil; some papads contain wheat.
  • Malt — malt-based drinks and some cereals are barley-derived and not gluten-free.

Not what you'd expect

Oats: safe by nature, risky by processing.

Oats don't naturally contain gluten — but in practice they're frequently contaminated with wheat, barley, or rye during growing, milling, and packing.3 Studies of commercial oats have found contamination common enough that regular oats can't be assumed safe.34 Only buy oats specifically labelled and certified gluten-free (tested below 20 ppm). The same caution applies to kuttu (buckwheat), which is naturally gluten-free but often milled alongside wheat.

Your own kitchen

Cross-contamination at home.

This is the one people underestimate. A shared atta dabba, a wooden belan, the same tawa, a toaster, or a serving spoon that dipped into a wheat dish all carry enough traces to matter when the safe threshold is 20 ppm.2 If your household still cooks with wheat, keep separate storage, utensils, and prep surfaces for gluten-free cooking. And check medicines and supplements too — some tablets and syrups use wheat starch as a binder; your pharmacist can help.

References

Sources for this page

Every clinical claim above is numbered and traced to one of these sources. Superscript numbers in the text link here.

  1. The Gluten Guide / International Gluten Free — compounded hing (asafoetida) is commonly cut with wheat flour; gluten-free (rice-flour) versions exist. View source →
  2. International Gluten Free — Hidden gluten in compounded asafoetida: small amounts can exceed the 20 ppm gluten-free threshold. View source →
  3. Commercial oats in gluten-free diet: a persistent risk for celiac patients (PMC). Oats are naturally gluten-free but frequently cross-contaminated; 20 mg/kg (20 ppm) threshold. View source →
  4. Quantification of barley contaminants in gluten-free oats (PMC) — analysis of gluten contamination in oats relative to the 20 ppm threshold. View source →