Eating gluten-free in Mallorca

Mallorca is one of the favourite holiday destinations for people from Germany and far beyond, and eating gluten-free there works better than many expect. Spain knows coeliac disease well, and “sin gluten” is on many menus. The island’s cooking has its own traps, though, from the breakfast pastry to the tapa.

Gluti offers guidance and is not a medical device. Its information does not replace medical advice.

Can you eat out gluten-free in Mallorca?

Yes, and in many places quite comfortably. Coeliac disease is well known in Spain, people in restaurants ask for “sin gluten”, and many menus mark gluten-free dishes. The choice is greatest in Palma, but the holiday resorts along the coast have restaurants that can cook gluten-free too. Plan ahead all the same: the island is large, and if you are staying in Cala Ratjada you will not drive to Palma for dinner.

The same EU rules apply in Spain as at home in Germany. Restaurants have to be able to tell you which of the 14 allergen groups are in a dish, and gluten is one of them. What that information does not cover is the same as anywhere else: the fryer that held breaded food before, the board bread was cut on, the bread basket that comes to the table first. That is the part you have to ask about, and further down you will find how to do so in Spanish.

What should I know about Mallorca?

The first thing is the season. Mallorca lives on the summer. In many resorts restaurants close in winter, roughly from November to March, and a kitchen that cooks gluten-free in August may simply be shut then. Palma is lively all year round. If you come outside the season, check beforehand what is open and plan your evenings around Palma or the larger towns.

The second thing is the supermarket. Spanish supermarkets usually have a shelf of products labelled “sin gluten”: bread, pasta, biscuits, often frozen pizza as well. For a holiday flat that is a big advantage, and for beach days and excursions anyway. Go by the label on the packet, not by the shelf alone, because other things sometimes end up there too.

And the third: Mallorca is bilingual. Alongside Spanish, people speak Catalan in its Mallorcan form, and signs and menus often show both. “Sin gluten” is “sense gluten” in Catalan. In tourist areas many waiters also speak German or English, but the kitchen often does not. A short question in Spanish usually goes down better there.

Which Mallorcan dishes contain gluten?

The island’s cooking is simple and good, and the gluten is mostly in the pastries, the bread and anything fried:

• Ensaïmada: Mallorca’s famous pastry, a spiral of yeast dough baked with lard and dusted with icing sugar, sometimes filled. The dough is made from wheat flour, so flour is the foundation here.
• Pa amb oli (bread with oil): Bread rubbed with tomato and drizzled with olive oil, with cheese, ham or olives. The bread is the dish. The toppings and sides are usually fine, but ask whether there is gluten-free bread, and otherwise have the toppings served separately.
• Sobrassada: A soft, spreadable cured sausage of pork, pork fat, paprika and salt. The protected “Sobrassada de Mallorca” contains no cereal, but other products can contain starch. It is almost always served on bread. Ask where it comes from and leave out the bread.
• Tumbet: A bake of fried potatoes, aubergines, peppers and often courgettes with tomato sauce. Many recipes contain no cereal, but the aubergines are often dusted with flour before frying. Ask about that and about the fat they are fried in.
• Gató d’ametlla (almond cake): Mallorcan almond cake, often served with almond ice cream. The classic recipe uses almonds, eggs and sugar, without flour. Some bakeries add a little flour all the same, and with the ice cream it is worth asking about the ingredients. Ask about both.
• Paella: Rice with saffron, stock and seafood or meat, originally from Valencia but on almost every menu in Mallorca. Rice is gluten-free, ready-made stock can contain wheat. Do not confuse it with fideuà, which looks the same but is made with short wheat noodles.
• Croquetas: Croquettes made from a béchamel with wheat flour, breaded and fried. The flour is in them twice, in the filling and in the coating.
• Patatas bravas: Fried potato cubes with a spicy sauce. The potatoes themselves are gluten-free, but they often share a fryer with croquetas and calamares, and some bravas sauce is thickened with flour. Ask about the fryer and the sauce.
• To drink: Wine, cava and sangria made from wine and fruit are naturally gluten-free. Beer made from barley or wheat contains gluten unless it says “sin gluten” explicitly, and in Spain gluten-free beer is comparatively easy to find. Malt beer and other malt drinks are made from barley malt and contain gluten.

Your best bets are grilled fish, meat, salad, rice and vegetables without breading. Ask about the preparation there too, for instance whether things are grilled on the same griddle (plancha) as the bread.

What should I watch for at the hotel and on the beach?

Many people spend their Mallorca holiday at a hotel, often half board or all-inclusive. A buffet is hard for you: the tongs travel from dish to dish, breadcrumbs end up in the salad, and what lies in a bowl does not tell you how it was cooked. So write to the hotel before you arrive, say that you have coeliac disease, and ask whether the kitchen can prepare dishes for you separately. Many large hotels are prepared for this if they know beforehand. On the first evening it is best to speak to the head chef directly and ask how it will work on the following days.

On the beach and along the party strips it is a different story. Beach bars and snack stands live on bocadillos, pizza, chips and fried food, and one fryer serves everything. Even when a dish’s ingredients are gluten-free in themselves, cross-contamination at stands like these is next to impossible to rule out. So for a beach day: food of your own from the supermarket, and afterwards a meal somewhere you know.

What do I say in a restaurant in Spanish?

A few sentences are enough, and they are well understood in Spain:

• “Soy celíaco” or “Soy celíaca”: I have coeliac disease.
• “¿Tienen platos sin gluten?”: Do you have gluten-free dishes?
• “Sin harina, sin pan, sin pan rallado”: no flour, no bread, no breadcrumbs.
• “¿Usan una freidora aparte?”: Do you use a separate fryer?
• “Aunque sea poco, me hace daño”: even a small amount harms me.

If speaking is hard for you, show the card to show in a restaurant: it is available in Spanish, to print or keep as an image on your phone, and it can go into the kitchen just as it is. And which questions work in general is in the article What to ask in a restaurant.

How does Gluti help me in Mallorca?

In Gluti you can see on the map which places in Mallorca are listed, from Palma to the resorts along the coast. Every place is checked by the Gluti team before it appears. The level tells you how a place works: “100% gluten-free”, “Separate preparation” or “Gluten-free options”. For many places you can also see whether other people would eat gluten-free there again and what they were able to eat.

Before you travel, save a few favourites near where you are staying and one in Palma, and you will not have to start searching on holiday. If you know a good place in Mallorca that is missing from Gluti, you can suggest it in the app.

Even checked information is no guarantee, because things can change in a kitchen. So ask every time anyway. The background on fryers, pizza ovens and toasters is in the article on cross-contamination, and what to think about for the trip itself is in the guide on gluten-free travel.