Craving Panda Express? I have bad news, and I'd rather you hear it from me than find out the hard way in the parking lot. I went through Panda's own allergen data for all 40 food items on the menu, and if you're celiac, this is one of the toughest chains out there.
🍽️ Can you eat gluten free at Panda Express?
Honestly? Not really, and definitely not if you have celiac disease. Only five food items on the whole menu are wheat free, every single entree contains wheat, and it's all cooked in shared woks. Here's exactly what's safe and how to order it.
Verified September 2026 against Panda Express's official published allergen information.
I know that's harsher than what I say about most restaurants. Usually I can find you a few things to order with some tweaking. But Panda is different, and it's not because of a couple of unlucky menu items. It's because of one ingredient that goes into nearly everything they cook.
The 5 gluten free items at Panda Express
Here's the complete list, straight from Panda's allergen data. Brace yourself, it's short.
✅ Safe to order
- Steamed White Rice - no listed allergens at all
- Sweet and Sour Sauce - no allergens
- Chili Sauce - no allergens
- Hot Mustard - no wheat, but it does have sesame
- Tree Top Apple Crisps - no allergens, and they come in the Panda Cub Meal
Every drink is wheat free too, so at least you're not stuck sipping water while everyone else eats. Small mercies.
Why almost everything contains wheat
It all comes down to soy sauce. Traditional soy sauce is brewed with wheat, and it's the backbone of pretty much every sauce in an American Chinese kitchen. Teriyaki, oyster sauce, hoisin, the glaze on the Beijing beef, the sticky sauce on orange chicken. They all start with it, and once it's in there, the dish has wheat in it.
This is what catches people out. You look at the menu and figure grilled chicken has to be safer than battered chicken, or that a vegetable side must be a safe bet. At most restaurants you'd be right! At Panda you're not, because it's the sauce doing the damage, not the breading.
Items that surprise people
- Super Greens - broccoli, kale and cabbage, and it still has wheat and soy
- Grilled Teriyaki Chicken - grilled, not battered, but that teriyaki sauce gets you
- Steamed Ginger Fish - steamed and simple, still contains wheat
- Sweetfire Chicken Breast - wheat is literally its only listed allergen
- Fortune Cookie - wheat and soy
- Hot and Sour Soup - wheat, soy, egg and sesame
💡 Worth knowing
You'll see other guides, including an older version of this one, listing steamed brown rice and plum sauce as gluten free options. Neither is on Panda's current menu anymore. If you've read that somewhere, it's out of date.
Panda Express full allergen menu
Here's every food item on the menu against the nine major allergens, which helps whether you're avoiding gluten, dairy, eggs, shellfish or anything else. A Yes means the item contains that allergen, and I've put the five wheat free items in bold so they're easy to spot.
| Menu Item | Wheat | Soy | Tree Nuts | Fish | Peanuts | Shellfish | Eggs | Milk | Sesame |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sides | |||||||||
| Chow Fun | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| Chow Mein | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| Fried Rice | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||||
| Super Greens | Yes | Yes | |||||||
| White Steamed Rice | |||||||||
| Vegetables | |||||||||
| Eggplant Tofu | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| Super Greens Entree | Yes | Yes | |||||||
| Chicken | |||||||||
| Black Pepper Chicken | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| Grilled Teriyaki Chicken | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| Hot Orange Chicken | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||||
| Kung Pao Chicken | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||||
| Mushroom Chicken | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| Orange Chicken | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||||
| Potato Chicken | Yes | Yes | |||||||
| Teriyaki Chicken | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| Chicken Breast | |||||||||
| Honey Sesame Chicken Breast | Yes | Yes | |||||||
| String Bean Chicken Breast | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| Sweet and Sour Chicken Breast | Yes | Yes | |||||||
| Sweetfire Chicken Breast | Yes | ||||||||
| Beef | |||||||||
| Beijing Beef | Yes | Yes | |||||||
| Black Pepper Sirloin Steak | Yes | Yes | |||||||
| Broccoli Beef | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| Seafood | |||||||||
| Honey Walnut Shrimp | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
| Steamed Ginger Fish | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| Wok-Fired Shrimp | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| Appetizers | |||||||||
| Chicken Egg Roll | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||
| Chicken Potsticker | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| Cream Cheese Rangoon | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| Vegetable Spring Roll | Yes | Yes | |||||||
| Soup | |||||||||
| Hot and Sour Soup | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||||
| Sauces, Sides and Extras | |||||||||
| Apple Pie Roll | Yes | ||||||||
| Chili Sauce | |||||||||
| Fortune Cookie | Yes | Yes | |||||||
| Hot Mustard | Yes | ||||||||
| Potsticker Sauce | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| Soy Sauce | Yes | Yes | |||||||
| Sweet and Sour Sauce | |||||||||
| Teriyaki Sauce | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| Tree Top Apple Crisps | |||||||||
Cross-contamination at Panda Express
Even those five wheat free items come with a catch, and this is the bit that matters most if you're celiac rather than gluten sensitive. An ingredient list tells you what went into a dish. It doesn't tell you what that dish bumped into on the way to the counter.
Think about how the line actually works. The rice gets scooped with a spoon that's been travelling up and down a row of wheat filled dishes all afternoon. The woks are shared, the steam table is shared, and there's no separate gluten free prep area anywhere. So yes, steamed white rice is wheat free on paper. It just isn't being served in a wheat free environment.
⚠️ Cross-contamination risk
Panda states that they prepare entrees fresh using shared cooking equipment, and that allergens could be present in any menu item. Take that seriously and treat everything on this page as carrying that risk.
How to order if you're going anyway
Sometimes you don't get to pick the restaurant. The kids want Panda, or it's the only thing at the mall, and you're going whether you like it or not. Here's how I'd keep the risk as low as possible.
💬 How to order safely
- Use the word allergy, not preference. Staff are trained to take allergies seriously.
- Order steamed white rice only, and ask for a fresh batch from the back rather than what's sitting at the front.
- Ask for a clean serving spoon and fresh gloves. Don't be shy about it.
- Stick to sauce from a sealed packet instead of a communal pump.
- Skip the hot line entirely. There's no way to modify an entree into being wheat free.
If you're gluten sensitive rather than celiac, white rice with a sealed sauce packet and a drink is a reasonable low risk order. If you're celiac, I'd eat before you go and just grab a drink while everyone else has lunch. Not glamorous, but neither is the alternative.
Want to make it at home? Try my Slow Cooker Panda Express SweetFire Chicken copycat.
Make it at home instead
Here's the good news, and it's genuinely good news. American Chinese food is so easy to make gluten free at home. Swap regular soy sauce for tamari or coconut aminos and the whole problem disappears. That one little bottle is the only thing standing between you and nearly every dish on the Panda menu, which is a bit maddening when you think about it.
These are the ones my family asks for on repeat.
- Gluten Free Kung Pao Chicken
- Instant Pot Sesame Chicken
- Instant Pot Orange Chicken
- Gluten Free Chinese Food: Complete Guide and Easy Recipes
Eating somewhere else? See my gluten free guides to Little Caesars, Jimmy John's, Firehouse Subs, Chick-fil-A, and Popeyes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Five food items contain no wheat: steamed white rice, sweet and sour sauce, chili sauce, hot mustard, and the Tree Top apple crisps. Every drink is fine too. But every single entree on the menu contains wheat.
No, and they don't label anything as gluten free either. They do publish allergen information showing which items contain wheat, and I built this guide from that.
Sadly not. It's battered in wheat flour, and the sauce is soy sauce-based, so it contains wheat, soy, eggs, and sesame. The hot orange chicken is the same.
No. The wrapper is made from wheat flour, so the vegetable spring rolls contain wheat and soy. The same goes for the egg rolls, potstickers, and cream cheese rangoon.
No. The fried rice is cooked with soy sauce, which contains wheat, and it also contains soy, egg, and sesame. Steamed white rice is the only rice option without wheat.
No. Chow mein noodles are made with wheat, and the dish also contains soy and sesame.
This one trips people up because it's grilled, not battered. But the teriyaki sauce contains wheat, and asking for it without sauce isn't reliable when it's cooked on shared equipment.
Nope, and this is the one that surprises everyone. It's just broccoli, kale, and cabbage, but it's prepared with a sauce that contains wheat and soy.
I wouldn't risk it. Everything is cooked in shared woks, and Panda says outright that allergens could be present in any item. Even the white rice is scooped with a spoon that's been down the whole line.
More gluten free restaurant guides
- Chipotle Gluten Free Menu
- Olive Garden Gluten Free and Allergen Menu
- First Watch Gluten Free Menu
- All my gluten free restaurant guides
Allergen information last verified September 2026 against Panda Express's published nutrition and allergen data. Menus and recipes change, so always confirm with staff before ordering. This guide is for information only and is not medical advice.
Karen Kelly
Karen Kelly is a nationally syndicated food and travel writer, founder of Seasonal Cravings, and co-founder of The Roam Report. She develops approachable seasonal recipes and covers travel and lifestyle trends. Her work has appeared in numerous media outlets, including Yahoo, Taste of Home, Apple News, NBC, FOX, and other national and regional publications.
JessieM says
hey Karen Kelly, do u know if the gluten free kung pao chicken is also free of other common allergens? my son has a pretty sensitive stomach and we're always on the lookout for new options that won't upset it. thnx!
T-Bone75 says
finally, a place where i can grab some gluten free grub after hitting the weights, gotta keep that diet clean and lean, am i right or am i right?
FitFam4ever says
You're so right! It's a game changer for sure. Love seeing more options for us clean eaters.
SkepticalSandy says
Gluten free at a fast food joint? Sounds like a marketing gimmick to me. How can we even be sure they're actually sticking to gluten free prep methods?
JJSparkles says
Instant pot orange chicken??? Gluten free??? That's awesome!!! Have to try this next time. Thanks, Karen Kelly for the info!!!
Mike372 says
so, they got any budget-friendly options in that gluten free menu? Being gluten intolerant and broke is no joke.
TechieGourmet says
Really curious about the Instant Pot recipes mentioned for Sesame and Orange Chicken. Wonder if they taste similar to the restaurant ones? Anyone tried replicating it at home?