Foods to Avoid when Cooking Gluten-Free

If you're sensitive to gluten, there's no getting around the need to ban certain foods from your diet: Don't cook with them, don't eat them, and (for some people) don't even touch them. The following list shows foods that usually contain gluten, so avoid them unless they're specifically identified as gluten-free:

• Beer

  Good news: Some great new gluten-free beers are available. Not only are smaller, specialty breweries making them, but even the big boys like Budweiser have come out with a gluten-free beer that you can buy just about anywhere beer is sold.

• Bread, bread crumbs, biscuits

• Cereal

• Cookies, cakes, cupcakes, doughnuts, muffins, pastries, pie crusts, brownies, and other baked goods

• Cornbread

• Crackers

• Croutons

• Gravies, sauces, and roux

• Imitation seafood (for example, imitation crab)

• Licorice

• Marinades (such as teriyaki)

• Pasta

• Pizza crust

• Pretzels

• Soy sauce

• Stuffing