Gluten-Free Reality of Dippin’ Dots: A Dietician’s Take on the Risks

Dippin’ Dots aren’t certified gluten-free, and neither are specific flavors or their ice cream stands, but as a dietician, here’s why that matters.¹

According to my inspection of Dippin’ Dots supply chain, ingredients, and add-ins, some Dippin’ Dots products are indeed gluten free although they’re manufactured, or at least some of the flavors are manufactured in a facility what handles other wheat products.

So Dippin’ Dots ice cream is gluten free but it isn’t certified gluten free, and furthermore, some of their add-ins contain gluten and there’s even a potential risk of cross contamination at actual Dippin’ Dots locations.

Those with celiac disease should stop here and choose another ice cream.

But those with a gluten intolerance can learn more about how to eat Dippin Dots using the precautions below which help to minimal risk of a reaction.

Dippin’ Dots: Gluten-Free Status Explained

The distinctive shape of Dippin’ Dots ice cream doesn’t affect its gluten-free status, and there’s more to know about its gluten content beyond just the ice cream itself.

There are many opportunities for gluten to contaminate the ice cream on its way from the processing plant to a customer. For one, many Dippin’ Dots flavorings come from facilities that also process wheat products.

This means that one container might be gluten free while others might have unknown traces of gluten. While the company says that it does its best to prevent cross contamination from gluten and allergens, there isn’t any systematic testing to ensure Dippin’ Dots is free of cross contamination.²

The lack of testing is particularly troublesome for the gluten-intolerant ice cream lover, since many people with celiac disease do report enjoying Dippin’ Dots.

This isn’t surprising, in and of itself. After all, the flavorings are only a small part of the ice cream by volume.

Even if those flavorings have suffered relatively high levels of gluten contamination, the overall gluten level in the ice cream could still be very low. Plus, gluten traces from different sources can add up.

Source: Ruth Black via Canva.com³

A person with celiac disease can tolerate up to 10mg of gluten per day, a threshold someone could reach by eating many lightly contaminated foods. While it seems like gluten contamination from processing facilities might not add enough gluten to Dippin’ Dots to be harmful, it can still contribute.

Given the consequences of eating too much gluten with celiac disease, these are risks to take into account.

However, it’s a risk that some people with celiac disease seem to successfully manage, and it’s not so significant to those with a non-celiac gluten intolerance.⁴ In general, Dippin’ Dots seems to be very close to being gluten free.

So long as a person mostly eats a diet of foods they know to be gluten free, it seems possible to eat Dippin’ Dots in moderation without consuming too much gluten as a result.

That said, gluten making its way into flavorings due to cross contamination at processing plants isn’t the main problem. It’s a systemic issue that prevents Dippin’ Dots from gaining true gluten free classification, but there are other risks that are more likely to be problems.

For instance, there are opportunities for gluten contamination at the familiar Dippin’ Dots stands that feature at sports and social events. Specific flavors of Dippin’ Dots also have ingredients with gluten, which means much higher levels of gluten than occur from accidental contamination.

Dippin’ Dots are generally safe for someone with gluten intolerance, except in specific cases. A few specific flavors of Dippin’ Dots have wheat-based ingredients, and the serving method can also create risks of cross-contamination.

Why Do Some Dippin Dots Flavors or Locations Have Gluten?

Standard Dippin’ Dots is close to gluten free, but there are flavors that have wheat in their add-ins. Flavors that involve cookies or brownies will have too much gluten for a celiac to consume safely.

Sometimes, this doesn’t just rule out the wheat-heavy flavors but makes all flavors unsafe for someone with celiac disease.⁵ If a server is using one scoop for flavors with gluten and without gluten, then all of the flavors have too much gluten.

Dippin’ Dots Stands Typically Have Gluten Cross Contamination

A unique case where even the gluten-free-with-an-asterisk flavors are highly unsafe is at Dippin’ Dots stands.

While it’s sometimes possible to buy Dippin’ Dots at convenience stores, stands at fairs and sports events are still more common places to find Dippin’ Dots. However, serving up different flavors of Dippin’ Dots with one scoop basically guarantees cross contamination between the flavors.

If even one of the flavors at a stand has concentrated gluten, all of the other flavors will too. This means that eating Dippin’ Dots from a stand is usually going to be inadvisable for a celiac, although it may be fine for someone with a milder gluten intolerance.

It also won’t be a problem if the stand doesn’t have any flavors with high gluten content.

Dippin’ Dots Gluten-Free Options & Availability

Dippin’ Dots are gluten free when the basic ice cream doesn’t have any wheat ingredients or cross contamination, either in production facilities or at the serving. Unfortunately, there’s no way to know exactly what the state of cross contamination at those facilities is.

Dippin’ Dots reportedly has processes in place to keep wheat and other allergens separate, but no testing to catch accidental gluten contamination.⁶ On the bright side, this is the smallest risk of gluten contamination.

Source: jordachelr via Canva.com⁷

The main danger of eating Dippin’ Dots with celiac disease is eating a flavor with gluten add-ins, or eating from a stand that’s handling glutenous and gluten-free flavors with the same scoop.

Sticking to the Dippin’ Dots gluten free options below and avoiding stands that carry other, non-GF Dippin’ Dots flavors may keep Dippin’ Dots gluten levels within tolerable bounds.

Although the answer to whether Dippin’ Dots are gluten-free isn’t straightforward, some celiacs and gluten-intolerant individuals can enjoy them by following specific guidelines.

Dippin’ Dots Gluten Free Options

Beyond the ice cream, Dippin’ Dots has gluten free flavors of sugar-free ice cream, flavored ice, and frozen yogurt. The following options may have some traces of gluten due to cross contamination at production facilities, but they don’t include wheat or wheat byproducts as ingredients:

Gluten Free Standard Ice Cream Flavors

The Dippin’ Dots gluten free list unfortunately leaves out a few fan-favorite flavors that have wheat-based add-ins. A few examples of flavors that gluten intolerant people should steer clear of are cookie dough, cookies ‘N cream, and the brownie flavor.

However, that still leaves a diverse collection of options that cover some of the most popular flavors. Chocolate, strawberry, and mint chocolate are all on the approved list that lack concentrated gluten or wheat-based add-ins.

• Banana split
• Bubble gum
• Mint chocolate
• Chocolate
• Horchata
• Java delight
• Tropical tie dye
• Peanut butter chip
• Root beer float
• Strawberry
• Cotton candy

No Added Sugar GF Dippin’ Dots

The no-added sugar, low-calorie line of Dippin’ Dots ice cream has two options for people who are concerned about their gluten intake. First, there’s the rich, chocolatey low-fat fudge flavor that’s suitable for meeting chocolate cravings even on a diet.

Second, there’s reduced fat vanilla, another classic flavor. Since the basic vanilla Dippin’ Dots flavor didn’t make it onto the gluten free list, it’s a relief that there’s an alternative gluten-free flavor.

• Low fat fudge
• Reduced fat vanilla

GF Dippin’ Dots Yogurt

The high amounts of protein and probiotics in yogurt have helped make flavored, frozen yogurt a popular alternative to ice cream. Dippin’ Dots offers its own line of yogurt, but unfortunately there’s only one flavor that’s safe for those who are gluten intolerant – strawberry cheesecake. On the bright side, this flavor is a fan favorite.

• Strawberry Cheesecake

Sherbet Without Gluten

Besides the various ice cream flavors, there’s also Dippin’ Dots sherbet to consider. Three flavors have little to no gluten are within consideration for a gluten intolerant person:

• Lemon lime
• Orange
• Raspberry

GF Flavored Ice

Dippin’ Dots flavored ice is a lactose-free alternative to the regular company product. While it’s shaped and deep-frozen similar to the icecream, it contains no milk and is similar to shaved ice or a snowcone.

In general, it’s equally gluten free as compared to the ice cream since flavorings may carry a modest risk of gluten contamination.

While the flavored ice does have a simpler production method compared to the standard ice cream, none of the eliminated steps were sources of gluten contamination risk. Currently, there are five options for flavored ice that are gluten free or at least have only trace amounts of gluten:

• Cherryberry
• Liberty
• Watermelon
• Pink lemonade
• Rainbow

Gluten Precautions When Eating Dippin Dots

The most important gluten precautions when eating Dippin’ Dots are to only eat the above flavors, or other new flavors that don’t include wheat.

Source: Tomsmith585 via Canva.com⁸

Don’t eat other flavors, and don’t eat anything from a stand that’s handling other flavors with the same scoop that it serves the gluten free options. Some additional important precautions include:

Buy Dippin’ Dots From a Convenience Store, If Possible

According to the Dippin’ Dots website, there are normally no ways to buy take-home bags of the brand’s ice cream. This is because it only keeps its shape at a deep freeze that’s much colder than typical freezer settings, at grocery stores or in homes.

There’s one exception, and that’s convenience stores that have partnered with Dippin’ Dots to offer the ice cream in special, marked freezers. Just like Dippin’ Dots from the concession stand at the event, there should be little or no gluten in most flavors before handling.

The advantage of buying Dippin’ Dots at a participating convenience store is that it eliminates the risk of contamination in handling. Normally, a server could contaminate relatively gluten-free flavors with particles from the high-gluten flavors.

However, flavors that are normally unsafe to eat will still be unsafe even if they’re from a convenience store.

Minimize Gluten Intake From All Sources

Dippin’ Dots is a food that should be gluten free, but doesn’t go through the testing to verify it. This means that there are likely some gluten traces, and that it’s up to the customer to take precautions to minimize the amount of contamination. This is also the case with most gluten free options, such as:

• Waffle House gluten free
• Raising Canes gluten free
• Denny’s gluten free
• Gluten free White Castle
• Dutch Bros gluten free
• Bon Chon gluten free

Eating at any one establishment in a day that doesn’t test its food to verify low gluten content might be safe. For instance, imagine that a serving of Dippin’ Dots contained 3mg of gluten while a very small order of fries from a location with a shared fryer contained 8mg of gluten.

Neither of these would be hazardous to a celiac on their own, but together they would cross the tolerable threshold of 10mg.

Avoiding highly contaminated foods like french fries from a shared fryer is a good first step. Beyond that, a celiac should avoid eating multiple risky foods within a day of each other. Even if the risks from eating at a single place are low, those risks add up.

Eating in moderation is essential if a celiac insists on indulging in foods that aren’t certified as gluten free.

Eat In Moderation

In chemistry, there’s a saying that the dose makes the poison. Since the dose of gluten in a serving of Dippin’ Dots is unknown, it’s best to simply eat smaller servings and not have too much at once.

Imagine that one serving of an approved flavor with minimal gluten contamination has 1-4 mg of gluten.

If that were the case, then one serving would be safe but three would be playing with fire.

That 1-4mg figure is a throwaway number because it’s impossible to know how much gluten is in Dippin’ Dots, but that actually makes moderation even more important. Working with unknown figures means that moderation is the only way to safely indulge in Dippin’ Dots.

Dippin’ Dots are a beloved dessert option with flavors and products for everyone. Although Dippin’ Dots can be consumed by those with a gluten intolerance if certain precautions are taken, they should be completely avoided by individuals with celiac disease.