Epcot Festival of the Holidays Gluten Free Guide

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It’s time for my favorite of all the Epcot Festivals!!! Epcot Festival of the holidays is one of the shortest festivals of the year, but it is small but mighty. And great news: it’s easy to eat gluten free at Epcot’s Festival of the Holidays.

This post helps take a look at how eating at Epcot Festival of the Holidays gluten free works, things to look out for and so on. I’ll also include a list of all of the menu items Disney identifies as gluten free.

This year, Epcot Festival of the Holidays runs from November 28 – December 30, 2025. That gives you one month to get yourself to Epcot for all that gluten free goodness.

Also, check out my guide to dining at Epcot gluten free as that will give you a great overview of all of your options at Epcot. Trust me, there are loads of options.

Epcot Festival of the Holidays Gluten Free Overview

My mom and I go to Epcot Festival of the Holidays every year. It’s become an annual mother/daughter outing for us, which is handy as Festival of the Holidays is my absolute favorite.

There’s so much more to Festival of the Holidays than the food. If you haven’t experienced Candlelight Processional yet, then add it to your Disney “must do” list. It’s amazing.

But this post is all about the gluten free awesomeness of Festival of the Holidays. So let’s dive in to that.

Disney takes allergy friendly dining very seriously, and it’s my personal favorite place to eat because of this. The Disney chefs have a reputation for bending over backwards to provide delicious and safe food for guests with food allergies.

However, it’s important to know that the Holiday Kitchens function a little differently.

The absolute most important thing to know is that the Holiday Kitchens cannot promise no cross contamination. These are little booths producing snacks at high volume. There are likely gluten containing ingredients sharing that space.

You know your body best, so only you can be the judge over whether or not eating at the Holiday Kitchens is safe for you.

However, if you do have some leeway, then the Holiday Kitchens at Festival of the Holidays are great options for gluten free eaters.

The “Gluten Friendly” Designation

It is important to note that on the allergy friendly menus that Disney provides for the Festival of the Holidays, they use the phrase “gluten friendly”. This is a total “Cover Your Butt” move on their part.

They are letting you know that the menu item contains no gluten containing ingredients. However, they aren’t promising no cross contamination. Always keep that in mind.

But throughout the menu you’ll find various items designated as Gluten Friendly. Disney gives this designation when they are certain that the food contains no gluten ingredients in it.

As you peruse the menu, you might see other menu items that seem like they should also be gluten friendly, but they don’t have the official label from Disney.

That occurs when Disney does not know that all of the source ingredients are definitely gluten free. That menu item may very well be gluten free, but Disney just doesn’t say so.

This is where it’s important to ask the cast members at the booth about that menu item. Each booth has an ingredient binder on hand for each of the menu items. You can see that to confirm the ingredients and determine whether or not you feel comfortable eating it.

If they don’t have a binder, they can call a chef to confirm the ingredients. So, through a little bit of legwork, there are likely more options for you than what is listed directly by Disney.

Here’s the process I would suggest:

• Tell the cashier that you need to eat gluten free
• Ask if they have the ingredient binder on site so you can check the item you are curious about
  • If the binder isn’t available they should ask a chef
  • Ask about shared friers if applicable
• Once the food is ordered, inform the cast member who takes your receipt to fetch the food that you need to eat gluten free to reiterate this fact

As a VERY important side note: Disney uses paper straws on all of their properties. Apparently, the glue used in the straws contains gluten. I would avoid the paper straws, just in case. Either go strawless, or get yourself an inexpensive set of reusable travel straws.

Festival of the Holidays Gluten Free Menu 2025

Here is the part you’ve been waiting for: the Festival of the Holidays Gluten Free Menu!

I’m going to list the foods that Disney has officially designated as “gluten friendly”. Remember, that doesn’t mean there aren’t other options, this is just the official list.

I probably won’t be able to resist some commentary on additional options, but I do want to keep things as clear cut as possible for those who want the easiest route possible.

Once upon a time, Disney used to clearly mark gluten friendly menu items directly on the menu displayed at each Holiday Kitchen, as well as in the printed festival guides you could pick up at Epcot. Alas, it’s no longer that easy.

I have no clue why Disney felt the need to make it harder, but they in fact did. Now, Disney releases an entirely separate Festival of the Holidays Allergy Friendly menu.

This gives allergy information for all of the top 8 food allergies, not just gluten. So that’s helpful, it’s just a bit cumbersome to go through to find which options are gluten friendly and which aren’t.

Because of that, I suggest you bookmark this website so you have an easy access shortcut to see exactly which menu items you’re after.

Disney just released the Festival of the Holidays menu for 2025 and then it took almost 2 weeks before they updated the allergy friendly menu. My initial guesses were correct in terms of what’s gluten free.

Then, on top of that, some of the menus didn’t show the official gluten free items until the festival actually started. That’s poor showing on Disney’s part as far as I’m concerned, but at least we have the list!

All foods in red are those that should also be gluten free, but aren’t officially listed on the website. These are the ones you need to do a little digging and ask at the booth. Anything in black is officially designated as gluten free by Disney.

I will say, a lot of foods that were listed as gluten free last year are not on the list this year. Maybe they will be added once the festival starts, but so far there’s no allergy listing of any sort on some of these at all.

Holiday Hearths Desserts Menu (The Odyssey)

• Chocolate-covered Toffee Brittle
• Cranberry-Oatmeal Cookie (Plant-based)

Las Posadas (Mexico Pavilion)

This won’t be listed in the allergy friendly menu no matter what as it’s run by a third party restaurant. However, tamales are traditionally gluten free, so there’s a strong chance this one is safe.

• Tamal de Pollo con Mole: Shredded chicken and mole in corn masa topped with mole negro, queso fresco, crema Mexicana, slivered almonds, and sesame seeds

Refreshment Outpost (Between China and Germany Pavilions)

• Spiced Shrimp Stew with Jollof Rice
• DOLE Whip Raspberry (ask for it in a cup, Dole Whips are naturally gluten free)

Block & Hans

These two options look like they should be gluten free, but aren’t officially listed. But if you are interested, it’s worth it to ask the cast members.

• Cinnamon-glazed Nuts (Plant-based)
• Apple Pie Frozen Slush: Frozen Minute Maid Apple Juice with cinnamon syrup topped with cinnamon and sugar

American Holiday Table (America Pavilion)

• Blackened Catfish with Hoppin’ John and comeback sauce

Shi Wasu (Japan Pavilion)

This is one that will not be listed on the allergy friendly menu as it is run by a third party restaurant. However, this has been gluten free in the past. ***I can confirm that this is gluten free, I looked at the ingredient list provided by a cast member.***

• Sushi Tree Roll: Christmas tree-shaped sushi roll with krab meat and cream cheese garnished with spicy mayo and colorful rice pearls

L’Chaim (Between Morocco and France)

• Smoked Salmon Potato Latke 
• Potato Latkes (Plant-based)

Le Marché de Noël (France Pavilion)

Unfortunately, the macaron at Le Marche de Noel is not gluten free. I looked at the information they had at the booth and there was a big red yes under wheat/gluten on the ingredient list.

Yukon Holiday Kitchen (Canada)

• Seared Salmon with butternut squash purée, maple-bourbon glaze, and fennel-arugula salad

Swirled Showcase (Between World Showcase and Imagination Pavilion)

The Soda Float was listed as gluten free last year and presumably is again this year.

• Liquid Nitrogen Chocolate-Peppermint Mousse featuring M&M’S® Holiday Mint Chocolate Candies

• Soft Serve Ice Cream (ask for cup not cone)
  • Vanilla
  • Apple-Cinnamon
  • Dark Chocolate
• Soda Float: Barq’s Red Creme Soda or Barq’s Root Beer with vanilla soft-serve (Non-alcoholic)

Holiday Sweets & Treats (Near Point of Entry)

• Peppermint Sundae: Chocolate ice cream, whipped cream, and peppermint candy

Mele Kalikimaka (Between World Showcase and Imagination Pavilion)

• Lomi Lomi Salmon with tomatoes, onions, salmon roe, yuzu mayonnaise, and yuca chips 
• Coffee-Mocha Cookie topped with coffee-infused buttercream, cocoa nibs, and chocolate-covered espresso beans

Nochebuena Cocina (Between World Showcase and Imagination Pavilion)

• Plant-based Chorizo Tamale with plant-based cotija and spicy red chile sauce

Chestnuts & Good Cheer (Between World Showcase and Imagination Pavilion)

• Cinnamon-glazed Almonds (Plant-based) 
• Cinnamon-glazed Cashews (Plant-based) 
• Cinnamon-glazed Pecans (Plant-based)  
• Fire-roasted Chestnuts (Plant-based)

My Overall Thoughts about the Gluten Free Epcot Festival of the Holidays Menus

The Festival of the Holidays gluten free options tend to lean heavily in the savory direction. This trend definitely continued this year. I was hoping that there would be a bit more of a balance between sweet and savory, like the gluten free Food and Wine Festival options this year, but no dice.

In fact, the gluten free options were very heavily seafood/fish based. So, if you don’t like seafood, salmon in particular, you are out of luck.

Frankly, after a while I got sick of eating fish so did not get as many of the options as I might usually. Well, that and the fact that over the two days I was at Epcot we also had reservations at Chefs de France and Coral Reef. There’s only so much my stomach could fit!

Honestly, I was a bit disappointed in the Festival of the Holidays gluten free options this year. The gluten free menu, almost in it’s entirety, was identical to last year. They clearly just phoned it in.

Also, the heavy lean towards seafood was just too much after a while. I really enjoyed the potato latkes at La’Chaim, as well as the plant based tamale at Nochebuena. Notably, they don’t contain seafood.

I actually really enjoyed the sushi tree. As someone who doesn’t have a lot of experience with sushi in general, it was neat to try it.

On the flipside, I absolutely HATED the Lomi Lomi Salmon. It was so outrageously salty and extremely fishy tasting. It was not my jam. In fact, I ate too much of it and should have just called it quits after a couple of bites and saved room in my stomach for other things.

I didn’t get the glazed nuts this year, though I really wanted to! I’ve had them in the past and do really enjoy them. They do give you a bit of a sweet option as a palate cleanser from all the savory seafood.

Honestly, what I would recommend for all my gluten free friends is to pick a few of the Festival of the Holidays gluten free items that you really want to try, and then supplement with some of the other amazing gluten free snacks and foods at Epcot.

Epcot has some truly amazing gluten free sweet snacks to try, so this is no hardship. In fact, my #1 gluten free snack in all of Disney World is located in the France Pavilion at Epcot.

Feast your eyes on this little beauty. This is the Raspberry Lime Macaron at Les Halles Boulangerie-Patisserie. It’s to die for. In fact, you should make sure to save room for this when you go to Festival of the Holidays.

If you are curious about other gluten free snacks around Disney world, check out my best gluten free snacks at Disney World post. It will make your mouth water!

Your Thoughts

What do you think about this year’s Epcot Festival of the Holidays gluten free menu? Is there a specific food that you can’t wait to have? If so, let me know in the comments below!

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