Frozen Chips that are Gluten Free in Oz
Posted: July 6, 2023 Updated: June 28, 2024
If you can’t find a dedicated fryer while you’re out then you need gluten free frozen chips to cook at home. Chips should of course be gluten free but sadly this often isn’t the case for home cooked chips. Frozen chips are often coated in flour and batter to ‘enhance’ the coating, making a crispy finish. It can actually make it a bit of a hassle to find gluten free, coeliac safe chips at the supermarket.
So which cook at home chips are gluten free? A handful of products, but enough to get you a bowl full of chips.
This is another article in my series of gluten free shopping guides for Australia so be sure to check out the rest.
Gluten free frozen chips by brand
There’s just a few brands of gluten free frozen chips so I’ll list each one, add a photo and include where you can find it. I’m also going to include a price per kilo for two reasons: cost of living crisis, and gluten free tax.
If you haven’t heard of the gluten free tax, it’s not an offical tax, it’s when prices of products mysteriously increase just because of the gluten free label. Sometimes, it makes sense, more expensive ingredients, dedicated facilities, but often it’s just a shameless price gouge.
Cheap as Chips?
The saying cheap as chips doesn’t really apply when you get into some of these premium brands offering gluten free frozen chips.
Does the cost really matter to you?
Hypothetically, let’s say a 1kg bag lasts you two months. Between the cheapest brand on this list and the most expensive, you could save $22.20 over the course of a year.
But, if you’re a family of five and have fries twice a month (200g per person is reasonable, I think?). Then you’ll see a savings range of $88.80 to $240.00. Which is a stupendous amount.
Albert Bartlett
I just spotted this brand in July 2023 at my local Coles. I thought, ‘hey you, I haven’t seen you before,’ and naturally did the ol’ GF thing of picking it up and checking out the ingredients. BOOM! New brand of chips that are gluten free by ingredient and zero may contains. They also list that they are suitable for vegetarians.
Now, the biiiiig difference here is that looking at the ingredients it says batter. Gluten free battered chips just don’t normally exist right?! It’s made from pea, rice flours and maize starch. Very cool, it will be the next bag I buy.
Albert Bartlett chips are stocked in Coles and come in regular and crinkle cut.
Buy it from: Coles
Price per kilo: $7.00
Aldi
Aldi is a tricky one sometimes when you are gluten free. The main issue is you can’t plan ahead by looking up ingredients online. Luckily I’ve popped in the store and checked a few labels for you! In terms of ingredients many of the Aldi chips list dextrose (wheat) however this is safe for coeliacs as it’s highly processed.
Note: I’ve also heard that Aldi’s curly fries are gluten free by ingredient. However, I haven’t seen them in store for months. I’m not sure they are available these days.
Season’s Pride Sweet Potato Chips
I am absolutely not a fan of sweet potato fries so you won’t get a review of these from me. However, they are gluten free by ingredient so that’s awesome for everyone else!
Buy it from: Aldi
Price per kilo: Forgot to take a photo of the price! I will update this soon.
Season’s Pride Steak Cut Chips
These however, I would eat! Regular ol’ thick chips from Aldi. Gluten free by ingredient.
Buy it from: Aldi
Price per kilo: $4.00
Season’s Pride Crinkle Cut Chips
I have never been so happy to see crinkle cut fries! Not because I want to eat them, but because it’s fabulous to have more options for coeliacs. I’m pretty sure kids love crinkle cut chips, I must have grown out of it at some point. As I said above, these do list wheat dextrose but this is absolutely fine for coeliacs as it’s highly processed.
Buy it from: Aldi
Price per kilo: $3.79
Season’s Pride French Fries
French fries! Such a rare find for gluten free, so it’s great to see these in the freezer at Aldi. This is a late addition to the list (Nov 2023) as I did not see these in store when I was writing this article.
Buy it from: Aldi
Price per kilo: I forgot to take a photo! I’ll update it soon.
Bell Farms
I actually picked up a bag of these purely out of curiosity about a week after publishing this article. I used to eat waffle fries quite often at a UK chain called Leon. Anyway, these are gluten free by ingredient! I haven’t tried these yet but I think they’ll be tasty as they are seasoned in a similar way to wedges. Yum!
Buy it from: Woolworths
Price per kilo: $4.40
More chips for the list! It’s the end of October and I’m adding more Bell Farms products. Why? Well, when I researched this article website listings weren’t up to date. I saw these were GF when looking at a random packet in store.
Bell Farms Steak Cut Chips
Buy it from: Woolworths
Price per kilo: $4.30
Bell Farms Crunchy Chips
Buy it from: Woolworths
Price per kilo: $4.30
Bell Farms French Fries
Buy it from: Woolworths
Price per kilo: $4.30
Bird’s Eye
Two entries for Bird’s Eye when it comes to gluten free chips. If you’ve used this guide before, apologies, I should have added these long ago! Something in my head said they weren’t okay, but in fact they are. While the ingredients do state wheat, it is in the form of dextrose. Dextrose, like glucose, is a highly processed molecule that no longer contains gluten proteins.
Birds Eye Microwave Crinkle Chips
Weighing in at just 140g this is definitely single serve territory. These chips differ from all the others on the list because you can cook them in the microwave 😲. Until I made the ones below I couldn’t really imagine it. You won’t catch me eating these, I think crinkle cut chips are terrible 😂.
Buy it from: Woolworths
Price per kilo: $25.00
Birds Eye Microwave Shoestring Chips
Another teenie tiny packet of chips just 140g. I actually bought these and tried them out when I was creating a McNuggets fakeaway meal (fully gluten free!). The chips definitely cook in the microwave and they realllly look like Maccas fries. They taste like Maccas fries too… Ones that you’ve got at the drive through then it’s taken 20 minutes to get home and eat them. Stale Maccas fries haha!
To be fair I was shooting photos for the post at the time, so I could have eaten them sooner. Give them a go if you’re feeling rich, or if you’re in a tiny accomodation without a proper kitchen!
Buy it from: Woolworths
Price per kilo: $25.00
Coles
Edit: Coles discontinued these Aussie chips in 2023. I’ve kept this here just in case people search for their favourite chip – I miss them! Read below for their new range.
At $3.70 for a 1kg bag it’s clearly a decent purchase, and also – who wants less than a kilogram of frozen chips? This is my go-to frozen chip brand to cook at home.
I did have trouble finding it when my local Coles was very small, they instead stocked more expensive commercial brands that weren’t gluten free.
Buy it from: Coles
Price per kilo: $3.70
If, like me, you are lamenting the loss of the Coles straight cut chips, never fear! There are now three different chips under the Coles label that are GF by ingredient. All three are just potato (97%) and sunflower oil (3%), no allergens, no may contain statements.
They all come in 1kg packets and are all priced at $4.00 per bag.
Coles French Fries
Buy it from: Coles
Price per kilo: $4.00
Coles Straight Cut Chips
I picked these up in the store and they feel very thin compared the old straight cut chips. They do look more narrow in the photo compared to the old ones so I guess it makes sense. But if I was blindfolded I would have told you these were French fries. I haven’t tried them yet but I’m hoping they’re good!
Buy it from: Coles
Price per kilo: $4.00
Coles Crinkle Cut Chips
Buy it from: Coles
Price per kilo: $4.00
Coles Seasoned Curly Fries
Say whaaaaaat?! Yes, curly fries will be coming back for coeliacs. End of June 2024, they are currently listed as ‘coming soon’ so we’ll have to be patient, or visit the Coles website repeatedly until it says in stock.
Buy it from: Coles
Price per kilo: $5.50
Coles Waffle Fries
Two new chip options in as many minutes. June 2024 also sees us finding out that gluten free waffle fries are coming soon to Coles. You can see the packet here, no allergens, no worries.
I’m quite keen for waffle fries as they remind me of the waffle fries sold by UK fast food chain Leon. Such a good company for safe GF food.
Buy it from: Coles
Price per kilo: $4.40
Logan Farm
Straight cut fries by Logan Farm have a gluten free label on the front! It comes in a family friendly 1kg bag. Nice and simple ingredients too, just potato, canola oil and acidity regulator.
Buy it from: IGA, Foodland, Drakes
Price per kilo: $6.65
Logan farm also make crinkle cut fries! So if you’re a heathen and crinkle cut fries are your favourite, get down to your local independent grocer!
Buy it from: IGA, Foodland, Drakes
Price per kilo: $6.65
McCain gluten free thin cut chips
The only truly obvious gluten free frozen chips at the supermarket are MCCain gluten free thin cut. I think they are also the only brand that are legit gluten free – nil detected on the back.
Buy it from: Coles, Woolworths
Price per kilo: $6.67
Potato Utopia
Potato Utopia have a large range of gluten free frozen chips to buy. Initially I only had two of their range on the list, but I’ve since seen more are suitable! Including their beer battered chips which everyone on Facebook are rightly excited about.
It’s worth noting both of these are made in Belgium, so if food miles are a thing for you then you might want to scroll on.
These chips go for $6.70 for a 600g bag at Woolies.
Buy it from: Woolworths
Price per kilo: $11.17
Potato Utopia Beer Battered Flavoured Fries
Beer battered, or beer battered flavoured? Either way apparently they are really good! I think this will be the next bag of chips I buy. This bag is slightly bigger at 700g so the per kilogram price is lower.
Buy it from: Woolworths
Price per kilo: $9.57
Potato Utopia Rosemary and Sea Salt
Buy it from: Woolworths
Price per kilo: $11.17
Potato Utopia Parmesan Garlic and Basil.
FYI this one contains milk.
Buy it from: Woolworths
Price per kilo: $11.17
Potato Utopia Steakhouse Fries
Buy it from: Woolworths
Price per kilo: $9.57
Strong Roots
The cheapest bag of chips from Strong Roots starts at an eye watering $6.50. Is it because they are made in the UK? Or are you paying for the fact that they are labelled vegan on the front? They are chips! They are very likely vegan (I’m not sure anyone uses tallow on chips anymore).
It’s important to note that while these are labelled gluten free on the front, they don’t abide the Australian rule of gluten free testing. So if product testing is important to you (what I call legit gluten free) then go with McCain chips.
Strong Roots Proper Chips
Buy it from: Woolworths
Price per kilo: $10.00
Strong Roots Crispy Skinny Fries
Slightly better here with the same price as proper chips but 100g extra. Not sure how they are doing their pricing.
Buy it from: Woolworths
Price per kilo: $8.66
Strong Roots Sweet Potato Fries
It’s a bit deceptive but these sweet potato fries come in a smaller 500g bag compared to the regular spuds.
Buy it from: Woolworths
Price per kilo: $13.00
Woolworths
I’m not convinced these exist but I’m happy to be proven wrong! I’ve never seen these Woolworths Essentials frozen chips in store but they are GF by ingredient and no may contain warnings. There’s also apparently crinkle cut and fries now… I need to check my local store again!
Buy it from: Woolworths
Price per kilo: $4.00
Bonus! Gluten free frozen wedges
It came to my attention some time in 2022 that Aldi has wedges that are gluten free by ingredient. Wedges are something I had not thought about in years, they so often are heavily seasoned and this would include wheat flour.
Buy it from: Aldi
Price per kilo: TBC, I need to go back and check the price.
Time to get some chips in the shopping basket! But before you go, check out what gluten free gravy powders you can find at the supermarket.