Is Spam Gluten Free?

Spam is a savory canned ham product that has almost a cult following. You can use it in so many recipes, and it is a very budget-friendly food. Is Spam gluten free?

What Is Spam?

Spam is considered a processed pork ham product. It is a combination of pork meat and cured ham that is ground together with a few simple ingredients and then stored in a shelf-stable can.

Spam was created in 1937 by Hormel Foods. It was considered tasty, inexpensive meat. Its popularity really grew during the great depression. Today, there are ten varieties of Spam, including Original, Lite, 25% Less Sodium, Bacon, Turkey, Hickory Smoke, Hot & Spicy, Jalapeño, and Teriyaki.

Let's go over Spam and its ingredients so we can determine if it is safe to eat for those who have to be on a gluten free diet.

Check out all of my Meal Ingredients to see which are gluten free.

Answer: Is Spam Gluten Free?

I am happy to say, yes, most flavors of Spam are gluten free! Hormel keeps a detailed list of gluten free Hormel food products on their website. You can see which Hormel products are gluten free.

Here are the listed gluten free varieties of Spam from their allergen listing:

• SPAM^® Black Pepper
• SPAM^® Classic
• SPAM^® Hot and Spicy
• SPAM^® Less Sodium
• SPAM^® Lite
• SPAM^® Jalapeño
• SPAM^® Oven Roasted Turkey
• SPAM^® Single Classic
• SPAM^® Single Lite
• SPAM^® Tocino
• SPAM^® with Real Hormel^® Bacon

Note The Teriyaki flavor is not gluten free. Also, the Hickory Smoke flavor has no gluten-containing ingredients, but it is not listed as gluten free on the Hormel website. I suspect the smoke flavoring may have barley malt or another gluten ingredient, but Hormel doesn't specify where the gluten is.

If you have celiac disease, gluten intolerance, or gluten sensitivity, you can fully enjoy most of the Spam products! Spam is also great for camping trips and emergency food storage (especially if you live in an area prone to natural disasters!)

If you serve spam with rice, be sure your Rice Is Gluten Free.

Spam Ingredients:

As you can see, Spam has no gluten-containing ingredients listed.

• Pork and Ham
• Salt
• Water
• Potato Starch
• Sugar
• Sodium Nitrate

Recipes Made With Spam:

If you love Spam, here are some fun recipes to try with Original Flavor Spam:

• Spam Musubi - We fell in love with spam musubi when we visited Hawaii. Now you can make your own. Be sure to use gluten free soy sauce or tamari!
• Easy Spam and Eggs
• Spam Fried Rice - Be sure to use gluten free soy sauce or tamari, and check to be sure the rice vinegar you use is gluten free.