Is McCormick Gourmet Garam Masala low FODMAP?

Green light for most shoppers: garam masala is traditionally a pure warm-spice blend, and the common US jar bears that out. McCormick Gourmet Garam Masala lists just spices — coriander, black pepper, cumin, cardamom, and cinnamon — with no garlic, no onion, and no fillers. Simply Organic's version reads the same way (cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, black pepper, coriander). Every one of those is a true spice, and true spices carry no meaningful FODMAP load at the amounts a recipe calls for. Garam masala is also a finisher by nature, sprinkled in by the quarter to full teaspoon near the end of cooking, so the per-plate dose is tiny to begin with. Two small caveats keep this from being a total no-look purchase. First, blends vary by brand: a handful of imported or house-brand masala mixes do sneak in dried garlic or onion, so a five-second label scan is still worth it on unfamiliar jars. Second, garam masala often lands in dishes built on sautéed onion and garlic — the blend is not the problem there, the base is. On its own, this is one of the safest jars in the spice aisle, and it doubles as the backbone of an allium-free curry powder swap.

📏 Used by the quarter to full teaspoon across a whole dish, so the per-plate amount is minimal — no dose-watching needed for the blend itself. Just verify unfamiliar brands, since a few masala mixes add dried garlic or onion.