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Being Vegan

Vegan fast food: Plant-based options on the go

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Text overlay: Vegan fast food options. Hand holding Dilly bar.

Whether you’re short on time or away from home, fast food can be convenient. Luckily, vegan fast food options are popping up more & more. This means even more plant-based options, even in unlikely places.

Tofu sofritas tacos at Chipotle.

I love a 100% plant-based restaurant as much as the next vegan. Few things make me happier than opening up a menu & being able to order anything on it.

But in some towns, vegan restaurants don’t exist. You pull up Happy Cow, and the phone almost starts smoking for lack of options.

In those cases, it’s lucky indeed to know that vegan fast food options are starting to spread. When you’re starving and in Middle of Nowhere, Farm Country, it’s nice to have nationwide chains with plant-based menu options to fill the gap.

Here are some vegan fast food options. Keep in mind that restaurants change their menus. Also, what’s available in one part of the country may not be in another.

(All pictures of indoor dining were taken pre-pandemic.)

Chipotle

Tofu sofritas tacos at Chipotle.

Vegan options abound at Chipotle with black & pinto beans, fajita vegetables, rice, salsa, guacamole, and their beloved tofu sofritas. The pleasantly spiced organic tofu makes a meal there all the more satiating and flavorful.

My standard order is a set of three hard shell tacos. But you can also get any of your preferred ingredients in a bowl or burrito.

Burger King

Burger King sign advertising Impossible Whopper.

Even when you’re in a small town, you can likely find a meatless burger, thanks to the Impossible Whopper at Burger King.

They have over 7,000 locations for you to grab a burger and fries. Just request no mayo.

Impossible Whoppers and fries on tray at Burger King.

Hands holding Impossible Whopper at Burger King.

Other plant-based options include oatmeal, hash browns, and Dutch apple pie.

White Castle

Impossible sliders in cardboard box at White Castle.

If you prefer your burgers in slider form, drive on up to White Castle. They offer the Impossible slider or a veggie slider on mini buns.

Order without cheese – unless you live in New Jersey or NYC, where dairy-free cheddar is available.

Hands holding Impossible slider at White Castle.

Fill out the meal with french fries or applesauce.

Carl’s Jr

Carl’s Jr. was one of the first fast food places to jump on the Beyond Meat train. At this fast food sandwich place, grab a Beyond Famous Star burger. Just be sure to order it without mayo and cheese for a vegan option.

Finish out your meal with french fries, crisscut fries, hash rounds, or hash brown nuggets.

At breakfast (until 10:30 a.m.) they also offer a Beyond Sausage Burrito. Order it without egg or cheese for to make it vegan.

The same company that owns Carl’s Jr. also owns Hardee’s. Sadly, the vegan options at Hardee’s don’t measure up in the same way. They do have a vegan burger, but no bun to go with it. Personally, I’m not going somewhere that has a lettuce leaf for a bun when there are so many better options available.

Dairy Queen

Dilly bars in packaging.

Need a cold, sweet treat? At Dairy Queen they offer Dilly Bars made with coconut milk ice cream. It’s covered in a crunchy chocolate coating. Bonus: It’s also gluten-free.

Hand holding vegan Dilly bar from Dairy Queen.

You can also buy them by the box if you want to keep some on hand in the freezer.

Baskin Robbins

David holding vegan ice cream at Baskin Robbins.

Baskin Robbins has had a non-dairy option on the menu for as long as I can remember with their Daiquiri ice. A second sorbet, Watermelon Splash Ice, is also dairy free.

But now dairy-free consumers have even more options with non-dairy chocolate chip cookie dough, chocolate extreme, and coffee caramel chunk.

They’re made with a base of coconut oil and almond butter. The chocolate extreme is also gluten free.

Blaze PizzaVegan chorizo & vegan cheese pizza at Blaze.

The set-up at Blaze Pizza is similar to Chipotle, where a pizza maker behind the counter slides down a row of toppings with you, asking which ones you’d like on your individual pizza. (Depending on your appetite, one pizza could serve two.)

The pizzas are cooked in a brick oven for 180 seconds and served with blackened crisp edges.

Both the traditional & gluten free crusts are vegan. You can go with the thin crust or high-rise for a little extra, which gives a more pillowy crust.

The classic red and spicy red sauces are vegan along with the barbecue sauce or olive oil. They also offer Daiya vegan cheese and vegan chorizo. The chorizo is reminiscent of Trader Joe’s soy chorizo.

Other vegan topping options include: artichokes, arugula, banana peppers, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, garlic, fresh basil, jalapeños, mushrooms, olives, pineapple, red onions, red peppers, sautéed onions, spinach, vegan chorizo, and zucchini.

Qdoba

Impossible tacos on table at Qdoba.

Qdoba offers Impossible meat crumbles for their tacos, burritos, and bowls. It’s right on the bar along with all the other toppings like beans, rice, and vegetables.

They don’t do much in the way of seasoning the plant meat, but it’s still tasty along with cilantro, salsa, beans, and vegetables in a taco.

Also, the guacamole is free with your entrée at Qdoba.

Moe’s Southwest Grill 

Tacos on table at Moe's Southwest Grill.

In addition to your standard beans and rice, tofu is on the menu at Moe’s Southwest Grill. It can be added to tacos, salads, nachos, burritos, and fajitas.

The marinated tofu is on the bland side, but it’s still nice to have the option when beans just aren’t enough.

Vegan crunch wrap at Moe's Southwest Grill.

They also have crunch wraps, which they call stacks.

Although non-dairy cheese is usually the “glue” for the stacks, it seals just fine without it. I had mine with beans, tofu, salsa, guacamole, olives, cilantro, and jalapeños.

Noodles & Company

Bowl with Japanese pan noodles, sriracha, and paper cup at Noodles & Company.

Noodles & Company is a fast casual chain that’s similar in tone to Panera or Baja Fresh.

They have one option on the menu that’s vegan without substitutions – Japanese pan noodles. It’s made with udon noodles, broccoli, carrots, and mushrooms in a sweet soy sauce.

For an extra bump of protein, you can add tofu to any dish.

They also have several menu items that can be prepared vegan with a few substitutions. To see all of those, check out my vegan Noodles and Company post.

Dunkin’

Exterior Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin Robbins.

What we all really want from Dunkin’ is a vegan donut, but that’s still not available. However, you can get Beyond breakfast sausage any time of day, as well as hash browns, and coffee with almond milk.

The Beyond breakfast sandwich on the menu can be ordered without egg or cheese for a vegan option.

Taco Bell

Taco Bell is the O.G. in terms of vegan options at fast food restaurants. Order “fresco style” to replace cheese, sour cream, and ranch sauce with pico de gallo.

Here’s what to order:

  • Black bean crunchwrap without sour cream & nacho cheese sauce
  • Bean burrito fresco style
  • Power bowl without sour cream or ranch sauce
  • Crunchy or soft taco, sub beans for beef
  • Black beans & rice
  • Cinnamon twists

Word on the street is that Taco Bell will be adding Beyond Meat sometime in 2021.

Del Taco

Beyond Meat isn’t just for burgers. You can also find it in tacos and burritos at Del Taco.

They use seasoned Beyond Meat crumbles for their Epic Beyond Original Mex and Beyond Fresh avocado burritos, as well as the avocado taco. Other fillings include guacamole, cilantro-lime rice, pico de galo, salsa, black beans, and lettuce.

You can also order a Beyond 8-layer burrito, Epic Beyond Cali burrito, or Beyond tacos, but request no cheese or sour cream.

My favorite thing about Del Taco is that you can get both fries and tacos in the same meal. So don’t forget their crinkle cut variety!

Other vegan items on the menu include hash brown sticks and the avocado veggie bowl.

Starbucks

Exterior Starbucks Coffee.

If you need a vegan breakfast option, Starbucks has oatmeal to go with your soy, coconut, or almond milk latte.

They offer classic and blueberry oatmeal. They pour hot water on instant oatmeal. Then you let it sit while covered for 3 minutes. After that, you can pour on any toppings you like – dried fruit, nuts, and/or brown sugar.

It’s a substantive option that’s handy when you can’t make a full breakfast at home.

Oatmeal in cup from Starbucks in lap.

Starbucks also offers vegan bagels, as well as avocado spread or nut butter that can be used as a topping. Starbucks’ vegan bagels include sprouted grain, plain, raisin, and blueberry.

They also have some packaged items like potato chips, dried fruit, nuts, and the like.

Depending on the city, some of the refrigerated boxes are vegan like chickpea bites & avocado protein box, fruit salad, and lentils & vegetable protein bowl. Options vary by location.

Auntie Anne’s Pretzels

If hunger strikes at the mall, look no further than Auntie Anne’s Pretzels. Simply order any of the following without butter: original, cinnamon sugar, sweet almond, garlic, jalapeño, or raisin pretzels.

Note that you will have to wait about five minutes while it’s made fresh, but that’s a feature not a bug.

For a dipping sauce, I like to use a packet of mustard. (Obviously I don’t recommend that for any of the sweet pretzels. Haha!)

Peet’s

Peet’s recently added a vegan breakfast sandwich to the menu with Just Egg, non-dairy cheddar, and Beyond Sausage on a toasted everything bagel thin. Complete the meal with a soy latte.

Bruegger’s Bagels

Exterior Bruegger's Bagel Bakery.

Lots of the bagels at Bruegger’s are vegan. My favorite is rosemary olive oil.

Other vegan bagel options include: blueberry, onion, poppy, sesame, chocolate chip, cinnamon sugar, garlic, pumpkin, Bruegger bites, cranberry orange, everything, plain pumpernickel, salt, and sun-dried tomato.

Steer clear of these non-vegan options: cinnamon raisin, French toast, 12 grain, egg, whole wheat, 5 grain everything, Asiago parmesan, and jalapeño cheddar.

Plain bagel with hummus on table.

For a short time, Bruegger’s offered Daiya non-dairy cream cheese. Sadly, they have since taken it off the menu.

For non-dairy spread options, they have hummus or peanut butter. Neither is particularly inspiring. I recommend picking up bagels and then using your own vegan cream cheese at home.

Or use the bagels in air fryer bagel pizzas, a vegan bagel sandwich with hummus, or a vegan breakfast sandwich with eggy tofu & sausage.

Content and photos updated March 20, 2021. Originally posted September 30, 2016.

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Posted On: March 20, 2021
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About Cadry

Cadry Nelson is the writer, photographer, and recipe creator behind Cadry’s Kitchen, a vegan food & lifestyle blog started in 2009. Through approachable recipes, vegan travel guides, and down-to-earth discussions on the social aspects of being vegan, Cadry shows that living a vegan lifestyle is deliciously uncomplicated. Cadry has been featured on NBC News, Mashable, Today, Reader's Digest, Yahoo, Delish, Shape, and Huffington Post.

Comments

  1. Christa says

    September 30, 2016 at 8:24 am

    The pinto beans at Chipotle aren’t vegan, they have pork in them, I believe.

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      September 30, 2016 at 8:31 am

      They don’t have pork in them. They are vegan. You can see all of the nutritional info and what is vegan here: https://chipotle.com/allergens

      Reply
      • Dianne says

        September 30, 2016 at 8:52 am

        They used to have pork in them, but Chipotle made them vegan a few years ago.

        Reply
    • VeganLinda says

      September 30, 2016 at 9:10 am

      Years ago the pinto beans at Chipotle weren’t vegan. They are now. Which is one of reasons it is so nice for bloggers to update the chain restaurant vegan options from time to time.

      Reply
  2. Erin Hack says

    September 30, 2016 at 8:28 am

    Oohhh, Blaze Pizza looks amazing! I’m going to have to check them out the next time I am in Des Moines . Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      September 30, 2016 at 8:33 am

      My pleasure, Erin! It’s nice to see Des Moines getting some more options. Plus, Blaze is a good place to go with kids and families.

      Reply
  3. Dianne says

    September 30, 2016 at 8:53 am

    Such great options! I keep hearing good things about Blaze Pizza. I need to check it out!

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      October 1, 2016 at 6:14 am

      Yeah, Blaze is a good quick casual option. I went there with my best friend and her kids, and everyone found something that appealed to them.

      Reply
  4. Shauna says

    September 30, 2016 at 10:04 am

    I didn’t know that Blaze had thin and thick crust options! Dan doesn’t like crispy/thin crust pizzas so we haven’t made it to Blaze yet…maybe I can convince him now!

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      October 1, 2016 at 6:17 am

      I usually like thin/crispy crusts, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much better it was with the extra dough. It just gave it more oomph.

      There’s a taco place in the same building that appeared to have some basic black bean/vegetable options. If that was more appealing to Dan, you two could always split up for your orders, and there’s an outside dining area.

      Reply
  5. Bianca says

    September 30, 2016 at 10:46 am

    I LOVE the tofu sofritas so much! We have two Chipotles here, and both are way out in the burbs so I don’t get there often. But I’d eat there all the time if they were closer.

    We don’t have that bagel place around here (never heard of it), but I wish we did! Those bagels all sound awesome. We also don’t have blaze, but there’s an Uncle Maddio’s, another build your own pizza chain, and they also have Daiya (I’m a Daiya pizza eater. The more, the better).

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      October 1, 2016 at 6:20 am

      The tofu sofritas are surprisingly good! So often when restaurants are trying to appeal to a wide variety of palates, they tone spices way down to the point of being boring. Plus, so many places are clueless when it comes to tofu. But at Chipotle, they hit the right amount of spice and texture. The taco/burrito options in our town are downright disappointing. So I’m glad there’s somewhere we can go when we want tacos but don’t feel like cooking.

      Reply
  6. Jenn says

    September 30, 2016 at 11:35 am

    Brueggers!!! Those sun-dried tomato bagels are my favorite. I want one so bad right now! This reminds that we really need to try to get together some time. We aren’t that far from each other…maybe if we could meet somewhere in the middle (not sure there is such a place though..lol). Or the next time you wander over toward the CHI. I still really want to hit up that Pig Foot Brewery (I think it’s called) sometime. Something to think about. 🙂

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      October 1, 2016 at 6:24 am

      Oh, yes, the sun-dried tomato bagels are my third choice. I used to get them fairly often, until they got replaced by onion bagels in my personal line-up.

      It would be great to meet up sometime! I wonder if LeClaire, Iowa would be about half-way… It’s right on the border between Iowa & Illinois. Pig Minds Brewing is a bit of a jaunt for me, but hopefully I’ll get back there again sometime. And there’s a chance that I may be in Chicago later this fall. I’ll let you know!

      Reply
  7. Ginny says

    September 30, 2016 at 7:32 pm

    This is such a great post. I’ve been wanting to make an organized list of vegan fast food that would help me out when I was on the road. This is a good start. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      October 1, 2016 at 6:25 am

      I’m so glad to hear it, Ginny! It’s good to know where you can snag a meal when you’re in areas where options are limited.

      Reply
  8. Amy Katz from Veggies Save The Day says

    October 1, 2016 at 8:59 pm

    This is a great article! I love Sharky’s. There’s one in walking distance from my house!

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      October 10, 2016 at 11:18 am

      Oh, lucky lady!

      Reply
  9. Melissa @ Vegan Huggs says

    October 1, 2016 at 9:56 pm

    This is such a helpful post. It’s so nice that there are so many vegan options now. I especially love Chipotle because it’s much healthier than most fast food chains. I love the sofritas, too 🙂

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      October 10, 2016 at 11:18 am

      Thanks, Melissa! I’m glad it was helpful.

      Reply
  10. Sarah says

    October 2, 2016 at 11:42 pm

    Love these ideas! Many, many years ago, long before I was vegan, Bruegger’s Bagels was our weekly lunch stop after church on Sundays. My dad would treat us all to a bagel sandwich and I thought it was the best thing ever. I don’t think they have them on the west coast, but if I’m ever back east I’ll have to check them out again!

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      October 10, 2016 at 11:21 am

      I just took a peek at their locations, and there are 19 Bruegger’s locations in Southern California. However, they didn’t make it to the Pacific Northwest. Although, I’m sure you’re at no loss for good bagel places in Seattle!

      Reply
  11. Kris says

    October 3, 2016 at 8:05 am

    I have been hearing great things about Blaze too and hope to check out Milwaukee location soon. On a somewhat related topic what happened to the news that Native Foods was going to open all those new franchises across the country? I am still impatiently waiting for that to actually happen!

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      October 10, 2016 at 11:24 am

      Yeah, unfortunately Native Foods started closing a bunch of locations. They were rapidly spreading, and it seems like they might have done too much, too fast. I haven’t heard anything more about the expansion in about a year. I wouldn’t be surprised if they put the kibosh on that dream – at least for a while.

      Reply
  12. KZ says

    October 4, 2016 at 7:56 am

    Yum I love bagels, especially a pumpernickel one with vegan cream cheese. Dunkin Donuts has almond milk now, so between starbucks and them I feel like I can get a coffee anywhere! Also, a little bit shameful, but vegans of my age group often go to Taco Bell, for a quick and shamefully good “vegan crunchwrap” (sub beans instead of beef no cheese no sour add guac add potatoes). I’m definitely guilty of it when I’m back in my hometown and the pickings are slim.

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      October 14, 2016 at 11:52 am

      “Vegans of my age group…” Oh, man! This makes me sound like an old lady! 😀 But seriously, I don’t think there’s anything “shameful” about getting vegan food anywhere. The more demand there is for plant-based options, the more restaurants will provide.

      Reply
  13. Jojo says

    October 12, 2016 at 8:11 am

    Thanks for the great tips Cadry! I’m sure I’ll be using them on my next road trip. Blaze and Noodles & Company look right up my alley!

    Reply
    • Cadry says

      October 14, 2016 at 11:53 am

      Excellent! I hope it’s useful on your next adventure, Jojo!

      Reply

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Hi, I'm Cadry Nelson. I'm the recipe creator, writer, and photographer behind Cadry's Kitchen.

Cadry's Kitchen is a vegan food blog featuring comfort food classics. Most recipes are ready in about 30 minutes.

Contact me at cadryskitchen@gmail.com.

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