With more people going plant-based and increasingly more plant-based meat alternatives, most restaurants offer at least one plant-based dish. 

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Here is a list we compiled to help navigate US-based chain restaurants.  The good news is that this list is growing rapidly, which means that there are likely more plant-based options.  The bad news is that this list is likely outdated by the time you read this.  So, please just ask for assistance when ordering plant-based meals.  

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Here's an alphabetical list of chain restaurants with a plant-based option (as of September 2021):

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• Bareburger

  • Offer plant-based patty on any burger.  Plant-based patty options include Beyond Burger, Black Bean & Roasted Corn Patty, Farmer’s Quinoa Patty, and the Sweet Potato & Wild Rice Patty. Order with a sprouted bun. 

• Baskin-Robbins

  • Plant-based ice cream flavors: Chocolate Extreme, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, and Coffee Caramel Chunk. They also offer two flavors of vegan sorbet: Daiquiri Ice and Watermelon Splash Ice.  They sometimes offer other new vegan flavors at local stores. 

• ​BJ’s Restaurant

  • Offers spaghetti marinara and can custom make a vegan pizza.  The pizza crust and sauce are vegan.  Order a vegetable pizza without cheese.  And, ask for the pizza to not be brushed with butter.

• Blaze Pizza 

  • Offers dairy-free cheese, spicy plant-based chorizo, and many vegan toppings. The traditional, high-rise, and gluten-free crusts are all vegan.

• Buca di Beppo

  • Bruschetta without cheese.  Special request Pasta Puttanesca (penne pasta with tomatoes, onions, green peppers, kalamata olives, green olives, and capers) since it’s not on the menu. Or, create your own pasta with either the marinara sauce or garlic olive oil and toppings such as various veggies, crushed pepper, and garlic.

• Bruegger's Bagels 

  • Bagels include: blueberry, chocolate chip, cinnamon-sugar, cranberry-orange, pumpernickel, and rosemary–olive oil bagels.  These can be topped with fresh vegetables, dijon mustard, or vegan hummus spread.  They also serve several vegetarian sandwiches which can be made vegan by leaving off the cheese and dressing.

• BurgerFi

  • Offers the Beyond Burger patty.  The multigrain bun is vegan.

• Burger King

  • Offers the Impossible whopper (without mayo), garden salad (without cheese), french fries, hash browns, french toast sticks, apple pie and PB&J jamwich.

• Carl's Jr.

  • Offers the Beyond Burger patty.  Make sure to request no cheese or mayo.  Also offers the Beyond Sausage Burrito for breakfast - just need to order it without egg or cheese. 

• Cheeburger Cheeburger

  • Offers grilled portobello mushroom sandwich, wrap, and salad that are vegan.  ​

• Cheesecake Factory

  • Offers the Impossible burger (with the SkinnyLicious bun or in a lettuce wrap) with vegan cheese and vegan mayo.  Offers a vegan cobb salad, Mexican tortilla salad (replace chicken with Impossible burger and remove sour cream), pasta pomodoro, Evelyn's favorite pasta (without cheese and butter), and avocado toast.

• Chipotle

  • Offers sofritas (tofu braised with peppers and spices) which can be ordered in a bowl, burrito, taco, or salad. The black and pinto beans and brown and white rice are plant-based. They have a great selection of vegan toppings, including mixed fajita veggies, salsas, lettuce, and guacamole. 

• CiCi’s Pizza

  • The crusts are all vegan, as well as the regular pizza sauce and ole sauce.  Skip the cheese.  Add a salad with French or Lite Ranch dressing.​

• Claim Jumper

  • The pizzas at Claim Jumper are vegan if you skip the cheese.  The Chinese salad with spicy peanut dressing is also plant-based.

• The Daily Grill

  • Offers appetizers such as gazpacho soup, a trio of hummus, sweet potato fries, and herbed brown rice with almonds. Vegan entrées include the penne pasta primavera, angel hair pasta pomodoro, and a grilled vegetable plate. Also offers a house salad with Asian ginger dressing or balsamic vinaigrette.  ​

• Dairy Queen ​

  • The Misty Slushes are vegan and come in several flavors.

• Del Taco​

  • Beyond Meat is available in both burritos and tacos.  Vegan offerings include The Beyond Avocado Taco and the Epic Beyond Cali Burrito (without sour cream), and the Beyond 8 Layer Burrito (without sour cream and cheese). ​

• Denny's​

  • Offers oatmeal, the Fit Fare® Veggie Skillet (ask for no egg whites or butter), English muffins, bagels, grits, applesauce, fresh fruit, vegetable plates, seasoned french fries, baked potatoes with several vegetable toppings, garden salads with light Italian dressing or oil and vinegar dressing, and sandwiches that can be made with several vegetable options. It also serves a vegan Amy’s burger.​

• Dunkin'​

  • Offers a breakfast sandwich with a Beyond Meat sausage patty that can be made vegan by asking for no cheese or egg. Other vegan food options include the avocado toast, hash browns, english muffins, and bagels (plain, sesame, cinnamon raisin, and everything). Offers coffee drinks with oat or almond milk. ​

• El Pollo Loco​

  • Offers a BRC burrito without cheese for a vegan option. You can also add avocado. Vegan side dishes include pinto beans and corn on the cob. 

• 5 & Diner​

  • Offers several vegan options, including a black-bean veggie burger. ​

• Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers​

  • Offers a vegan burger patty and bun. Be sure to omit cheese and Freddy sauce.

• Freebirds World Burrito​

  • Offers Beyond Meat Feisty Crumbles in burritos, bowls, tacos, and salads. 

• The Habit Burger Grill ​

  • Offers a Veggie Burger patty, which is vegan, on the French roll or seeded bun, with no dressing.​ Also offers French fries, sweet potato fries, tempura green beans, and a side salad to complete your meal.

• Hard Times Cafe

  • Offers a veggie burger and the vegetarian chili (make sure to specify no dairy products in the chili).​

• Houston’s Restaurant​

  • Offers a veggie plate and a vegetarian burger (make sure to specify vegan bread).​

• IHOP

  • Offers hash browns, fresh fruit, grits, sautéed spinach and mushrooms, a plain baked potato, or a salad with fat-free or regular raspberry vinaigrette dressing​

• Ike’s Love & Sandwiches​

  • Offers customizable sub sandwiches with plenty of options including vegan chicken, turkey slices, meatballs, and cheese.

• ​Johnny Rockets

  • ​Offers a Gardein black bean burger (make sure no cheese).

• Just Salad

  • Offers five specialty vegan salads or build your own, and add Beyond's Beef Meatballs and Daring Foods Plant-Based Chicken.   ​

• Kona Grill

  • ​Appetizers include edamame and seaweed salad. Sushi options include a cucumber roll, an avocado roll, and a vegetarian roll. The house, roasted asparagus, and oriental salads are all vegan, with many dressing options (onion soy, sweet soy, oil and vinegar, and balsamic, red, or white wine vinegar). Both the Pan-Asian noodles and the linguine with marinara sauce are vegan, as are the sides of steamed baby bok choy, white rice, and seasonal vegetables.

• Little Caesars 

  • ​The pizza sauce and dough are vegan.  Add toppings and forego the cheese.  

• Luna Grill 

  • ​Offers a Coastal Med Bowl, which has Beyond Meat and can be made vegan by substituting tahini for the tzatziki sauce. Other options include falafel, stuffed grape leaves, quinoa, tabbouleh, and the Modern Greek Salad (ask for no feta).

• Manhattan Bagel ​

  • All bialys and bagels are vegan, except for the jalapeño cheddar cheese and egg varieties.​

• Mellow Mushroom ​

  • ​Offers vegan pizza toppings including tofu, tempeh, and Follow Your Heart cheese.

• Moe's Southwest Grill ​

  • ​All tacos, fajitas, salads, and burritos can be made vegan by substituting tofu for meat and skipping the cheese

• Nathan's Famous ​

  • Offers a vegan hot dog (made from pea protein) at its locations in Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, New York, and on its website.

• Noodles & Company ​

  • Offers Japanese Pan Noodles, Spaghetti with Marinara (without cheese), or Pasta Fresca without cheese. ​

• ​O’Naturals

  • Offers many vegetarian options, many of which are also identified as vegan, such as the vegetarian chili, the carrot-ginger soup, and the chipotle sweet potato and veggie lentil soup.​

• ​Olive Garden

  • ​There are many pasta options: angel hair, cavatappi, fettuccine, gluten-free rotini, rigatoni, small shells, spaghetti, and whole-wheat linguine. These can be topped with marinara sauce or kid’s tomato sauce. The minestrone and breadsticks are vegan, so you can order the soup, salad, and breadsticks combo.  For the salad, hold the croutons and choose the oil and vinegar dressing.

• ​On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina

  • ​Offers a Portobello & Vegetables Fajitas (without sour cream and cheese), the mango and fajita salads with grilled portobello mushrooms (instead of chicken and without queso fresco), and the Veggie Burrito without cheese. 

• Pancheros Mexican Grill ​

  • ​Offers tofusada and sautéed veggies in tacos, burritos, bowls and salads.

• Panera Bread​

  • ​Offers the Vegan Lentil Quinoa Broth Bowl and the Soba Noodle Broth Bowl with Edamame, as well as a vegan Black Bean Soup.

• Papa John's ​

  • ​The pizza sauce and dough are vegan.  Add toppings and forego the cheese. 

• Peet's Coffee

  • Offers plant-based milks for drinks, seasonal beverages, and ​an Everything Plant-Based Sandwich.

• P.F. Chang’s China Bistro

  • ​Offers an extensive vegetarian menu where everything can be made vegan, from appetizers such as tofu lettuce wraps to entrées such as Buddha’s Feast.

• ​Pieology

  • Offers Daiya cheese at select locations, and its red sauce, olive oil, and BBQ sauce as well as its gluten-free crust are all vegan.​​

• Pizza Hut​

  • The pizza sauce and the normal crusts are vegan (not the stuffed crusts).  Add vegetable toppings and forego the cheese.  The also offer  Beyond Meat Italian Sausage Crumbles. ​

• PizzaRev

  • Offers vegan sausage and cheese.  Choose the original or gluten-free crust.  ​

• Pokéworks

  • Offers customizable ​bowls, burritos, and salads with many options.  

• Pyramid Breweries​

  • ​Offers a Boca burger that can be substituted for any burger. The Margherita Pizza is vegan without cheese.

• ​Qdoba Mexican Grill

  • Offers a burrito, taco, and salad bowl with corn or flour tortillas, black or pinto beans, brown or cilantro-lime rice, fajita vegetables, grilled vegetables, potatoes, guacamole, and most salsas. The tortilla soup is also vegan.​

• Quiznos

  • ​Offers a veggie sub with guacamole, black olives, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, and mushrooms (without cheese) and ask for the balsamic vinaigrette.

• Red Lobster ​

  • Offers the Dragon Broccoli, plain baked potato, rice pilaf, seasoned broccoli, or and sea-salted french fries.​

• Red Robin​​

  • ​Offers a vegan burger patty with fresh tomato bruschetta salsa, avocado slices, and shredded romaine on a ciabatta bun, rustic Italian bread, or a lettuce wrap. 

• Ruby Tuesday​​​

  • ​Offers a Sweet Earth Awesome Burger and make your own salad at the Endless Garden Bar. Other sides include baked potato, grilled zucchini, steamed broccoli, garden vegetable soup, and green beans.

• ​Shake Shack

  • Testing a vegan shack at select locations.  Keeping our fingers crossed it gets rolled out nationwide.

• Starbucks

  • Offers the Lentils & Vegetable Protein Bowl with Brown Rice. Other options include a plain or multigrain bagel, classic or blueberry oatmeal, and the Seasonal Harvest Fruit Blend, in addition to many drink options with plant-based milks. 

  • Avoid whipped cream, java chips, protein powder, caramel drizzle, cinnamon dolce topping, pumpkin spice, white mocha, caramel brûlée, and chai lattes.

• Subway

  • Offers a Veggie Delight sub (without cheese of mayo).  Choose 9-Grain Wheat, Hearty Italian, Italian (White), Roasted Garlic, or Sourdough bread.  Dress the sub with yellow mustard, deli brown mustard, sweet onion sauce, Subway Vinaigrette, or oil and vinegar.  Also, testing a Beyond Meat Meatball Marinara sandwich at select locations.  ​

• Taco Bell​

  • Offers the Bean Burrito “fresco style,” the regular Black Bean Burrito without cheese, or the Veggie Cantina Power Bowl (ask for no sauce).  The tacos, nachos, and Crunchwrap Supreme are vegan when we hold the meat (beans can be substituted), cheese, and sour cream.  Sides include cinnamon twists, chips and guacamole or pico de gallo, cilantro rice, black or refried beans, Mexican rice, and salsas. ​

• Taco Cabana​

  • ​Offers tacos, burritos, and bowls with rice, black beans, Beyond Meat crumbles, lettuce, tomatoes, guacamole, and salsa. Be sure to ask for no cheese, sour cream, and salsa ranch dressing. Ask for corn tortillas instead of flour tortillas (for the tacos, since they are not vegan).

• TGI Fridays ​

  • Offers a Beyond Burger with the challah bun (the gluten-free bun is not vegan), dairy-free sauces, and skip the cheese.  Other options include Nachos without cheese and sour cream, the House Salad (with the cilantro-lime dressing or balsamic vinaigrette),  crispy fries and Cajun onion rings.​

• Wendy's

  • Offers a veggie sandwich, plain baked potato, the garden side salad with red Italian dressing, and french fries. ​

• White Castle

  • ​Offers vegan sliders (Dr. Praeger's) either plain or with a sweet Thai sauce. 

• Wienerschnitzel

  • Testing a Field Roast Signature Stadium Dog in select locations.

• ​World Wrapps

  • Offers the Teriyaki Tofu, Bombay Curry, and Classic Burrito Wrapps (by omitting the cheese and sour cream).​

• ZPizza

  • Offers Berkeley Vegan Pizza and the California Salad.  More than a dozen of the pizzas, three of the salads, the veggie calzone, and the veggie sandwich are available by switching to a dairy-free cheese.

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Other than these chain restaurants, some restaurants tend to be more plant-based or vegan friendly than others.  Searching for "vegan food" in Google Maps or Yelp can often help to find available options.  

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A diversity of cuisine can often provide plant-based options.  Mexican restaurants can offer plant-based options if the beans and rice do not contain chicken stock and cheese is omitted. Italian restaurants can offer plant-based options if the noodles do not contain eggs or dairy and cheese is omitted.  Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, and other Asian restaurants can offer plant-based options if fish sauce, shrimp paste, and other seafood can be omitted.  Greek and Middle Eastern restaurants often offer falafel and other plant-based options.  Indian restaurants can have a wide array of plant-based options if dairy can be avoided.  

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Best of luck! ​

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And, please send us a note or DM with other plant-based menu items that you discover at restaurant chains.  We would love to add them.  Thank you! 

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