Your Vegan Fast Food Options: Eating Out And Dining In

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Fully loaded vegan burger is placed on a wooden serving tray with fries.

Top food joints | How to buy Vegan Fast Food

Fast food has been a part of Americans’ diet for a long time, ultimately leading to high-calorie and low-nutrition diets. 

With the rise of the vegan diet scenario, food joints have realized that people are looking for foods beyond fried chicken and burgers. Therefore, vegan fast food is becoming more popular. This article will help you explore vegan fast food options for eating out and dining in.

Top food joints serving vegan fast food

According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey [1]Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Fast Food Consumption Among Adults in the United States, 2013–2016 during 2013 – 2016, it was recorded that 36.6% of adults in the United States consumed fast food on a given day. That sums up the craze for fast food.

When it comes to vegan fast food, many vegan-friendly fast-food restaurants are offering vegan meal options.

Here is a list of top-rated food joints serving vegan fast food.

1. Chipotle Mexican Grill

Chipotle Mexican Grill is well-known for its classic cooking, real food with wholesome ingredients (no added colors, flavors, or preservatives). The restaurant’s menu includes burritos, tacos, burrito bowls, and salads that are prepared using classic cooking methods. 

According to their website, [2]Chipotle: ALLERGENS & SPECIAL DIET vegans should avoid their meats, shredded monterey jack cheese, sour cream, and chipotle-honey vinaigrette.

Everything that is included in the vegan menu is tested and allergen-free. Chipotle offers various vegan proteins, including black or pinto beans, red and gold quinoa, and sofrito. So, whatever dietary needs you have, Chipotle has a lot of options for you.  

Recommended vegan foods

  • Bean and rice burrito with fajita veggies salsa
  • Fresh guacamole burrito

2. Taco Bell

Taco Bell’s menu includes several vegan options. The restaurant is popular for its items that are vegan-friendly when ordered without cheese, sour cream, or meat.

Most commonly, the great source of protein in all the vegan options at Taco Bell includes black beans, which makes it truly delicious and healthy.

For decades now, Taco Bell has been safe for vegan food, but later in 2020, they removed a bunch of vegetarian options, including the “ How to eat vegan at Taco Bell ” guide, due to insufficient output. 

After many discussions, in January 2022, the company’s CEO announced partnering with Beyond Meat to bring back potatoes in the future. Later, In August 2022, they started testing a new plant-based beef [3]VegNews: Taco Bell’s Own Vegan Beef Is Now on the Menu at 50 Locations in all Birmingham, Alabama, locations to get vegan lovers something interesting.

Recommended Vegan Foods

  • Bean burrito
  • Black bean crunch wrap supreme
  • Cinnamon twists

Being vegan doesn’t mean you have to miss out on fast food. There are vegan options available at many of the most popular fast-food chains.

3. Burger King

The patty for the impossible burgers at Burger King is vegan. If you don’t want it grilled where meat has also been cooked, ask them, and they will microwave it for you.

Burger King is also in the process of testing impossible vegan chicken nuggets. So, let’s hope they’ll be available soon.

Recommended vegan options

  • Impossible Whopper (without creamy mayo or cheese)
  • Garden salad (without cheese and with non-dairy dressing)
  • Apple Pie
  • French Fries
  • French toast sticks and Hashbrowns

4. Carl’s Jr.

At Carl’s Jr., you can now order the Beyond Burger [4]Carl’s Jr: Beyond Meat as a replacement for chicken. You will also need to omit cheese and mayo if that is your preference.

Be aware that all food items are prepared in a shared kitchen, and since vegans aren’t common among their customers, they do not consider any of their foods vegan-friendly.

However, you can give heads-up to the staff about your vegan diet, and they’ll try to do their best for you.

Recommended vegan options

  • Beyond famous star burger (no mayonnaise, no cheese)
  • Western bacon cheeseburger (made with a Beyond patty, no cheese, no onion rings)
  • Original thick burger (made with Beyond patty, no mayonnaise)
  • Guacamole bacon burger (made with a Beyond patty)
  • Natural cut french fries
  • Criss-cut fries
  • Fried zucchini

5. Del Taco

Del Taco is unique among Mexican fast-food places because they use Beyond Meat protein in their tacos and burritos.

Swapping out ingredients in a Del Taco is easy because everything on the menu is made-to-order. You can also add healthy sides like avocado or salsa to your meal. Moreover, like Taco Bell, Del Taco also has a helpful vegan and vegetarian menu items page [5]Del Taco: VEGETARIAN & VEGAN.

Recommended vegan options

  • Beyond avocado taco.
  • Epic beyond the original Mex burrito
  • Hash brown sticks
  • Avocado veggie bowl
  • Crinkle cut fries

6. Starbucks

Starbucks offers vegan options for breakfast and lunch. You can also veganize some of the coffee drinks by preparing them dairy-free, such as almond, soy, or coconut milk. Additionally, vegan snacks and treats are available to order.

Recommended vegan options

  • Impossible breakfast sandwich
  • Chickpea bites and avocado protein box
  • Hearty blueberry oatmeal
  • Plain bagel
  • Sprouted grain bagel
  • Cinnamon raisin bagel
  • Iced coffee
  • Cold brew
  • Green, violet, and pink drink
  • Vanilla, caramel, and hazelnut syrups
  • Unflavored lattes like oat milk and espresso beverages made with soy, almond milk, or coconut milk

7. Panera

While vegan fast food options are gradually becoming more popular, they have yet to take over the world. This is evident when one looks at restaurant menus, like Panera’s, for example. At first glance, it would appear that there are very few vegan items available.

However, upon closer inspection, there are several delicious vegan meal options. What sets Panera apart from most other vegan fast food chain restaurants is that they provide a list of their vegan offerings on request.

Recommended vegan options

  • Baja grain bowl (without greek yogurt and cheese)
  • Mediterranean grain bowl (without greek yogurt and cheese)
  • Ten vegetable soup
  • Tomato basil cucumber salad
  • Green passion smoothie
  • Mediterranean veggie sandwich on country rustic bread without cheese or mayo.

8. Subway 

At Subway, making a tasty vegan meal with only minor adjustments is easy. For example, both the Italian bread and signature wrap are delicious vegan options.

Likewise, you can add as many fresh veggies as you want or get a Beyond-meatball marinara sub without the cheese.

They’ve experimented with a lot of vegan meats throughout the years, but nothing has taken off in popularity in the USA yet. Their whole wheat bread contains honey, which is frustrating for vegans.

However, at the beginning of 2020, Subway introduced a new sandwich to their menu–the meatless meatball marinara melt featuring Beyond meat and vegan cheese.

Recommended vegan options

  • Beyond meatball marinara sub (ordered without provolone and parmesan)
  • Veggie patty (not available at all locations)
  • Veggie delight (ordered on standard Italian white bread)
  • 9-grain wheat bread
  • Italian bread
  • Signature wrap
  • Subway vinaigrette
  • Sweet onion sauce
  • Red wine vinegar
  • Olive oil blend

9. Fatburger

Fatburger is another fast-food joint that serves vegan-friendly foods. Customers can customize their burgers however they like, so it’s easy to veganize them. For instance, one can order a Beyond-patty or vegan-friendly burger instead of beef. This food joint offers  Daiya, vegan cheese, vegan mayo, and vegan sauces.

Recommended vegan options

  • Beyond patty with vegan cheese and vegan mayo
  • Vegan jackfruit burger
  • Vegan sausage burger
  • Sweet potato fries
  • Vegan ice cream flavors and milkshakes- strawberry, vanilla, and Maui banana.

Tips to keep in mind while buying vegan fast food

When you are on a vegan diet, it is important to be mindful of what you are buying. While vegan fast food can be a convenient way to grab a quick meal, it’s not always an easy option. So here are a few key tips to keep in mind:

  1. Check out the restaurant’s menu online before you order food. Keep an eye out for vegan-friendly dishes while scanning the menu.
  2. It’s always a good idea to call ahead to restaurants to see what vegan options they may have.
  3. You can click the “customize” button for most food items and select which options you desire. You can also add special instructions- like asking for “no cheese” or “no butter.”
  4. You can improve your meal options by bringing along some “emergency” vegan-friendly food, such as nut butter, avocado, hummus, fruit, or nuts.
  5. Choose water, unsweetened tea, or coffee with plant-based milk when selecting a beverage. Avoid sodas and other sugary drinks.

Conclusion

Vegans now have more dining options available to them than in the past. Whether dine-in restaurants or fast food joints, many places now provide vegan choices. Alternatively, you can request slight changes to veganize an existing dish.

Make sure to always double-check with your waiter or waitress that the food you’re ordering doesn’t contain any meat, fish, dairy, eggs, or honey.

With a bit of research and carefully checking ingredients, you can find plenty of tasty plant-based options that meet your dietary needs.

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