Vegan Fare at Restaurant Chains

It’s easier than ever to have a good vegan meal when dining out. Many restaurants now know that if they don’t have vegetarian items available, they will lose customers. If you don’t see anything suitable on the menu, most restaurants will be willing to accommodate you by adapting a dish to your taste.

Macaroni Grill has several vegan options, including all the pastas with garlic and oil and its Capellini Pomodoro. Try these tasty bites without the cheese: Tomato Bruschetta and Penne Arrabbiata. When opting for a salad, choose the house or garden without the cheese and top it with the restaurant’s balsamic vinaigrette, Italian dressing, or roasted-garlic vinaigrette.

Hard Rock Cafe offers a vegetarian burger, a veggie sandwich, and salads.

The pizza sauce and dough at Chuck E. Cheese, Little Caesars, and Papa John’s are vegan, while Pizza Hut uses vegan sauce, and its Thin ’n Crispy and dessert crusts are vegan. By omitting the cheese and choosing your favorite vegetable toppings, you can easily make a delicious vegan pizza.

Cici’s Pizza is inexpensive and will deliver to your home. Just make sure to ask about the vegan status of each item on your pizza. Cici’s also offers a pasta-and-salad buffet with many vegan options.

The Sizzling Vegetable Skillet and the steamed vegetable plate are your vegan options at Applebee’s. Additionally, several of their nonvegetarian menu items can be made vegan by omitting or substituting ingredients.

Boston Market has several vegan options, including the steamed vegetables, zucchini marinara, tossed salad (without the croutons and dressing), apple cobbler, chunky cinnamon applesauce, cranberry walnut relish, and fruit salad. The servers will also happily customize sandwiches upon request.

Bruegger’s Bagel Bakery has several breakfast and lunch options for vegans, including its blueberry, chocolate chip, cinnamon sugar, cranberry orange, pumpernickel, and rosemary olive oil bagels, which can be topped with fresh vegetables, Dijon mustard, or vegan hummus spread. Bruegger’s also serves several vegetarian sandwiches—which can be made vegan by leaving off the cheese and dressing—as well as several vegan soups, including Chili Cilantro, Gazpacho, Tuscan, Minestrone, Garden Split Pea, Marcello Minestrone, Roasted Roma Tomato, Vegetable Tomato Lentil, and Ratatouille.

All of Manhattan Bagel’s bagels are vegan, except for the jalapeño cheddar cheese and egg varieties, and their bialys—a flattened onion-and-poppy-seed bagel—are also vegan. The Manhattan Grille and Vegetable Garden sandwiches can be made on a bagel, a roll, or a tortilla and are vegan if you omit the spreads and cheese.

Another great place for bagels, breads, soups, salads, and sandwiches is Panera Bread. A bagel with Roasted Garlic Hummus is one vegan possibility. Each location varies its menu options, so just ask about their vegan options before ordering.

Even Denny’s—known for its traditional breakfasts, lunches, and dinners—has some vegan options. Denny’s vegan foods include oatmeal, English muffins, bagels, grits, applesauce, fresh fruit, vegetable plates, seasoned French fries, baked potatoes with several vegetable toppings, garden salads with light Italian or oil-and-vinegar dressing, and sandwiches that can be made with several vegetable options. It also serves a vegetarian burger.

Ruby Tuesday offers a fabulous veggie burger that's vegan if you leave the mayo and cheese off. It also offers a yummy veggie burger wrap and has a terrific salad bar.

Johnny Rockets features the Streamliner, a vegan Boca Burger with grilled onions, lettuce, tomatoes, pickle, and mustard. Cheers also offers a vegan veggie burger.

Subway offers sandwiches that can be made to order without meat and cheese—load up on the wide variety of veggies, along with some mustard and vinegar.

O’Naturals, a restaurant chain in New England, offers healthy, all-natural fast food for diners who want great food to go. Its menu features a large vegetarian selection, and vegan items are marked for easy identification.

At Chili’s, you can have the tostada chips and salsa as appetizers, followed by the veggie quesadillas—replacing the cheese and sour cream with extra vegetables—or the Cadillac Fajitas without the meat.

P.F. Chang’s is one of the most vegan-friendly restaurant chains around. Its vegetarian menu is terrific, and everything can be made vegan, from appetizers such as Tofu Lettuce Wraps to entrées like Orange Peel Tofu.

Taco Bell sells tasty and inexpensive bean tacos and burritos—just ask for guacamole and rice (both vegan) to be substituted for the cheese and sour cream.

Almost every restaurant will have at least one vegan dish available. By making educated choices and asking the server for assistance, dining out can be a delicious—and cruelty-free—experience.