What a difference a year makes! When I first published this piece in June of 2018 I highlighted 5 restaurants that service plant-based eaters. Fast forward to August of 2019 and it’s clear that plant-based eating is hitting the mainstream market and making an impact. Here’s the top Plant-Based fast food joints (also known in the food industry as QSR’s or quick-service restaurants). These are easy to find when traveling and offer plant-based options. Not all of these restaurants offer WFPBNO(whole food plant-based no oil) food, but they’re choices available and allows you to decide just how far off the WFPBNO wagon you want to venture.
1. Wendy’s
This is a great “go-to” restaurant when you’re on the road. Order a plain baked potato and add chives and/or broccoli if you’d like.
You can also add their raspberry acai vinaigrette dressing to either the potato or with their side salad. If you get the Garden Side Salad (which pairs well with the baked potato) skip the cheese, ranch dressing and croutons as they are not plant-based due to the dairy.
This is the one restaurant on the list where you can eat a completely plant-based, no oil meal. That is of course, after you make some adjustments to your order.
2. Subway
Arguably one of the easiest to find quick-serve restaurants. Due to the large number of locations, (Did you know there’s more Subway restaurants with over 44,000 locations than there are McDonalds who have more than 36,000 locations?!) finding a Subway sandwich is fairly easy. Whether in an airport, along the highway or even as part of gas station service centers, Subway’s are plentiful.
The best plant-based|vegan option on the menu is the Veggie Delight Sandwich. This sandwich boasts of a 9-grain wheat bun (which does contain soybean oil so if you eat oil free foods you’ll have to decide if this is a bun for you) lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, onions, green peppers and cucumbers. Of course at Subway you direct the construction of your sandwich which enables you to put whatever type of veggies that you like onto your sandwich.
Some locations also offer a Veggie Delight Salad which is a great option.
As far as plant-based oil free condiments at Subway you’ll want to go with the fat free sweet onion or the red wine vinegar. The Subway Vinaigrette is considered plant-based but it contains soybean oil. The choice is yours!
3. Taco Bell
Similar to Subway, Taco Bell offers lots of locations helping to make traveling plant-based|vegans a bit easier. Stand alone locations or those that are nestled into food courts all offer a surprising number of plant-based|vegan options. Taco Bell has been working to make customizing their menu items easy. In fact in a quest to offer a wider variety of healthier options, they invite you to customize your order with “Fresco style”. This option replaces cheese, mayo-based sauces, reduced-fat sour cream and guacamole with freshly prepared pico de gallo at no extra cost. Not bad huh?!
What’s a plant-based eater to order at Taco Bell? You may want to start with their vegetarian menu and customize to make them plant-based|vegan. Do know that the beans and rice are vegan (yea!) but they both contain oil.
The vegetarian menu offers power bowls and burritos and you can go to town customizing them making Taco Bell a great choice for a quick-serve restaurant. They also have a very user friendly online ordering system with an app that allows you to place an order and pick it up at the location of your choice. Pretty sweet if time is a factor for you.
Fast Casual
Recent years have seen the rise of the fast casual restaurant primarily located in the United States. These quick-serve restaurants don’t offer full table service but pride themselves on offering higher quality fresh food that is minimally processed. These types of restaurants can be identified as somewhere between fast food and casual dining and their prices reflect this distinction.
4. Chipotle
Considered by many to be the best fast casual restaurant for a number of reasons. Chipotle offers plant-based|vegan eaters a tasty treat in the form of their Sofrita. This burrito filled with a mixture of tofu and sofrito (which is a blend of herbs and spices) as well as other tasty fresh ingredients is a great choice for a filling meal. Check out this cool infographic about what goes into a sofrita.
It’s worth noting that while there’s a few great plant-based options at Chipotle there’s oil in the rice as well as the tortilla. Know that going in and make a choice that’s right for you.
Chipotle is a wonderful option when you are in the mood for fast food but enjoy the opportunity to sit down in a more casual dining room and enjoy fresh ingredients.
5. Cheesecake Factory
So you may already recognize that the Cheesecake Factory isn’t a quick-service restaurant nor considered to be a fast casual spot. David Gordon, the restaurant chain’s president did however project that they expect their “to go orders” to reach 13%-18% of their total sales in 2018. They also are in the process of launching their first fast casual restaurant by the end of the year so perhaps in the future they’ll be included on the fast casual portion of the list.
Why is the Cheesecake Factory on the top 5 plant-based|vegan fast food joints? It’s all because of their Vegan Cobb Salad. Yep, this tasty treat is delicious and a meal unto itself. If the idea of “fast food” is your thing, then perhaps using their “to go” feature will fit the bill. Yet sometimes it’s great to simply go out to dinner and have options especially if your dining partners are omnivores.
One thing thing you may want to consider is the size of the Cheesecake Factory menu. In fact recently, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres (who also happens to be a plant-based eater) shared her thoughts on the size of the Cheesecake Factory menu. Check out this hilarious observation made by Ellen.
More of the Top Fast Plant-Based Fast Food Joints
Are you ready for this? The White Castle chain famous for their sliders are now offering a veggie slider! Not only are there two plant-based|vegan options, (the veggie with Sweet Thai Sauce and the veggie with Honey Mustard) but they’re offering the Impossible Slider in their U.S. locations. That’s right, they are using the plant-based burger in their sliders and they’re selling like hot cakes.
With more people interested in consuming a healthier alternative to beef burgers more restaurants are carrying plant-based options. Burger King, Carl’s Jr. and Red Robin’s have all introduced the Impossible Burger within recent months. More chains are either in the process of adding or are seriously looking into it. Not to be limited to burger joints, Del Taco (found mostly on the west coast of the U.S.) also serve plant-based “meats” in their taco’s. Clearly, as interest increases and profits are to be made, the future of finding plant-based foods in restaurants is brighter than ever!
Traveling? Check out How to Be a Plant-Based Eater and Travel Like a Boss.
May you find plant-based food everywhere you travel and if you’re in need of a quick serve restaurant, enjoy some of the items noted above.
Happy eating (and traveling)!
P.S. If you’re new to the plant-based lifestyle and are looking for a place to learn and gain some support and encouragement, join our free private Facebook group called She Builds Healthier Habits. Learn to take charge of your health and stay the course with the whole food plant-based lifestyle. Join She Builds Healthier Habits today!
P.P.S. Need some everyday “go to” plant-based recipes? Here’s 30 of my favorite.