Looking for a restaurant that offers a burger with no animal (vegan or plant-based) but also not wanting a patty like Impossible or Beyond?
I have gone thru the over 230 vegan guides on our website/resource, VeggL.com
, and have found 10 chain restaurants that offer them. Animal-free burgers made with no animals and full of veggies, beans and/or grains!
As a vegan since 2012, I was very pleased to see the many restaurants that offer a vegan-friendly veggie-style patty. These were VERY hard to come by a few years ago. As many of you might remember, if a restaurant offered a veggie burger, it contained egg and/or dairy. We rarely would come across a fully vegan option.
Lucky for us, this isn’t as much of a problem in 2023.
For each restaurant, I share as much information as I have been able to obtain–including ingredient lists–and how to order if modifications need to be made.
Which Chain Restaurants Have Vegan Veggie Burgers?
You can click on the name of each restaurant to see our complete Vegan Guide for each.
Bareburger
My Sunshine Burger / Cilantro Black Bean Burger
How lucky are we that Bareburger offers not only one but three vegan burger patties and two of them are veggie style with beans and veggies!
For the following burgers, choose either the sprout bun, lettuce bed, collard green wrap or flaxseed bun. According to Bareburger’s menu, these are your vegan choices but we suggest asking what the price difference is between each.
The My Sunshine Burger comes with a sweet potato, kale & wild rice patty, avocado, organic baby kale and organic tomato with spicy green goddess.
The Cilantro Black Bean Burger comes with a black bean and poblano patty with avocado, pickled onion, organic tomato and mixed greens with a citrus dijon sauce.
And if neither one of these sound good, you can create your own burger at Bareburger.
Chili’s
Black Bean Patty
In May of 2023, Chili’s changed their menu and some of their products. One in particular that we were excited about was their black bean patty. Prior, their black bean patty was vegetarian–it contained dairy and egg. Now, we have it as a vegan option!
Unfortunately, Chili’s did not create a menu item with the black bean patty so you will have to order a different item and then modify it.
Order the Oldtimer’s Burger with NO cheese. SUB the animal patty with the black bean patty. There is a new option to order a Double Oldtimer’s Burger as well which will give you two black bean patties.
What you will have is a Black Bean Burger with pickles, lettuce, tomato, red onion and mustard.
In the picture above, we share fries* as being the side chosen. *The fries at Chili’s share a fryer with chicken. You choose your level of comfort. See our guide for Chili’s to learn what other sides you can choose from.
Denny’s
Create Your Own Burger with Dr. Praeger’s Veggie Patty*
In March of 2023, Denny’s began phasing out their Beyond Burger and brought in Dr. Praeger’s California Burger. If you are not familiar, you can find many of the Dr. Praeger’s products in the frozen section of your grocery. You can also find this same Dr. Praeger’s patty at another restaurant we have listed below.
Denny’s Dr. Praeger’s California Patty contains mostly whole food ingredients: carrots, onions, string beans, oat bran, soybeans, zucchini, peas, broccoli, corn, soy flour, spinach, expeller pressed canola oil, red peppers, arrowroot, corn starch, garlic, corn meal, salt, parsley and black pepper.
Order a Burger with the Dr. Praeger’s Veggie Patty and NO cheese. It should automatically come with lettuce, onion, pickles and tomato. We suggest asking to verify.
You can choose to remove any of them and/or add caramelized onions, sliced jalapenos or sweet & tangy bbq sauce. You also have the option to add an extra patty and/or avocado for an extra cost.
True Food Kitchen
Vegan Double Cheeseburger
True Food Kitchen’s Vegan Double Cheeseburger is house-made with portobello, walnuts and beets then topped with lettuce, pickled onion, organic tomato, vegan cheddar and jalapeño remoulade; on a flaxseed bun.
We recently visited a True Food Kitchen in Georgia. While I did not try the Vegan Double Cheeseburger (I got the Spinach & Mushroom Pizza–yum), Ryan said the Vegan Burger was incredible! A friend we were with got it as well and she said the same thing. Both were very complimentary of the patty and impressed by the taste coming from the combo of vegetables and nuts it contained.
An additional note I would like to add to ordering the burger: You can get a side with it–your choices being, Kale Salad or Sweet Potato Hash. The Kale Salad is NOT vegan so you’ll be ordering it with the Sweet Potato Hash.
Buffalo Wild Wings
Southwest Black Bean Burger
If you are looking for a sports bar with vegan options, Buffalo Wild Wings is great. Be aware though, there are modifications for their Southwest Black Bean Burger and anything fried, at this restaurant, is NOT an option.
Order the Southwest Black Bean Burger with NO cheese or ranch. The fries* it comes with are fried in cow fat so you will need to choose a different side. You can also customize the black bean patty by ordering it in a wrap or on taco shells and/or with guacamole. Be aware this burger is spicy.
We have all of the details for sauces, sides and other vegan* options on our Vegan Guide for Buffalo Wild Wings.
Shake Shack
Veggie Shack*
In May of 2023, Shake Shack began offering a veggie and grain-filled burger called, The Veggie Shack.
According to Shake Shack, the Veggie Shack patty is made from portobello mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, sweet potatoes, carrots, celery, leeks, roasted red onion, roasted garlic, sunflower seeds, cabbage, beets, miso, chives, farro and quinoa. I will say from trying the patty, it is delicious!
Where the problem lies is Shack Shack chose to create a veggie burger where only the patty itself is vegan-friendly. This means you have a lot of modifications to make.
Order a Veggie Shack with NO cheese, crispy onions or shake sauce. SUB the burger bun with either a gluten-free bun (cost extra) or a lettuce wrap.
As you can see in the picture, I chose to use the lettuce wrap. Honestly, it balanced out the meal a bit because I also got fries and the non-dairy chocolate shake.
And since my burger was very bare, I asked for pickles and tomato to top it with. The taste was surprising in a really good way.
Red Robin
The Veggie Burger
We have yet to try The Veggie Burger at Red Robin but it is absolutely on our list.
If you have not been to a Red Robin either, they offer 2 vegan-friendly burgers. Only one do they consider vegan while the other, an Impossible Burger, shares a cooking surface with animal menu items.
The only ingredient information we have is that the patty is made of ancient grains and quinoa. We have contacted Red Robin for extra details and will update here if/when we learn more.
To order your Veggie Burger vegan, you will have two modifications. Order it with NO cheese or aioli. You will be served a vegan patty with house-made salsa, fresh avocado slices and lettuce on a vegan-friendly brioche bun.
You also have the option to create your own burger. All of their burger toppings are listed on our vegan guide for Red Robin and you can choose a lettuce wrap as your bun if you prefer.
White Castle
Veggie Slider*
Earlier we had mentioned that another restaurant carries a Dr. Praeger’s vegan patty. White Castle is it!
What’s great about White Castle is they have been offering not only one but two vegan-friendly burgers for years. In fact, they were playing around with different veggie/bean-based burgers long before they added Impossible in 2020.
The specific Dr. Praeger’s patty that is used at White Castle and Denny’s is their California patty. To reiterate the ingredients… it contains carrots, onions, string beans, oat bran, soybeans, zucchini, peas, broccoli, corn, soy flour, spinach, expeller pressed canola oil, red peppers, arrowroot, corn starch, garlic, corn meal, salt, parsley and black pepper.
When you order it, the menu says it can come with ranch or honey mustard so we suggest ordering it with the specific toppings you want or just say NO sauce to be safe. White Castle’s toppings are limiting unless they are offering a special on another burger and they just so happen to have more. The ones that should be there no matter what are what they call hamburger onions, fire-roasted onions and pickle slices. They may also have tomato and lettuce if you want to ask.
*Be aware though, White Castle’s burgers may share a grill with their animal menu items. Check with your location if this is a concern for you.
Hopdoddy Burger Bar
El Bandito Veggie*
El Bandito is a burger bar that offers a black bean & corn patty on a burger called, the El Bandito Veggie. It comes with avocado, arugula, tomato and onion but also requires a few modifications.
Order your El Bandito Veggie Burger with NO basil pesto, goat cheese or chipotle aioli. You can SUB with vegan gouda and/or veganaise (optional). We suggest verifying it is served on the vegan wheat bun.
They also offer salads you could add this patty to. See our Vegan Guide for Hopdoddy to learn more and for cross-contamination info.
Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers
Veggie Burger*
Freddy’s Frozen Custard offers a Veggie Burger made with mostly whole foods but does share a grill with their animal menu items. As we always say on our guides, we share this information with you and then you can choose your level of comfort.
The patty is made with soy protein concentrate, black beans, brown rice, onions, expeller pressed canola oil, corn, wheat gluten, red peppers, arrowroot powder, jalapeno peppers, chili powder, vegan natural beef flavor, flaxseed meal, garlic, salt, cilantro and black pepper.
To make Freddy’s Veggie Burger vegan*, you will order it with NO cheese or thousand island dressing. The burger will include the bun, which is lightly oiled and toasted with an animal-free oil, lettuce, tomato and onion.
We were made aware that some locations in Texas use egg in their patty. We suggest asking prior to ordering.
Habit Burger–Morningstar Farms
Veggie Burger on Wheat Bun
The Habit Burger’s Veggie Burger contains a vegan patty from the brand, Morningstar Farms. Lucky for us, the entire Veggie Burger is vegan as-is! It comes on a toasted wheat bun with green leaf lettuce, fresh tomatoes, cucumbers & raw onions with a sweet mustard dressing.
How good does that sound?
Habit Burger is another restaurant that not only offers a veggie burger but also an Impossible Burger. See our guide for current modifications because that one does need a few.
In Conclusion…
We may have been on a high for a couple of years when Impossible and Beyond began taking over the vegan burger patty scene but there have still been a lot of people who prefer the veggie-style burger. We’re thankful that so many restaurants are choosing to still offer them and vegan-friendly options in general.
Keep in mind that we need to continue to support these restaurants (along with 100% vegan ones) so we can keep vegan options on menus!
–> This information is current as of July 2023. If you notice any changes that need to be made or you are aware of another chain restaurant that is offering a veggie/bean/grain burger we are missing, please let us know!
* As with any restaurant that is not 100% vegan or does not offer a designated cooking space for their vegan options, cross-contamination can occur and fryers/grills may be shared with animal products. You can choose what your level of comfort is with these potential issues.
