Fast food restaurants have been adding Beyond Meat to their menus at such a dizzying pace lately that it feels almost impossible (no pun intended) to keep up. <– that statement was made in 2021 back when this article was initially written.
At the time, it was exciting to keep seeing plant-based/vegan options show up at chain restaurants across the United States.
We worked hard to keep each guide updated with ingredient lists (if we had access to them) and cross-contamination information.
We chose to compile a list of all the fast food chains that currently were serving Beyond Meat. There are a few still offering it; however, that list has dwindled.
You’ll first see the list of restaurants that are currently serving Beyond Meat (that number may be different than the title of the article as we keep this up to date), then the ones that had tested followed by those that once served it but no longer do.
Let’s get right to it!
Fast Food Chains That Serve Beyond Meat
Bareburger
Not only does Bareburger have the Beyond Burger, but they also have multiple vegan burger options. This includes a Beyond Burger, Impossible Burger, a Quinoa-based burger and a Black Bean Burger.
It’s one of the only places in the country where you may struggle to decide which plant-based burger you want.
Their Beyond Burger comes with vegan American cheese (one of only two burgers on this list that also comes with vegan cheese), sweet pickles, red onions, green leaf, vegan mayo, ketchup on a sprout bun.
Peet’s Coffee
Peet’s Coffee has over 300 locations across the US (over half of those located on the west coast) and it also has something that none of the other popular coffee chains does… a 100% plant-based breakfast sandwich.
Peet’s Everything Plant-Based Sandwich is made with all plant-based ingredients. Seasoned Beyond Breakfast Sausage is layered with fluffy Just Egg Folded and melty vegan cheddar on a toasted everything bagel thin.
We don’t personally have any Peet’s close to us, but we can’t wait to get a chance to try one of these fully plant-based sandwiches out!
With our airport guides being so popular, we have been made aware that Peet’s locations at airports seem to not carry their Everything Plant-Based Sandwich.
TGI Fridays
In early 2018 TGI Fridays began offering the Beyond Burger in their 350 US locations. The Beyond Meat Cheeseburger at TGI Fridays needs to be ordered with no cheese.
Also, choose the Challah Bun (Gluten Free bun is NOT vegan). Fridays plant based patty is seasoned and grilled, lettuce, tomato, red onions, pickles and Fridays™ sauce.
Carl’s Jr
Carl’s Jr serves two different versions of the Beyond Burger at their 1500 locations nationwide, but you do need to be a little careful in how you order it.
The Beyond Famous Star needs to be ordered without cheese and mayo. The Beyond BBQ Cheeseburger has to be ordered with no cheese and no onion rings (the onion rings contain egg).
We also want to note that while this may happen at many places, Carl’s Jr also confirms that their plant-based burgers are cooked on shared cooking surfaces.
BurgerFi
BurgerFi is one of the youngest chains on our list and one of the first to offer the Beyond Burger. Founded in 2011, BurgerFi partnered with Beyond Burger in 2017.
BurgerFi’s Beyond Burger comes with Ketchup, Mustard, Lettuce, Tomato, Pickles, Onions, on a Vegan Multigrain Bun. They also have a ton of other vegan toppings available if you want to get a little more creative with your burger.
Quick Serve Restaurants That Have TESTED Beyond Meat
KFC
In 2019, a KFC in Atlanta (Marietta to be more specific) became the first quick service restaurant to offer Beyond Chicken.
The Beyond Chicken came in the form of strips with a flavorful breaded coating.
We got really lucky on this one as this particular KFC just so happened to be about 10 minutes from our house! So, we got to experience the ridiculous demand that the Beyond Chicken received.
Cars and people both were lined up around the restaurant and even caused traffic issues at the intersection from all people wanting to try it out.
After seeing this unbelievable demand, Jen and I thought for sure we’d see Beyond Chicken on KFC menus nationwide sooner rather than later, but now roughly 2 years later it hasn’t come to be. (At least not yet)
Panda Express
Panda Express is the hot name in Beyond Meat at the time of this writing because Panda Express very recently began testing Beyond Orange Chicken at around 70 locations nationwide.
Our closest Panda Express, about 3 miles down the road from us, was tapped as one of the testing locations. We’ve had it twice now and it is excellent.
My one criticism is when you pair the Beyond Chicken with Steamed White Rice what you seem to end up with is a very, very dry dish. We both felt they need to add a little extra sauce to the recipe.
Outside of that, I would dare any casual Panda Express eater to try to tell the difference between the Beyond version and the animal version. To me it tastes pretty much identical.
UPDATE: As of early 2023, we have been on a ride with Panda Express and their Beyond Orange Chicken. I have the timeline broken down in the article I wrote when this last time the roller coaster was coming to an end.
Pizza Hut
In August of 2021, Pizza Hut announced that it would be offering a Beyond Pepperoni Pizza for a limited time at about a dozen locations.
Yet again we were (the Atlanta area seems to be a great spot for Beyond Meat testing) lucky enough to have a testing location close enough to try it out. I have to be honest here – it was possibly the best Beyond Meat featured product I’ve ever had.
Jen and I were both skeptical at first because this pizza wasn’t going to include any dairy-free cheese and that’s usually a deal-breaker for me when it comes to getting pizza from a pizza place.
Turns out, didn’t even need any vegan cheese, it was AMAZING! There was so much flavor, from the Beyond Meat, the sauce and the crust that it was one of the best pizzas I’ve had since going vegan.
Unfortunately, the trial ended and we haven’t heard yet when, or even if, Beyond Meat will be making a permanent addition to the Pizza Hut menu.
Fast Food Chains That USED to Serve Beyond Meat
Del Taco
Del Taco was the first Mexican quick-serve restaurant to serve Beyond Meat on its menu in 2019. One of their original Beyond burritos was the Epic Beyond Cali Burrito which featured not only Beyond Meat but Del Taco’s signature crinkle-cut French fries.
They switched up their featured Beyond burritos and Beyond Tacos over the past couple of years to keep things fresh and interesting.
As of May 2023, you will no longer see Beyond Meat on Del Taco’s menu. When we requested more information, we were told it is due to low demand. You can see the complete article that was written, here
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Denny’s
In 2020, Denny’s began serving a Beyond Burger. There were a few modifications you had to make… order with NO cheese or sauce but the bun, lettuce and tomato were all vegan-friendly.
Fast forward to March 2023, Denny’s has chosen to discontinue the Beyond Burger and is replacing it with Dr. Praeger’s California Burger.
There are plenty of mixed reviews on this decision from the vegan community. On one hand, the point of Beyond Burgers was to give an animal-free option that can compete in taste with an animal-based burger.
The switch would be for those that are requesting more whole foods animal-free burger because the taste is not even remotely close to the same.
A&W Root Beer
A&W first offered the Beyond Burger in their Canadian locations in July of 2018. Not long after, you could find a Beyond Burger some locations in the United States but as of 2021, it was no longer on the menus and did not get the chance of a nationwide rollout.
A&W got some buzz and confused people in 2022 when they debuted a 100% vegan burger but that was for Canada, not the United States.
Dunkin’
On 9 November 2018, Dunkin’ announced its new partnership with Beyond Meat at national stores nationwide. The Beyond Sausage Breakfast Sandwich wasn’t vegan by default, as it came with egg and cheese off the menu but could easily be modified by just omitting those ingredients.
However, in June 2021 Dunkin’ pulled the Beyond Sausage Breakfast Sandwich from the menu. We have to admit, we didn’t really get the sandwich much ourselves. After you took off the egg and cheese, what you were left with was a pretty overpriced sausage on a muffin.
Maybe if Dunkin’ offered something a little more plant-based friendly, they’d see the demand they were wanting.
Hardee’s
Hardee’s joined Carl’s Jr in late 2019 when both chains began offering the plant-based burger.
Hardee’s offered a Original Beyond Thickburger (it needed a few substitutions to be made vegan) as well as a Beyond Sausage Burrito.
However, in early 2021, the VeggL community started noticing that Beyond Burgers and Beyond Sausage Burritos were disappearing from menus. Are they gone for good? Will they come back? We’ve not been able to get any straight answers from Hardee’s, but for now, it seems that Beyond is not on Hardee’s menus.
Final Thoughts
If you’ve been reading through this entire article waiting for us to talk about Burger King and the Impossible Whopper, then you have your plant-based meats mixed up.
The Impossible Burger along with the Beyond Burger has been expanding to multiple locations as well and we’re already working on putting together an Impossible list just like this one.
We truly hope this trend continues of fast food restaurants putting more vegan options on their menus, whether it’s Beyond, Impossible or something else. Bringing plant based meats more mainstream and giving vegans and non-vegans alike the option to go plant-based for their breakfast or lunch is a great thing in our opinion.
Featured Image Photo Credit: Lori Butcher / Shutterstock.com
