Founded and headquartered in Boston, Au Bon Pain ( French for “from good bread”) is an established fast-casual restaurant and bakery café chain with more than 250 locations across the US as well as overseas.
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The brand considers fresh-baked, good bread as the foundation of each and every good meal, which why it’s a key ingredient in most of its menu items, including soups, salads, sandwiches, snacks, and more.
While vegetarians have plenty of options to choose from, vegans not so much – we’re limited to just some breads, hummus, and generally a couple soups they have available that day.
Au Bon Pain Vegan Bread & Bagel Options:
- Country White Bread
- Everything Artisan Farmhouse Roll
- Ciabatta
- Whole Wheat Tortilla Wrap
- Tortilla Wrap
- Semolina Bread ( with sourdough & sesame)
- Rustic Baguette
- Multi-grain Baguette
- Skinny Wheat Bagel
- Everything Bagel
- Plain Bagel
- Sesame Bagel
- Cinnamon Raisin Bagel
All the above Au Bon Pain breads are vegan except Asiago Breadstick (made with Asiago cheese). All other bakery products contain eggs, buttermilk, and other dairy products. None of the brand’s muffins, scones, croissants, brownies, and cookies are vegan-friendly.
Also the ‘Everything’ seasoning is just garlic, onion, sesame & poppy seeds — it doesn’t contain cheese or anything naughty. It’s vegan-friendly, and delicious.
Vegan ‘Breakfast’ Options at Au Bon Pain:
- Classic Oatmeal (100% natural rolled oats)
That’s the only vegan-friendly breakfast at Au Bon Pain; all of the others contain eggs, dairy, and meat.
Of course there’s often bread and some of the below options available, even during breakfast time, so don’t fret if you’re going at breakfast. That’s just the only official breakfast item that is vegan-friendly. Au Bon Pain pretty much always has bread and hummus on hand — it’s just the soups might not be ready if you come too early.
Au Bon Pain Vegan Sandwiches & Wraps:
- Mediterranean Wrap (Specify no feta – maybe try to swap for tofu)
- Chipotle Black Bean Burger with Avocado (Specify no Cheese or Chipotle Aloi)
-
Caprese Sandwich (Specify no Cheese or Pesto sauce — try to swap for tofu)
These are pretty good — if you can get them made vegan. Apparently some locations (smaller ones) premake these sandwiches so they can’t be made vegan, however it’s worth a try as if they make them fresh they’re easily made vegan.
Vegan Soups at Au Bon Pain:
- 12 Veggie Soup
This nutrient-rich soup is vegan by default.. Made with lots of vegetables – yellow zucchini, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, zucchini, onions, peas, red bell peppers, broccoli, celery, garlic – corn, mushrooms, and spices, simmered in vegetable broth (120 calories per serving).
- Barley & Creamy Lentil Soup
This low-fat and low-sodium delicious and nutritious soup ( barley flakes, spinach, lentils, tomato puree, vegetable base, garlic, spices, and turmeric) is also 100% vegan and requires no modifications (210 calories per serving)
- Tuscan White Bean Soup
Another Au Bon Pain vegan soup made with white kidney beans, escarole, diced tomatoes, carrot puree, chopped garlic, celery, and mushroom extract simmered in a hearty veggie broth with Tuscan herbs (230 calories per serving)
Keep in mind not all soups may be available, however they definitely should have 2/3 vegan soups above, or at the very least one of them. They’re all quite good with some bread dunked in them, I prefer the Barley & Lentil, but the others are quite nice too in my experience.
To clarify the non-vegan soups: The Roasted Eggplant, Harvest Pumpkin, Wild Mushroom Bisque, Tomato Basil Bisque, and Corn & Green Chili Bisque (soups) contain butter, heavy cream, and/or milk, and generally you won’t be able to veganize them due to not being made-from-scratch each order, but rather are made in batches.
Au Bon Pain Vegan Salad Options:
- Mediterranean Salad (specify no feta)
The Mediterranean Salad contains Hummus, Romaine lettuce, mixed greens, red bell peppers, tomatoes, avocado, cucumbers, and Kalamata olives. Obviously, you’ll need to skip feta cheese — but otherwise it’s vegan-friendly and quite substantial — although we still prefer the bread + soups for a ‘substantial’ feeling meal.
Balsamic Vinaigrette is the only vegan-friendly salad dressing they seem to currently offer, which doesn’t make any sense for the vegan salad options (hummus + Balsamic isn’t my jam), but hey they have it if you want it.
Au Bon Pain Vegan Snacks & To-Go Items:
- Hummus
- Fruit Cup ( honeydew melon, cantaloupe, grapes & watermelon)
- Mixed Nuts ( almonds, cashews, and peanut oil)
- Fresh Grapes
Unfortunately their granola contains butter/dairy and thus isn’t vegan friendly, so make sure to skip it.
Beyond these options Au Bon Pain vegan beverages include iced coffee, hot coffee & espresso, hot and iced tea, as well as refreshing cold beverages such as Homestyle Lemonade and Strawberry-infused Lemonade.
As you can see, there are quite a few vegan options at Au Bon Pain, including all breads except one, and 3 nutrient-rich, vegan soups that need no substitutions. All the ingredients of each and every menu item are listed on the bakery cafés website, and this makes it easier for vegans to choose the right meals.
