What are the Vegan Options at Chick Fil A?
With a name like Chick Fil A, a vegan wouldn’t expect to have much to eat at this fast food restaurant. As expected, Chick Fil A vegan options aren’t plentiful, but if you have to go, you will find enough to fill you up. Here you’ll find a description of everything plant based at Chick Fil A.
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Fast Food Fries!
The first thing most vegans will go for at a fast food restaurant is french fries, and yes, Chick Fil A waffle fries are vegan! There is no cross contamination since Chick Fil A waffle fries are fried in a separate fryer. This is great news, though shared fryers don’t make an item non vegan, since there is no residual chicken taste. The same can be said for Chick Fil A hash browns on their breakfast menu. Chick Fil A hash browns are also vegan, and the only other breakfast item that a vegan can have is the plain English muffin or add some jelly.
Sauce It up!
The following Chick Fil A sauces are vegan:
- BBQ
- Polynesian
- Sweet and Spicy Sriracha
- and Ketchup
Grab a few packets to enjoy with your waffle fries or hash browns.
Unfortunately, Chick Fil A potatoes are the only hot plant based items you will find at Chick Fil A. The only other vegan as is food items on the Chick Fil A menu are their fruit cups and kale crunch side.
Chick Fil A Vegan Salads
Chick Fil A has three salads:
- Market Salad
- Southwest Salad
- and Cobb Salad
All of these salads can be modified to be made vegan. First and foremost, you should ask for “no chicken, and no cheese” on every salad. Below, we will list what modifications you should make to each salad to make them vegan friendly.
Side Salad – ask for no cheese, balsamic, Italian or apple cider vinegar dressing. This leaves you with a basic salad of mixed greens and grape tomatoes, charred tomato, and red bell pepper.
Market Salad – ask for no chicken and no cheese, substitute balsamic, Italian or apple cider vinegar dressing, and ask your location if the granola packet has honey. This leaves you with a mixed greens salad, grape tomatoes, red and green apples, strawberries, and blueberries, along with harvest nut granola (if no honey) as well as almonds on top.
Spicy Southwest Salad – ask for no chicken, no cheese, and no tortilla strips (they have milk), substitute balsamic, Italian or apple cider vinegar dressing. This leaves you with a salad that has mixed greens, grape tomatoes, roasted corn, black beans, poblano chilies and red bell peppers along with chili lime pepitas.
Cobb Salad – asking for no chicken, no cheese, no bacon, no egg, substitute balsamic, Italian or apple cider vinegar dressing will simply leave you with a bigger version of the side salad. Depending on location pricing, it is probably cheaper to get two side salads instead of trying to modify this one to be vegan.
You could ask for a kale crunch side and add that to any of these salads to make them more substantial. If you need more crunch on your salad, ask for some Saltines. If you have any kids (or just like applesauce!), ask for a Buddy Fruits pouch.
Be careful, as no bread items aside from breakfast English muffins, is vegan at Chick Fil A. Even the wrap used in the Cool Wrap contains l cysteine, an animal product, so stick with salad and don’t try to make a veggie wrap.
Chick Fil A Vegan Options for Drinks
When it comes to Chick Fil A drinks, you’ll find that almost everything is vegan friendly. Iced Tea (sweetened, unsweetened, and diet), sodas, lemonade (regular and diet), Sun Joy (half lemonade, half iced tea), bottled water, orange juice, apple juice, and black hot coffee (they do not have any plant based milks, and the iced coffee is premade and not vegan) are all of Chick Fil A’s vegan options for drinks. Considerably better lineup than McDonald’s has in that regard.
Chick Fil A – Fast Food With Healthy Vegan Options!
Though the only true hot vegan food items at Chick Fil A are potatoes, there are several salad and side options that are vegan or can be made vegan at Chick Fil A. The most protein dense and substantial salads you will find at Chick Fil A are the modified Spicy Southwest Salad and Market Salad, both of which come with added protein in the toppings, even when you leave off the animal products.
Kale Crunch and Fruit Cup sides are welcome additions to round out this meal. Luckily, Chick Fil A has some of the best fast food fries and fresh made lemonade (okay, maybe not better than Jamba Juice’s), and this kind of makes up for the lack of hot options.
