Eating out Vegan
If you’re following a vegetarian or vegan diet, eating out can sometimes be frustrating. I’ve found this especially so at times when you’re with a larger group and don’t have much choice in the restaurant. The good news is, even if you can’t convince your party to try one of those hip new vegan restaurants, there are some chain restaurants that have decent vegan and vegetarian food choices!
Chili’s vegan menu, while not separate, grand, or expansive, still offers some of the best vegan options around. And if you don’t have ethical or dietary restrictions against dairy ingredients or eggs, their vegetarian menu is quite fabulous!
Scroll down to see all the menu items that are vegetarian and vegan-friendly options Chili’s offers. I’ll list all the vegan items first, and then move on to vegetarian. Naturally, all the vegan picks are totally suitable for a vegetarian diet. Some entrees and meat dishes can easily be modified from their menu state to be vegan or vegetarian-friendly.
*Fryer note* – Chili’s uses soybean oil in the fryers for all their fried food, so if you have food allergies or need to avoid cross-contamination entirely, you will want to avoid all the fried items.
Vegan Options:
Bottomless Tostada Chips and Salsa
Fresh Guacamole and Chips
Fried Pickles (without ranch)
Mexican Rice
Black Beans
Flour Tortillas
Corn Tortillas
Avocado Slices
Fries
Roasted Asparagus
Steamed Broccoli
Sweet Corn on the Cob (not roasted street corn)
Pickles
Caribbean Salad with Citrus Balsamic Vinaigrette
Original BBQ Sauce
House BBQ Sauce
Fresh Pineapple
Mandarin Oranges
Vegetarian Options:
Awesome Blossom Petals
Crispy Cheddar Bites
Black Bean Patty
Burger Buns
(Try the Oldtimer Burger with black bean patty instead of meat!)
Black Bean and Veggie Fajitas
Fajita Toppings
Loaded Mashed Potatoes without Bacon
Quesadilla Explosion Salad without Chicken
Chipotle Bowl without Protein
Kids Cheese Quesadilla
Kids Cheese Pizza
Side Coleslaw
Mashed Potatoes without Gravy
Sautéed Mushrooms
Garlic Toast
Roasted Street Corn
Honey Mustard
Ranch Dressing
Ancho Chili Ranch
Avocado Ranch
Honey-Lime Dressing
Honey Lime Vinaigrette
Santa Fe
Thousand Island
Cheddar Cheese
Pepper Jack Cheese
Swiss Cheese
Molten Chocolate Cake
Cheesecake
Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie
Unfortunately, none of the soups chili’s offers are vegan or vegetarian friendly.
How I eat vegan at Chili’s:
This would be my personal vegan order if I were eating 100% vegan at chilis.
Mexican Rice
Black beans (these are actually really flavorful and very yummy!!)
Tortillas
French fries
Tortilla chips and Guacamole
How I eat vegetarian at Chili’s:
There are definitely way more vegetarian-friendly options here, and you can even dive into the kid’s menu for some fun choices!
But, since I’m at Chili’s, and I already know I’m not having those famous baby back ribs (Que Michael Scott singing!) I’m usually going to opt for the Black Bean and Veggie Fajitas. I like them over most other restaurant vegetable fajitas because they actually use their black bean patty as the fajita protein! So you’ve got more substance to your meal than just peppers and onions. (Or squash and zucchini – no lie! Once I ordered veggie fajitas and that’s what came out.. no thanks!)
Oh, and the molten lava cake is vegetarian and 100% worth it – so delicious!
Chili’s veggie burger is also very tasty! It’s unfortunate they haven’t adopted a vegan-friendly burger yet – this one still contains both egg and milk. A Beyond or Impossible would be great – but so far, they don’t offer them.
Next time you’re headed out to the Chili’s restaurant chain, I hope you find this post a helpful resource!
On their website, Chili’s offers their Allergen / Vegetarian / Vegan Matrix, which is where conducted most of my research for this post. Feel free to check it out if you want more details. They list all regular menu items in a spreadsheet and note which items contain dairy products, eggs, fish, soy, gluten, nuts, etc.
If you need some vegan or vegetarian options for a faster meal, check out my post on The Best Vegan and Vegetarian Options at Sonic!
