How to Find Vegan-Friendly Restaurants Anywhere 

Finding vegan-friendly restaurants is as easy as one, two, three. Many fast food, fast casual, and table service restaurant chains offer vegan options or menu items that can be made vegan with simple requests.  

1. Use Apps, Google, and AI to Look for Vegan Restaurants 

The HappyCow app is the easiest way to find vegan and vegan-friendly restaurants near you. The app is a must for travelers and even works in 185 countries.  

If you ask Google or an AI chatbot like Gemini or ChatGPT for “vegan options near me,” they will show you lists of nearby restaurants as well as restaurants where people have mentioned vegan food in their reviews. 

PETA maintains a long list of vegan options at chain restaurants so you don’t have to do all the digging yourself. 

2. Check Menus Online for Vegan Options and Items That Can Be Made Vegan 

Most restaurants offer their menus online and many even provide information about ingredients and allergens. As you browse the menu, keep an eye out for common dishes like these, which can often be made vegan with a few easy changes: 

• Veggie Burgers: Many veggie burger patties don’t contain dairy or eggs, such as Beyond Burgers and Morningstar Garden Veggie Burgers. You may have to ask for no mayo, cheese, and swap the bun to a lettuce wrap if it isn’t vegan. But many places now have plant-based cheese and buns—just ask your server! 

• Burritos and Tacos: Many Mexican restaurants can make burritos and tacos with beans, rice, and vegetables. Just ask them to skip cheese and sour cream. A few restaurants may use animal fat to make beans or chicken bouillon when preparing rice, so call ahead or ask to confirm. When all else fails, a meal of corn tortillas, veggies, and lots of guacamole will hit the spot. 

• Pasta: Italian restaurants can almost always make a vegan pasta by using marinara sauce on the pasta without cheese.  

• Pizza: Restaurants can often make a vegan pizza by holding the cheese and using veggie and fruit toppings. Many pizza chains even offer vegan cheese. Check if the restaurant offers a crust that doesn’t contain milk or eggs, most are already vegan by default. 

• Asian Dishes: Stir-fries and noodle dishes can often be made vegan if you choose noodles without eggs and ask the restaurant to leave out any meat, eggs, and sauces made from fish or oysters. 

• Salads: Salads at restaurants can often be made vegan if you ask for them without any meat, cheese, or eggs. Ask the restaurant if they have a salad dressing without milk, eggs, or fish (often vinaigrettes or oil-based dressings). 

3. Remember Why You Look for Vegan Options at Restaurants 

Pigs are smart and social—they recognize their names, play games, and bond with others. Chickens form friendships and can recognize more than 100 faces. Like all mothers, cows form deep bonds with their babies who are taken from them after birth in the dairy industry. 

But the meat, dairy, and egg industries condemn these smart and sensitive individuals to miserable lives on farms and violent deaths at slaughterhouses. Every vegan meal you order at a restaurant is a vote against a system built on suffering. 

Going with the vegan option at restaurants isn’t just good for animals—it’s good for you too. Vegans enjoy lower risks of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and certain cancers.  

Save your favorite restaurants and go-to orders, and bookmark PETA’s chain-restaurant vegan guide. Before long, you won’t be searching for vegan options—you’ll already know exactly where to go.