Vegetarian Fast Food Options for Road Trips

Vegetarian On-the-Road | Vegetarian Fast Food Options | Road Trip Soul

Are you a vegetarian planning a road trip and you’re worried about finding food you can eat on the road? Your best bet as a traveling vegetarian is obviously to bring your own food, but there are some vegetarian fast food options for quick pit stops if you don’t feel like eating what you brought. This post will offer guidance on the best vegetarian options at five of the most popular fast food chains in the United States, including what to get for breakfast or lunch / dinner.

Please note: I haven’t listed EVERY vegetarian option for the restaurants below, I just tried to get a nice variety of types of options. (For example, Burger King has sausage breakfast sandwiches as well as croissanwiches, but I didn’t feel it necessary to put both sandwiches on this list.)

What Does “Fast Food” Even Mean?

The first thing I had to do to make this list was determine what definition I was using for “fast food.” I came up with the following list of requirements:

  • Food which is mass-produced and served quickly
  • Chains in which most locations have a drive-thru (so you don’t have to get out of the car when you’re on the road)
  • Chains likely to be found in most states and in cities of varying sizes

This narrowed our options down to the following five restaurant chains:

  • McDonald’s
  • Burger King
  • Taco Bell
  • Starbucks
  • KFC

McDonald’s

Ah, McDonald’s. The ultimate fast food road trip stop. Unfortunately if you’re a vegetarian, McDonald’s isn’t going to have much for you in the way of lunch and dinner options other than their Veggie McWrap (and I hope you like fries!). Their breakfast options are a bit better, so if you must stop at McDonald’s, maybe do it before 10:30am.

Breakfast Options:

Lunch and Dinner Options:

Burger King

Burger King has a much more vegetarian-friendly menu than McDonalds does, even offering a Veggie Burger! Their salads are more substantial than McDonald’s salads as well, offering cheese and croutons as well as the run-of-the-mill lettuce and tomato.

Breakfast Options:

Lunch and Dinner Options:

Taco Bell

Did you know that Taco Bell is one of the best options for vegetarians on-the-road, even offering a certified American Vegetarian Association (AVA) vegetarian menu?

Breakfast Options:

Lunch and Dinner Options:

Starbucks

You can obviously always get a pastry or muffin at Starbucks, but Starbucks also offers sandwichs, protein bowls, and protein boxes for Vegetarians on the go.

Breakfast Options:

Lunch and Dinner Options:

KFC

KFC literally has the word “chicken” in the title, so good luck finding anything vegetarians can eat on this menu. You’re going to be limited mostly to carb-heavy sides –and KFC doesn’t even offer a breakfast menu in the United States. Maybe don’t go to KFC if you’re a vegetarian unless you’re SUPER desperate.

Lunch Options:

Do you have a favorite fast food vegetarian meal that I missed? Leave a comment below! – Lindsay

Vegetarian Fast Food for Road Trips | Road Trip Soul

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