Chick-fil-A is a famous American fast-food chain known for its chicken-centric menu, especially its signature chicken sandwich, waffle fries, nuggets, strips, and salads. Founded in 1967 by S. Truett Cathy, Chick-fil-A has grown into a well-loved brand focused on quality ingredients and unique recipes. The chain also offers breakfast items, milkshakes, and sides, making it a versatile option for various meal times.
Beyond its menu, Chick-fil-A is distinguished by its exceptional customer service and unique company policies. Employees are trained to provide courteous and friendly service, often using phrases like “my pleasure” to enhance the dining experience. Notably, Chick-fil-A locations are closed on Sundays, a practice established by the founder to give employees a day for rest and worship. This commitment to service and values has helped Chick-fil-A build a loyal customer base across the United States.
Chick-fil-A’s menu, which focuses mainly on chicken and other animal products, isn’t very accommodating for vegans. While they offer a few vegan-friendly items like waffle fries, side salads (without cheese or dressing), and fruit cups, the choices are limited compared to other fast food chains offering more plant-based meals. Although Chick-fil-A has tried to add some options, it’s still tricky for vegans to find satisfying, protein-rich meals there. This shows the challenge of balancing the chain’s traditional, meat-heavy menu with the needs of vegan customers.
What are the vegan options at Chick-fil-A?
As its name suggests, the restaurant chain primarily focuses on chicken products. Of course, it isn’t excluded that they also have vegan options. However, after the first look it is pretty disappointing. At the second look, it isn’t better either. Here is the list of the vegan menu items at Chick-fil-A:
- Hash Brown,
- Side Salad (without cheese and substitute the ranch dressing),
- Kale Crunch Side,
- Waffle Potato Chips,
- Buddy Fruits® Apple Sauce,
- Chick-fil-A Waffle Potato Fries®,
- Fruit cup,
- Market Salad (without cheese and chicken),
- some of the vegan sauces: Barbecue sauce, Polynesian sauce, and Sweet & Spicy Sriracha Sauce.
- Lemonades (original and diet),
- Freshly brewed Ice tea (sweetened and unsweetened),
- Sunjoy (mix of lemonades and iced tea),
- Water,
- Coffee,
- orange and apple juices and
- some soft drinks.
That’s all. As you can see, Chick-fil-A hasn’t many satisfying vegan options.
Best vegan options at Chick-fil-A
Let’s check the notable menu items one by one!
Are you curious about Chick-fil-A’s fries and whether they’re vegan-friendly? Let’s find out!
Yes, luckily, the fries at Chick-fil-A are vegan! To be honest, this is the best vegan option at the fast food chain, which isn’t great news. Also, Chick-fil-A has many different vegan sauces, making it even better.
Which sauces are vegan at Chick-fil-A?
The vegan Chick-fil-A waffle potato fries are nice but even better with one of the plant-based sauces. Luckily, we can choose between barbecue sauce, Polynesian sauce, and Sweet & spicy sriracha sauce. While many places don’t use real honey for their “honey” products, Chick-fil-A Honey barbeque and honey mustard aren’t vegan since they do contain honey.
Kale Crunch Side
The second best option is right after waffle potato fries. It is naturally vegan, so we don’t have to exclude any ingredients. Also, the vegan kale crunch is super healthy since it contains nothing but kale, cabbage, almonds, and calorie-free dressings such as vinaigrette.
Market salad
It comes with grilled chicken and cheese, so first, you must exclude them. It won’t be that exciting, but it is considerable: a fresh bed of mixed greens topped with a mix of red and green apples, strawberries, and blueberries. It is prepared fresh daily and served with Harvest Nut Granola and Roasted Almonds. While it isn’t that filling, it is still a tasty and healthy vegan option at Chick-fil-A.
Waffle potato chips
It is an even crispier version of the signature waffle fries. Luckily, both are vegan, without question, if you don’t mind the potential cross-contamination.
Lemonades
Usually, I don’t mention drinks since they are so typical. However, at least at Chick-fil-A, they use real lemons for their fresh lemonades, which is notable. Side note: if you are afraid of the large amount of sugar, you shouldn’t order classic lemonade. Also, the iced tea is quite okay there.
Missing vegan opportunities and Chick-fil-A
While many fast-food chain restaurants are taking some notable steps toward veganism, Chick-fil-A is experiencing a vast delay, just like McDonald’s. There are no real vegan options besides the side dishes, which is quite disappointing. I have carefully checked the menu items that could be vegan:
Are there vegan breakfast options at Chick-fil-A?
While the restaurant chain is famous for its breakfast options, Chick-fil-A doesn’t offer any vegan breakfast options besides hash browns. Hash brown is vegan at Chick-fil-A, which is nice; that’s all for breakfast. You can also choose Polynesian, barbeque, and Sweet & Spicy Sriracha Sauce next to it.
Is the Chick-fil-A cauliflower sandwich vegan?
No, it isn’t vegan, only vegetarian and can’t be made vegan. Also, it disappeared from the menu, so it isn’t a question anymore. You can make a vegan sandwich at Chick-fil-A since most of the buns are vegan and there are many vegetables as toppings and three different vegan sauces. However, the protein will be missing, which is a huge downfall.
Does Chick-fil-A have vegan chicken?
While KFC has at least tried meatless chicken, Chick-fil-A hasn’t even considered it, at least yet. There is no any kind of plant-based protein option, just plain sides or salads.
Is Chick-fil-A frosted lemonade vegan?
No, Chick-fil-A’s frosted lemonade isn’t vegan because it uses ice cream, which contains dairy. However, the basic lemonade with lots of ice is vegan, which is nice.
Chick-fil-A vegan options in a nutshell
While I didn’t expect much from Chick-fil-A, it was still disappointing. Most fast-food restaurants are at least trying to offer something for vegans, but the former Dwarf Grill doesn’t even try. The Chick-fil-A Waffle Potato Fries are vegan, which is excellent. Also, three of the sauces are vegan, which makes the restaurant chain far better than McDonald’s. The kale crunch salad is a pretty good and healthy option, which is not ordinary among fast-food chains. Furthermore, the market salad could be vegan but won’t be satisfying.
However, these are almost all of the vegan menu items at Chick-fil-A. As you can see, all of them are nothing but side dishes. So, visiting Chick-fil-A as a vegan won’t be satisfying anytime soon. The restaurant chain hasn’t committed to veganism; as I can see, it won’t happen quickly.
