All The Bojangles Vegan Menu Options
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At Cook Gem, we try to be as positive and optimistic about vegan options as possible. But some restaurants simply make that tough!
That’s the case with Bojangles: a popular Southeastern restaurant chain in the US somewhat similar to Popeyes or KFC. However, even compared to these two not exactly vegan-friendly options, Bojangles scores quite low indeed.
Put simply, Bojangles doesn’t even allow you to make a bootstrap vegan meal by combining several different ingredients or sides. There are very few options to check out, so we heavily recommend moving on or choosing any other restaurant possible if you need to grab a bite while on the road.
But if you are stuck eating at Bojangles, whether because it’s the only restaurant in range or because someone in your family really wants to go, we’ve put together this Bojangles vegan menu so you know what you can order safely. Let’s take a quick look at those vegan options and then we’ll go into more detail below.
| Menu Item | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Cajun Pinto Beans | Sides | – |
| Garden Salad | Salad | Order without cheese or croutons |
| Grits | Breakfast | – |
| Green Beans | Sides | – |
| Italian Dressing | Salad Dressing | – |
| BBQ Sauce | Dipping Sauce | – |
Vegan Sides at Bojangles
As you can probably guess from the above intro, Bojangles doesn’t have any main menu items or entrées for you to check out if you are a vegan. Even vegetarians have precious few options available.
That said, Bojangles does provide several vegan-friendly sides. These include:
- Grits, which you can eat for breakfast. Fortunately, these grits don’t contain any non-vegan friendly items or ingredients, so you don’t need to modify the order. That’s one of the rare areas in which Bojangles shines compared to other eateries across the US
- The Cajun pinto beans. These are naturally best eaten as a side, though they are quite tasty and spiced with some great flavors
- BBQ Sauce, though we don’t know what you would actually combine this with
- Green beans, which are another side and are usually cooked pretty well. However, cross-contamination could be a problem
- The garden salad. However, if you want to make the garden salad vegan friendly, you need to eat it with the fat-free Italian dressing and order it without any croutons or cheese. The salad comes with both of those toppings by default
It can be very tough to put together a filling meal for vegans based on the above selection. In our opinion, the grits are a decent if not exactly fully filling breakfast option. However, if you want something for lunch, order the garden salad and choose the fat-free Italian dressing. Then ask the server to add the Cajun pinto beans.
This will make something like a southwestern salad lunch for yourself without having to compromise your vegan diet. Plus, it might be enough food to fill you up and prevent you from being hungry 15 minutes later.
Bojangles Vegan Dipping Sauces and Dressings
Bojangles has two vegan-friendly dipping sauces and dressings, both of which were already mentioned above: the BBQ sauce and the fat-free Italian dressing. You can naturally add these to anything you like, but the only real choice is to add the fat-free dressing to the salad.
We don’t expect anyone will want to add the BBQ sauce to the grits or the pinto beans! All the other sauces and dressings at Bojangles are either made with animal products or have animal product ingredients in their formulas. So you should stay away from these even if they seem vegan friendly on the surface.
Can You Bootstrap a Vegan Meal at Bojangles?
Sort of. We’ve already broken down your real options above. So you can put together a reasonable lunch if a salad is enough to fill you up or grab a quick breakfast by ordering the grits, plus maybe a side of beans for some protein and fiber.
But it’s very clear that your vegan meal options at Bojangles are extremely limited. Once again, you’ll be better off going practically anywhere else or even stopping by a gas station for several vegan-friendly food options.
Bojangles Vegan Options FAQs
Unfortunately, no. That’s because all the fried foods at Bojangles are fried in combined canola oil and beef fat. There’s no way to ask for a change to this recipe, so all the fried foods are non-vegan by default.
No, sadly. The French fries are fried in the above-mentioned mix of canola oil and beef fat. Furthermore, cross-contamination is definitely a concern at Bojangles. Practically everything made in this restaurant will come into contact with a shared cooking surface or tool. So if you are a vegan who discounts foods made with cross-contaminated tools, nothing at Bojangles is safe.
No, so you can’t add these to your meal. The mashed potatoes at Bojangles all contain milk and there’s no way to change the recipe, so you can’t ask for a modified order.
No, although it used to be. The dirty rice at Bojangles now contains sausage, which isn’t vegan. Depending on the exact restaurant you dine at, you may be able to ask for the rice without any sausage, in which case it will be vegan.
That’s because all of Bojangles’s spices are pretty basic and are nothing more than salt-and-pepper mixtures or similar ingredients. However, whether or not you’ll be able to ask for an order modification like this is dependent on the Bojangles restaurant you visit.
Is Bojangles a Good Place for Vegans to Eat?
All in all, Bojangles is a terrible place for vegans to eat through and through. While they do have a couple of technically vegan-friendly options, cross-contamination is a constant concern and there’s nothing explicitly made for vegans whatsoever.
Given the fact that your only real meal choices are either a side of grits or a house salad mixed together with pinto beans, we heavily recommend checking out a different restaurant if possible. Not sure what to eat? Good news – we’ve put together a list of the best vegan friendly (and not so friendly) restaurants based on their menu options on Cook Gem – check it out today for more information!
