All The Texas Roadhouse Vegan & Vegetarian Menu Options
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Sometimes you have to stop at the nearest restaurant on a road trip and get a bite to eat. Or maybe you have been cajoled into going to a family outing. Only problem is, they’ve decided on Texas Roadhouse instead of a more vegan friendly restaurant!
Not to worry; this page will break down whether Texas Roadhouse has any vegetarian or vegan options for you to check out without compromising your diet. Let’s explore these choices, few as they are, in detail.
Vegetarian Options at Texas Roadhouse
If your vegetarian, you do have some options should you choose to dine at Texas Roadhouse. However, keep in mind that many of these choices will require some special ordering on your part. Texas Roadhouse does not provide very many vegetarian or vegan friendly foods normally. In fact, the restaurant lacks a vegetarian or vegan menu at all!
Your choices for vegetarian food at Texas Roadhouse include:
- Country Vegetable plate, of which you can choose four side items total. Unfortunately, as a vegan, you’ll be stuck with the side salad
- House salad, which includes cheddar cheese, eggs, and croutons by default. Naturally, you’ll want to eliminate these and leave tomatoes and one of two scratch made dressings: low-fat Ranch honey mustard or Thousand Island sauce
- Steak Fries, which you can order without the bacon bits. However, the fries are made in a shared fryer, so if cross-contamination doesn’t count as vegetarian in your eyes, these won’t work
- Buttered corn, which is delightfully prepared but which comes with butter by default. Order this side without butter to keep it vegetarian friendly
- Apple sauce, which is vegetarian and vegan
- Sauteed mushrooms
- Fresh vegetables
- Seasoned rice, which is also prepared using cross contaminated dishes. However, this rice is also made with chicken broth. Again, if that counts against your vegetarian diet, you won’t want to eat this rice
- Sauteed onions
As you can see, these are basically all sides. Texas Roadhouse does not have any entrées or main menu items that are vegetarian friendly or vegan friendly. This is perhaps unsurprising, given Texas Roadhouse’s reliance on animal products and meat-based meals. But even Longhorn Steakhouse does a better job, offering baked potatoes and similar bites for vegans/vegetarians.
Vegan Options at Texas Roadhouse
| Menu Item | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Applesauce | Side | – |
| Fresh Vegetables | Side | Order without lemon pepper butter |
| House Side Salad | Side | Order without egg, cheese or croutons. Oil & Vinegar is only dressing that is vegan-friendly |
| Steamed Broccoli | Side | Order without lemon pepper butter |
| Sweet Potato | Side | Animal products may be brushed on or used as a topping, verify that they do not do this |
| Steak Fries | Side | – |
| Texas Roadhouse Barbeque Sauce | Side | – |
| Oil & Vinegar | Dressing | – |
Unfortunately, Texas Roadhouse’s vegan options are much more limited than the vegetarian meals you can put together with a few special order requests.
For example, you can eat the applesauce by itself, or have the free peanuts that Texas Roadhouse provides for all of its diners. Unluckily, the House Salad mentioned above has to be ordered without eggs, dressing, cheese, or croutons if you want to make it vegan friendly. That basically just leaves lettuce – you may wish to add the peanuts or some mixed vegetables to make it more substantial.
The mixed vegetables themselves also have to be ordered without butter for them to be vegan friendly.
Vegans are able to order several appropriate drinks, including soda, margaritas, and most of Texas Roadhouse’s beers. However, some of the beers are made with animal products – ask your server for more information.
Texas Roadhouse Vegan & Vegetarian FAQs
No, unfortunately. The rolls at Texas Roadhouse are brushed with butter by default. But even if you were to ask for them not to be, the recipe for the rolls includes egg. So there’s no way to get these rolls as vegan friendly unless you were to make a special request of the chef.
This is a big downside since many other restaurants allow you to order dry or dairy free bread sticks for vegans. But Texas Roadhouse simply insists on including egg in the majority of its batter products.
Yes. Texas Roadhouse doesn’t make a lot of efforts to be very vegan or vegetarian friendly, so it’s best to assume that anything you eat from this restaurant was made with cross contaminated tools or on surfaces that came into contact with dairy or meat products at some point.
No, sadly – they’d probably be pretty tasty. Texas Roadhouse’s baked potatoes are not vegan since they are coated with bacon grease. That being said, you might be able to ask for your baked potato not to be, though it’s up to the discretion of the individual chef on duty at the time as to whether they will agree.
The same goes for mashed potatoes. Beef lard is used on the potato skins before the potatoes are even mashed, so there’s no way to change this recipe after you sit down.
Unfortunately, the batter used for the fried pickles contains eggs. Since Roadhouse doesn’t make the batter from scratch in small amounts, it’s almost impossible to get the chef to adjust this recipe for your benefit.
So, is Texas Roadhouse a Good Choice for Vegans or Vegetarians?
No, plain and simple. Texas Roadhouse is not a very good choice for either vegetarians or vegans. It has a very limited menu for both dietary regimens, and practically everything in the restaurant touches an animal product, whether it’s fat or oil, at some point.
That means Texas Roadhouse definitely won’t work if cross-contamination disqualifies in something as vegetarian friendly in your eyes (which is perfectly normal). Our advice would be to snack on peanuts and maybe some steamed vegetables if you have to eat at Texas Roadhouse, then sneak away and go to find a more vegan friendly restaurant at your earliest opportunity.
Hopefully, Texas Roadhouse will adjust its menu in the future to offer more vegetarian friendly or vegan friendly choices for its diners.
Want to know more about which places have vegan friendly or vegetarian appropriate menus? We have a big list of chain and sit-down restaurants available for you to check out. That way, you can plan your road trip and make sure you never have to eat at a restaurant without anything good on the menu!
