What Are the Vegan Options at Pieology? (Updated Guide)

Oh, oh, pizza!

Who doesn’t want to indulge in a mouth-watering pizza that’s delicious but healthy too?

Pieology Pizzeria has plenty of vegan-friendly options, such as sauces, proteins, and toppings, as well as a vegan crust. What’s great about it is that you can create your own pizza, which is perfect for hungry vegans craving an oh-so-delish pizza!

Let’s learn more about Pieology and what pizza we can have from them.

Pieology, An ‘Environment That Creates Inspiration’

Carl Chang and James Markham opened the first brick-and-mortar location of Pieology in Fullerton, California, in 2011. Carl is the brother of the former professional tennis player Michael Chang.

Despite Markham’s separation from his partnership with Chang, Pieology continued its expansion in Southern California for the first few years.

In 2014, Pieology expanded outside Southern California and opened in Minnesota and Arizona. In successive years, the pizzeria has expanded to 8 more states, including Hawaii and Guam.

Its international locations include Mexico, Spain, China, and the United Kingdom. The company also has plans to open one in Canada.

In 2015, Technomic rated Pieology as one of the fastest-growing restaurant chains in the United States.

Pieology aims to become one of America’s most affordable food chains with an interactive experience. Each location also conveys a message that the pizzeria is created as an “environment that [creates] inspiration.”

Their locations feature a quote board filled with inspirational quotes.

Pieology is one of the major competitors of MOD Pizza and Blaze Pizza, offering artisan concepts and letting customers choose their own ingredients.

As soon as customers are done picking their own ingredients in the service line, Pieology staff will create the pizza. As the customers reach the end of the service line, their ordered pizza is ready to get baked in a high-temperature open-flame oven.

Pieology also has its signature pizza, salads, and desserts.

In 2019, the pizzeria received the Proggy Award from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for offering plant-based and animal-friendly proteins.

Pieology Pizzeria is headquartered in Tustin, California, and has more than 140 locations.

Vegan Options at Pieology

Fortunately for hungry vegans, Pieology offers many options you can have, especially since it offers an artisan-style concept.

However, there’s only vegan crust to choose from Pieology’s Gluten-free crust, which is all-natural and plant-based.

But the good thing is, there are plenty of options to eat vegan at Pieology. Check this list here.

• Crust
  • Gluten-Free Crust
    • It’s 100% vegan.
    • Other artisan wheat crusts contain honey, dairy, and eggs.
• Crust Rub
  • Vegan Garlic Herb Butter
  • Vegan Liquid Butter
  • Olive Oil or Sunflower-Olive Oil Blend
• Sauces
  • House-Made Classic Red Pizza Sauce
  • Garlic Herb Butter Blend
  • Sunflower-Olive Oil Blend
  • Fiery Buffalo
  • BBQ
• After-Bake Sauce
  • BBQ Sauce
  • Fiery Buffalo Sauce
  • House-Made Red Sauce
• Cheese
  • Daiya Mozzarella
• Toppings and Protein
  • Vegan Spicy Italian Sausage Rounds
  • Vegan Beef Meatball
  • Non-breaded Gardein Chicken Chunks
  • Spinach
  • Black Olives
  • Grape Tomatoes
  • Mushrooms
  • Banana Peppers
  • Red Onions
  • Roasted Red Peppers
  • Green Peppers
  • Jalapeños
  • Garlic
  • Pineapple
  • Fresh Cilantro
  • Fresh Basil
  • Artichokes
• Chef-Inspired Pizza
  • If you’re not a fan of Pieology’s Build-Your-Own pizza, you can opt for its Buffalo Vegan Pizza. It’s made with vegan crust, Daiya cheese, red sauce, spicy Italian sausage rounds, and vegan diced chicken. It’s also topped with roasted red peppers, onions, and green peppers, then drizzled with a yummy after-bake buffalo sauce.

You can also choose Pieology’s Build-Your-Own salad, especially since its Signature Salads include meat and cheese.

Here’s what you can have for its vegan salad options.

• Salad Base
  • Romaine Lettuce
  • Spinach
  • Spring Mix

Toppings, protein, and cheese are also available for your vegan salad, listed above for vegan pizza options. If you’d like a salad dressing, you can have olive oil with vegan garlic herb butter since Pieology’s dressings are all non-vegan.

Unfortunately, none of its desserts are vegan-friendly. So, you may have to get it off the menu.

Top 10 Vegan Pizza Chains in the U.S.

Nothing’s more fulfilling than feeding your hungry soul the pizza of your choice. Luckily, there are many pizza chains that serve the best vegan pizza that we all want.

So if you’re in the neighborhood, you should try these pizza parlors because they serve the most delicious vegan pizza you can’t find elsewhere. Trust me!

• Mellow Mushrooms
  • It was founded in 1974 and has more than 200 locations nationwide.
• Blaze Pizza
  • With 300 locations all over the U.S., the pizzeria also imposes eco-friendly packaging.
• Pizza Rev
  • It offers 3 different vegan crusts in all of its 30+ locations.
• &Pizza
  • It was founded in 2012 with more than 30 locations.
  • It’s known for its unique and delicious Spicy Chickpea topping.
• MOD Pizza
  • MOD meant Made On Demand and was founded in 2008.
  • It also offers Create-Your-Own pizza in more than 400 locations.
• Brixx Wood Fired Pizza
  • With more than 20 locations, Brixx is an order-from-the-table style pizza chain. It offers vegan cheese at no additional cost.
• Papa Murphys
  • It offers vegan cheese from Violife and is known for its Take ‘N Bake-style pizza.
• Little Caesars
  • It’s known for its Planteroni Pizza, topped with Field Roast plant-based pepperoni.
• UNO Pizzeria & Grill
  • Uno serves Beyond Burger Crumbles in its pizza and Daiya mozzarella cheese.
• Toppers Pizza
  • It’s known for serving house pizzas such as the Vegan Korean BBQ Chicken-Less Topper, Vegan Tuscano Topper, and Vegan Buffalo Chicken-Less Topper.

There are still a lot of vegan pizza chains around the country that you can try. You’re in the right place if they offer delicious and healthy ones!

Is Vegan Pizza Healthy?

Now here’s a good question. Is it healthy?

Yes, it’s healthy. In fact, it’s healthier than its non-vegan counterpart. Why? It’s because vegan pizza isn’t laden with cholesterol, saturated fats, calories, and carbs.

For instance, non-vegan pizza, which contains meat and dairy products, is known for having high cholesterol, grease, trans fat, and more.

Pizzas that include pepperoni, bacon, ground pork or beef, sausage, and other meat, contain trans fat, the most dangerous fat among all the other dietary fats.

The trans fat you get from animals is naturally occurring fats, commonly found in meat-laden pizza. This is common in frozen foods, including those used in most non-vegan pizzas.

It can also be artificially made by adding hydrogen to liquid vegetable oil to make it more solid.

According to the American Heart Association (AHA), trans fat lowers your good cholesterol (HDL) and increases your bad cholesterol (LDL). Over time, trans fat increases your risk of developing heart diseases, strokes, and even type 2 diabetes.

Trans fat is also found in baked goods, canned frosting, some vegetable oils, fried fast food, and many more.

So unlike vegan pizza, meat-laden pizza isn’t as healthy as its plant-based counterpart. And more often than not, vegan pizza isn’t considered junk food.

Top 15 Vegan Pizza Brands to Try

If you’re not into cooking or baking, or when there are days that you’re too lazy to go out to have some vegan pizza, there’s a better way to do that.

Nowadays, there are a lot of vegan food manufacturers that create delicious vegan pizzas. While these are usually high in sodium, their overall health benefits are way better than the non-vegan ones.

The best way to do it is to steer clear of any ingredients known for their unhealthy effects on the human body. For these vegan pizza brands, moderation is still a must, especially since sodium is a little high in these vegan frozen pizzas.

Have a look at these brands and try any of them to see which one you’d like the most.

• Alpha Foods
• American Flatbread Vegan Harvest
• Amy’s
• Banza Plant-Based Cheese Pizza
• Daiya
• Sweet Earth
• Tattooed Chef Cauliflower Pizza
• Trader Joe’s
• Wholly Veggie!
• Wicked Kitchen
• The Pizza Plant
• Oh Yes!
• Tofurky
• Blackbird
• Oggi Foods

If you know some vegan pizza brands that are not on this list, you have to try them too. As long as they’re vegan-friendly, having them is safe if you don’t feel like going to Pieology or any other vegan pizza chains.

The Bottom Line

Pieology Pizzeria, although not a vegan pizza chain, is still appealing to all vegan eaters, especially those who are into vegan pizza. The pizzeria offers a great selection of Build-Your-Own pizza from which you can choose your own ingredient.

What’s great about it is that it has almost 20 vegan toppings available for your pizza, as well as vegan-friendly sauces and after-bake sauce. It also offers vegan cheese from Daiya, but you can also opt out of having it and go completely cheese-free.

But other than Pieology, other non-vegan pizza chains serve vegan-friendly pizzas on request. You can check this article that I wrote about Barro’s Pizza.

Nonetheless, eating in moderation is still important despite the idea that it’s vegan. Some vegan dishes are loaded with sodium, which can threaten your health. Always choose to be healthy!