The multi-award-winning Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop is famed for its authentic turkey and cheese sandwiches that have grown popular as some of the best-tasting subs since 1976 in Wilmington, Delaware. Began as an aspiration of two siblings roasting fresh turkeys beneath their apartment to now making the best-tasting sandwiches in Las Vegas. Due to the success of the favorite sandwich place, they’ve started franchising and now have over 112 locations nationwide. Apparently, they also have a menu dedicated to vegetarians that are gaining popularity, but what about vegans?
Capriotti’s has already released its Impossible Cheese Steak Sandwich in 2020, and if you’re already familiar with the Impossible Burger from Impossible Foods Corporation, this is great news. They also have veggie turkey and cheesesteak, but all of these products are labeled vegetarian, but simply getting rid of the animal-based products would make them suitable for vegans, or maybe.
By far, Capriotti’s has four vegetarian sandwiches that can be made vegan and one make-your-own salad suitable for vegans, but apparently, having to get rid of some important ingredients in the sandwiches just to make them vegan-friendly along with a few franchise confusions, you might be interested in some other options, more on that below.
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Vegan Options At Capriotti’s
Alright, before we get into the menu, a few disclaimers to note, some franchises may not have vegan bread and may include egg whites as binding agents for the mock meats. The solution is always to check first with the franchise if they have products available or suitable for vegans. Remember, they mainly serve vegetarian meals, not vegan, so they’d be more accustomed to the earlier. Don’t forget to ask for no cheese and no mayo; replace with mustard and additional veggies instead.
- Impossible Cheese Steak – 100% plant-based burger with American cheese melt, mushrooms, and onions.
- Veggie Turkey – Mock turkey with lettuce, tomato, onions, and provolone cheese.
- Veggie Cole Turkey – Veggie turkey with Russian dressing and coleslaw. The Russian dressing contains mayo so say “no” to that too.
- Veggie Cheese Steak – Grilled mock chicken with mushrooms, onions, and provolone cheese melt.
- Cap’s Creation – Garden salad with mixed greens and toppings of choice.
Where They Get Their Mock Meats
From other sites, Capriotti’s mock meats breed quite the controversy for vegans. Since they’re labeled “vegetarian,” you might think at first that they can be easily made vegan just by skipping the cheese and mayo, but this isn’t always the case.
As from one chain review of Capriotti’s franchise in Easton, Maryland, they order a veggie turkey from Eat Worthington, which isn’t a bad food provider. However, they buy the meatless roast turkey, which is meatless but contains egg whites. So, this product isn’t vegan, but Worthington does have a vegan smoked turkey made from wheat gluten, non-GMO soy protein isolate, and palm oil.
So how likely are other franchises the same? Very likely, so if you were to order a vegetarian sandwich from any Capriotti’s, better ask them first what kind of mock meat they use. So far, their Impossible Cheese Steak is the only 100% vegan-friendly meat sub they have, and you can’t go wrong with the taste of it, even without the cheese melt and mayo.
If you do find that all Capriotti’s franchise locations don’t have vegan turkey and chicken substitutes, then consider that only their Impossible Cheese Steak and garden salad can be made vegan.
They also don’t have any allergen info on their website, and the descriptions for their products aren’t very lengthy, but they have a clear nutritional info table that can be downloaded as a pdf or rtf.
Other Vegan Sandwich Options
Having the Impossible Cheese Steak sandwich and some veggie meats are great choices from Capriotti’s that gave them a place in the hall of famed vegetarian sandwich restaurants, but honestly, they’re still lacking in vegan-friendliness because of their mock meat controversies and lack of plant-based cheeses, mayo, and dressings. The taste is top-notch, and many vegans still argue that even without the cheese, Capriotti’s vegan options are rich in flavor and greatly satisfying, but what really makes the best sandwich is the whole set of quality ingredients: meats, cheese, veggies, and sauce.
So, with help from VegNews, here are among the best vegan sandwich restaurants to try from 2021.
Whole Foods Market’s TTLA
TTLA stands for Tempeh Bacon, Tomato, Lettuce, and Avocado sandwich savored with vegan garlic aioli, and thanks to vegan actress Tabitha Brown, the mouthwatering vegan sandwich got the popularity it deserved. This may be a good chance to introduce your hardheaded meat-eating buddy to the real “meat.”
Tempeh Bacon is a vegan meat substitute for pig bacon that hopes to bring an end to the inhumane treatment of the cutely fat hogs, and it’s made with fermented soybeans and loaded with supreme health benefits, even more so than its cruel version. This is why Healthline highly advises the addition of this nutrient-rich ingredient in a person’s diet, vegan or not.
By itself (3 oz serving), it contains 162 cal, 15 g protein, 9 g carbs, and 9 g fat. It’s very high in protein and contains a good amount of calcium, about 2/3 of whole milk in a cup-to-cup ratio. It’s very low in carbs which makes it an ideal protein in sandwiches and rice. It’s also said that tempeh bacon helps improve digestion, lower blood cholesterol levels, and help prevent oxidative stress and chronic diseases.
If you have a soy allergy, though, you might as well forget about it, as fermented soybeans tend to be more annoying to your allergies than normal soybeans. Chickpeas and flaxseed are beneficial substitutes for tempeh.
Native Foods Café
This vegan fast-casual chain serves mouthwatering, 100% plant-based meals that are non-GMO and creatively made from scratch, giving each bite an inspiring and fresh taste. They’re famous for their vegan meats, and a few subs you definitely need to taste are the veggie Cauliflower Po’Boy, Meatball Sub, and the limited-time French Dip with real vegan provolone on beef-style seitan and baguette. Get yours before January 28th! You won’t regret it, swear!
Slutty Vegan
Yep, you heard that right; I know, sounds exciting! Well, the name of this three-year-old chain burger bar isn’t the only controversy; it’s also very “controversial” for having some of the funkiest and most delicious vegan burgers in Georgia. If you’re around or willing to visit, better take a bite of one of the hottest burgers around like the One Night Stand, Super Slut, and their best-selling PLT.
Souley Vegan
Dive into authentic Louisiana Creole flavor with this California-based restaurant chain. Their Ain’t Gater Po’Boy is the talk of the house, and its oozing Creole cuisine dressed in onions, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, mustard, and their savory po’boy sauce. All their meals are 100% plant-based and freshly prepared from scratch.
Ike’s Love & Sandwiches
The funky sandwich chain didn’t start off as a vegan-friendly restaurant from the roots but didn’t fall behind with its incredible vegan creations. A highly flexible and well-accommodating diner brings vegans the Meatless Mike, loaded sub-housing vegan meatballs, marinara, pepper jack cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and their own dirty sauce. Apparently, even the biggest meat-eaters love this sandwich, and PETA also acknowledges Ike’s Meatless Mike as the best vegan meatballs in America. What are you waiting for?
Spiral Diner
They say everything’s bigger in Texas, and this chain diner does that. Taking out their triple-stacked Mitch Tofu Club sandwich would be a bad idea. It’s just that “big” deal, so you better eat it right away at the restaurant and nowhere else. Grilled tofu, lettuce, bacon bits, tomato, toasty bread, and chipotle mayo speared together with a frilly toothpick. Also served with a side of potato chips. How’s that for a vegan meal?
In Closing
Without a doubt, Capriotti’s makes one of the best-tasting sandwiches (vegetarian, vegan, classic) in the nation because of their prized traditional cooking and standardized franchising protocols, and there’s no reason to avoid them the fast-casual diner when you’re near one. All this article does say is that their veggie meats may not always be suitable for vegans, and they still have a long way to go to becoming more vegan-friendly as they only presently have one sandwich that can be made 100% vegan.
I strongly believe they have a lot more potential, as they also state, and I honestly can’t wait to see more of their vegan-friendly creations and perhaps the day when they finally incorporate vegan substitutes for cheese and sauces. Capriotti’s highly prides itself as a rapidly-evolving craving solver to its customers, so they’d most probably introduce more exciting and delicious products for the fast-growing vegan community. For now, however, they’re more inclined to serve the vegetarians at hand.
So, while we wait on them, we could simply enjoy more of the other 100% plant-based sandwiches out there that we surely won’t regret munching on. Restaurants using Impossible Foods products are good places to start and perhaps even to introduce your unknowing friends to the healthier, cleaner, and kinder way of life.
