Carrabba’s is an American restaurant chain that serves Italian-American cuisine. Also known as Carrabba’s Italian Grill, it is the daughter company of Bloomin’ Brands. It was founded in 1986 in Houston, Texas, and is available at 247 locations across countries like Canada, Brazil, and the USA.
Carrabba’s may be famous for its delicious food, but not among vegans. It barely has any vegan-friendly dishes to accommodate those who don’t eat meat or dairy. Their vegan menu only includes pasta, bread, and salad.
Read below to learn more about the vegan options at Carrabba’s.
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Vegan Options at Carrabba’s
Carrabba’s may not have enough vegan options, but the ones they have are worth a try. Following is the list of food items that are meat and dairy-free:
- Bread with oil and herbs
- Italian side salad with vegan dressing
- House side salad with vegan dressing
- Grilled asparagus
- Linguine positano
- Spaghetti with pomodoro sauce
- Penne pomodoro
- Gluten-free casarecce with pomodoro sauce
- Whole-Grain spaghetti with Pomodoro sauce
- Steamed broccoli
- Sauteed broccoli
- Steamed spinach
- Sauteed spinach
- Beverages
These items are not purely vegan, but you can customize them to make them so. Below you can find how you should order at Carrabba’s.
You can also find a list of food options that do not require changing ingredients to make them vegan-friendly. Vegans who avoid processed food can try Carrabba’s whole-food plant-based products.
Carrabba’s Vegan Menu
If you visit Carrabba’s website, read the ingredients they add to every dish. The vegan options are fewer, but the restaurant is still among the top chains that offer vegan-friendly food.
Here are the dishes you can order at Carrabba’s!
Salad
Carrabba’s has two tasty vegan side salads, as long as you substitute the dressing:
- Italian side salad: It includes savory ingredients such as garden vegetables, kalamata olives, and romaine.
- House side salad: The main elements in this salad are romaine, pepperoncini, shredded red cabbage, carrots, and kalamata olives.
Carrabba’s has two dressings that will make your salad even more delicious. These are:
- Extra virgin olive oil and red wine or balsamic vinegar dressing
- Light balsamic dressing
Bread With Oil and Herbs
The bread at Carrabba’s is pure vegan. Most restaurants do not have vegan bread on their menu. At Carrabba’s, you can order their bread dipped in olive oil with herbs. According to its website, the bread does not contain dairy.
Pizza
At most of Carrabba’s locations, they do not serve vegan pizza. Even the pizza dough is non-vegan at Carrabba’s. However, some of its outlets serve vegan pizza dough. To be on the safer side, you can ask the staff whether they have vegan pizza or not.
If you find such outlets, ask them to replace the cheese with some veggies and use vegan sauces in the pizza.
Pasta
Carrabba’s offers a few pasta dishes that vegans can eat without worrying. Following are the vegan-friendly pasta available at their restaurant:
- Linguine positano: It contains crushed tomatoes, olive oil, basil, and garlic. Ask them to make it with whole grain spaghetti or gluten-free casarecce pasta.
- Whole grain spaghetti: This dish is non-vegan. You can skip them and order the spaghetti with pomodoro sauce.
It also has Penne Pomodoro pasta, but it comes as a side, not a dish. The staff might cooperate and customize other pasta options at some of their locations to make them vegan. Try the rigatoni pasta if they let you modify the ingredients.
Vegetable Sides
Carrabba’s has several vegetables you can order on the side with your vegan meals. These include:
- Steamed broccoli
- Sauteed broccoli
- Steamed spinach
- Sauteed spinach
- Grilled asparagus
Carrabba’s menu specifically lists these sides as vegan food items. However, make sure that the chef does not use butter or any other non-vegan topping in sautéed broccoli and spinach.
Beverages
There are plenty of beverages at Carrabba’s that vegans can enjoy with their meals. Here is the list of the vegan drinks served at the popular restaurant chain:
- Root beer
- Diet Coke
- Coke
- Sprite
- Dr. Pepper
- Unsweetened iced tea
- Sweet iced tea
- Minute maid lemonade
- San Pellegrino (bottled from Italy – sparkling)
- Acqua Panna (bottled from Italy – still)
Does Carrabba’s Pasta Contain Eggs?
Almost every Carrabba’s restaurant serves eggless pasta. According to its official website, whole-wheat spaghetti, pomodoro penne, gluten-free casarecce pasta, and linguine are vegan.
However, you have to check with the staff as some locations serve pasta that contains eggs and dairy. Also, their whole wheat pasta may also be unavailable at a few restaurants.
Is Carrabbas Minestrone Vegan?
Carrabba’s Minestrone is a non-vegan soup. It is vegetarian but contains dairy, which is not an option for vegans. Moreover, Carrabba’s does not serve vegan soups at their outlets.
Carrabba’s Whole-Food Plant-Based Options
Carrabba’s website does not have a full ingredient list of their dishes. That is why it is difficult to say which food options are vegan. Carrabba’s dishes that are likely to be purely vegan and do not require any modifications are:
- Italian side salad dressed with light balsamic dressing
- House side salad dressed with light balsamic dressing
- Whole grain spaghetti
- Steamed spinach
- Steamed broccoli
Other Restaurants That Serve Vegan Food
Apart from Carrabba’s, several other restaurants offer vegan-friendly dishes. So whenever you dine out, check out the following restaurants for delicious vegan food.
Mellow Mushroom
Mellow Mushroom is a popular pizza chain that has several vegan options.
Moreover, it has all the veggie toppings for your vegan pizzas. Their herb vinaigrette and balsamic salads are vegan-friendly. Just replace the meat ingredients from your pizzas, and use vegetarian toppings to get their tasty pizzas.
Pizza Hut
The largest pizza chain in the world, Pizza Hut offers Beyond Italian sausage crumbles, especially for their vegan customers. Most of their pizza doughs are vegan. Add marinara sauce and veggie toppings, and your vegan pizza will be ready.
You can order the buttery blend flavored crust for your pizza as it’s the only vegan crust at the restaurant chain.
PizzaRev
PizzaRev’s menu has vegan sausage to add to your pizzas. It is available at most of their locations, along with vegan cheese. Their original and gluten-free crusts are vegan-friendly options. Try one of these crusts with veggies and vegan cheese as toppings on your pizzas.
Stonefire Grill
Stonefire Grill has a wide variety of vegan options on its menu. All of their signature salads are vegan, as is their dough. You can order a pizza without cheese or have their unique cheeseless grilled veggie pizza.
Their vegan sides include breadsticks, cauliflower salad, nutty coleslaw, and grilled vegetables.
Tutti Frutti Frozen Yogurts
This is the right place to enter if you are looking for vegan yogurts. They offer various vegan-flavored yogurts, including peanut butter, soy latte, banana milk, black sesame, and plain soy.
You can top your yogurts with fruits, nuts, and several other vegan toppings. Their fruity sorbets also have vegan options such as strawberry, raspberry, pineapple, etc.
Yard House
Yard House offers Gardein products at all of its outlets. Two of their dishes – Gardein orange peel chicken and Gardein chicken rice bowl – are 100% vegan. Other food items are customizable and will not require much modification to turn vegan.
Their citrus soy salad and summer salad are both plant-based food items. If you remove the mayo and cheese, you can also have their Gardein grilled avocado and chicken sandwich.
Wendy’s
If you are heading to Wendy’s, you can order French fries, veggie sandwiches, garden side salad, and baked potatoes for your vegan meal. The avocado salad can turn vegan if you omit chicken and bacon. Replace them with other veggies and balsamic dressings.
Wendy’s sells fruits on the side that are good for those on a diet.
Ruby Tuesday
The famous restaurant chain will permanently add The Sweet Earth Awesome Burger to the menu after March. However, you can still eat it, as Ruby tests the burger at all 450 locations.
Their Endless Garden Bar allows you to make your salad with your favorite ingredients. You can either have this salad on the side or try other vegan options such as steamed broccoli, baked potatoes, green beans, and vegetable soup.
Conclusion
Now, you and your vegan friends can dine at Carrabba’s without worrying about dairy or meat. You also have other options mentioned above to eat vegan food. Finding vegan-friendly restaurants is quite a task.
Many people are becoming more sensitive toward animals and raising their voices against animal cruelty. Due to this reason, many popular restaurants and chains are adding vegan options to their menu.
So, if you don’t want to eat at Carrabba’s, try other vegan-friendly restaurants offering many delicious dishes.
