Cheddar’s, also known as Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, is an American restaurant chain. It came into existence in 1979 in Irving, Texas. The restaurant operates in more than 170 locations spread across 28 states. Cheddar’s serves dishes made from scratch, which makes it different and unique from other chains.
You may not find many vegan options at Cheddar’s. The ones available are fries, chips, salads, etc., which are quite delicious. You can walk in or order any vegan dish with some decent sides and beverages.
Below you will find more about the vegan options available at Cheddar’s.
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Vegan Options at Cheddar’s
As mentioned above, Cheddar’s might not be the best resort for your vegan cravings. However, its menu includes some tasty, healthy dishes far from animal cruelty. Following are the vegan options you can order at Cheddar’s:
- Chips with salsa
- Steamed broccoli (without butter)
- Tomato tortilla
- French fries
- House salad (without cheese, egg, or croutons)
- Beverages
Now, some of these dishes would require modifications to turn them vegan. Read further to know how to do that and have a proper vegan meal at Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen.
Furthermore, you can find Whole-food, Plant-based options on Cheddar’s menu. It is for those who are trying to avoid fried and processed food.
Cheddar’s Vegan Menu
According to Cheddar’s representative, the dishes mentioned below are or can be vegan at the customer’s request. Here’s how to order at Cheddar’s without facing the risk of animal-based ingredients in your dishes:
Chips With Salsa
Cheddar’s serves fried tortilla chips with homemade salsa and queso dip. Queso sauce is a melted-cheese dip, so you should avoid it. However, their home-baked salsa is 100% non-vegan.
Tortilla chips with vegan salsa are a great starter before your fully-vegan meal arrives.
Warning: The chef uses the same fryer for tortilla chips as he/she uses for chicken and other meat items. If you are a strict vegan, this may not be a suitable option. You can always ask the staff whether they can make your order using different equipment.
House Salad
The original house salad at Cheddar’s would include green vegetables, tomato, carrot, cucumber, eggs, croutons, and cheese. Just ask them to hold the last three ingredients – eggs, croutons, and cheese – and your salad will be all vegan.
Add the following vegan dressings to your salad to embellish its taste:
- Pomegranate balsamic vinaigrette
- Balsamic vinaigrette
You can also get a vegan salad as an entree on a much bigger plate. Just be more creative with your order, and the worker will make it exactly as you want.
Omit croutons, glazed pecans, chicken, and cheese to make your entrée salad purely vegan. Usually, glazed pecans are vegan at these restaurants, but Cheddar’s is an exception in this case. Either they add honey for the glaze, or the overlay already contains eggs or dairy.
Steamed Fresh Broccoli
Almost every restaurant serves vegan-style broccoli rather than cooking it in butter or broth. However, Cheddar’s steamed fresh broccoli comes with a butter blend, the only non-vegan ingredient in the dish. Hold off the butter blend, and they will serve you fully-vegan broccoli.
French Fries
French fries are the best option for a vegan to order at any restaurant. It works great as a dish and a side to your vegan meals. Just make sure that they do not fry the potatoes in animal fat. You can talk to the staff or the manager regarding this purpose.
Like tortilla chips, the same goes for French fries. The chef might make them in the same fryer as non-vegan food. So, be careful and ask the manager about the equipment used for making fries.
Tomato Tortilla
Cheddar’s official vegan menu also includes tomato tortillas. So, you can get creative and make a fully-vegan soft taco or wrap filled with vegetables and vegan sauces.
Cheddar’s may not have various fillings for the tomato tortilla, but the available options are as good as any. Here’s what you can add to your wraps or tacos:
- Tomato
- Cucumber
- Broccoli
- French fries
- Shredded carrot
- Greens
- Broken-up tortilla chips
- Pico de gallo
- Salsa
- Vegan barbecue sauce
Beverages
Even non-vegan restaurants serve drinks that do not involve animal cruelty in their making. These are the drinks that Cheddar’s offers with your vegan meals:
- Coca-Cola
- Diet Coke
- Coke Zero
- Diet Dr. Pepper
- Dr. Pepper
- Fanta orange
- Barq’s root beer
- Colombian coffee
- Sprite
- Hand-crafted lemonade (with either strawberry or raspberry flavor)
- Iced tea (with raspberry, peach, mango, or strawberry flavor)
Options You Should Avoid At Cheddar’s
Some options on Cheddar’s menu might sound vegan, but they are not. So, avoid the following items whenever you step in or order at the restaurant:
- Sweet baby carrots: They include honey.
- Off-the-cob corn: It contains butter and chicken broth
- Southern green beans: They make it with bacon fat.
- Seasoned rice: The chef cooks it in chicken broth.
Why Cannot You Make These Dishes Vegan?
According to Cheddar’s representative, you cannot customize these dishes and make them vegan due to their preparation methods. However, vegan customers can ask the staff on duty about the cooking process of these dishes.
They may listen to your request as they serve made-from-scratch dishes. So, if you want to eat some vegan baby carrots or green beans, go directly to the outlet’s manager.
Whole-Food Plant-Based Options
A Whole-food plant-based (WFPB) dish does not contain any animal-related ingredients. These dishes focus more on fruits, vegetables, seeds, legumes, nuts, and whole grains.
So, if you do not want to eat processed or fried food, you can order WFPB options. For those people, who are on a WFPB diet, Cheddar’s has the following food items for them:
- Salad: Order without eggs, cheese, croutons, and other non-vegan items.
- Fresh steamed broccoli: Order without the butter blend.
These dishes are great options for your daily WFPB consumption. You can bring your own nutritional yeast to make them taste even better than usual. It works well with both salad and steamed fresh broccoli.
Nutritional yeast adds a unique flavor and is a suitable replacement for oil, sugar, and other processed food items.
Vegan Options at Similar Restaurants
If you feel eating at Cheddar’s might be a risk, try out these restaurant chains that serve vegan dishes:
McDonald’s
McDonald’s is a place where no one expects any vegan servings. However, the fast-food restaurant chain offers a vegan burgers at a few locations. They launched the McAloo Tikki burger in India, which became insanely famous in the country.
Now, McDonald’s serves this burger in selected locations. Order it without cheese and mayonnaise to make it fully vegan.
Manhattan Bagel
Most of the bagels available at Manhattan Bagel are fully vegan. The non-vegan bagels are the ones topped with jalapeno cheddar cheese and egg. Try the following items whenever you go to Manhattan Bagel:
- Blueberry bagel
- Chocolate chip bagel
- Everything bagel sticks
- Garlic bagel sticks
- Manhattan grilled sandwich (without sauces and cheese)
- Vegetable garden sandwich (without sauces and cheese)
Denny’s
Denny’s offers various vegan food items that you can easily order at the restaurant or from home. The vegan dishes include:
- Skillets
- Garden Salad
- Oatmeal
- Toast
- Red-skinned potatoes
- Beyond Burger
- Build your own burger
Denny’s has become a popular restaurant chain among vegans after they added these options to the menu.
Qdoba Mexican Grill
Either order the tortilla soup or make your burgers, tacos, and salads by using the following ingredients offered by Qdoba Mexican Grill:
- Corn tortilla
- Black beans
- Brown rice
- Grilled vegetables
- Potatoes
- Guacamole
- Fajita vegetables
Jason’s Deli
Jason’s Deli has plenty of vegan options for you to try. These include salads, toppings, dressings, sandwiches, and much more. Have a look at some of these dishes:
- Black bean taco salad (without cheddar, bean and corn mix, and sour cream)
- Nutty mixed-up salad (without chicken or feta)
- Organic balsamic vinegar
- Papa Verde sweet potato (without turkey, Asiago, butter, and ranch)
- The plain Jane (without bacon, butter, sour cream, and cheddar)
- Build your own veggie sandwich
To Sum Up
Cheddar’s is not an ideal option for vegan meals. You can try their vegan starters, such as salads and tortilla chips. But other than that, the restaurant does not have enough to offer its vegan customers.
Cheddar’s might add vegan options to its menu to grow its customer base. Since veganism is growing daily, we cannot rule out the possibility of every restaurant serving vegan meals in the upcoming years.
Currently, hundreds of restaurant chains have plenty of vegan options on their menu. Now that Cheddar’s is out of the picture dine in or order from these restaurants to fulfill your vegan cravings. You can choose from the ones mentioned above or look for other restaurants with vegan options on their menus.
