Vegan Options at Einstein Bros Bagels
Einstein Bros. Bagels is a bagel and coffee chain with hundreds of locations across the United States, baking bagels since 1995.
Answer: yes, but fewer than this article used to claim. Einstein Bros. publishes a nutrition and allergen guide, and by that guide most of its classic bagels carry no declared milk or egg. Several items an earlier version of this page recommended do not hold up: the Apple Cinnamon and Maple French Toast gourmet bagels contain milk, the Power Protein bagel is no longer on the menu, and there is no dairy-free cream cheese at Einstein Bros. at all — every shmear on the current menu declares milk.
We got this page wrong before and have rewritten it against the brand’s own documents. Two things are worth understanding before the lists below.
First, what Einstein Bros. publishes is an allergen guide, not a vegan list. The Einstein Bros. Nutrition Guide 2026 (accessed 28 July 2026) declares nine allergens per item — egg, milk, soy, wheat, tree nuts, peanuts, fish, shellfish and sesame. It does not declare honey, gelatin, carmine or other animal-derived ingredients that are not allergens, and it marks nothing as vegan or vegetarian. So the strongest honest statement about anything below is “no declared milk or egg per Einstein Bros.’ own guide” — which is not the same as certified vegan.
Second, the guide’s own note reads: “Nutrition information is based upon standard recipes, and rounded per federal requirements. Variations may occur due to differences in suppliers, customized ordering, and product preparation at the restaurant. Test products or regional items may not be included and may not be available in all areas.” Bagels are baked and handled in the same kitchen as egg sandwiches and cheese bagels, and Einstein Bros. publishes no separate cross-contact statement, so shared surfaces and shared toasters are worth asking about in store.
Menu items and descriptions below come from the current Einstein Bros. menu (accessed 28 July 2026).
Classic Bagels
These are the classic bagels on the current menu that carry no declared egg or milk in the 2026 allergen guide. All of them declare wheat, and most also declare sesame.
Plain
The baseline bagel. Declares wheat and sesame; no egg or milk declared.
Everything
Topped with Einstein Bros.’ Everything Bagel Seasoning — sesame seeds, poppy seeds, onion, garlic and salt. Declares wheat and sesame; no egg or milk declared.
Cranberry
Tart and sweet cranberries baked in. Declares soy (soybean oil), wheat and sesame; no egg or milk declared.
Cinnamon Raisin
Cinnamon swirl with raisins baked in. Declares wheat and sesame; no egg or milk declared.
Onion
Topped with minced onion. Declares wheat and sesame; no egg or milk declared. Note that the obvious pairing — cream cheese — is not an option here, because Einstein Bros. no longer offers a dairy-free shmear.
Ancient Grain
Made with amaranth, chia seeds, quinoa, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and flax. Declares soy (soybean oil) and wheat; no egg or milk declared, and no tree nuts.
Garlic
Topped with toasted garlic and sesame seeds. Declares wheat and sesame; no egg or milk declared.
Poppy Seed
Topped with poppy seeds. Declares wheat and sesame; no egg or milk declared.
Sesame Seed
Topped with sesame seeds. Declares wheat and sesame; no egg or milk declared.
Pumpernickel
Made with rye flour, molasses and caraway seeds. Declares wheat only — no egg, no milk, and no sesame.
The one classic bagel to skip: Honey Whole Wheat. Einstein Bros.’ own description is “whole wheat flour and a touch of honey”, so it is not vegan regardless of what the allergen columns say — honey is not an allergen and does not appear in an allergen matrix.
Signature Bagels
Three of the five signature bagels carry no declared egg or milk:
Blueberry
Blueberries baked in. Declares wheat and sesame; no egg or milk declared.
Chocolate Chip
Chocolate chips baked in. Declares soy, wheat and sesame; no egg or milk declared, which means the chips used are not a milk-containing formulation by the brand’s own allergen data.
Pretzel
Baked like a traditional soft pretzel and topped with salt. Declares wheat and sesame; no egg or milk declared.
The two signature bagels to skip: the Asiago Cheese bagel and the Cinnamon Sugar bagel. Both declare milk in the 2026 guide — the Cinnamon Sugar one is easy to get wrong, because nothing in the name suggests dairy.
Gourmet Bagels — None Are Vegan
An earlier version of this article recommended the Apple Cinnamon and Power Protein gourmet bagels. That was wrong, and here is the correction.
Apple Cinnamon declares milk in the 2026 allergen guide, alongside soy and wheat. It is not vegan. The brand describes it as a gourmet bagel topped with apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cinnamon crunch streusel.
The French Toast bagel is now the Maple French Toast Gourmet Bagel, and it declares milk as well. It is not vegan either.
Power Protein is not on the current Einstein Bros. menu. It still appears in the nutrition guide, where it declares wheat and tree nuts (walnuts) — but our own earlier description of it listed honey among its ingredients, which would rule it out for vegans in any case. Do not plan a visit around it.
Every other gourmet bagel — Cheddar Jalapeño, Cheesy Hash Brown, Green Chile, Six-Cheese and Spinach Florentine — declares milk. The gourmet range is a dead end for vegans.
Bagel Thins
Three of the four thins carry no declared egg or milk: Plain, Everything and Ancient Grain. The fourth is Honey Whole Wheat — as with the full-size version, it contains honey.
What Vegan Items Can You Put On Your Bagel?
This is where the biggest correction on this page falls. Einstein Bros. does not currently offer a vegan or dairy-free cream cheese. All six shmears on the menu — Plain, Garden Veggie, Honey Almond, Jalapeño Salsa, Onion & Chive and Strawberry — declare milk in the 2026 guide. The Daiya dairy-free shmear this article previously pointed to is not on the menu or in the allergen guide.
What is left, per the guide:
- Natural Strawberry Jam — no declared allergens at all
- Natural Peanut Butter — declares soy and peanuts; no milk or egg
- Smashed avocado — no declared allergens
The Butter Blend declares milk and soy. Honey is offered as a spread and is not vegan. Hummus is not on the current menu.
Vegan Bread at Einstein Bros Bagels
The specialty breads in the 2026 guide are the Bagel Roll (soy, wheat), the Ciabatta Roll (wheat only) and the Flour Tortilla (soy, wheat). None declare egg or milk. The Ciabatta Roll is marked as available at licensed locations only — airports, hospitals and college campuses. Potato bread and multigrain bread, which this article previously listed, are not on the current menu or in the guide.
Other Things to Put on Bread or Bagel
The produce Einstein Bros. lists, none of it declaring egg or milk:
- Red onion
- Cucumber
- Capers
- Tomato
- Leaf lettuce
- Pickle spear
- Spinach
- Avocado
Arugula is no longer listed. Neither are the sautéed mushrooms and granola this article used to warn about — both are off the menu.
Vegan Sides Available at Einstein Bros Bagels
The sides list has shrunk to two items, and only one works. Sea Salt Chips — classic sea salt kettle-cooked potato chips — declare no allergens at all in the 2026 guide. The Twice-Baked Hash Brown declares milk and is made with cream cheese shmear and grated cheeses.
The jalapeño and barbecue kettle chips, the vegetarian chili soup, the fruit cup and the salads this article previously listed are not on the current menu and do not appear in the guide.
One item worth knowing about that this article never mentioned: Avocado Toast — a plain bagel topped with smashed avocado and Everything Bagel Seasoning — declares only wheat and sesame. No egg, no milk.
Vegan Desserts
There aren’t any. Every sweet on the current menu declares milk, egg or both: the Cinnamon Bliss Roll, Heavenly Chocolate Chip Cookie, Blueberry Muffin, Cinnamon Chip Muffin and Strawberry & Cream Strudel all declare egg and milk or milk, and the Fruity Cereal Pop declares milk and is made with marshmallows. The cinnamon twist poppers and fruit cup this page used to recommend are gone.
Einstein Bros. and Vegan Cream Cheese
In 2019, PETA and more than 40,000 supporters petitioned Einstein Bros. Bagels to add a vegan cream cheese, and the chain went on to trial a dairy-free shmear at a limited number of locations. That trial is over. As of the 2026 nutrition guide and the current menu, no dairy-free cream cheese is offered anywhere in the chain, and every shmear declares milk. If you want cream cheese on your bagel here, you will need to bring your own.
Endnotes
Einstein Bros. is still a reasonable stop for a vegan — the classic bagels, the thins, the jam, the peanut butter, the avocado and the sea salt chips all carry no declared egg or milk in the brand’s own guide. But it is a narrower menu than this page previously described, and the shmear situation is the thing to plan around.
Two habits worth keeping: read the current guide rather than trusting a name (Cinnamon Sugar declares milk; Honey Whole Wheat contains honey), and remember that an allergen matrix is not a vegan certification. Where the guide is silent on an animal ingredient that is not one of the nine allergens, ask staff.
