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Vegan Options at Panda Express
Panda Express, a renowned fast-food restaurant, has been around for 37 years. It is one of the leading Asian food chains in the USA, with 2200+ locations. Though American-Chinese cuisine has a lot of variety, the vegan options at Panda Express didn’t exist before February 2019.
Panda Express stopped adding chicken broth liquid in several dishes due to Vegan Outreach and PETA’s petitions. These dishes include eggplant tofu, super greens, spring rolls, white and brown rice, and chow mein. Their sauces, however, were already vegan.
So, if you are a vegetarian or vegan, try out these items next time you go to Panda Express:
White and Brown Rice
White rice is one of the healthier items on the Panda Express menu. Brown fried rice is, however, preferable to consumers. Both of them are the favorite sides of many of their customers.
Panda Express makes its white and brown rice without using any meat flavors. However, brown rice contains eggs, as per their allergen menu.
Eggplant Tofu
Eggplant is another popular dish among Panda Express customers. It contains eggplant, brown tofu, and bell peppers soaked in sweet & spicy sauce. They added chicken broth to it earlier, but it’s now a vegan dish thanks to PETA’s petition.
Eggplant tofu was a popular dish even before they made it vegan. Many meat-eaters enjoy the dish as it is a unique mixture of different ingredients.
This might also be the best vegan option, as you can add white or brown rice to the dish. It can become the perfect meal of the day. Also, that’s the best a vegan can expect from a non-vegetarian American-Chinese food outlet.
Chow Mein
Chow mein is noodles fried with veggies and even meat in some places. It is a popular dish in Chinese cuisine, and you can find it at every Chinese restaurant in your city. Vegan chow mein has become a common food item at various restaurants.
Panda Express made chow mein by adding chicken broth to it. However, it is now one of their vegan items on the menu. You can add it as a side and get yourself a delicious meal. If you request them, they might add pieces of tofu to your chow mein.
Spring Rolls
Spring Rolls are rolls filled with vegetables and deep-fried in oil. Many restaurants make non-vegetarian spring rolls too. It is a part of Chinese cuisine but is available at some restaurants that don’t serve Chinese food.
Panda Express has both chicken and veggie spring rolls. The vegetable one is fully vegan without a drop of chicken broth or any other meat item. Dip these crunchy rolls in Panda Express’s tasty vegan dips or sauces to make them even more delicious. Most of the customers prefer sweet & sour sauce and also soy sauce.
Super Greens
Super greens consist of kale, cabbage, and broccoli. It is one of the healthy sides offered by Panda Express. Add it to your rice and eggplant meal to make it healthy and nutritious. These are, of course, one of the vegan-friendly options at Panda Express.
Drinks
Panda Express has its own tea bars where they make Asian-inspired beverages. Their website has the location of all these bars in the country. Some of the best tea flavors available are:
- Strawberry Fruit
- Hibiscus
- Passion Fruit
- Raspberry
- Mango
- Fuze Raspberry
They also have various flavors of lemonade available. Here are some of the popular ones:
- Classic
- Raspberry
- Ginger
- Strawberry
- Hibiscus
- Pomegranate
- Minute-Maid
The menu gets better with their signature milk tea. However, at general Panda Express outlets, you won’t find the above drinks, but you will get a variety of others that are 100% vegan.
- Root Beer
- Dr. Pepper
- Black Tea
- Coca-Cola
- Diet Coke
- Coke Zero
- Fanta Orange
- Sweet Tea
- Cherry Coca-Cola
- Vitamin Water
- Sprite
- Fanta Strawberry
- Ginger Ale
- Unsweetened Tea
- Sprite Zero
The list does not end here, as they also have some unique beverages. It includes Fanta Punch, Fruit Punch, and Powerade Berry Blasts.
Sauces
Surprisingly, the sauces available at Chinese restaurants are vegan. Panda Express uses Plant-based sauce that can be a great compliment to your meal. Here is a list of these sauces:
- Sweet & Sour Sauce
- Potsticker Sauce
- Hot Mustard
- Soy Sauce
- Plum Sauce
- Chilli Sauce
The teriyaki sauce, however, may not be fully vegan, depending on the brand they use. Teriyaki sauce contains only plant-based ingredients. Some restaurants or chefs add other ingredients to improve the taste.
Some teriyaki sauces contain sugar too. Vegans might want to avoid adding sugar as it might be refined. It won’t be an issue if you are not a strict vegan.
Why Vegan Outreach and PETA Filed a Petition Against Panda Express?
PETA
Before February 2019, Panda Express was mostly a non-vegetarian American-Chinese restaurant. The food chain had to stop adding chicken broth to its few vegetarian items. It was because of the petitions Vegan Outreach and Peta.
PETA was already in talks with Panda Express about its menu for a long time. Panda Express told them that their vegetarian dishes include meat-flavored seasonings. PETA then urged them to add vegan items to their 2000 outlets.
However, Panda Express did not make any changes to its menu even after a warning by PETA. Over 234,000 supporters of PETA signed a petition regarding Panda Express’ entirely non-vegan menu.
In February 2019, the restaurant that added chicken broth to most of its dishes had to remove the ingredient from some of them.
Now vegan at Panda Express, Dishes are Super Greens, White and Brown rice, Eggplant Tofu, Chow Mein, and Spring Rolls. Their sauces and some of the drinks were already vegan.
Not only Panda Express but other fast-food chains have also introduced vegan options. Carl’s Jr., Taco Bell, Pei Wei, and Noodles and Company are a few examples of such food chains.
Vegan Outreach
Vegan Outreach’s 5000 supporters signed the petition regarding this issue. However, it’s a smaller number than PETA but equally impactful. Along with these signatures came thousands of social media requests to change the Panda Express menu.
Does Panda Express Have Fully Vegan Dishes?
According to Panda Express’s website, they do not serve vegan, gluten-free, or vegetarian items. It is because they cook the food with the same equipment, which might cause cross-contamination.
Panda Express’s representative stated that the products might not be animal byproducts, but they make all the dishes at their outlets with the same equipment and facilities. That is why they do not claim that their menu is vegan.
So, people who are allergic to fish, gluten, shellfish, eggs, and nuts should not eat at Panda Express.
How Will This Step Affect Vegans?
By removing the meat ingredient for vegetarian dishes, Panda Express welcomed all vegans to their outlets. It may not be a big step, but it will surely make a huge impact. Panda Express’s contribution to animal suffering will reduce as they use plant-based products.
The chain also sends a message to other chains and encourages them to do the same with their products. As others start following them, vegans will have more options to eat comfortably at their outlets.
Non-vegetarians, on the other hand, will have no problem since most of the items on the menu fall in their category.
Other Restaurant Chains With Vegan Options
There are a lot of food chains that have vegan options on their menu. Here are a few:
- Baskin Robbins: Out of their 31 flavors of ice cream, they have three vegan ones. These are Choco-chip cookie Dough, Coffee Caramel Chunk, and Chocolate Extreme.
- Burger King: Garden salad, hash browns, fries, and Dutch apple pie are some vegan items.
- Carl’s Jr.: They have a vegan patty for all their burgers and a vegan burrito.
- The Cheesecake Factory: They offer vegan salad, veggie burgers, pasta, etc.
- IHOP: Hash browns, fruits, mushrooms, and baked potato are among their vegan items.
- Starbucks: Their vegan menu includes multigrain bagels and Oatmeals.
- Subway: They have the Veggie Delite without mayo and a few vegan bread options.
- Denny’s: Their oatmeal, muffins, bagels, fries, and fresh fruits are vegan items.
- Quiznos: Veggie sub and potato chips are vegan-friendly.
- Shake Shack: They have a glutton-free bun with a burger patty made with grains, herbs, and greens.
- Wendy’s: their garden side salad, veggie sandwich, and baked potatoes are fully vegan.
Wrap Up
As Panda Express changed its menu, vegans can also eat and order from their place. PETA keeps encouraging other outlets as well to start selling vegan products. Many food chains have vegan dishes, but those who don’t are higher in number.
People are now more aware and concerned about the environment. The growing popularity of vegan food is undoubtedly going to change a lot of menus. It will be profitable for restaurants as more customers come their way.