Saltgrass Steak House is an American restaurant chain with more than eight outlets nationwide. The chain was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.
Answer: it depends — and Saltgrass doesn’t publish enough information for anyone to be sure.
Since Saltgrass Steak House is a non-vegan restaurant, vegans will find it hard to get a vegan meal at the steak house. Before we go any further, let’s discuss the history of this restaurant.
Saltgrass Steak House – The Story
The story of Saltgrass Steak House goes back to the 1800s when there were millions of longhorns running freely in Texas. With beef becoming a newfound favorite of the North, ranchers in Texas started prospering.
Every winter, longhorn cattle were traditionally driven down to the Texas Gulf Coast to graze on the nutrient-rich saltgrass, a vital part of their diet. In 1952, this historic trail ride was revitalized by four riders who marked the start of the Houston Livestock and Rodeo event, linking the tradition to Texas’s unique heritage. Today, this annual trail ride continues to symbolize the enduring Texas spirit, and the grass itself remains part of the Texas coastal landscape that gave the restaurant its name.
The first Saltgrass Steak House also opened up next to this iconic trail. Chicken, seafood, and steaks chargrilled to perfection. Desserts, soups, and bread accompany these items.
Award-Winning Steakhouse
The Saltgrass Steak House has now expanded and serves delicious food across the nation in states like Mississippi, Arkansas, Nevada, Alabama, Colorado, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Florida.
The restaurant offers Angus beef that is certified, and each steak comes topped with butter.
Vegan Options
First, The Thing Nobody Tells You About Saltgrass
Saltgrass doesn’t publish allergen or ingredient information for its menu. Its menus carry calorie counts and a gluten-sensitive marking, and that’s the end of it — no allergen matrix, no ingredient lists, no fryer statement, no vegan or vegetarian designation. The printed menu says only that “additional nutritional information is available upon request”, and the company’s FAQ page addresses gluten alone: “Yes, Saltgrass offers gluten-sensitive menu items… Ask your server for details or check the menu online for marked items.” Parent company Landry’s doesn’t publish an allergen document on its behalf either.
That means nothing on this page can be confirmed vegan from an official source. Earlier versions of this article ran headings like “Sides (No Meat And Dairy Ingredients)” and “Fried Mushrooms (No Dairy Ingredients)” — claims Saltgrass has never made and that this site could not support. They are gone. What follows is what’s actually on the menu, plus the specific question to ask about each item before you order.
Sides Worth Asking About
Baked Potato. On the current menu. Saltgrass doesn’t disclose whether the base potato arrives buttered, so ask for it plain and dry, with any butter, sour cream or cheese on the side.
Broccoli. On the current menu, with cheese sold as a paid add-on — but how the plain version is finished (butter? oil?) is never stated. Ask.
Asparagus. Now sold only as a paid upgrade rather than a standalone side. Same question: how is it cooked?
Flash Fried Green Beans. This page used to list a plain “Green Beans” side. That isn’t what Saltgrass serves — the current menu item is Flash Fried Green Beans, which brings an undisclosed batter and an undisclosed frying medium with it.
French Fries, Sweet Potato Fries and Fried Onions. These are the highest-risk items on this page and they used to be presented as safe. Saltgrass publishes nothing about its frying oil and makes no shared-fryer statement at all, while the same menu sells fried shrimp, fried chicken, fried mushrooms and fried pickles. Ask what the oil is and what else goes in it.
Baked Sweet Potato is gone. It no longer appears on Saltgrass’s menu. The current side list is baked potato, french fries, mashed potatoes, broccoli, flash fried green beans, smoked macaroni & cheese, fried onions, sweet potato fries, herb rice, and an asparagus upgrade.
Two of those the older version of this page never mentioned: mashed potatoes and herb rice. Both are ordinary candidates for butter, cream or stock, and Saltgrass discloses neither, so they’re worth asking about rather than assuming. Smoked macaroni & cheese needs no explanation.
The Salads
Hill Country Salad comes as garden greens, fried chicken, cheddar, bacon, eggs, tomatoes and croutons. Ask for it without the fried chicken, cheddar, bacon, eggs and croutons. Even stripped back, the greens and whatever dressing you choose have no published ingredients.
Grilled Chicken Salad comes as garden greens, tortilla strips, bacon, eggs, tomatoes and croutons. Ask for it without the chicken, bacon, eggs and croutons, and check the tortilla strips and dressing.
The “Steak Salad” described in older versions of this page no longer exists. The nearest current dish is The Steak Wedge — center-cut top sirloin, an iceberg wedge, tomatoes, bacon, blue cheese crumbles, red onions, ranch and balsamic vinaigrette. There are no olives, green beans, red potatoes or romaine in it, and there is no useful way to adapt it.
Two Appetizers This Page Got Wrong
Pickles & Peppers (or Just Pickles) is described by Saltgrass as lightly fried and served with ranch dressing. Ranch is dairy, the batter is undisclosed and so is the fryer. Filing it under “no dairy ingredients” was never supportable.
Fried Mushrooms are described on the current menu as dusted with parmesan and served with ranch dressing. Both of those are dairy, and the batter is undisclosed on top of that. This item should not have appeared under a dairy-free heading.
Should Saltgrass Steak House Introduce Vegan Offerings?
There are no vegan items on the menu, and no way for a customer to verify what the closest substitutes contain. Saltgrass Steak House should seriously consider adding vegan items to the menu. There are so many substitutes for regular steaks, and we have discussed some below:
Mushroom steak with garlic cream, smoked paprika, and lentils
Chef Richard Carsten creates these delicious mushroom steaks; they are roasted medium-rare and brushed with teriyaki before being served.
Grilled tofu steak with piquillo salsa verde
This steak is made from a firm variety of tofu easy to grill. This delicious steak comes with salsa made of parsley, piquillo peppers, and capers.
Butternut squash steak with spiced corn
These butternut squash steaks come with a green sautéed spinach sauce.
Cauliflower steaks with spiced corn
These cauliflower steaks come topped with sauces and vegetables and can also fill you up.
Grilled watermelon steaks with microgreens and pistachios
This excellent watermelon steak is caramelized on the grill and served fresh.
However, is there something else the steakhouse should do? We have given some suggestions below:
Publish The Ingredients
This is the big one. Saltgrass publishes calories and a gluten marking and nothing else — no allergen chart, no ingredient lists, no statement about what its fryers are shared with. Plenty of comparable chains publish a per-item allergen table. Until Saltgrass does, no customer, and no website, can honestly tell a reader that any item here is dairy-free or egg-free.
Publishing would also benefit the restaurant; it would improve their public image, and they would be held in high esteem by their customers.
Accommodate Vegans
If a vegan dieter ends up at Saltgrass Steak House, the restaurant must ensure that he doesn’t leave with an empty stomach. Do whatever you need to do, try your level best to accommodate the vegan, because after all, he is also a customer.
However, if you cannot accommodate it, don’t hide the fact by making him wait; just let him know, and he will be on his way.
Hire A Vegan Chef
Saltgrass Steak House can also hire a vegan chef who knows exactly how to cook vegan food. This could be a game-changer for the restaurant, attracting vegan customers.
How To Order Vegan At Saltgrass Steak House?
Most vegan dieters face this criticism of missing out on social interactions with friends and family members due to their diet. However, this is just a misconception, and if vegans know what they can eat at restaurants and steakhouses, they will have no problem attending social gatherings.
Below are some tips that will help vegan dieters order vegan food at steakhouses like Saltgrass Steak House:
The Sides Are Your Main Course
If you’ve been to a steakhouse, you are probably aware that most dishes contain beef, fish, chicken, mutton, and more. You will probably not find a vegan item on the menu of a steakhouse, but that doesn’t mean you will go home with an empty stomach.
You can build a plate out of sides — but at Saltgrass you have to build it by asking, not by reading. Most steakhouse sides come finished with butter or cream, so ask for vegetables steamed or sautéed in oil and served plain.
Avoid The Sauces
Steakhouses are famous for drowning their dishes into sauces, so letting the waiter know that you are vegan is essential. The waiter should know that you cannot consume mayo and butter-based sauces.
You can do other things as well. Ask the chef to cook your sauce in olive oil rather than butter or animal fat. Although you might annoy the waiters and the chef, it is better than sending cooked food back.
Alter The Components Of The Salads
Steakhouses always have salads, and Saltgrass has three: the Hill Country Salad, the Grilled Chicken Salad and The Steak Wedge. The first two can be stripped back as described above. Ask the waiter to add seeds, nuts, or avocado if the kitchen can, and ask what’s in the dressing rather than assuming a vinaigrette is safe.
Increase The Carbohydrates
The only way to be full at the end of the meal is by increasing your carb intake. Some vegetables or a salad will not fill up your stomach, so try to order potatoes, bread, or rice.
Usually, steakhouses have bread, but you still need to ask them whether it’s vegan or not as bread might come topped with cheese. The spreads and dips will most likely be non-vegan at a steakhouse, so ask the waiter for balsamic or olive oil.
Fries are the obvious filler, but see the warning above — Saltgrass says nothing about its frying oil or what shares the fryer, so they are a question rather than a default.
Lastly, Saltgrass has herb rice on the menu. Grains are delicious when paired with vegetables, so that’s another option to ask about — again, how it’s cooked is undisclosed.
Conclusion
Saltgrass Steak House has no vegan items on its menu, and — the more important point — it publishes no allergen or ingredient information at all. That combination means no honest guide can hand you a list of confirmed vegan items here. Anyone who does is guessing.
What you can do is turn up knowing exactly which questions to ask: what is the frying oil and what else is cooked in it, is the baked potato or broccoli finished with butter, what is in the dressing, and what goes into the herb rice and mashed potatoes. Ask, and decide from the answer.
