If you’re one of the millions of people around the world who stick to a vegan diet or simply want to reduce your meat and dairy consumption, it can be tricky to find suitable options at restaurants and fast food chains. Luckily, just as many mainstream grocery stores have become quite vegan-friendly in recent years, a number of major fast food chains have started offering significant vegan menu items. And it turns out that many of the best fast food restaurants for vegan meals are Mexican-inspired chains like Chipotle, Del Taco, and Taco Bell.
That’s partially because many staple Mexican dishes, especially the ones most adaptable to fast-food menus, can be made entirely with plant-based ingredients like tortillas, beans, rice, veggies, and salsa — no awkward substitutions necessary. Sure, if you decide to eat vegan at one of these chains, you’ll have to forgo the queso and sour cream (not to mention the taco meat), but it’s certainly doable, and still pretty delicious.
Everyone needs to eat on-the-go sometimes, so chains like Chipotle, Taco Bell, and Qdoba have developed a great reputation among busy and frugal vegans. That in turn probably leads the companies to put more care into the vegan menus, since it’s catering to an existent and loyal customer base.
How to order vegan Mexican-inspired fast food
Now that you know that many Mexican-inspired fast food chains are a treasure-trove of vegan options, you might be wondering how to make the most of them. Your local offerings may differ based on availability, but these vegan items and ordering strategies are tried and tested.
It’s possible to make nearly any item at Taco Bell vegan with just a few substitutions and keywords. The rules of thumb are to swap meat for beans (thankfully both the black and refried beans are vegan, unlike some canned refried beans) and order all your items “fresco” style. Dropping this phrase automatically tells employees to remove any dairy-based toppings (like cheese or sour cream) and add fresh tomato salsa. That’s right — Taco Bell is so vegan-friendly, it even has a code word to speed up the vegan customization process. Plus, lots of items like the chips, guacamole, seasoned rice, and Cinnamon Twists are already vegan.
Taco Bell is the Mexican-inspired chain with the most U.S. locations, but Chipotle, a pioneer of fast casual dining, is the runner up with an equally robust array of vegan options. The chain even makes its own fake meat called Sofritas from soy protein, and since the menu is designed to be customizable, it’s super easy to add only plant-based items to your bowl or burrito.
If neither Taco Bell or Chipotle is your chain of choice, there are also plenty of vegan items at chains like Del Taco and Qdoba, which offer plant-based meat substitutes along with the same types of already-vegan Mexican ingredients as other chains.
