Arby’s Vegan Options

Arby’s is a popular American-based restaurant with the tagline: ‘We Have The Meats’ … Not the most promising start for vegans, but we push on. When it comes to Arby’s many people don’t consider it as being a particularly vegan-friendly option. 

However, we have been pleasantly surprised with our research that we have done for this article. There are a few vegan options on the Arby’s menu, whether they’re purposely vegan or not. The only issue with these is that they are accidentally vegan and therefore the potential for cross contamination is quite high. 

We have verified that all of these options are vegan with the help of Arby’s ingredients and allergen list that can be found on their website. Without further ado, let’s take a look at all of the vegan options that Arby’s has to offer. 

Chopped Side Salad

Okay, so we’re not starting off with the most interesting option, but a side salad is always a refreshing option when visiting a fast food restaurant. Arby’s is no different with their side salad consisting of Iceberg Lettuce, Cheddar Cheese, and Tomatoes. You’ll need to ask for the side salad without the cheese if you want to make it vegan-friendly. 

Arby’s also offers another salad on the menu - Chopped Farmhouse Salad with Crispy Chicken or Roast Turkey. The ingredients of this salad are Iceberg Lettuce, Leaf Lettuce, Cheddar Cheese, Tomatoes, Pepper Bacon, Chicken or Turkey. 

This is obviously not vegan, but you can ask for the salad without the cheese and meats if you’d like to. The vegan-friendly salad dressings that Arby’s offers are Balsamic Vinaigrette or Light Italian. 

Curly Fries

Moving on, Arby’s curly fries are also vegan-friendly, but you might be wary of the cross contamination that could have happened during the cooking process. The curly fries are often fried in the same oil as foods that contain egg, soy, milk, and fish. 

Despite this, the ingredients list of the curly fries contain no animal-derived ingredients and therefore are vegan-friendly. Below is the ingredient list for you to check yourself: 

Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (contains one or more of the following: canola oil, soybean oil, cottonseed oil, sunflower oil, Corn Oil, palm oil), Enriched Bleached Flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), Salt, Corn Starch, Onion Powder, Yellow Corn Meal, Spices, Garlic Powder, Leavening (sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate), Modified Corn Starch, Dextrose, Spice and Coloring, Natural Flavor, Dried Torula Yeast, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (to preserve color). Cooked in Vegetable Oil. CONTAINS: WHEAT.

Potato Cakes

Much like the curly fries, Arby’s potato cakes are also vegan. Again, there could be the potential for cross contamination during the frying process. However, the ingredients list is free of animal products. Here is the full list of ingredients:

Potatoes, Canola Oil and/or Palm Oil, Potato (dehydrated), Salt, Corn Flour, Natural Flavoring, Disodium Dihydrogen Pyrophosphate (to preserve natural color), Dextrose. Cooked in Vegetable Oil.

Homestyle Fries

Homestyle fries are a limited availability option on the Arby’s menu, often not being available as widely as the curly fries. However, if you can get your hands on them, the homestyle fries are vegan-friendly! 

As with the other potato products on the Arby’s menu, the homestyle fries have no animal-derived ingredients in the ingredients list but there is the risk of cross contamination. Below is the full list of ingredients for Arby’s homestyle fries:

Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (may contain one or more of the following: canola, soybean, cottonseed, sunflower, corn, palm), Modified Potato Starch and/or Modified Corn Starch, Rice Flour, Dextrin, Salt, Leavening (sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate), Xanthan Gum, Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (to preserve natural color). Cooked in Vegetable Oil.

Arby’s Sauce

Arby’s Sauce is certainly a specialty at Arby’s with it being so popular that you can even purchase the bottle to take home with you. Luckily for us vegans, the Arby’s sauce is also vegan-friendly with no animal byproducts within the ingredients list. 

To check for yourself, the full ingredient list is listed below: 

Water, Corn Syrup, Tomato Paste, Distilled Vinegar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Salt, Modified Corn Starch, Soybean Oil, Xanthan Gum, Garlic (dehydrated), Sodium Benzoate (preservative), Onion (dehydrated), Spice and Spice Extractives, Artificial Flavor, Extractives of Capsicum.

Other Sauce Options

If you’re against the majority and don’t like the Arby’s sauce, there are five other options on the menu that you can choose from to dip your curly fries, potato cakes, or homestyle fries in. These are listed below: 

• Ketchup
• Red Ranch Sauce
• Bronco Berry Sauce
• Marinara Sauce (don’t confuse this with the Robust Marinara, as this isn’t vegan!)
• Smokey Q Sauce

Drinks

Arby’s has an extensive drinks menu, with a lot of them being vegan-friendly as well. Unfortunately, none of the speciality drinks or shakes are vegan, but you can still enjoy a soda that is listed below: 

• Coca-Cola
• Diet Coke
• Coca-Cola Zero Sugar
• Mello Yellow
• Sprite
• Dr Pepper
• Powerade
• Fanta
• Gold Peak Iced Tea
• Barq’s Root Beer
• Hi-C Flashin’ Fruit Punch
• Minute Maid Lemonade

Summary

While there are a few vegan-friendly options available at Arby’s there is nothing from the main menu that is available to vegans. This is unfortunate as you’re unlikely to get a substantial meal from Arby’s that you can eat. 

The only way you could do this is if you ordered a potato-based side, as long as you’re okay with cross contamination, and the salad to combine to make a main meal. We think that Arby’s should offer more options to the vegan community as it’s growing so rapidly. 

Saying that, Arby’s still does offer more vegan options than McDonalds or some other fast food restaurants in America. So, you have to pick your battles and choose a place where you can get the most food to consume with your diet. 

At Arby’s, you’ll be able to choose from four side options with six different sauces to choose from, as well as 12 soda options to pick from to wash down your salad and fries.