Brian Nagele
Five Guys is a popular restaurant chain featuring hamburgers, french fries, and milkshakes. While it’s still considered fast food, it’s more upscale and gourmet than places like McDonald’s or Wendy’s. Due to this hybrid nature, it’s a fast-casual restaurant.
Though limited, there are a few vegan and vegetarian items on their menu for those of us who steer clear of animal products. Five Guys’ vegetarian options include their veggie sandwich, most french fries, and most beverages.
As vegans, we know how challenging it is to find menu items at traditional restaurants in the first place, let alone vegan options that you actually want to eat. Five Guys has better vegetarian options than vegan, but there are still some possibilities.
Luckily, Five Guys’ veggie options are pretty tasty.
Below, we list and describe the five items on Five Guys’ menu that are vegan or you can modify to be 100% vegan. That way, you don’t need to overthink or worry about your next visit to Five Guys.
Veggie Sandwich
The Veggie Sandwich is the closest thing to a vegan entree at Five Guys.
It starts with their tasty signature bun, which contains milk and eggs, so be aware. You may want to order without the bun to make it 100% vegan.
The veggie sandwich also contains grilled mushrooms, onions, green peppers, lettuce, and tomato.
It’s customizable, so you can have it your way if you want them to throw pickles or extra mushrooms into the mix.
For strict vegans, order the sandwich toppings without the bun and pair them with an order of fries. The fries have some protein, and you can enjoy them along with a plate of fresh and tasty grilled veggies.
Vegetarians can enjoy the sandwich as is!
French Fries
Many non-vegans rave about Five Guys’ french fries, which are just as good (if not better) than their burgers. Part of the reason is the super simple ingredients.
Their fries are russet potatoes fried in peanut oil and sprinkled with salt. That’s it!
Five Guys restaurants typically have a fryer set aside only for french fries, so you won’t have to worry about cross contamination, but you should ask your local Five Guys to ensure the fryer hasn’t touched meat.
Five Guys’ french fries are double-fried. Which means that they’re crispy and golden brown on the outside and mashed potato soft on the inside.
You can enjoy them with a variety of available dipping sauces. These sauces include ketchup, BBQ sauce, A1 Original Steak Sauce, mustard, and hot sauce.
Five Guys’ french fries come in three sizes. Small, regular, and large. There are eight grams of protein in a small, 10 grams of protein in a regular, and 20 grams of protein in a large.
If you make the fries a meal, you can fill some of your daily protein needs.
Cajun Fries
Five Guys offers these delectable, New Orleans-inspired fries. The Cajun Fries are another delicious Five Guys vegan option that we love.
The Cajun Fries are the regular french fries topped with a Cajun seasoning. So they’re crunchy and nicely browned on the outside and soft and hot on the inside.
The seasoning contains garlic, paprika, salt, onion, oregano, white pepper, red pepper, and spice.
The nutrition information is the same as the salted fries as the Cajun Fries come in the three standard sizes.
Veggie Toppings
As strict vegans, we need to be careful about even basic menu items, as they sometimes contain animal products.
Luckily, most Five Guys’ veggie toppings and optional add-ins are 100% vegan.
Veggie toppings include lettuce, tomatoes, onions, relish, pickles, green peppers, and jalapeno peppers.
They also have griddle-cooked onions and mushrooms. Ask for them without butter to be vegan.
If you’re looking to make a meal, we suggest you get creative by adding toppings and sauces to french fries. You’ll end up with something like a modified salad that is more filling and satisfying than fries alone.
Grilled Cheese
While it’s not vegan friendly, the grilled cheese at Five Guys is a viable option for vegetarians.
The Five Guys grilled cheese is simple – they take their burger buns and cheese and viola! You have a grilled cheese sandwich.
If you want to spruce it up, you can add vegetable toppings or condiments to the sandwich for some extra calories and flavor.
While the vegan options are limited, this is a great option for a vegetarian looking for a bite to eat at Five Guys. It was originally on their secret menu, but it’s easy to order now!
Beverages
Most soda is vegan, and Five Guys’ soda and beverage selections are no exception.
They offer Coca-Cola products, such as original Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Sprite, Coke Zero, and Fanta. And you can’t forget about the refreshing bottled water!
Some Five Guys locations feature a Coca-Cola Freestyle machine. With this machine, guests can customize their drinks with dozens of beverages and syrups.
Almost all of them are vegan. Exceptions are Schweppes Orange Squash, Honest Lemon and Honey, Lilt, and Lilt Zero.
Regardless of your reasons for being vegetarian or vegan, you know that you have to be careful when going out to eat. Not all restaurants accommodate vegans. And sometimes they sneak animal products in without making it obvious.
While there aren’t a lot of Five Guys vegan options, we love that their french fries especially are vegan. In my opinion, the fries are the best thing on the menu anyway, and you can certainly make a whole meal out of them.
You can enjoy a vegetarian meal at Five Guys whether you’re there on your own or with friends and family. With this guide, you can rest easy knowing that everything you ordered is meat-free.