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Vegan Options at Chili’s

Chili’s restaurant is one of the most popular restaurants in the United States. This grill and bar-restaurant have a casual vibe that is widespread across the world – successfully maintaining and running 1600 outlets!

The Chili grill and bar is a Mexico inspired restaurant with a lot of food items relating to Mexico. Moreover, they have a specialty in different kinds of burgers. Although we have seen formerly that a lot of restaurants don’t offer a big vegan menu to their customers.

However, Chili’s restaurant has taken up all the steps and offers multiple dishes to choose from. The article below illustrates all the different kinds of dishes you could order at the restaurant, without having to compromise the vegetarian lifestyle of you and your loved ones! 

List Of Vegan Options At Chili’s

Considering the fact that this American-Mexican restaurant offers a page length menu for the vegetarians out there, you can opt for when going to the restaurant. You can go through the list below and choose whatever sounds more tempting to you! 

 

1. Chips & Salsa

Vegan Chips and Salsa at Chili's

To begin with the items on the vegan menu, the very first one is chips and salsa. The restaurant is offering the bottomless tostada chips along with red salsa, made from the chef’s secret recipe. Both the items in the dish are vegan-friendly and also the sub-ingredients used in making them are animal-free.

So this dish forms a perfect meal to try on and hence no modifications are needed in order to adjust it as per a vegan’s lifestyle. On the contrary, the chips are cooked in a fryer that is shared with all the other non-vegan food too. So if that is your concern, you might want to refrain from ordering anything that would be fried in oil. 

 

2. Fresh Guacamole & Salsa

Vegan Fresh Guacamole and Salsa at Chili's

As the name suggests, this is another dish very similar to the previous one. Instead of getting the red salsa, you can order the fresh, green guacamole with your toasted chips. It makes up a very delicious dish for you to enjoy and share with your family. You can have it as an appetizer and even as a main course meal.

Pair it with more condiments and sauces to make the taste more exciting and mouthwatering. However, the concern remains whether or not the restaurant would offer to use a different fryer for frying the chips. If not, you might not be able to order this item from the menu. 

 

3. Caribbean Salad

Vegan Caribbean Salad at Chilis

One page of the menu at Chili’s restaurant where you would see a big variety in the salad portion. The restaurant offers many salads that are healthy as well as tasty! The best part about these salads is that they are vegan-friendly and not only do they support a fit lifestyle but also a vegetarian lifestyle.

One of the salads on the menu is the Caribbean salad. It contains juicy pineapples, dried cranberries, green onions, red bell peppers, mandarin oranges, garnished with cilantro while drizzled with honey-lime dressing.

All the ingredients in the Caribbean salad are vegan and thus you can order without giving it a second thought. However, the honey-like dressing in the salad is non-vegan. So you either ask the chef to completely eradicate it or you can ask them to substitute it with the citrus balsamic vinaigrette, which is not only animal-free but also very delicious. 

 

4. Side House Salad

Vegan Side House Salad at Chilis

As mentioned previously, Chili’s have a vast range of salads. Another vegan salad that the restaurant offers is the side house salad. This salad is simple and classic, containing ingredients like cucumbers, red onions, tomatoes, garlic croutons and shredded cheese as well.

You would then have to ask the restaurant to remove the cheese and croutons from your salad in order to make it vegan friendly. The cheese donations dairy while the croutons are an animal itself. Besides these, the salad has a great taste and has been recommended by many people. 

Also Check: Vegan Options At Panda Express

 

5. Fried Pickles 

Vegan Fried Pickle at Chilis

The crispy flavour of frying and the tangy flavour of pickle has now been brought together by the very famous American restaurant, Chilli’s! Fried pickles can be a great way to kickstart your experience at the restaurant.

These are completely vegan and dairy-free. You can order these fried pickles to have tasty, tangy bites as you wait for your main course to be served. One tiny concern is that these pickles are served with ranch dressing that is not vegan.

You can ask the server to remove it from your plate. Also, the frying at the Chili’s is all done together, whether be vegan or non-vegan food items. So if this bothers you, you can always ask the manager to clear your doubts or you can request them to switch the fryers. You should do this before placing the order. 

 

6. Side Dishes

Vegan Side Dishes at Chili's

One very interesting and fascinating fact about the Chili’s restaurant is that it offers a very big variety of side dishes. So you can either order them along your main course like any other person, or you can even combine three to four side dishes to draft yourself a fulfilling meal. The vegan options for side dishes at the Chili’s restaurant have been listed below for you:

  • Black beans
  • Corn on the cob
  • Potato fries
  • Tortillas (Flour + All natural corn)
  • Steamed broccoli 
  • Mexican rice 
  • Grilled asparagus 

 

7. Sauces & Condiments

List of Vegan Sauces and Condiments at Chili's

Chili’s offers its customers a wide range of sauces and condiments to choose from. They can be paired with any dish or drizzled on top of the side dishes. The most incredible part about these sauces is that they are all animal-free and vegan-friendly.

The sauces at the Chilli’s have been listed below and you could also ask the restaurant manager for more. You might just get lucky! 

  • Avocado Slices
  • House BBQ Sauce
  • Citrus Balsamic Vinaigrette
  • BBQ Sauce
  • Regular Pickles
  • Garlic Dill Pickles 
  • Salsa 

Mix and match your dishes with the condiments and sauces listed above to make your meals more appetizing and delicious. 

 

8. Drinks

List of Drinks at Chili's

Now that we have already talked about what you can eat. Let’s talk about what you can drink, as a vegetarian while at the restaurant. Despite offering several vegan food items and sauces, the restaurant also offers a variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.

Plus, these drinks are vegan too! You might want to check with the restaurant manager of your location, because drinks may vary! 

  • Coca Cola
  • Diet Coke 
  • Coca Cola Zero 
  • Coca Cola Zero Sugar
  • Cherry Coca Cola
  • Fanta Orange
  • Fanta Fruit Punch
  • Fanta Strawberry 
  • Sprite 
  • Dasani Water
  • Vitamin Water 
  • Powerade Mountain Blast
  • Minute Maid Lemonade 
  • Minute Maid Light Lemonade 
  • Del Valle 
  • Gold Peak Premium Tea
  • Georgia 

Tips to Keep in Mind Before Going to Chili’s Restaurant?

So if you are planning to visit the Chili’s restaurant anytime soon there are a few things you might want to do first that would make your experience more worthwhile, and also it would prevent you from wasting your time and money.

One thing you could do is visit the restaurant’s website or Instagram page. This would help you figure out the menu and what the restaurant is offering. If you are not satisfied you can also call the restaurant and talk to the manager.

You could ask them to accommodate vegans and what items the chef is cooking! It is possible they might prepare for you separately too! In addition to that, you can also check the tags and reviews given by different bloggers and social media influencers.

They can give you insight into the restaurant and even suggest to you what to do in order to fix your meals as per vegan life. 

Things To Do When You Are At The Restaurant?

So to begin with, the American restaurant Chili’s does not have a very extensive menu (since it’s not a vegetarian restaurant) but it does offer a lot more than many other restaurants in the states. There are a few things that you should keep in mind when you go to a restaurant.

Firstly, you should converse with the managers. This helps in such a way that you raise awareness in the society amongst restaurants that there are vegans out there who prefer to have their wishes fulfilled. Second, you also get to know more about the restaurant and all the things they could offer you considering the vegan lifestyle that you are living in.

You would get a heads up over what dishes are vegan and non-vegan and how seriously the restaurant is about the vegetarians. The restaurant manager might also give you suggestions and ideas on what you could add to make your visit more comfortable. 

Oil Chili’s Use For Frying is it Vegan?

Chili’s claim that they use soybean oil in their cooking, whether it’s frying, drizzling or marinating! Soybean oil is 100% vegan and is a perfect choice for the vegetarians.

Also, it has come forward that the oil used by the restaurant is very highly refined, thus, there is no need for it to be disclosed on the allergen menu at the website.

However, one little concern is that this American restaurant does not prohibit its suppliers against GMOs and vegan and GMOs just can’t go together. It is being said that the soybean oil used by the restaurant contains GMOs which makes it a non-vegan product. 

What To Avoid At Chili’s?

Although Chili’s does offer a lot on its vegan menu, it has to be remembered that it was originally founded for the people who eat dairy and meat.

The burgers might not be a very suitable choice for those who are vegans because there is no alternative to the beef patty, neither to the buns. So you must stay away from burgers at the restaurant. In addition to that, there might be a possibility that the chefs are using the same utensils for both, vegan and non-vegan food items.

So you can always clear your doubts with the chef or the manager before placing the order. Despite the common belief, you can be lucky considering the fact that the restaurant can alter a lot of meals for you by removing the meat and adding more plant products. 

Must check: Vegan Options at Jack In the Box

Dairy-Free Options At Chili’s?

When talking about what you can opt for at the restaurant that doesn’t have dairy – the list is pretty long! Ranging from countless appetizers, fajitas to crispers and burgers. The list goes on! However, you might want to check for other ingredients that are not very vegan-friendly. Such as the beef patty in burgers, the chicken in fajitas and the soybean oil in crispers. 

Vegan Dressings At Chili’s?

The restaurant offers a wide range of aides, sauces and dressings! This is to cater to a larger group in the society and to also spice up the experience for the customers at the restaurant. The restaurant has three very popular dressings that are usually part of their famous salads.

Unfortunately, only one of them is vegan and that is the citrus balsamic vinaigrette. This dressing is not only vegan-friendly and healthy but it also has a very unique taste that would make your salads kore tempting. Don’t forget to substitute it the next time you visit Chili’s restaurant! 

Vegan Salads At Chili’s?

The restaurant offers many salads on their menu. The great news is that three of these salads are vegan and animal-friendly. The two of them have already been mentioned above in the list. The Caribbean salad and the side house salad.

Another option that you have at the restaurant is the Santa Fe Salad. It is as fancy as its name. It contains avocados, tortilla strips, pico and garnished with cilantro. The salad has a combination of two very interesting dressings that is the homemade ranch sauce as well as the spicy Santa Fe sauce.

You can even opt to add the citrus balsamic in the salad as well. So considering the fact that you have so many options, you should look at the menu thoroughly and order the perfect meal that you desire. 

Conclusion

Either directly off the menu or through mix and match, you can order a scrumptious and delicious vegan meal at Chili’s restaurant. Ranging from main course dishes and snacks to beverages and sauces.

The restaurant has it all! Although most of the food served is non-vegan, you can balance off your order by moving things here and there a bit. It may not be the most ideal place for a vegetarian but at least they offer a few and would most definitely cater to you as best as they can.

When pondered upon carefully you can always get the perfect meal for you and your family to enjoy at the amazing restaurant – CHILI’S!

 

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