Vegan at Chili’s Bar & Grill!
‘Casual Dining’ value deals are stealing fast food customers, but can vegans take part in this money-saving trend?
The first Chili’s opened in Texas in 1975 as a popular burger restaurant. It began to expand, later becoming “Chili’s Bar & Grill“, and by the 90s, had emerged as an iconic national chain. Recently, sales have increased specifically due to the virality of their value menu items, including the ‘Triple Dipper’ dish, and their ‘3 For Me‘ deal. The ‘3 For Me‘ deal is a selection of Chili’s menu items for just $10.99, including a main, side, drink, and starter. Is there a Vegan Chili’s ‘3 For Me‘ option? Yes- but with menu modifications1.
I visited Chili’s this past weekend to taste-test this value deal. To start my ‘3 for Me‘, I ordered the Chips & Salsa, but added a side of guacamole. Guac is not included in the ‘3 for Me‘, but I wasn’t going without. For my main, I asked for one of the ‘3 for Me’ $10.99 burgers with the Black Bean Patty instead of beef, and NO cheese. I ended up with the modified Big QP Burger, which with no cheese and a subbed Black Bean Patty, comes with onions, pickles, ketchup and mustard. Yes, the brioche bun is vegan and so is its buttery topping!2 Instead of a soft drink I ordered a Frozen Blackberry Margarita (my favorite marg flavor aside from blood orange), which is what Chili’s is banking on when anyone comes in for their value menu. Encourage patronage with a value deal, then upsell to the consumer, in this case, with a variety of flavored and priced margaritas. This tactic works on me every time, and may even impact the joy and satisfaction of my experience. I loved the burger, the Black Bean Patty is a tad spicy with a nice outer crunch, and their app chips are so thin and crispy, I wish everywhere offered them! I can definitely see myself revisiting Chili’s in the future when on a family outing, and looking forward to the experience.
Whenever I visited Chili’s in the past, I would modify their fajitas to make them vegan-friendly, as that was the only truly satisfying main course option at the time. They recently changed their Black Bean Patty from vegetarian to fully vegan, so now we can all take part in the true ‘grill & bar’ experience. Chili’s also has a Vegan & Vegetarian Menu Index,3 created by their in-house dietitian, sharing a list of items that are vegan and vegetarian. This was last updated in June of 2025, and can be found by visiting their FAQ page. For easy review and screenshots, I have compiled a list of the current vegan-friendly menu items below. Please note that this is not a vegan restaurant, so all food is cooked on shared equipment and fried in shared fryers (in 100% soybean oil). Allergens are always taken into consideration, so please speak with your staff if you have any additional concerns.
Chili’s Vegan ‘3 for Me’ with Modifications
- Appetizer: Chips & Salsa
- Main: Modified Burger w/o Cheese (and choice side- see list below)
- Modification: Sub Black bean Patty and ask for NO cheese. Remove additional toppings as needed
Chili’s Vegan Appetizers
Chili’s Vegan Mains with Modifications
- Modified Side House Salad – with no modification, this comes with: tomatoes, shredded cheese, garlic croutons with your choice of dressing.
- Modification: Ask for Citrus Balsamic Vinaigrette & NO croutons and NO cheese
- Modified Chipotle Fresh Mex Bowl – with no modification, this comes with: grilled chicken, pico de gallo, shredded lettuce, Mexican rice, corn salsa, house-made guacamole, shredded cheese, tortilla strips, cilantro, drizzled with chipotle pesto & house-made ranch.
- Modification: Ask to sub chicken for extra blank beans or their Black Bean Patty & ask for NO cheese, NO chipotle-pesto, and NO ranch. Ask to substitute the pesto and ranch with any of their vegan-friendly sauces- Citrus Balsamic Vinaigrette, House BBQ Sauce, or Sweet Chili Zing
- Modified Fajitas ‘The Classics’ – with no modification, this comes with this comes with grilled chicken, shrimp or steak. Served with flour tortillas, Mexican rice, black beans, grilled peppers & onions, salsa, sour cream, pico de gallo, shredded cheese and topped with a roasted jalapeño. Substitute corn tortillas or add house-made guacamole for an additional charge
- Modification: Ask to sub your protein with extra black beans or their Black Bean Patty & ask for NO butter, NO cheese, NO sour cream
- Modified Oldtimer Burger w/o Cheese– with no modification, this comes with: a beef patty, cheddar, pickles, lettuce, tomato, diced red onions, and mustard
- Modification: Ask to sub the beef patty for the Black Bean Patty & ask for NO cheese
- Modified Veggie Santa Fe Burger – with no modification, this comes with: Black bean patty, house-made guacamole, cheddar, diced red onions, jalapeños, tomato, pickles, cilantro, drizzled with spicy Santa Fe sauce
- Modification: Ask for NO cheese, NO Santa Fe sauce (contains dairy)
- Modify any Burger
- Modification: Sub Black Bean Patty and ask for NO cheese. Remove toppings as needed
Chili’s Vegan Sauces & Sides4
- Citrus Balsamic Vinaigrette
- Guacamole
- House BBQ Sauce
- Salsa
- Sweet Chili Zing
- Black Beans
- Corn on the Cob (not to be confused with the Roasted Sweet Corn, which is not vegan and contains dairy)
- Fries
- Roasted Asparagus
- Mexican Rice
- Steamed Broccoli
- Tortillas- corn & flour
- Unfortunately, not all of the changes and modifications to the mains are available to make online on the Chili’s website. So, if you’re trying to order for pick-up or delivery, I would suggest calling to see if they can take the order over the phone. ↩︎
- Chili’s Brioche Bun Ingredients: Flour (wheat, malted barley), water, enriched flour (wheat, malter barley, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), sugar, yeast, palm oil, wheat gluten, contains less than 2% of each of the following: salt, ascorbic acid, enzymes, vinegar, yellow corn flour, colors (tumeric, paprika), mono-and diglycerides, natural and artificial flavors, dextrose, corn starch, maltodextrin, dextrin, triglycerides, soybean oil, sodium stearoyl lactylate. Chili’s Bun Buttery Topping: Water, vegetable protein (pea), vegetable oil (canola), dextrose, maltodextrin, starch., butter flavored oil (liquid and hydrogenated soybean oil, contains less than 2% of soy lecithin, natural & artificial flavor, beta carotene (color), tbhq & citric acid added to protect flavor, dimethylpolysiloxane, an anti-foaming agent added). contains: soy & wheat ↩︎
- Chili’s Notes on Vegan & Vegetarian Menu Index for Chili’s
Vegetarian (VT)/Vegan (VG) – Our corporate dietitian has identified which menu items meet our vegetarian and vegan standards. Vegetarian (VT) items contain no beef, pork, poultry, fish, shellfish or ingredients derived from animals (e.g., gelatin, chicken broth, animal rennet), but items may contain eggs or milk. Cheeses processed with microbial enzymes (not rennet) are marked as vegetarian. Vegan (VG) items contain no animal-derived products. Because we use shared fryers and grills in our restaurants, fried or grilled foods are exposed to animal product during the cooking process (e.g., French Fries cooked in same oil as Chicken Crispers). ↩︎ - The Chili’s Vegan & Vegetarian Menu Index indicates their “Chipotle Honey Sauce” is Vegan, but it is actually Vegetarian. I contacted Chili’s to ask for the ingredient list, and it does include honey.Chili’s Chipotle Honey Sauce Ingredients: Honey Chipotle (High fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, Chipotle Sauce (Water, sugar, chipotle peppers, vinegar, salt, modified food starch), water, honey, sugar, modified food starch, contains less than 2% of: salt, vinegar, chipotle peppers, paprika, spice, caramel color, natural smoke flavor) ↩︎
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