What Vegan Dishes Cost in the US

Vegaholic reads restaurant menus from the restaurants' own websites and records the dishes, prices and vegan markings in one format. This piece uses the menus read by our editors through Oct. 21, 2026, more than 1,100 in all.

For each dish we took every line that is vegan as served and prints a price, at any location in the catalog. Where a menu prints a range, we took the low end. We left out lines under $5, which we judged too cheap to be a full dish, lines from a menu's kids' section, and lines whose name has the word junior, jr, mini, lil, kid, slider or half. Lines in a sides section are counted here, since fries and onion rings are sides. A location can contribute more than one line, and a chain counts once per location.

We show 27 common, specific dishes that each have at least 30 such lines. We left out drinks, desserts other than cheesecake, dishes sold by the piece or in varying sizes (tacos, pizza, sushi, wings, fried chicken), and groupings of unlike dishes such as sandwiches, bowls, breakfast, noodles, tofu, mushrooms, fish and mock meat. Biscuits, avocado toast, tofu scramble, philly cheesesteak and po' boy also clear 30 lines but are not in this edition.

Each line gives the median price across all priced lines for the dish, the number of lines and of locations they come from, and the range from the cheapest line to the dearest. Unlike our burger and chicken sandwich city guides, which compare each location's cheapest item, this table counts every line.

1. Chili: $6.30 median across 59 lines at 54 locations, $5 to $22.

2. Onion rings: $6.95 across 40 lines at 38 locations, $5 to $14.50.

3. Fries: $8.50 across 538 lines at 251 locations, $5 to $22.

4. Cheesecake: $8.95 across 127 lines at 89 locations, $5.25 to $18.

5. Hot dog: $9 across 73 lines at 41 locations, $5 to $18.99.

6. Spring rolls: $10 across 185 lines at 129 locations, $5 to $18.

7. Soup: $10.95 across 531 lines at 264 locations, $5 to $30.

8. Dumplings: $10.95 across 193 lines at 96 locations, $5 to $27.

9. Grilled cheese: $10.99 across 39 lines at 36 locations, $5 to $21.

10. Falafel: $12 across 71 lines at 52 locations, $5 to $22.

11. Mac and cheese: about $12.55 across 162 lines at 112 locations, $5 to $35.

12. Salad: $13.50 across 1,182 lines at 438 locations, $5 to $26.

13. Pancakes: $14 across 148 lines at 86 locations, $5 to $23.50.

14. Wrap: $14.75 across 398 lines at 180 locations, $5.29 to $27.

15. Burrito: $14.89 across 405 lines at 172 locations, $5 to $28.

16. Chicken sandwich: $14.95 across 229 lines at 114 locations, $9 to $27.

17. Nachos: $15 across 148 lines at 129 locations, $6 to $23.99.

18. Waffles: $15 across 103 lines at 57 locations, $5 to $26.

19. Burger: $15.50 across 822 lines at 274 locations, $5 to $31.99.

20. Pho: $15.50 across 37 lines at 32 locations, $7 to $24.

21. Quesadilla: $15.95 across 107 lines at 73 locations, $6 to $24.

23. Pad thai: $15.95 across 36 lines at 35 locations, $11.25 to $27.

23. Fried rice: $15.99 across 210 lines at 78 locations, $5 to $25.95.

24. Reuben: $16 across 43 lines at 43 locations, $10 to $28.

25. Curry: $17 across 435 lines at 158 locations, $5.95 to $31.

26. Ramen: $18 across 56 lines at 28 locations, $12.75 to $28.

27. Pasta: $20 across 256 lines at 129 locations, $6.95 to $33.

The median across all 822 priced vegan burger lines is $15.50, 50 cents above the $15 median of each location's cheapest burger in our burger guide. The median chicken sandwich line is $14.95.

Pasta, ramen and curry have the highest medians of the 27, $20, $18 and $17. Chili, onion rings, fries and cheesecake have the lowest, from $6.30 to $8.95.

These are menu prices, not what anyone paid. Portion sizes are not controlled: a soup may be a cup or a bowl, and a salad a side or a meal. Dropping lines under $5 removes many small sides, so fries, soup and mac and cheese read higher here than the typical small order. Dishes sold by the piece or in varying sizes are left out because one median would mislead.

Pho is counted in soup as well as on its own. The chicken sandwich row counts every priced line; our chicken sandwich city guide counts only each location's cheapest sandwich.

Some dishes come from few locations, and ramen, pho and pad thai especially (28 to 35 locations each), so treat their medians as a first look. Menus are read at one date and prices change; locations that did not publish a price are not included.