Which pizza places are vegan and which are not?
Eating out as a vegan can be a daunting task, and often involves a lot of reading through websites and PDF versions of menus before heading to the restaurant.
One particular restaurant that can be difficult for vegans to order at is pizza restaurants. Not only do you need to find a place that does vegan cheese, but you also need to find a place that has pizza bases that do not contain any egg or dairy products.
This post should help you to see which restaurants are a great option for vegans, and which ones won’t fix your pizza craving.
Pizza Hut – 8/10 for Vegan options
Pizza Hut’s pan, all American thin and flatbread crusts do not contain egg and are therefore all vegan.
Their tomato sauce and BBQ sauce is also vegan, so you don’t have to worry about not having a pizza sauce too.
As well as vegan crusts, last year Pizza Hut started offering pizza topped with vegan cheese too.
For a £1 upgrade, you can order Violife’s award-winning dairy-free cheese melted ontop of your vegan-friendly pizza base.
Of course to top the pizza you can pick any of the vegetable options.
Pizza Hut is also a favourite for many people because of the salad bar; and thankfully there is plenty of vegan options there too! The croutons, tortilla chips, crispy onions and even the bacon bits are vegan! The Hut House seasoning, low fat French dressing, salsa and salad bar oils are also vegan to pour all over your salad.
As for the sides and dips, Pizza Hut’s chips and onion rings are vegan, and the ketchup, BBQ sauce, sweet chilli sauce, and hot and spicy sauce is all totally vegan too.
Dominoes – 1/10 for vegan options
Unfortunately, none of the Dominoes UK pizza bases are vegan as they contain egg. This means that, even without cheese, the pizza from Dominoes is not suitable for vegans.
The only vegan options on the menu includes the potato wedges, both plain and fajita seasoned, and a selection of their dips: tomato, BBQ, sweet chilli, salsa, tomato and garlic, mustard and cayenne pepper sauces are vegan-friendly.
Pizza Express – 9/10 for vegan options
Pizza Express is a firm favourite place to eat out for most vegans, as they offer a number of vegan options on the menu.
The Pizza Express pizza bases are vegan-friendly, as are their pizza sauces. This restaurant also offers vegan mozzarella cheese upon request, so you can make any vegetarian pizza into a vegan one simply by asking for the vegan cheese instead of the dairy cheese – amazing!
As well as this, Pizza Express offers a specific ‘Vegan Giardiniera” pizza, with tomato sauce, vegan mozzarella cheese, garlic oil, and toppings of artichoke, mushroom, red onion and black olives.
Other vegan options include the slow-roasted tomatoes and marinated olives from the starter menu. Also on the starter menu is Bruschetta Orignale which is vegan without the pesto and garlic butter, and there is Dough Balls which are vegan without the garlic butter too. You could have garlic oil or balsamic instead.
Zizzi – 10/10 for vegan options
If you ask a vegan where the best pizza place is, they will say Zizzi’s hands-down. Zizzi’s was actually the first place to offer dairy free mozzarella for vegan customers, and their vegan options have been expanding on and on since then. There’s even a vegan dessert option!
Their classic pizza, rustica pizza and gluten free classic pizza bases are all vegan, and if you ask for dairy-free mozzarella and any vegetable toppings then you can create your own vegan pizza.
Zizzi’s actually have a vegan menu, so it’s really easy to know what you can and cannot order. Their vegan rustica margarita pizza actually won an award at the PETA Vegan Food Awards too!
As well as pizza, Zizzi’s offers two vegan pasta dishes, the vegan lentil ragu and the vegan spaghetti Pomodoro, and the Green Goddess Broccoli Salad is vegan too.
As for starters, there is vegan bruschetta and vegan garlic bread, and of course olives and Zizzi spicy nuts which is a mix of cashews, almonds and chickpeas.
Then, after all that, if you’ve still got room then there is the desserts. The coconut and chocolate swirl gelato is vegan-friendly, as is the lemon sorbet and strawberry sorbet.
There is also a sticky chocolate and praline torte on the vegan menu, and a vegan dessert calzone – warm dough filled with banana, blueberries and strawberry and raspberry coulis, served with honeycomb and the chocolate-coconut gelato. Sounds dreamy.
