Here’s Every Vegan Option at Burgerville

With a name like “Burgerville,” it’s surprising how many vegan options this little restaurant chain actually has. From vegan burgers to vegan milkshakes, they put most burger joints to shame! Today, I’ll use my 13 years of vegan dining experience to help you map it all out.

Vegan options at Burgerville:

• Vegi-Bean Burger (No Cheese or Mayo)
• Classic Fries
• Waffly Fries
• Truffle Shoestring Fries
• Seasonal Farm Salad (with Balsamic Vinaigrette)
• Cherryrific Bliss Shake
• Chocolate Bliss Shake
• Oregon Strawberry Bliss Shake
• Portland Cold Brew Bliss Shake
• Sweet Cream Bliss Shake
• Organic Applesauce

There are also 4 more vegan options at the PDX Airport location. I’ll share those below, along with details on how to order all these items vegan. I’ll answer 9 common questions, and I’ll end with a look at the whole-food plant-based options!

Burgerville Vegan Menu

The following vegan menu was compiled with the help of the full menu, allergen information, and ingredients lists on the Burgerville website.

Restaurant menus change and often vary by location. I recommend double checking any important information with staff at your location!

1. Vegi-Bean Burger (No Cheese or Mayo)

Every Burgerville location has veggie burgers. But at the PDX Airport location, it goes under a different name and comes with vegan cashew cheese. Here’s the scoop:

• Vegi-Bean Burger (No Cheese, No Mayo) – This is at most Burgerville locations. To make it vegan, order it “No Cheese” and “No Mayo.” Comes with an Adzuki Bean Patty that is 100% vegan, along with a vegan bun, tomato slice, and lettuce.

• Vega Burger (PDX Airport Only) – This burger comes with the same Adzuki Bean Patty as the above burger, but it comes vegan with cashew cheese instead of dairy cheese! It’s also mayo-free. So, no custom ordering is required to make it vegan.

Note: The Gluten-Free Bun is not vegan, as it contains egg whites. So stick with the normal bun or get a Lettuce Wrap to keep it vegan.

2. French Fries

Burgerville fries are a vegan staple. Cooked with canola oil, there’s no animal fat in any of these three fry options:

• Classic Fries
• Waffly Fries
• Truffle Shoestring Fries

If you’re a very picky vegan: I’ll also explain some potential controversy about the Truffle Fries below. But it’s only a possible, obscure connection to animal exploitation—I personally wouldn’t worry about it.

As with most chain restaurants, the fries may be cooked in a shared fryer with chicken, fish, or other animal ingredients. If that concerns you, ask the staff at your Burgerville location.

3. Seasonal Farm Salad

The salad at Burgerville seems to come vegan by default. But you may want to double-check at your location before assuming, as it does change by season.

At the time of my research, they’re serving a “Radicchio Root Vegetable Salad,” which comes with radicchio, turnips, red leaf lettuce, spinach, rutabaga, and rainbow carrots.

Balsamic Vinaigrette is the only vegan salad dressing. (The only other options they have are bleu cheese dressing and ranch.)

4. Bliss Shakes

Burgerville has shakes with real ice cream, but they also have these plant-based “Bliss Shakes.”

They’re made with Coconut Bliss soft-serve, which is obviously made with coconut milk. It’s really, really delicious.

Here are the five vegan flavors:

• Cherryrific Bliss Shake
• Chocolate Bliss Shake
• Oregon Strawberry Bliss Shake
• Portland Cold Brew Bliss Shake
• Sweet Cream Bliss Shake

There are two non-vegan Bliss Shakes: The Chocolate Hazelnut Bliss Shake contains honey. The Mint Patty Bliss Shake contains egg (in the mint pieces).

You can also get Coconut Whipped Cream to go on top of your Bliss Shake. It’s vegan and dairy-free.

If you’re still curious about ingredients in Bliss Shakes, here’s one of the vegan flavors:

Chocolate Bliss Shake Ingredients: “Coconut bliss soft serve (coconut milk (water, coconut, guar gum), water, cane sugar, tapioca syrup solids, vanilla extract), chocolate sauce (cane sugar, water, cacao powder, vanilla extract, cacao butter, pink salt, guar gum).”

5. Organic Applesauce

At some restaurants, I actually get the applesauce off the kids menu because it’s one of the few vegan options. Thankfully, at Burgerville, there are better options. But if you just feel like having applesauce, it’s there.

6. Sauces and Toppings

Not many of the sauces at Burgerville are vegan-friendly. Just these:

• BBQ Sauce
• Coconut Whipped Cream

7. Beverages

From Coke to apple juice, there’s plenty of vegan drinks to choose from:

• Barq’s Root Beer
• Caffeine Free Diet Coke
• Coca Cola
• Coke Zero
• Diet Coke
• Dr Pepper
• Fuze Raspberry Tea
• Sprite
• Honest Iced Tea
• Apple Juice
• Lemonade
• Oregon Strawberry Lemonade
• Coffee (PDX Airport Only)

4 More Options at the PDX Airport

Burgerville has a special location inside of the Portland Airport (PDX). And this location is extra vegan-friendly! It has four vegan options you can’t get at the other locations.

1. Vega Burger

I mentioned this one above, but just so you don’t forget: The bean burger at the PDX Airport location is called the Vega Burger. It comes vegan without custom ordering—and it has cashew cheese! Very exciting.

2. Hash Browns

These hash brown patties are fried in canola oil. They have a triangular shape. Totally vegan friendly, and totally delicious!

3. Vega-Sausage Breakfast Sandwich

This vegan breakfast sandwich comes loaded with Field Roast Vegan Sausage, Hey Babe Cashew Cheese Spread, Just Egg, red onions, arugula, and a vegan bun.

I’m really impressed that they’re offering this at an airport. I mean, airports are usually horrible for vegan food. Only in Portland, I guess!

4. Vega Sausage Scramble

This is a sort of vegan scrambled eggs. It comes with Field Roast Vegan Sausage, Just Egg, avocado, and salsa. Again, it’s crazy this is now available at an airport. I hope the future has more options like this in airports.

But What About…

Now let’s answer some common questions about eating vegan at Burgerville.

Does Burgerville Have Vegan Ice Cream?

Burgerville uses vegan ice cream in their Bliss Shakes. Specifically, they use Coconut Bliss soft-serve, which is made with coconut milk.

I didn’t see any option to get the Coconut Bliss soft-serve in a cone or anything separately like that. But you can definitely get vegan shakes (see the flavors above)

Are Burgerville Shakes Vegan?

Five flavors of Burgerville Shakes can be ordered vegan: Cherryrific, Chocolate, Oregon Strawberry, Portland Cold Brew, and Sweet Cream. Be sure to order them with non-dairy Coconut Bliss (“Bliss Shake”) to make them vegan and dairy-free.

Keep in mind that the Chocolate Hazelnut flavor cannot be made strictly vegan, as it contains honey. The Mint Patty flavor cannot be made strictly vegan, as it contains egg in the mint chips.

Is Burgerville’s Bean Burger Vegan?

Burgerville’s bean burger patty, the Adzuki Bean Patty, is 100% vegan. However, when you order their Vegi-Bean Burger, it comes standard with mayo and a slice of cheese. To make it vegan, you must order it without cheese and mayo.

The exception is that, at the PDX Airport, you can just get the Vega Burger, and it comes with vegan cashew cheese and no mayo by default.

Here are the full ingredients to Burgerville’s bean patty:

Adzuki Bean Patty: “Adzuki bean patty (whole grain millet, adzuki beans, whole grain quinoa, expeller pressed oil (canola &/or coconut &/or sunflower), onion, sweet potatoes, green chilies, salt, psyllium husk powder, arrowroot, apple cider vinegar, cumin, garlic, chili pepper, oregano, lime juice; cooked in canola oil).”

Are Burgerville Truffle Fries Vegan?

Burgerville’s Truffle Fries are generally considered vegan. They are cooked with canola oil, and they are free of dairy and egg ingredients. However, they do contain small amounts of truffle. And there is controversy over whether truffles are vegan.

That’s because dogs and pigs are sometimes used to find truffles. Usually those animals would be treated just fine. But not always. It can actually get pretty dark and crazy, as I wrote about in my blog post on whether mushrooms are vegan.

But even if truffles are theoretically not vegan, Burgerville’s truffle fries contain basically no actual truffles. They have truffle oil, which is made synthetically. And then they have “truffle salt,” which only has tiny pieces of Italian white truffle. So I wouldn’t worry about it.

That said, if you like to be very thorough about avoiding ingredients that involve animals in any way, then I’d recommend learning more about truffle hunting with dogs and pigs in this blog post.

Is Burgerville Organic?

Burgerville does not sell organic food for the most part. They focus on local farms, and many of their animal foods are listed as “antibiotic free,” “cage free,” and “sustainable.” But they do not promise organic ingredients.

From a vegan standpoint, I think this is fine. As I’ve written before, “organic” does not necessarily mean environmentally friendly. It is also not the most meaningful animal welfare standard, although it’s better than generic labels like “natural.”

[Related post: “Should Vegans Eat Organic as a Rule?”]

What Kind of Oil Does Burgerville Use?

Burgerville uses canola oil for their fries, onion rings, chicken, and fish. They made the switch away from less-healthy oils that contain trans fat back in 2006. Of course, fried food is still pretty bad for you. But it’s not quite as bad as it used to be!

Does Burgerville Do Lettuce Wraps?

Burgerville can do lettuce wraps for any of their burgers at no extra cost. If you want to eat gluten-free and vegan at Burgerville, I highly recommend getting a lettuce wrap. This is because their gluten-free bun contains egg.

Does Burgerville Have Gluten Free Buns?

Burgerville does have a gluten-free bun. However, it contains eggs. Therefore, for a vegan and gluten-free option, ask for a lettuce wrap instead.

Is Burgerville Spread Vegan?

The Burgerville Spread is not vegan, as it contains egg. Here are the ingredients to this signature sauce:

Burgerville Spread Ingredients: Soybean or canola oil, sweet relish (cured cucumbers, granulated sugar, water, distilled vinegar, tomato paste, salt, 2% or less: food starch-modified, spices, sodium benzoate (preservative), dehydrated onions, calcium chloride, natural flavoring (with polysorbate 80), dehydrated red bell peppers), mustard (distilled vinegar, water, mustard seed, salt, turmeric, paprika, spice, garlic powder), eggs, distilled vinegar, water, sugar, salt, spices, lemon juice concentrate, potassium sorbate & sodium benzoate as preservatives, stabilizer blend (xanthan gum, guar gum, maltodextrin, propylene glycol alginate), calcium disodium EDTA to protect flavor.

Whole-Food Plant-Based Options

What if you’re not just vegan but also trying to avoid processed foods? Can you get a whole-food plant-based (WFPB) meal at Burgerville?

WFPB options at Burgerville:

• Seasonal Farm Salad
• Organic Applesauce

Unfortunately, there are no really filling whole grains or baked potatoes at Burgerville. So you’d be limited to just the veggies and fruit in the salad and applesauce. Not very filling.

You could make an almost-WFPB meal if you got the bean burger patty in a lettuce wrap. But the patty itself contains oil. So it wouldn’t be strictly WFPB.

Two More Recommendations for Your Plant-Based Journey

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2. This is the best vegan multivitamin I’ve found in my 14 years of being vegan. It has vitamin B12, vitamin D, omega-3—and nothing else. Translation: It only has the nutrients vegans are actually low in. Read my full review of Future Kind’s multivitamin here (with 10% discount).