I remember the first time I went to Cicis Pizza. I was a teenager, and I definitely ate way too much pizza. Now, as a vegan adult, I was curious if I can get unlimited vegan pizza at Cicis. Well, it turns out there’s no vegan cheese—but yes, it is still possible!
Cicis Pizza vegan options:
- Salad (with French Dressing or Light Ranch Dressing)
- Cavatappi Pasta (Substitute the Sauce)
- Custom Vegan Pizza
- Vegan Crusts: Deep Dish, Flatbread, Round Dough
- Vegan Sauces: Pizza Sauce, Ole Sauce, Hot Wing Sauce
- Veggie Toppings
Below, I’ll share tips on how to order each of these items. I’ll clarify a confusing issue with the sauce, and why you need to substitute the marinara sauce if you’re getting the pasta. I’ll answer common questions and end with a look at the whole-food plant-based options.
This vegan menu was compiled with the help of the full ingredients lists available on the Cicis Pizza website. With 13 years experience reading ingredients as a vegan, I feel confident to be your guide through the following options.
That said, restaurant menus change and often vary by location. I recommend double checking any important information with staff at your local Cicis!
1. Salad
Cicis is built around the concept of being an all-you-can-eat buffet. So of course, you can load up on all the salad you want! And you can add all kinds of toppings beyond the typical “side salad,” too.
Aside from the Lettuce/Romaine mix with carrot shreds and cabbage shreds, here are some of the dressings and toppings you can add…
Vegan salad dressings:
- French Dressing
- Light Ranch Dressing
Salad Condiments:
- Saltine Crackers
And here are some of the veggie toppings you’ll likely have at your disposal:
- Banana Peppers
- Black Olives
- Broccoli
- Carrots
- Cherry Tomatoes
- Cucumbers
- Diced Tomatoes In Juice
- Green Olives
- Green Peppers
- Jalapenos
- Mushrooms
- Pineapple Tidbits
- Red Onion
- Spinach
2. Custom Vegan Pizza
Cicis doesn’t have vegan cheese, so none of their standard pre-made pizzas are vegan. However, you can ask them to make you a vegan pizza without cheese.
All their pizza doughs are vegan, and they have vegan sauce and plenty of options for veggie toppings. So you just have to be willing to wait for the custom pizza to get made.
Pizza Crust Options:
- Deep Dish Dough
- Flatbread
- Round Dough
Sauce Options:
- Pizza Sauce
- Ole Sauce
- Hot Wing Sauce
Note: You may want to double-check that the pizza sauce is vegan at your location. On the Cicis website, it has this note: “Red sauce may contain dairy. Please contact your local store to confirm pizza sauce they are serving.” But the standard is for their pizza sauce to be vegan. So you’ll probably be in the clear.
Veggie pizza toppings:
- Banana Peppers
- Black Olives
- Broccoli
- Green Olives
- Green Peppers
- Jalapenos
- Mushrooms
- Pineapple Tidbits
- Red Onion
- Spinach
- Tomatoes
(Cicis doesn’t have any vegan meat or tofu or anything like that currently.)
3. Cavatappi Pasta (Substitute Sauce)
Cicis typically has pasta noodles that are vegan (the standard is spiral-shaped Cavatappi pasta). Unfortunately, their “Marinara Pasta Sauce” contains dairy (Romano cheese). So you don’t want to just use their typical pasta sauce.
The solution is to ask them for some pizza sauce to use on your pasta. Well, that or you could ask for one of their other vegan sauces: Ole Sauce or Hot Wing Sauce. Or you can have it without sauce. But the pizza sauce is a pretty good substitute.
However, as I mentioned above, you may want to double-check about the dairy-free status of the pizza sauce. The allergen warning on the Cicis website made it sound like this factor could vary by location.
Common Questions
Now let’s answer some of the most common questions about eating vegan at Cicis.
Does Cicis Have Vegan Pizza?
Cicis does not have any pre-made vegan pizzas. However, you can order a custom vegan pizza when you get there, with whatever crust, sauce, and veggies you like. Staff is known to be quick and accommodating with such requests. So really it’s just a matter of being willing to wait for the pizza to cook.
Is Cicis Pizza Crust Vegan?
All three of Cicis pizza crust options—Deep Dish, Flatbread, and Round Dough—are vegan. This is refreshing compared to some restaurants like Old Chicago that don’t have any vegan crusts!
Does Cicis Pizza Have Cauliflower Crust?
Cicis Pizza does not currently offer a cauliflower crust. They only offer Deep Dish Dough, Flatbread, and Round Dough. All three of these options are made primarily of wheat flour.
Does Cicis Pizza Use Real Cheese?
Cicis Pizza uses real, low-moisture mozzarella cheese for their pizzas. They also use real parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese, and Romano cheese for various applications. Cicis does not offer vegan cheese or any other lactose-free or dairy-free cheese at this time.
Is Cici’s Pizza Healthy?
Cicis Pizza is not particularly healthy. The crusts are made with processed white flour (and soybean oil), and all their standard pizzas come with dairy cheese that is high in saturated fat and sodium.
By custom ordering a vegan pizza with extra veggies and no cheese, it will be healthier—but the processed ingredients in the crust are still not great for you. Making a pizza with whole grain crust at home would be healthier.
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 Cicis Pizza? Well, it would be limited… but yes.
To eat a WFPB meal at Cicis, you would just want to choose whole foods from the salad bar. Probably, you’d just make a huge salad, and then have another, and another! Pig out on salad.
For reasons mentioned above, the pizza crust at Cicis is not WFPB. And the pasta is made from processed white flour, as well. So it’s just salad for the WFPB menu.
It’s not the most exciting meal, but at least it’s an option. At some chain restaurants, there is literally no WFPB option whatsoever because there’s no salad and all the food is fried. So at least you have unlimited salad at Cicis!
More Vegan Guides to Pizza Chains
If Cicis doesn’t sound very good, then you might want to check out some other pizza chains and compare the vegan options. I’ve written guides on all the ones listed here. Just click to read the guide for each one:
Two More Recommendations for Your Plant-Based Journey
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