Veganuary: What to order from takeaways

 

Ordering takeaway food as a new vegan can be daunting, and especially with all restaurants being takeaway only at the moment it's always good to have an idea of what you can eat. Thankfully, more and more vegan options are being added all the time, and websites are getting much better at labelling their ingredients and which dishes are vegan-friendly. Here's some big chains so you can have an idea of what's vegan (all correct at the time of writing in January 2021).

Papa Johns

Papa John's were one of the first mainstream pizza delivery chains to introduce vegan options. They've also had some new releases for Veganuary 2021! Their vegan offerings currently are:

• Vegan works pizza (Jackfruit "Pepperoni", vegan sausage, chestnut mushrooms, green peppers, onions and black olives)
• Vegan Alice Tai pizza (Vegan sausage, chestnut mushrooms, fresh tomatoes, sweetcorn, onions and black olives)
• Jackfruit "Pepperoni"
• The Stinger pizza (Hot yellow Amarillo chilli sauce with vegan cheese, jackfruit “pepperoni” and fresh red chilli)
• Vegan cheese and tomato
• Vegan garden party (Tomatoes, onions, green peppers, sweetcorn and chestnut mushrooms)
• "Not chicken" vegan bites (like chicken nuggets!)
• Vegan cheese/ cheese and jalapeno tots
• Califlower wings
• Vegan cheese and marmite scrolls
• Garlic and herb dip
• Hot buffalo sauce
• Cinnamon scrolls
• Ben and Jerry's non dairy ("Save our Swirled" and Cookie dough)

Dominos

Dominos have more recently added some vegan options to their offerings - before, it was pretty much just potato wedges. Now you can have:

• The chick-ain't (Peppers, onions, soya strips, vegan cheese; italian or classic crust)
• Vegan margherita (italian or classic crust)
• Vegan vegi supreme (Sweetcorn, tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, onions; italian or classic crust)
• Vegan garlic and herb dip (not the regular one!)
• Vegan nuggets
• Potato wedges
• BBQ sauce

Wagamama

Wagamama's have also been pretty quick to update their vegan options, with them aiming for a 50% plant based menu in the future. They've won awards for their vegan food, and have recently released some new foods for veganuary! Remember only their rice noodles and udon noodles are vegan, not the soba ones. Their current options are:

• Vegan chilli squid (not currently available for delivery but should be available once restaurants open for dine in again!)
• Vegan sticky ribs
• Edamame
• Bang bang cauliflower
• Yasai gyoza
• Wok fried greens
• Vegetable tempura
• Mixed mushroom and panko aubergine steamed buns
• Kare burosu ramen
• Yasai yaki soba (with rice/udon noodles)
• Vegan Pad Thai 
• Tofu raisukaree
• Tofu firecracker
• Yasai Katsu curry (normal/hot)
• Vegatsu (normal/hot)
• Chillies
• Miso soup
• Japanese pickles
• Chocolate orange cake
• Banana katsu
• Coconut reika ice cream
• Miso caramel ice cream
• Chocolate and orange blossom ice cream
• Pink guava and passion fruit sorbet
• Strawberry and yuzu ice cream

Yo Sushi

Yo Sushi also have a lot of vegan options, but they have a slightly reduced menu at the moment while they're closed. The current vegan options listed on their website are:

• Avocado / cucumber maki
• Edamame
• Fresh fruit plate
• Inari taco
• Pumpkin katsu / pumpkin katsu curry
• Shiitake mushroom ramen
• Tofu katsu curry
• Vegetable gyoza
• Yasai roll
• Yasai Temaki

(When not in lockdown, they also had: yaki soba, tofu katsu curry, vegan chocolate pots, miso soup and a seaweed salad).

Nandos

Sadly, Nando's removed many of their vegan options when they shut in March. However, they've replace their sweet potato and green burgers with The Great Imitator, which is a pea protein meat substitute that you can have in a burger or in a pitta. (There is a warning on the wrap as it contains lemons that they "can't guarentee haven't come into contact with shellac). The vegan sides they have are:

• Chips
• Peri peri chips
• Spicy rice
• Garlic bread
• Spicy mixed olives
• Peri peri houmous
• Mixed leaf salad
• Long stem broccoli 

Their sauces are also vegan, and they do vegan perinaise now too!

Local Shops

Vegan options will vary between small businesses, so your best bet is to ask someone what vegan food they have available. I've listed some things to look out for when buying from the following places!

Chip shops

• Make sure the chips aren't fried in beef dripping! This is especially common near the seaside where it's seen as 'traditional' 
• Sometimes the chips will be fried with fish and other non vegan food, so be careful of cross contamination
• If you're lucky, your local chippy might have a vegan menu!
• Your best best is probably just chips, possibly vegetable spring rolls (watch out for egg) or a veggie burger (make sure it doesn't contain egg for binding or mayo in the bun)

Chinese takeaways

• This will vary a lot from shop to shop, so make sure you ask what ingredients things have!
• Watch out for fish sauce being added to sauces
• Tofu, vegetables, rice and chips might be your best bet but again, ask!
• Noodles might contain egg - be careful!

Indian takeaways

• The biggest thing to watch out for here is ghee (butter) being added to dishes
• Also milk in curries (though some might be made with coconut milk!)
• Naans usually contain yogurt so aren't suitable
• Samosas, bhajis, rice and poppadoms are usually ok but double check!
• Paneer is usually vegetarian but it isn't vegan as it's cheese