Looking for Charleys vegetarian options? You get one real sandwich, a pile of fries, and a wall of real-fruit lemonades to work with. Charleys is a cheesesteak chain, so the menu leans hard on meat. But a vegetarian can still walk out full. Here’s exactly what to order and what to skip. If you want the bigger picture, here’s what about the vegetarians at every chain we cover.
A Quick Look at Charleys
Charley Shin opened the first Charleys in 1986 on the Ohio State University campus in Columbus, Ohio. He started with $48,000 of his mother’s savings and a 450-square-foot shop. The name changed twice, from Charley’s Steakery to Charley’s Grilled Subs, before settling on Charleys Cheesesteaks. The chain is still privately held by Shin’s company, Gosh Enterprises, out of Columbus.
Charleys has grown past 850 US locations across 45 states as of late 2025, which lands it around number 101 on the Franchise Times Top 400. Most stores sit in mall food courts, but standalone shops and drive-thrus are spreading fast. The pitch is a grill-to-order Philly cheesesteak, so the kitchen is built to cook your sandwich on the spot. That works in your favor when you ask them to leave the meat out.
Charleys Vegetarian Options: What to Order
Here are the Charleys vegetarian options worth knowing before you reach the counter. The short version: order the Veggie Delight, add fries if a shared fryer doesn’t bother you, and grab a real-fruit lemonade. Everything else on the board is built around steak, chicken, or wings, so the meatless list is short but solid.
| Menu Item | Vegetarian | Vegan |
|---|---|---|
| Veggie Delight (mushrooms, onions, peppers, three cheeses) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (egg in roll, dairy, mayo) |
| French fries (natural-cut) | ✅ Yes* | ✅ Yes* |
| Loaded fries (order without bacon) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (cheese, ranch) |
| Real-fruit lemonade (original, strawberry, blueberry, peach) | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Check (syrup varies) |
| Milkshakes | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy) |
| Fried dough | ⚠️ Check (egg, shared fryer) | ❌ No |
| Cheesesteaks, chicken tenders, wings | ❌ No (meat) | ❌ No (meat) |
The Veggie Delight Cheesesteak
The Veggie Delight is the one sandwich a vegetarian can actually order at Charleys. It’s grilled mushrooms, onions, and green peppers piled onto a roll with provolone, Swiss, and shredded cheddar, then finished with lettuce, tomato, and mayo. A small runs about 460 calories with 21 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber, so it eats like a real meal, not a sad side.
Want more out of it? Ask for double vegetables cooked in the sweet teriyaki sauce. That’s a free upgrade most cashiers will ring up without blinking. One catch keeps it off the vegan list: the roll contains egg and the mayo isn’t vegan. So the Veggie Delight is vegetarian, full stop, but not vegan.
Feeding a group? Charleys lists a Veggie Cheesesteak boxed meal in its catering menu, so you can order the meatless sandwich in bulk for an office lunch or a party without making everyone eat steak. It’s the same grilled-vegetable build, just packed for a crowd. That’s a quieter win than most cheesesteak chains offer, since plenty of them have no vegetarian sandwich at all.
Fries, Loaded Fries, and Sides
Charleys fries are natural-cut potatoes fried crisp and salted, and the ingredients themselves are vegan. The catch is the oil. Charleys cooks chicken tenders and wings in the same fryer, so the fries share equipment with meat. If that’s a dealbreaker for you, skip them. If it isn’t, they’re the easiest vegetarian add-on on the menu. For dipping, the sweet teriyaki, Carolina gold, lemon pepper, and mango habanero sauces are vegetarian, so grab whichever one you like.
Loaded fries pile on cheese sauce and toppings, so ask for them without bacon to keep them vegetarian. The gourmet fries lineup adds melted and shredded cheese, creamy ranch, and sliced jalapenos, all of which are vegetarian, so build your own and leave the bacon off. The cheese sauce and ranch are dairy, which keeps loaded fries off the vegan list either way. They’re a fine split-with-a-friend order, not a main event.
Real-Fruit Lemonades and Shakes
The lemonades are the best part of a Charleys run for a vegetarian. They’re made with real fruit and come in original, strawberry, blueberry, and peach, and you can blend flavors at the machine. Try two-thirds strawberry and one-third peach and thank me later. They’re vegetarian, and most read vegan, but flavored syrups vary by location, so ask if you’re strict. Milkshakes are vegetarian too, but they’re dairy, so vegans should pass.
Is Anything at Charleys Vegan?
Barely. Charleys has told a dietary tracking site that its bread contains egg, so no sandwich can be made vegan, and that rules out the Veggie Delight for vegans. What’s left is the fries, if the shared fryer doesn’t bother you, and maybe a lemonade once you’ve confirmed the syrup. Charleys isn’t a vegan-friendly chain, and it doesn’t pretend to be. If you’re vegan, eat light here or eat before you go.
Special Dietary Requirements and Allergies
A few things to watch at Charleys beyond the obvious meat. The sandwich rolls contain egg, which matters for vegans and anyone with an egg allergy. Every fried item shares one fryer, so fries carry a cross-contact risk with chicken and wings. The three cheeses on the Veggie Delight mean dairy is all over the sandwich, and the chain hasn’t published whether its cheeses use animal rennet, so a strict vegetarian who avoids rennet should treat the cheese as a check. Charleys posts full nutrition and allergen PDFs on its site, so pull them up if an allergy is serious. Menus and ingredients vary by location, so confirm at the counter before you order.
Tips for Vegetarians at Charleys
- Order the Veggie Delight. It’s the only real vegetarian sandwich on the menu, and it’s a good one.
- Ask for double vegetables in sweet teriyaki sauce to turn the small into a fuller meal.
- Decide how you feel about the shared fryer before you order fries. There’s no separate vegetarian oil.
- Skip the bacon on loaded fries and you’ve got a quick vegetarian side.
- Confirm the lemonade syrup if you’re vegan, and skip the shakes since they’re dairy.
- Pull up the allergen PDF on charleys.com if you have an egg or dairy allergy.
Conclusion
Charleys won’t ever be a vegetarian destination, but you won’t go hungry. Order the Veggie Delight, decide where you stand on the shared fryer, and wash it down with a real-fruit lemonade. That’s the whole playbook. For more chains, start with our guide to eating vegetarian and vegan at restaurants, or browse every restaurant guide we’ve published. If you like a sub shop, see what’s vegetarian at Subway and Jersey Mike’s, or check the fries at Five Guys.
