Looking for Mellow Mushroom vegetarian options? You have more of them than at almost any other pizza chain. Mellow Mushroom builds its menu around stone-baked pizzas, free vegan cheese, marinated tempeh, and a row of meat-free specialty pies, so a vegetarian rarely has to settle for a plain slice. This guide walks through what to order, what to skip, and how to make almost anything vegan. We spend a lot of time asking what about the vegetarians, and Mellow Mushroom gives us a lot to work with.
A Quick Look at Mellow Mushroom
Mellow Mushroom opened in 1974 in Atlanta, Georgia, started by Rocky Reeves and Mike Nicholson. Its parent company is Home Grown Industries, Inc., and the chain has grown to roughly 170 locations across about 20 states, mostly in the South and East (Wikipedia, 2021). Restaurant Business reported system-wide sales near $395 million for 2023.
The brand is built on hand-tossed, stone-baked pizza and a deep craft-beer list, with a psychedelic, laid-back style that got a purple-forward refresh in late 2024. For a vegetarian, the useful part is the kitchen itself. This chain makes its dough without dairy, stocks Follow Your Heart vegan cheese at no extra cost, and keeps tempeh on hand at every location. That combination is what makes the meat-free menu here genuinely deep instead of an afterthought.
Mellow Mushroom Vegetarian Options: What to Order
The short answer: most of the pizza menu works for vegetarians, and a good chunk goes vegan with one swap. Build Your Own is the safest bet, since you control every topping. The specialty pies give you ready-made choices, and the hoagies, calzones, and salads round things out. The table below sorts the popular picks. We mark an item vegan only when it is dairy-free and egg-free as ordered, and we flag anything that needs a question at the counter.
| Menu Item | Vegetarian | Vegan |
|---|---|---|
| Build Your Own Pizza (veggies, your cheese choice) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes* (vegan cheese, no butter finish) |
| Vegan Cheese Pizza (Follow Your Heart) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Vegan "Veg Out" (red sauce, vegan cheese, veggies) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Mega Veggie (red sauce, mozzarella, veggies) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy cheese) |
| Great White (mozzarella, provolone, ricotta, feta) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy cheese) |
| Holy Shiitake (mushrooms, cheeses, garlic aioli) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy + egg aioli) |
| Kosmic Karma / Gourmet White (cheese + pesto) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy, pesto) |
| Vegan Tempeh Hoagie | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Vegan Avocado Hoagie | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Vegan Pretzels (with yellow mustard) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| House / Greek / Enlightened Spinach Salad | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Check (cheese, dressing) |
| Caesar Salad | ⚠️ Check (anchovy dressing) | ❌ No |
| Gluten-free crust (Smart Flour) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Dairy mozzarella and cheeses | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy, no rennet info) |
| Meatballs / seasonal turkey topping | ❌ No | ❌ No |
Vegetarian Pizzas at Mellow Mushroom
Pizza is the reason to come here, and several specialty pies are vegetarian as built. The Mega Veggie piles spinach, green peppers, mushrooms, sweet onions, black olives, and Roma tomatoes over mellow red sauce and mozzarella. The Holy Shiitake skips red sauce for an olive oil and garlic base, then loads on roasted shiitake, button, and Portobello mushrooms, caramelized onions, mozzarella, aged white cheddar, and a garlic aioli swirl.
If you like a white pie, the Great White layers mozzarella, provolone, seasoned ricotta, and sheep’s milk feta with roasted and fresh tomatoes, sweet onions, and basil. The Kosmic Karma and Gourmet White both lean on feta and a pesto swirl. All of these keep their cheese, so they are vegetarian but not vegan. Build Your Own is the simplest move of all. Start with the dough and red sauce, pick your cheese, and load up from a long list of vegetables.
Hoagies, Calzones, and Salads
Beyond pizza, the hoagies are the standout. Its Vegan Tempeh Hoagie comes with balsamic-marinated tempeh, lettuce, Roma tomatoes, vegan cheese, grilled onions, mushrooms, and green peppers, and it is fully vegan as built. The Vegan Avocado Hoagie stacks avocado, lettuce, tomato, vegan cheese, and sweet onions. Calzones work too. Order the Veggie Calzone or a build-your-own with vegan cheese, and ask the kitchen to skip the butter and Parmesan finish if you want it vegan.
For salads, the Enlightened Spinach Salad brings spinach, dried cherries, diced apples, and glazed pecans. The Greek and House salads are loaded with vegetables. All three are vegetarian, and most go vegan if you drop the cheese and pick a vinaigrette over a creamy dressing. The one salad to question is the Caesar, since the dressing usually contains anchovy. Ask before you order it.
What’s Vegan at Mellow Mushroom?
Plenty, because the foundation is already plant-based. Both the regular and thin crusts are made without dairy, and the gluten-free crust from Smart Flour is vegan at every location. Follow Your Heart vegan cheese is a free swap on any pizza or hoagie, and marinated tempeh stands in for meat. That means the Vegan Cheese pizza, the Vegan "Veg Out," and a build-your-own vegan pie are all easy orders.
Round it out with the Vegan Tempeh Hoagie, the Vegan Avocado Hoagie, the vegan pretzels with yellow mustard, and a salad with vinaigrette and no cheese. When you order any pizza or calzone vegan, ask the kitchen to leave off the butter and Parmesan finish that some pies get brushed with. Two sauces to watch are pesto and ranch, which contain dairy.
Special Dietary Requirements and Allergies
A few things are worth confirming at your table. The chain has not published the source of the rennet in its dairy cheese, so strict vegetarians who avoid animal rennet should ask the location. The Caesar dressing contains anchovy, and the pesto, ranch, and buffalo sauces contain milk. The Roasted Mushroom Trio topping and the meatballs also contain dairy, so they are not vegan even though the mushrooms sound safe.
Cross-contact is the other thing to weigh. Pizzas share ovens with meat pies, so if you avoid all contact, mention it. Good news on gluten: the kitchen preps gluten-free pizzas in a separate sanitary area with dedicated tools, and that crust is vegan too, which makes it a solid choice for anyone juggling both needs. When in doubt, ask the staff to check an ingredient rather than guessing.
Tips for Vegetarians at Mellow Mushroom
- Build Your Own is the most reliable order. You pick the crust, sauce, cheese, and every topping, so nothing slips in.
- Ask for Follow Your Heart vegan cheese. It is a free swap and turns most pizzas and hoagies vegan.
- Say "no butter or Parmesan finish" when you want a vegan pizza or calzone. Some pies get brushed after baking.
- Add balsamic-marinated tempeh for a meatier bite on pizzas, hoagies, and salads.
- Skip the Caesar unless they confirm a meat-free dressing, since the standard one has anchovy.
- Choose a vinaigrette over ranch or other creamy dressings to keep a salad vegan.
- If you need gluten-free and vegan at once, the Smart Flour crust covers both.
Conclusion
Mellow Mushroom is one of the easier sit-down pizza chains for a vegetarian, and one of the best for vegans too. Between dairy-free dough, free vegan cheese, tempeh, and a stack of meat-free pies, you can eat well without much negotiating. Order Build Your Own when you want certainty, and ask about rennet and the butter finish when the details matter. For more help eating out, see our guide to eating vegetarian and vegan at restaurants and browse all our restaurant guides. If you like Mellow Mushroom, you will probably want our guides to Blaze Pizza, California Pizza Kitchen, and Jet’s Pizza.
