Buffalo Wild Wings: What’s Vegetarian Editorial Review

Buffalo Wild Wings works for vegetarians in a pinch, but only just. This is a wings-and-sports-bar chain built around chicken, and it has exactly one dedicated meatless entree on the entire menu. Everything else you’ll eat here comes from sides and a handful of customizable picks, and one detail changes the whole equation. The kitchen fries almost everything in beef tallow, which knocks out foods that look plant-based on paper.

What to order at Buffalo Wild Wings

Start with the Southwestern Black Bean Burger, the one real meatless entree on the menu, and order it without a fried side to keep it vegetarian. The Garden Side Salad works with no croutons, and you can round out a plate with carrots and celery sticks, guacamole, salsa, or pico de gallo. Mandarin oranges and select-location white rice give you a couple more safe additions, and the carrots, celery, guacamole, and salsa all check out as fully vegan too.

What to watch out for

The beef tallow fryer is the catch that changes everything. Buffalo Wild Wings fries French fries, tots, potato wedges, tortilla chips, fried pickles, and even the standard cauliflower wings in rendered beef fat, so none of them are vegetarian no matter how plant-based the ingredients look. The chain also uses shared fryers and shared saucing bowls for chicken wings, so ask about baked cauliflower wings before ordering and skip the Caesar dressing, which contains anchovy. One more wrinkle: some outside guides label the fries and tots dairy-free vegan, but that only tracks milk, not the beef tallow, so don’t rely on a dairy-free tag alone.