Smashburger vegetarian options come down to two veggie burgers and a short list of safe toppings. Skip the beef, and the meat-eaters at your table won’t notice a thing. This chain built its name on smashed patties, but it also carries a black bean burger plus a 100% jackfruit plant-based patty, so you get a real meal instead of a side salad. Hidden animal ingredients trip up a lot of diners here, and we’ll walk through every one. Browse more meatless restaurant guides at What’s Vegetarian.
A Quick Look at Smashburger
Smashburger started in Denver, Colorado, in 2007, founded by Rick Schaden and Tom Ryan with backing from the private-equity firm Consumer Capital Partners. The name comes from the cooking method, a ball of beef smashed onto a hot griddle until it builds a seared, crusty edge, the chain’s signature move. Denver still hosts company headquarters, and that smashed style remains the whole identity of the brand.
Jollibee Foods Corporation, the largest restaurant company in the Philippines, now wholly owns the chain. Jollibee bought 40% of Smashburger in October 2015, raised its stake to 85% in February 2018, then took full ownership in December 2018. Today there are roughly 220 U.S. locations and about 227 worldwide, spread across about 35 states plus Washington, D.C., with international units in Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama, Saudi Arabia, and the UK.
Smashburger Vegetarian Options: What to Order
Here’s the quick-reference grid for the Smashburger vegetarian options worth knowing. We’ve marked items vegan only where a source confirms it. Everything fried is flagged because of one big hidden ingredient covered further down. Treat anything cooked on the grill or in the fryer as a question for your specific location when you’re unsure.
| Menu Item | Vegetarian | Vegan |
|---|---|---|
| Black Bean Smash (Veggie Smash) patty | ✅ | ❌ (egg + cheese in patty) |
| Jack & Annie’s jackfruit plant-based patty | ✅ | ⚠️ (patty is vegan, but the bun and grill aren’t) |
| Side garden salad (with cheese) | ✅ | ❌ |
| Side salad, no cheese | ✅ | ✅ |
| Lettuce, tomato, raw onion, pickles, jalapeños, avocado | ✅ | ✅ |
| Grilled onions / sautéed crimini mushrooms | ✅ | ❌ (cooked with cream) |
| SmashFries®, tots, sweet potato fries, crispy Brussels sprouts | ❌ (beef tallow) | ❌ |
| Haystack onions | ❌ (beef tallow + egg/dairy) | ❌ |
| Ketchup, yellow mustard, BBQ sauce | ✅ | ✅ |
| Mayo, Chipotle Mayo, Truffle Mayo, Remoulade, Smash Sauce | ✅ | ❌ (egg) |
The Veggie Burgers
Smashburger’s two meatless patties are built differently, and each one is a genuine veggie burger, not an afterthought. The Black Bean Smash, also sold as the Veggie Smash, is the chain’s house black bean patty. The company’s own site calls it a black bean burger with “no meat required,” then adds a direct disclaimer: the patty contains egg and cheese and “may not be suitable for all meatless diets.” It’s solidly vegetarian, but the egg and dairy are baked into the patty itself, not just the toppings. Build it on the Classic, Multi-Grain, or Spicy Chipotle bun, the same buns used under the beef Classic Smash® Burger.
The lighter option is the Jack & Annie’s jackfruit patty, a plant-based burger and one of the Jack & Annie’s products, made from 100% jackfruit. It started as a test in three states in 2023, then rolled out nationwide as a permanent menu item on February 14, 2024, according to PR Newswire and the trade press. This patty is formulated to be vegan, but the assembled burger isn’t, and that trips up a lot of people. We’ll get into exactly why in the vegan section. On flavor and texture, the jackfruit shreds pull apart like the black bean patty crumbles, so neither one is trying to fake a beef bite, and both work fine as your protein for the meal.
One caveat: we couldn’t confirm from Smashburger’s current menu page that every location still carries the jackfruit patty in 2026. The official veggie-burgers page now lists only the black bean burger, even though references through early 2026 still mentioned the jackfruit patty and we found no discontinuation notice. Call ahead if the jackfruit patty is a make-or-break for your trip, or check the app before you drive over.
Sides, Salads, and Toppings
This is where Smashburger gets tricky, so read carefully before you add a side. The SmashFries® are the trap, crispy fries tossed in rosemary, garlic, and olive oil after frying. Every fried item here, including those fries, sweet potato fries, tots, crispy Brussels sprouts, and haystack onions, gets cooked in beef tallow, which is beef fat, so none of them are vegetarian, full stop. Haystack onions also carry egg and dairy on top of the beef-fat fry. Vegetarians can absolutely eat the burger, they just need to skip every fried side.
Your safer sides are the salads and fresh toppings. The side garden salad is vegetarian as served, and it becomes vegan if you drop the cheese. For toppings, you’re clear with lettuce, tomatoes, raw red onions, pickles, fresh jalapeños, and smashed avocado. Two toppings look vegetarian but aren’t vegan. Grilled onions and sautéed crimini mushrooms are both cooked with pasteurized cream, fine for vegetarians and off-limits for vegans.
- Vegetarian-safe sides: side garden salad, fresh veggie toppings
- Skip if vegetarian: SmashFries®, sweet potato fries, tots, crispy Brussels sprouts, haystack onions (all beef tallow)
- Vegetarian but not vegan: grilled onions, sautéed crimini mushrooms (cream)
A quick word on the entrée salads, because they’ve changed. Smashburger’s current menu shows two: the Avocado Green Goddess Salad and the Crispy Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad. The chicken-and-bacon one obviously isn’t vegetarian, and its fried chicken comes out of that same beef-tallow fryer. The Avocado Green Goddess can work as a vegetarian salad, but ask your location to confirm there’s no meat or anchovy in the dressing before you order it. The plain side garden salad is the safer bet when in doubt.
What’s Vegan at Smashburger?
Vegan options at Smashburger are thin, and that’s the honest answer. A strict vegan can order the Jack & Annie’s jackfruit patty with no bun, or as a lettuce wrap, topped with lettuce, tomato, raw onion, pickles, jalapeños, and smashed avocado. Add a side salad with no cheese, and finish with vegan condiments. Go Dairy Free lists ketchup, yellow mustard, and BBQ sauce as the three vegan sauces, and that’s the whole vegan burger build: a plant-based patty confirmed free of animal products, wrapped in vegetables instead of a bun.
Why no bun? Because the patty is vegan but the burger isn’t. There’s no vegan bun on the menu, since every bun is either dairy-containing or butter-toasted, and the patties are grilled in butter on a shared griddle. So a Smashburger vegan order means going bunless and accepting shared-grill cross-contact. There’s also no dairy-free shake right now. The non-dairy Eclipse shakes added in June 2022 have been discontinued, with no chain-wide replacement. Smashburger ranks among the least vegan-friendly burger chains out there, so the overall experience favors vegetarians and it’s fair to set expectations accordingly.
Special Dietary Requirements and Allergies
The hidden animal ingredients matter more here than at most chains, so know the four big ones. Beef tallow is in the fryer. Butter is on the grill and the buns. Egg is in the black bean patty and the mayo-based sauces. Dairy is in the cheese, the ranch, and the cream-cooked onions and mushrooms. The mayo family to avoid for egg includes Mayo, Chipotle Mayo, Truffle Mayo, Remoulade, and Smash Sauce, and ranch contains milk too.
Smashburger offers an Udi’s gluten-free bun for gluten-free diners. Heads up, though: that bun contains both dairy and egg, so it doesn’t work for a gluten-free vegan. Cross-contact is also unavoidable here, since everything is prepared on shared equipment, including a shared grill, shared fryer oil, and a shared shake station. Check the official Smashburger allergen guide and talk to your location before ordering if you have a severe allergy. Source guides disagree slightly on which buns list milk as an ingredient, but all of them agree no bun is vegan as served.
Tips for Vegetarians at Smashburger
- Pick your patty by goal. The Black Bean Smash is the heartier of the two veggie burgers, and the Jack & Annie’s jackfruit patty is the lighter, plant-forward pick.
- Skip every fried side. SmashFries®, sweet potato fries, tots, Brussels sprouts, and haystack onions are all fried in beef tallow, so they’re not vegetarian.
- Default to the side salad. It’s the reliable vegetarian side, and it goes vegan when you hold the cheese.
- Load up on fresh toppings. Lettuce, tomato, raw onion, pickles, jalapeños, and avocado are all fair game.
- Watch the cooked veggies. Grilled onions and sautéed mushrooms are vegetarian but contain cream, so they’re out for vegans.
- Choose sauces carefully. Ketchup, mustard, and BBQ are your safest bets, while the mayo-based sauces all contain egg.
- Call ahead for the jackfruit patty, or check the app. It’s a permanent national item, but we couldn’t verify it’s carried at every 2026 location.
Smashburger vegetarian options: frequently asked questions
Conclusion
Vegetarians do fine at Smashburger as long as you know the rules. The Black Bean Smash is a solid meatless main, and the Jack & Annie’s jackfruit patty is the lighter pick. The side salad rounds out the meal. Just avoid every fried side and the cream-cooked toppings. Vegans have a much shorter path: a bunless jackfruit patty with veggie toppings and a no-cheese salad, plus the understanding that cross-contact comes with the territory. See our guide to eating vegetarian and vegan at restaurants for more on ordering meatless when you eat out, and browse every chain we’ve covered in the restaurants category. You might also like our guide to vegetarian options at Jollibee, since Jollibee owns Smashburger. Check out what’s vegetarian at Five Guys if you’re after another classic burger stop.
