Hidden meat in restaurant sides catches vegetarians every holiday season. Across 306 chain restaurant guides, 16 chains serve something made with broth, pork, bacon fat, or lard. Below you’ll find the full infographic, the numbers behind the graphic, and the swaps our guides recommend.
Key findings
- 16 chains serve something made with broth, pork, bacon fat, or lard.
- Anchovies, beef tallow, and gelatin tie for the most common catch, each behind 12 menu items our guides mark not vegetarian.
- Chicken broth or stock and pork fat or ham each show up in 8 menu items.
- The Cheesecake Factory and Yard House lead casual dining, with 23 vegetarian items each.
- Coffee and bakery chains average the most vegetarian items in our guides, 14.8 per chain.
What’s hiding in the food
Three ingredients tie at the top: anchovies, beef tallow, and gelatin. Broth, pork, and bacon fat come next, and those three turn up in sides. Beans, greens, rice, and gravy look meat-free and often aren’t.
| Ingredient | Menu items marked not vegetarian because of it |
|---|---|
| anchovies | 12 |
| beef tallow | 12 |
| gelatin | 12 |
| chicken broth or stock | 8 |
| pork fat or ham | 8 |
| bacon bits or bacon fat | 7 |
Four sides with hidden meat
All four look safe on the menu board. Our guides found the catch in each one, plus a side you can order instead.
- Cracker Barrel Green Beans: the catch is pork. The chain cooks its greens and beans with pork. Order the Steamed Broccoli, which is vegan if you skip the butter.
- KFC Mashed Potatoes: the default order comes with gravy, and that gravy is chicken-based. Skip the gravy, or pick Sweet Kernel Corn.
- Pollo Campero Campero Rice: the catch is chicken broth. Its kitchen cooks the rice in chicken broth. Plain White Rice is the swap.
- Sonny's BBQ BBQ Beans: the catch is bacon. Sonny's cooks the original recipe beans with bacon and pork. Corn on the Cob is the safer side.
Why hidden meat in restaurant sides goes unnoticed
Most diners never think to ask about a side dish. A kitchen starts its beans with bacon fat, cooks its rice in stock, or makes its gravy from chicken drippings, and you won’t see any of that on the menu board. We track these one chain at a time in our guides.
Mexican chains make the pattern easy to spot. Taco Cabana cooks its refried beans with bacon fat, and Taco Bueno does the same in several items, including the Bean Burrito and Beans & Cheese. Fuzzy's Taco Shop makes its refried beans with lard.
Soups carry the same risk. LaRosa's Cream of Broccoli and Cream of Potato soups use a chicken base, and Chicken Salad Chick's Loaded Potato Soup has chicken broth and bacon. Cream soups sound meatless. Many aren't.
Casual dining that delivers
Eating out over the holiday? You'll find the widest menus at sit-down chains. These casual dining chains list the most vegetarian items in our guides. Tap a name for the full guide.
| Chain | Vegetarian items in our guide |
|---|---|
| The Cheesecake Factory | 23 |
| Yard House | 23 |
| Chili's Grill & Bar | 22 |
| Golden Corral | 18 |
| Olive Garden | 17 |
| Beef O'Brady's | 16 |
| Carrabba's | 15 |
| Maggiano's | 15 |
The most veggie-friendly food types
Coffee and bakery chains top this list, at 14.8 vegetarian items per chain in our guides. Sandwich chains round out the top eight, at 10.2.
| Cuisine | Vegetarian items in our guide |
|---|---|
| coffee & bakery | 14.8 |
| mexican | 14.3 |
| casual dining | 13.8 |
| pizza | 13.5 |
| breakfast & diners | 12.7 |
| salads & mediterranean | 12.2 |
| burgers | 10.8 |
| sandwiches | 10.2 |
How to beat the trap
Before you order, ask whether the kitchen cooks the beans, greens, and rice with pork or bacon, and what goes into the gravy. Skip a broth-based soup unless the chain’s guide lists that soup as vegetarian. When in doubt, open the guide first.
How we counted
Source: What's Vegetarian's guides to 306 US restaurant chains, data as of 2026-11-03. Item counts are the vegetarian and vegan picks each guide lists. Hidden-ingredient counts are menu items a guide marks not vegetarian because of that ingredient. Menus change, so check the chain's current ingredient list.
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