Looking for CAVA vegetarian options? You’re in luck, because CAVA might be the most vegetarian-friendly chain in the country. It’s a build-your-own Mediterranean spot built around falafel, hummus, grains, roasted vegetables, and a wall of dips. Plant eaters get a full meal here instead of a side salad. There’s even a pita that’s vegan straight off the menu. This guide walks through every meat-free pick and the handful of dairy items to watch. It’s part of our wider work helping vegetarians and vegans eat well anywhere.
A Quick Look at CAVA
CAVA started in 2006 as a full-service restaurant called Cava Mezze in Rockville, Maryland. Three Greek-American friends opened it: Ted Xenohristos, Ike Grigoropoulos, and Dimitri Moshovitis. They turned their family recipes into a fast-casual format in Bethesda in 2011, and the build-your-own bowl concept took off from there. Brett Schulman came on as CEO in 2009 and still runs the company, now headquartered in Washington, D.C.
The big growth moment came in 2018, when CAVA bought the Mediterranean chain Zoës Kitchen for $300 million and converted those restaurants to its own brand. CAVA went public on the New York Stock Exchange in June 2023 under the ticker CAVA. By April 2025 it ran 382 company-owned locations across the country — there are no franchises — and pulled in $954 million in revenue for 2024. That makes it one of the fastest-growing restaurant chains in America, and a rare one where the menu was practically built for vegetarians from day one.
CAVA Vegetarian Options: What to Order
Here’s the short version: the CAVA vegetarian options cover almost the entire menu, and most of them are vegan too. You start by picking a base — a pita, a grain bowl, a salad, or greens and grains — then load it with dips, grains, roasted vegetables, falafel, and toppings. The only things you skip are the meat proteins (chicken, steak, lamb) and three dairy items (feta, tzatziki, and Crazy Feta). Everything else on the line is fair game.
CAVA Vegetarian and Vegan Options at a Glance
| Menu Item | Vegetarian | Vegan |
|---|---|---|
| Falafel | ✅ | ✅ (contains wheat) |
| Crispy Falafel Pita (as listed) | ✅ | ✅ (vegan straight off the menu) |
| Roasted vegetables | ✅ | ✅ |
| Hummus / Roasted Red Pepper Hummus | ✅ | ✅ |
| Harissa | ✅ | ✅ |
| Roasted eggplant dip | ✅ | ✅ |
| Saffron basmati rice / brown rice / black lentils | ✅ | ✅ |
| SuperGreens, romaine, and all vegetable toppings | ✅ | ✅ |
| Feta cheese | ✅ | ❌ (dairy) |
| Tzatziki | ✅ | ❌ (yogurt) |
| Crazy Feta (spicy whipped feta) | ✅ | ❌ (dairy) |
| Greek vinaigrette | ✅ | ⚠️ (not vegan; pick another dressing) |
| Chicken, steak, lamb, meatballs | ❌ | ❌ |
Vegetarian Dips and Spreads at CAVA
The dips are where CAVA earns its reputation, and most of them are vegan. Plain hummus is the classic — chickpeas, tahini, lemon, garlic — and the roasted red pepper hummus adds sweet roasted peppers to the same base. Harissa is a spicy tomato-and-pepper spread, and the roasted eggplant dip is smoky and rich. All four are vegan, so you can pile on as many as you want and still keep the bowl plant-based.
Three dips contain dairy. Tzatziki is the cucumber-yogurt sauce, feta is, well, feta, and Crazy Feta is CAVA’s signature dip of feta whipped with jalapeño, onion, and olive oil. All three are vegetarian and delicious, but they’re off-limits if you’re vegan. The good news is you’ll never miss them with hummus and harissa on the line.
Building a Vegetarian Bowl or Pita at CAVA
CAVA is a build-your-own line, so the trick is knowing which stops to make. Start with a base: a warm pita, a grain bowl, a salad bowl, or the greens-and-grains bowl. All of them are vegetarian, and the pita is vegan (it does contain wheat). You can build any of them without meat from the start. From there, your grains are saffron basmati rice, brown rice, and black lentils — every one of them vegan and a great way to make the bowl filling.
Next come the greens and toppings, and this is the easy part. They’re all vegetarian, and nearly all vegan. Pile on SuperGreens or shredded romaine. Then add avocado, fiery broccoli, fire-roasted corn, kalamata olives, Persian cucumbers, pickled onions, salt-brined pickles, sumac onions, tomato and onion, and cabbage slaw. The only dairy topping is feta, so skip it for a vegan build. For protein, the falafel and roasted vegetables both keep your bowl meat-free and plant-based.
Want a quick pre-set instead of building from scratch? The Falafel Crunch bowl is vegetarian as served — falafel, greens, grains, and toppings — and it comes with feta, so ask for no cheese to make it vegan. On the side, the pita chips (also called pita crisps) are vegan too, and they’re great for scooping hummus or harissa. Add a tomato-and-cucumber mix and a squeeze of lemon-herb tahini and you’ve got a light, fresh plate.
What makes the CAVA vegetarian options stand out is that you’re not stuck with one sad meatless choice. The line is designed to be mixed and matched, so two people can build completely different bowls and both come out vegetarian. A grain bowl with saffron rice, falafel, roasted vegetables, hummus, and a tahini dressing eats like a real meal — not a workaround. That’s rare at a national chain, and it’s why CAVA shows up so often on lists of the most plant-friendly places to eat out.
Vegetarian Proteins and Dressings at CAVA
CAVA’s meat-free protein is its crispy falafel, and it’s a strong one — vegan, crunchy, and made for stacking on a bowl or pita. It does contain wheat, so it’s not gluten-free. Roasted vegetables work as a second plant-based protein-and-bulk option. The other proteins all contain meat, so leave them off: grilled chicken, harissa honey chicken, chicken shawarma, grilled steak, braised lamb, and spicy lamb meatballs.
Dressings are where vegans should pay a little attention. Most are vegan: garlic dressing, lemon-herb tahini, balsamic date vinaigrette, hot harissa vinaigrette, and skhug. There’s even a tahini Caesar that skips the anchovies and dairy of a classic Caesar. The one to avoid is the Greek vinaigrette, which isn’t vegan. If you eat dairy, all of these are vegetarian and fine.
What’s Vegan at CAVA?
Plenty. The easiest vegan order is the Crispy Falafel Pita as it’s listed. That’s falafel, hummus, roasted eggplant, pickles, cabbage slaw, tomato and onion, garlic dressing, and skhug, with no cheese or yogurt sauce. It’s a full meal with zero edits. The catch is that none of CAVA’s pre-set bowls are vegan as built — they usually arrive with feta or tzatziki — so for a bowl, build your own.
For a vegan bowl, pick any base and add a grain like saffron rice or black lentils. Choose falafel and roasted vegetables, then load up on vegan dips (hummus, harissa, roasted eggplant) and vegetable toppings. Finish with a vegan dressing like lemon-herb tahini or balsamic date vinaigrette. Just say no feta, no tzatziki, and no Greek vinaigrette, and the whole bowl is plant-based.
Special Dietary Requirements and Allergies
CAVA is open about its ingredients — the dips and proteins are labeled right on the glass as you order — but a few things are worth knowing before you build.
- Gluten: The falafel and the pita both contain wheat. For a gluten-free meal, build a bowl or salad base and use rice or lentils for substance instead of falafel.
- Dairy: Feta, tzatziki, and Crazy Feta are the dairy items, and they contain milk. Skip all three for a vegan or dairy-free order.
- Sesame: Hummus, tahini-based dressings, and the tahini Caesar all contain sesame, a common allergen — worth flagging if you’re sensitive.
- Cross-contact: CAVA assembles every order on a shared line with shared utensils, so there’s always some risk of cross-contact with meat or allergens. Ask the staff for a glove change if it matters for your diet.
Tips for Vegetarians at CAVA
- Order the Crispy Falafel Pita for the fastest vegan meal — it’s vegan exactly as listed, no edits needed.
- Double up on dips. Asking for two or three (hummus, harissa, roasted eggplant) costs little and turns a plain bowl into a real meal.
- Add black lentils and falafel for protein that actually keeps you full — a common miss on a meat-free bowl.
- Watch the dressing if you’re vegan: choose lemon-herb tahini, garlic, balsamic date, harissa, or skhug, and skip the Greek vinaigrette.
- Want it richer but still vegetarian? Crazy Feta is the move — it’s the dip CAVA is known for.
- Pair it with a housemade juice or tea for a vegan drink — CAVA’s fruit juices are dairy-free.
- Ingredients are labeled on the glass, but recipes change, so glance at the labels or ask if you’re avoiding dairy, gluten, or sesame.
CAVA vegetarian options: frequently asked questions
Conclusion: Eating Vegetarian at CAVA
CAVA is about as good as fast food gets for vegetarians, and you barely have to think about it. Grab the Crispy Falafel Pita for a vegan meal with zero edits, or build a bowl with grains, falafel, roasted vegetables, and a few vegan dips. Eat dairy? Add feta or Crazy Feta and you’ve got one of the best meat-free meals on any drive home. Just skip the meat proteins, the Greek vinaigrette, and the dairy dips if you’re vegan. For more chain-by-chain breakdowns, see our master guide to eating vegetarian and vegan at restaurants or browse the full Restaurants archive. If you like CAVA’s build-your-own setup, our guides for Chipotle, Sweetgreen, and The Halal Guys cover similar fast-casual territory.
