Looking for Fazoli’s vegetarian options? You’ve got real choices here: pasta with marinara or Alfredo sauce, cheese pizza, a side salad, and the free garlic breadsticks Fazoli’s is famous for. This fast-casual Italian chain builds its whole menu around pasta, which makes it one of the easier drive-thru stops if you don’t eat meat. Our guide to eating vegetarian at restaurants covers more strategies like this one. Here’s what to order, what to skip, and what’s changed since our last update.
A Quick Look at Fazoli’s
Fazoli’s has served fast Italian-American food since the late 1980s. It’s still best known for the unlimited garlic breadsticks that come with most orders. Here’s how the chain got here, and who owns it now.
- 1988: The first location opens in Lexington, Kentucky, under the name “Gratzi’s,” created as a sister brand of Jerrico, then the parent company of Long John Silver’s.
- 1989: The chain is renamed “Fazoli’s” after research found “Gratzi’s” sounded too close to hockey star Wayne Gretzky’s name.
- 1990s-2004: Fazoli’s expands nationwide as a quick-service Italian concept built around pasta and free breadsticks, peaking at around 400 locations in 2004.
- 2021: FAT Brands buys Fazoli’s for about $130 million, adding it to a portfolio with Fatburger, Johnny Rockets, and Round Table Pizza.
- 2025: Fazoli’s opens its first Canadian location in Calgary in June, the start of a planned 25-restaurant push into Canada.
- 2026: FAT Brands files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January. A lender group called FBG Bid Co. buys the Fazoli’s brand along with the rest of FAT Brands’ restaurant assets in June.
- Today: Fazoli’s runs about 147 restaurants under its new ownership, still built around Italian-American fast-casual pasta.
Fazoli’s Vegetarian Options: What to Order
Here’s a fast reference for Fazoli’s vegetarian options right now. Fazoli’s updates its menu often and sides differ by location, so treat this as a starting point and confirm with your server before you order.
The short version: marinara sauce is the vegan menu’s best friend, penne and spaghetti both work with it, and the sides worth ordering are the house salad and the breadsticks.
Fazoli’s Vegetarian and Vegan Options
| Menu Item | Vegetarian | Vegan |
|---|---|---|
| Build Your Own Pasta Bowl with Marinara | Yes | Yes* |
| Spaghetti with Marinara | Yes | Yes* |
| Fettuccine Alfredo | Yes | No |
| Baked Spaghetti (order it plain) | Yes | No |
| Cheese Pizza | Yes | No |
| House Side Salad (no cheese) | Yes | Yes* |
| Garlic Breadsticks | Yes | Yes* |
| Italian Ice (Original, Strawberry, Blue Raspberry) | Yes | Yes |
| New York Cheesecake with Strawberries | Yes | No |
| Great American Cookies (Chocolate Chip or Fudge Brownie) | Yes | No |
Vegetarian Pasta at Fazoli’s
Pasta is still the heart of the menu, and most of it is vegetarian as long as you skip the meat sauce and meatball add-ons:
- Build Your Own Pasta Bowl: Pick spaghetti, fettuccine, or penne, then choose marinara sauce or Alfredo. The spaghetti with marinara runs about 490 calories, and the simple ingredients (tomatoes, garlic, herbs) keep it vegetarian, and vegan if you ask them to hold the parmesan spice blend.
- Fettuccine Alfredo: Noodles in a creamy Alfredo sauce. Vegetarian, but the dairy in the sauce keeps it off the vegan list.
- Baked Spaghetti: Spaghetti with marinara, baked under mozzarella and provolone. The plain version doesn’t come with meat sauce, so it’s already vegetarian as ordered. Just don’t upgrade to “with Meatballs.”
- What dropped off the menu: Fazoli’s used to sell cheese ravioli, but it’s no longer on the current lineup, along with minestrone soup and Caesar salad. If a review or old menu mentions them, they’ve since been discontinued.
- What to skip: The Baked Chicken Broccoli Penne and Baked Chicken Parmigiano both use chicken, so they’re off the vegetarian list even though the broccoli and pasta look meat-free at a glance.
Vegetarian Pizza and Salad at Fazoli’s
- Cheese Pizza: Pizza sauce and a mozzarella-provolone blend on a garlic-buttered crust. It’s vegetarian, but the cheese and buttered crust keep it from being vegan.
- House Side Salad: Lettuce, tomatoes, red cabbage, and shredded carrots, usually topped with mozzarella and cheddar. It’s vegetarian as served. Skip the cheese and pick a vegan dressing, like red wine balsamic or fat-free Italian, to make it vegan.
- Skip the Crispy Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad: This one comes loaded with chicken and bacon, so it’s not vegetarian. Stick with the house side salad instead.
Breadsticks and Dessert at Fazoli’s
- Garlic Breadsticks: The signature free breadsticks come brushed with garlic butter, so they’re vegetarian but not vegan as served. Ask for them “dry” and the kitchen will bring a batch without butter.
- Italian Ice: A semi-frozen, dairy-free dessert that rotates between Original, Strawberry, and Blue Raspberry. Both vegetarian and vegan.
- New York Cheesecake with Strawberries: Rich and creamy, so it’s vegetarian but contains dairy and egg.
- Great American Cookies: A newer addition in Chocolate Chip or Fudge Brownie. Vegetarian, but standard cookie dough means egg and butter, so it’s not vegan.
What’s Vegan at Fazoli’s?
Fazoli’s vegan menu isn’t huge, but the vegan-friendly picks that exist are genuinely good. Stick to these:
- Build Your Own Pasta Bowl with marinara, no parmesan spice blend
- Garlic breadsticks ordered “dry” without the garlic butter
- House side salad with no cheese, plus a vegan dressing (red wine balsamic or fat-free Italian are the safest of the available dressings)
- Italian Ice for dessert
One thing to know: Fazoli’s kitchens prepare vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes in the same shared pans and ovens, so cross-contact isn’t fully avoidable in a fast kitchen. If that’s a dealbreaker for your diet, ask your server how a dish is prepared before you order.
Special Dietary Requirements and Allergies
Fazoli’s nutrition page runs an interactive allergen filter that checks against more than 170 potential allergens and lists calories for every dish, well beyond the standard eight the FDA tracks. Use it online or ask in-store if you have specific needs about ingredients. A few things to keep in mind:
- Parmesan spice blend: Pasta bowls are often topped with a parmesan blend. Ask your server to leave it off to keep a marinara dish vegan.
- Breadstick butter: The garlic breadsticks are brushed with butter by default. Request them dry for a vegan version.
- Shared kitchen equipment: Vegetarian and meat dishes move through the same ovens and prep stations, so cross-contact is possible.
- Menu varies by location: Not every Fazoli’s carries the same sides or limited-time dishes, and some items get discontinued over time. Confirm with staff before you order.
Tips for Vegetarians at Fazoli’s
- Build your own bowl: Pick a pasta shape and a meatless sauce like marinara or Alfredo, and you’ve got a quick vegetarian meal.
- Go vegan with marinara: Marinara is your friend. Just ask to skip the parmesan blend and the buttered breadsticks.
- Skip the subs and samplers: The Submarino sandwiches and sampler platters are built around meatballs and deli meat, so there’s no vegetarian version of those.
- Watch the salad toppings: The house side salad is the safe pick, but ask your server to hold the cheese if you want it vegan.
- Ask before you assume an old favorite is still around: Fazoli’s has trimmed its menu over the past few years, so double-check anything you remember from an older visit or an old review.
- Check hours and location first: Fazoli’s closed several locations during its 2026 ownership change, so confirm your nearest restaurant is still open before you drive over.
That’s the current rundown of Fazoli’s vegetarian options. Bookmark this guide so you always know what to order, since the menu keeps shifting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Conclusion: What’s Vegetarian at Fazoli’s?
Fazoli’s still makes meat-free dining simple, especially if you like pasta. Build your own bowl with marinara or Alfredo, grab a cheese pizza or a house salad, and don’t leave without the garlic breadsticks. Just skip the minestrone soup and Caesar salad you might remember from an old visit, since neither is on the current menu. For more strategies like this, see our master guide to eating vegetarian and vegan at restaurants, or browse all of our restaurant guides.
Want more Italian options? Check out what’s vegetarian at Olive Garden, Carrabba’s, and Papa Murphy’s.
