Looking for Freddy’s vegetarian options? Your best bets are the black bean veggie burger, Freddy’s fries, fried cheese curds, and a vanilla custard concrete for dessert. Freddy’s is built around steakburgers and Vienna Beef hot dogs, so the meatless list is short. But it still covers a full meal plus one of the better frozen custard menus in fast food. Below we break down what’s safe to order, what to skip, and the questions worth asking the staff. New to the site? Here’s what about the vegetarians order when a menu looks all-meat.
A Quick Look at Freddy’s
Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers opened on August 26, 2002 in Wichita, Kansas. Bill Simon, Randy Simon, and Scott Redler started it and named it after Bill and Randy’s father, Freddy Simon, a World War II veteran. The look is 1950s diner: thin steakburgers smashed on the griddle, shoestring fries, and frozen custard churned fresh.
The chain grew fast through franchising. Thompson Street Capital Partners bought it in 2021, and the Rhône Group acquired it in 2025. By late 2025 Freddy’s had grown to about 560 restaurants across 37 states. It booked roughly $988 million in U.S. system-wide sales in 2024, which put it at No. 43 on the QSR 50 ranking by sales. So you’ll find one in most of the country, and the menu is the same wherever you go.
Freddy’s Vegetarian Options: What to Order
The short answer on Freddy’s vegetarian options: one real meatless entree, a handful of fried and fresh sides, and a long dessert list. Freddy’s lists a black bean veggie burger you can build into a full sandwich, and the frozen custard counter is almost entirely lacto-ovo vegetarian. The table below is conservative. When an item is fried in shared oil or its recipe varies by location, we mark it ⚠️ Check so you can confirm before you order.
| Menu Item | Vegetarian | Vegan |
|---|---|---|
| Veggie Burger (black bean patty) | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Check (shared griddle; bun made in a facility with milk; some Texas patties contain egg) |
| Freddy’s Fries | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Check (shared fryer with meat items) |
| Potato Tots | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Check (shared fryer) |
| Fried Cheese Curds | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy) |
| Cheese Fries | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy) |
| Onion Rings | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (contain milk/whey) |
| Freddy’s Kettle Chips | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Check |
| Side Salad (no meat) | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Check (cheese, dressing, croutons) |
| Mott’s Applesauce | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Vanilla / Chocolate Frozen Custard | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (egg, milk) |
| Concretes, Sundaes, Shakes & Malts | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy; check candy mix-ins) |
| Chili Cheese Fries | ❌ No (beef chili) | ❌ No |
| Steakburgers, Hot Dogs, Chicken | ❌ No (meat) | ❌ No |
The Veggie Burger and Sandwiches
Freddy’s makes a black bean burger, and this veggie burger is the one true entree for vegetarians here. Freddy’s own guide confirms you can order it the same ways as a steakburger, including a lettuce wrap or “California Style” with lettuce, tomato, onions, and pickle. Get it as a combo with fries and a drink. Order it without cheese and Thousand Island dressing to cut the dairy. Or load it with American cheese, Swiss, or jalapeños if you eat dairy. The black bean veggie burger is the move, since every other sandwich on the board is beef, a Vienna Beef hot dog, or crispy chicken.
Two things to confirm. The patty cooks on the same flat-top as the steakburgers, so it is not vegan and there’s some shared-surface contact. And the veggie burger recipe has varied by region, with reports that some Texas locations use a patty containing egg. The patty is still vegetarian either way. If strict cross-contact matters to you, ask your location how they cook it.
One trap worth naming: the “Grilled Cheese Steakburger” sounds meatless but it is not. It’s a steakburger pressed between two grilled cheese sandwiches, so this hamburger contains beef. Stick with the black bean burger. For sauces, Freddy’s Famous Fry Sauce, the Jalapeño Fry Sauce, and BBQ sauce are on the table. The fry sauce contains egg, so it’s vegetarian but not vegan.
Freddy’s Fries, Cheese Curds, and Sides
The sides are where Freddy’s vegetarian options open up. Freddy’s thin shoestring fries are made from potatoes and seasoned with Freddy’s signature seasoning, so the fries themselves contain no meat. The catch is the fryer. Freddy’s cooks fries, tots, cheese curds, and onion rings in the same oil as the crispy chicken tenders. That means cross-contact and a risk of cross-contamination with meat. Everything fried here is cooked in that one shared oil. If a shared fryer rules an item out for you, the fries are off the table too.
Fried Wisconsin cheese curds are the side most people come back for. They’re battered and deep-fried, vegetarian as long as the cheese uses microbial rennet, which most curds do. Cheese fries pile that idea onto the fries. Onion rings are vegetarian but contain milk (whey) in the batter, so they aren’t vegan. Potato tots and Freddy’s Kettle Chips round out the starch options, and Mott’s Natural Applesauce is a vegan side. For something lighter, a side salad with no meat works, though you’ll want to confirm the dressing, cheese, and croutons. Skip the chili cheese fries, since Freddy’s chili is made with beef.
Frozen Custard, Concretes, and Shakes
Dessert is the best part of eating vegetarian at Freddy’s. The frozen custard is made with eggs and milk, which makes it lacto-ovo vegetarian and not vegan, but the meatless choices here are wide open. Start with the vanilla flavor, chocolate, or vanilla bean custard in a cup or cone.
From there, build a concrete, Freddy’s thick blend of custard and mix-ins. Cookie dough, Oreo, Reese’s, brownie, Heath toffee, fruit, and caramel are all vegetarian. Sundaes, shakes, and malts follow the same rule. The only thing to watch is a candy or topping made with gelatin, like marshmallow creme or gummy bits, which isn’t vegetarian. Stick to chocolate, peanut butter, cookie, and fruit mix-ins and you’re set for a vegetarian dessert.
What’s Vegan at Freddy’s?
Vegan options at Freddy’s are thin, and you have to build around the kitchen’s ingredients. Freddy’s has no dairy-free frozen custard, so every custard, concrete, shake, and sundae is out for vegans. The veggie burger can get close: order the black bean patty with no cheese and no fry sauce or Thousand Island. But the patty cooks on a shared griddle and the bun is made in a facility that handles milk, so it’s “as vegan as it gets” rather than certified.
Beyond that, vegan diners are mostly looking at fries and tots (shared fryer caveat included), Mott’s applesauce, Baked Lay’s, ketchup, mustard, and a soft drink. It’s a snack, not a feast. If you eat dairy and eggs, Freddy’s gets a lot more generous.
Special Dietary Requirements and Allergies
A few allergen and ingredient notes shape what’s actually safe here:
- Shared fryer: fries, tots, cheese curds, and onion rings share oil with chicken tenders. No meat is in those items, but strict vegetarians who avoid cross-contact should know.
- Shared griddle: the black bean patty cooks on the same flat-top as the steakburgers.
- Dairy and egg: all frozen custard contains eggs and milk. Cheese curds, cheese fries, and onion rings contain dairy. Onion ring batter has whey.
- Gluten: the buns, fried coatings, and many concrete mix-ins contain wheat. A lettuce-wrapped veggie burger skips the bun.
- Gelatin: a few candy toppings and marshmallow mix-ins use gelatin, so they aren’t vegetarian. Ask before you add them.
- Cheese rennet: most Freddy’s cheese is made with microbial rennet, but if animal rennet is a hard line for you, confirm with the brand.
Freddy’s publishes allergen and nutrition information on its website, and staff can pull the full ingredients for any of its menu items. When a recipe varies by location, that ingredient sheet is your most reliable source.
Tips for Vegetarians at Freddy’s
- Order the black bean veggie burger as your entree, with cheese and the toppings you want.
- Want it lighter or gluten-free? Get it California Style or lettuce-wrapped.
- Ask whether your location’s veggie patty contains egg if that matters to you.
- If a shared fryer is a dealbreaker, skip the fries, tots, and cheese curds and lean on the custard.
- Make dessert the centerpiece. A vanilla concrete with cookie dough or Oreo is the standout vegetarian order.
- Skip the chili cheese fries and the Grilled Cheese Steakburger, both contain beef.
- Check the allergen guide for gelatin in any candy topping before you add it.
Conclusion
Freddy’s isn’t a vegetarian destination, but it’s far from a dead end. The black bean veggie burger gives you a real entree, the fried sides are tasty if a shared fryer doesn’t bother you, and the frozen custard turns dessert into the main event. Order the veggie burger, add cheese curds, and finish with a concrete. That’s a full vegetarian meal at a steakburger chain.
Planning more meals out? Start with our guide to eating vegetarian and vegan at restaurants, then browse all our restaurant guides. For chains a lot like Freddy’s, see what’s vegetarian at Culver’s, Dairy Queen, and Steak ‘n Shake.
