Looking for Noodles Company vegetarian options? Here’s the full list. Noodles & Company is one of the easier fast-casual chains to eat at as a vegetarian. The menu is built around noodle and pasta bowls you can customize, so you can order a meat-free meal without much fuss. A few dishes hide animal ingredients you wouldn’t expect, though, so it pays to know which ones. If you want the meat eaters in your life to understand the appeal, point them to our take on what about the vegetarians. Here’s what’s vegetarian at Noodles & Company, updated for 2026.
A Quick Look at Noodles & Company
Noodles & Company built its name on one simple idea: noodle dishes from around the world under a single roof. You can get Italian pasta, Asian udon, and Mediterranean bowls in the same visit. Here’s the short history.
- 1995: Aaron Kennedy opens the first Noodles & Company in Denver’s Cherry Creek neighborhood.
- 2003: The chain starts franchising and grows past 65 locations.
- 2006: Headquarters move to Broomfield, Colorado, where the company is still based.
- 2013: Noodles & Company goes public on the Nasdaq under the ticker NDLS, and the stock roughly doubles on its first day.
- 2025: The chain reworks about two-thirds of its menu, swapping in new pasta bowls and retiring older dishes.
- Today: Around 420 restaurants across roughly 30 states, still publicly traded and based in Colorado.
Noodles Company vegetarian options: What to Order
You’ve got real vegetarian choices here, and a couple of them are vegan as served. The table below covers the main meat-free picks and what each one needs to qualify. “With swaps” means you’ll skip the cheese or cream and the dish works for vegans.
| Menu Item | Vegetarian | Vegan |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese Pan Noodles | Yes | Yes |
| Pasta Fresca (no parmesan) | Yes | With swaps |
| Penne Rosa | Yes | With swaps |
| Spaghetti & Marinara (no meatballs) | Yes | With swaps |
| Pesto Cavatappi | Yes | No |
| Wisconsin Mac & Cheese | Yes | No |
| Buttered Noodles | Yes | No |
| 3-Cheese Tortelloni | Yes | No |
| Spicy Korean Steak Noodles (no steak, add tofu) | Yes | With swaps |
| Seasoned Organic Tofu (add-on) | Yes | Yes |
| Pad Thai | No | No |
| Caesar Salad | No | No |
| Potstickers | No | No |
Noodle and Pasta Bowls
The bowls are where Noodles & Company shines for vegetarians. These are the ones worth knowing:
- Japanese Pan Noodles: Udon noodles in a sweet soy sauce with broccoli, mushrooms, and carrots, finished with cilantro and black sesame seeds. This is the standout. It’s vegan exactly as served, and adding seasoned tofu makes it a full meal.
- Pasta Fresca: Penne with fresh tomatoes, red onion, and spinach in a light sauce. It’s the easiest pasta to make vegan here. Ask for no parmesan and the noodles, vegetables, and sauce are all plant-based.
- Penne Rosa: Penne in a spicy tomato-cream sauce with mushrooms, tomatoes, and spinach. Some locations now call it Rigatoni Rosa, but it’s the same dish. It’s vegetarian as served. The rosa sauce has cream, so for a vegan version ask for marinara instead and skip the parmesan.
- Spaghetti & Marinara: Order it without meatballs and it’s a simple vegetarian plate. Skip the parmesan and it’s vegan.
- Pesto Cavatappi: Curly pasta in a basil pesto cream sauce with roasted tomatoes. Vegetarian, but the cream and parmesan keep it off the vegan list.
- Wisconsin Mac & Cheese and Buttered Noodles: Both vegetarian comfort picks. Neither works for vegans. The mac pairs elbow noodles with a rich cheese sauce, and the buttered noodles use egg noodles plus butter and parmesan.
- Spicy Korean Steak Noodles: The Korean BBQ sauce is vegan, so order it without the steak and add tofu for a plant-based bowl.
Salads and Sides
- Pasta Fresca and Penne Rosa, again: Both double as a hearty side if you’re splitting a meal, and both stay meat-free as long as you leave off the chicken or shrimp add-ons.
- The Med Salad: Order it without chicken for a vegetarian salad. It uses feta and a creamy dressing, so go with an olive-oil vinaigrette if you want it vegan.
- Tossed green side salad: Vegetarian, just watch the dressing.
- Plain baguette: The plain baguette is vegan. The garlic bread is topped with parmesan, so it’s vegetarian but not vegan.
- About soup: The current soup is chicken noodle, which isn’t vegetarian. The tomato basil bisque older menus carried has been dropped, so don’t count on a meat-free soup here right now.
Looks Vegetarian, But Isn’t
A few menu items read as meat-free but aren’t. These are the traps to watch for:
- Pad Thai: It contains scrambled egg, the sauce is made with fish sauce (anchovy), and it’s topped with crushed peanuts. Even without the egg, it’s not vegetarian.
- Caesar salad: The dressing has anchovy, plus egg and parmesan. Not vegetarian.
- Potstickers: These are chicken dumplings. The dipping sauce is vegan, but the potstickers are not.
- Rice Krispie treat: It’s made with gelatin and butter, so it isn’t vegetarian. An easy one to grab by mistake at the register.
What’s Vegan at Noodles & Company?
Noodles & Company doesn’t print a separate vegan menu, but you’ve got a solid core to work with. Japanese Pan Noodles are vegan as served, and that’s the easiest order on the menu. Beyond that, a little customizing opens things up:
- Pasta Fresca with no parmesan, since the sauce and vegetables are already plant-based.
- Spaghetti with marinara sauce, no meatballs and no parmesan.
- Penne Rosa with marinara swapped in for the rosa cream and no parmesan.
- Spicy Korean Steak Noodles without the steak, plus tofu.
- A build-your-own bowl with a vegan noodle base, a vegan sauce, vegetables, and tofu.
The vegan noodle bases include cavatappi, spaghetti, penne, elbow, lo mein noodles, udon, rice noodles, and the gluten-sensitive pipette. Zucchini noodles, called Zoodles, are vegan and lower-carb. Skip the egg noodles and the cheese tortelloni. Vegan-friendly sauces include marinara, the Japanese Pan sauce, the Fresca sauce, and the Korean BBQ sauce. Seasoned organic tofu is the only plant-based protein right now, after the Impossible Chicken was dropped.
Special Dietary Requirements and Allergies
Noodles & Company shares cooking surfaces, woks, and utensils across the kitchen, so cross-contact is real. The same equipment that cooks your pasta also handles grilled and breaded chicken. If you have a strict requirement, here’s what to keep in mind:
- Gluten: The gluten-sensitive pipette pasta works in most dishes, but the company can’t guarantee a gluten-free meal because of shared cooking surfaces. The Japanese Pan sauce and udon both contain wheat, so that dish isn’t gluten-free.
- Dairy: It’s in most cream sauces, the mac and cheese, the alfredo, the pesto cream, the rosa cream, the garlic bread, and any parmesan topping.
- Egg: Found in egg noodles, the buttered noodles, the Pad Thai, and the Caesar dressing.
- Fish: The Caesar dressing has anchovy, and the Pad Thai sauce has fish sauce.
- Animal rennet: Some cheese sauces, like the alfredo and scampi, list animal rennet in their parmesan. The grated parmesan’s rennet source isn’t disclosed, so if you avoid animal rennet, ask before you order or leave the cheese off.
Noodles offers an online nutrition calculator and an in-store allergen guide that let you filter by allergen. Both are worth a look if you’re managing an allergy, and the menu changes often enough that it’s smart to double-check before a big order.
Tips for Vegetarians at Noodles & Company
- Default to the Japanese Pan Noodles if you want a no-thought vegan order.
- Pick Pasta Fresca and ask for no parmesan when you want an easy vegan pasta.
- Skip the Pad Thai, Caesar salad, potstickers, and Rice Krispie treat, which all contain animal ingredients despite sounding safe.
- Add seasoned organic tofu to any bowl for protein, since it’s the only meat alternative on the menu.
- Ask for marinara instead of a cream sauce to turn a vegetarian pasta into a vegan one.
- Tell the staff if cross-contact matters, since the kitchen shares cooking surfaces with chicken.
That’s the complete rundown of Noodles Company vegetarian options. Bookmark this guide so you always know what to order, and check our other restaurant guides for more Noodles-style meatless picks.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Bottom Line
Noodles & Company is a good bet for vegetarians, as long as you know the menu. The Japanese Pan Noodles are vegan out of the gate, Pasta Fresca makes an easy vegan pasta, and tofu rounds out a meal. Just steer clear of the Pad Thai, Caesar salad, and potstickers, which aren’t vegetarian no matter how they sound. For more meat-free guides, see our guide to eating vegetarian and vegan at restaurants or browse the full Restaurants category. Craving more pasta and noodle ideas? Check out what’s vegetarian at Olive Garden, Fazoli’s, and Panda Express.
