Looking for Quiznos vegetarian options? Order the Veggie Guacamole, the chain’s dedicated meatless sub, or ask about the vegan options while you’re at the counter. Or build almost any other sub around cheese, guacamole, and fresh vegetables instead. Below, you’ll find what’s actually meatless on the menu, what needs one small tweak to go vegan, and what to skip. New to eating this way? Our guide to what’s vegetarian everywhere has more tips for the vegetarians in your group.
A Quick Look at Quiznos
Quiznos started in 1981, when Jimmy Lambatos and Todd Disner opened a toasted-sub shop in Denver, Colorado. Rick and Richard Schaden bought the brand in 1991 with just 18 locations. They grew it fast, taking the company public in 1994 before buying it back into private hands in 2001. Franchising drove the chain to nearly 5,000 US locations by the mid-2000s. At one point, Quiznos ranked as the second-largest sub chain in the country, behind only Subway.
That growth didn’t hold. Heavy franchise fees and disputes with franchise owners triggered a long decline, and Avenue Capital Group took a majority stake in 2012. Quiznos filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2014 and emerged from it three months later, a much smaller company. High Bluff Capital Partners bought the chain in 2018 and still owns it today. Roughly 150 Quiznos locations remain open in the US now, down from the thousands that once carried the name. The toasted subs and the Veggie Guacamole are still on the menu at every one of them.
Quiznos Vegetarian Options: What to Order
Quiznos keeps one sandwich on the menu built for vegetarians, and the bread, cheese, and toppings around it work for almost any custom order. Here’s how the menu items and vegan options break down, based on the chain’s official January 2025 US allergen guide and its ingredient information.
| Menu Item | Vegetarian | Vegan |
|---|---|---|
| Veggie Guacamole Sub | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Ask for no cheese |
| White or wheat baguette, grilled flatbread (Sammie) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Cheddar, provolone, Swiss cheese | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy) |
| Guacamole, peppers, onions, olives, cucumbers, tomato, chopped romaine lettuce, pickles, jalapeños, pepperoncini | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Red wine vinaigrette dressing | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes (reformulated dairy-free) |
| Marinara, yellow mustard, Zesty Grill Sauce | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Apple cider vinaigrette dressing | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (contains egg) |
| Classic Tots | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Fresh Garden Salad, Classic Italian Salad (no meat, vinaigrette dressing) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Broccoli Cheese Soup | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy, egg) |
| Chili | ⚠️ Check (traditionally beef-based) | ❌ No |
| Chocolate Chunk Cookie, Brownie | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy, egg) |
| Turkey, ham, steak, chicken, tuna, meatball, lobster and seafood salad sandwiches | ❌ No | ❌ No |
The Veggie Guacamole Sub
The Veggie Guacamole is Quiznos’ answer to a meatless sub, and it’s a real sandwich, not an afterthought. Quiznos toasts it on a baguette, or grills it on the flatbread Sammie if you want something smaller. Inside: guacamole, melted cheddar and provolone, black olives, cucumber, mushrooms, green peppers, chopped romaine lettuce, tomatoes, onion, and red wine vinaigrette dressing. Quiznos’ own allergen guide lists this sandwich with just milk and wheat, so no eggs and no fish sauce hiding in the mix. Ask for it without cheese and you’re left with guacamole, vegetables, bread, and vinaigrette. That’s a genuinely vegan sandwich, not just a vegetarian one with a workaround.
Build Your Own Vegetarian Sub
Every sub gets toasted (or grilled, for the flatbread) to order, which makes it easy to build a custom vegetarian sandwich even off the printed menu. Start with the white or wheat baguette, or ask your server for the grilled flatbread Sammie instead. Add cheddar, provolone, or Swiss for a vegetarian build, and leave the cheese off entirely to keep it among the vegan options. Then load it with guacamole, sautéed or fresh mushrooms, sautéed onions or peppers, banana peppers, jalapeños, pepperoncini, black olives, cucumbers, chopped romaine lettuce, and a tomato or two. All of those toppings show zero allergens on the official guide, meaning no hidden dairy, egg, or animal-based additives.
Among the dressings, red wine vinaigrette and marinara are both vegan as of the current recipe, and so are yellow mustard and the Zesty Grill Sauce. If you’re avoiding egg, skip the apple cider vinaigrette dressing, the one option on this list that isn’t vegan. The Alfredo sauce and buttermilk ranch both carry dairy and egg, so treat them as vegetarian at best.
Sides, Soup, and Salads
Classic Tots carry no listed allergens on Quiznos’ guide, making them a safe vegan side alongside a bag of chips. Broccoli Cheese soup is vegetarian, thanks to milk and egg in the base. Chili is traditionally a beef-based recipe at sandwich chains like this one, so treat it as off-limits unless a location can confirm otherwise. The Fresh Garden Salad and the Classic Italian Salad both come dressed with red wine vinaigrette and hold up as vegan on their own. The Chef Salad and Apple Harvest Chicken Salad carry meat by default, but any location can leave the protein off and dress the rest with vinaigrette instead of ranch or honey mustard.
What’s Vegan at Quiznos?
Quiznos doesn’t run a separate vegan menu, but a handful of real vegan options line up anyway if you know what to ask for. A Veggie Guacamole with no cheese is the closest thing to a signature vegan order here. Build a sub on any bread with guacamole, vegetables, and marinara or red wine vinaigrette for the same result. The Fresh Garden Salad and Classic Tots round it out. There’s no plant-based meat substitute on the menu, so the vegan side of Quiznos leans on vegetables and guacamole rather than a substitute patty.
Special Dietary Requirements and Allergies
Quiznos publishes a detailed US allergen guide, updated as recently as January 2025, and it’s worth checking before you order. A few things stand out. Apple cider vinaigrette contains egg, while the current red wine vinaigrette recipe dropped the dairy it used to carry. The three cheeses (cheddar, provolone, Swiss) list only milk as an allergen, but Quiznos doesn’t publish the rennet source for any of them, so ask in person if that matters to you. Gluten-friendly subs are prepared in the same space as regular subs, and Quiznos states plainly that cross-contact is possible, since everything moves through common prep areas and shared vendor equipment. The Chili isn’t broken out with full ingredient detail either, so treat it as a meat item unless your location says otherwise.
Tips for Vegetarians at Quiznos
- Order the Veggie Guacamole as-is for a vegetarian sub, or ask for no cheese to make it vegan.
- Build your own sub with any bread and the full vegetable list if the Veggie Guacamole doesn’t sound right.
- Stick to red wine vinaigrette, marinara, yellow mustard, or Zesty Grill Sauce for a dressing that’s free of egg and dairy.
- Steer clear of the apple cider vinaigrette and the Chili, since both rule out a strict vegetarian or vegan order.
- Ask your server to toast your sub on a clean section of the conveyor if cross-contact with meat is a concern.
- Call ahead before visiting a smaller or older location. Vegan options can vary by location, and with roughly 150 US locations left, not every Quiznos carries the full current menu.
Conclusion
Quiznos vegetarian options come down to one real sandwich, the Veggie Guacamole, plus a full build-your-own path if you want something different. Order it with cheese for a vegetarian sub, or without for a vegan one. Skip the chili and the apple cider vinaigrette either way. For more on eating this way anywhere you go, see our full guide to eating vegetarian and vegan at restaurants, browse more restaurant guides, or check what’s meatless at Firehouse Subs, Jimmy John’s, and Togo’s.
