Looking for Rosati’s Pizza vegetarian options? You have more than the usual pizza-chain choices here. Rosati’s labels two pizzas vegetarian on its own menu, bakes meatless pastas, and sells a calzone, salads, and fried sides without meat. Here’s what to order, what to skip, and when to ask your store. For more guides like this, head to the what about the vegetarians homepage.
A Quick Look at Rosati’s Pizza
Rosati’s traces its story to Ferdinand Rosati, an Italian immigrant who opened a restaurant on Coney Island in 1893, according to the company’s About page. He moved to Chicago in 1906 and opened another on Taylor Street. His son Saverio opened a restaurant at Pulaski and Madison on Chicago’s west side in 1927, and Wikipedia dates that business to 1926.
Saverio retired, and in 1964 his sons opened a pizzeria in the Chicago suburb of Mount Prospect, Illinois. By 1978, 10 Rosati family members owned carryout pizzerias, and the family started franchising. Today Rosati’s Pizza Enterprises licenses the franchised stores.
Technomic’s 2026 Top 500 list gives Rosati’s 242 US units and $246 million in 2025 US sales. The company’s About page counts nearly 200 restaurants, and Wikipedia says more than 200. Wikipedia also notes that two competing chains use the Rosati’s name after “an unfortunate family quarrel.” This guide covers the franchisor at myrosatis.com. Each franchisee runs an independent store, so menus vary by location.
Rosati’s Pizza Vegetarian Options: What to Order
Rosati’s tags The Veggie and the White Pizza vegetarian on the pizza page at myrosatis.com. I paired that menu with the allergen guide Rosati’s published in 2022. Rosati’s marks allergens item by item but lists no ingredients, so you won’t find rennet or fryer oil in the guide, and the notes below explain each gap.
| Menu Item | Vegetarian | Vegan |
|---|---|---|
| The Veggie pizza (mushroom, onion, green pepper, tomato) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (cheese) |
| White Pizza (olive oil, garlic, spinach, tomato, no pizza sauce) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (cheese) |
| Build Your Own pizza with vegetable toppings | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (cheese) |
| Chicago-Style deep dish with cheese | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (cheese) |
| Calzone, cheese base | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (milk) |
| Three Cheese Baked Penne | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (milk) |
| Lasagna (three cheeses, marinara) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (egg, milk) |
| Penne or Spaghetti with Marinara (kids and build-your-own) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (milk in noodles) |
| Side Salad | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (milk) |
| Caesar Salad with Classic Caesar dressing | ❌ No (fish in dressing) | ❌ No |
| Mozzarella Sticks | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (milk) |
| French Fries | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Check |
| Breaded Mushrooms and Fried Pickles | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (egg, milk) |
| Cheesy Garlic Bread | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (milk) |
| Antipasto Salad | ❌ No (pepperoni, Canadian bacon) | ❌ No |
| Wings (jumbo and boneless) | ❌ No (chicken) | ❌ No |
Mind the cheese. Rosati’s buys its mozzarella from one of the most established facilities in Wisconsin and names no rennet for any cheese, so strict vegetarians should ask.
The Pizzas
Rosati’s makes thin crust, double dough, and Chicago-style deep dish. The kitchen tops The Veggie with mushroom, onion, and green pepper, then adds tomato over the pile. On the White Pizza, Rosati’s swaps the pizza sauce for olive oil, fresh garlic, and sautéed spinach, with tomato on top. You’ll find both tagged vegetarian on the menu page.
You get the widest vegetarian range with Build Your Own. Rosati’s lists these meatless toppings in its allergen guide: mushroom, onion, green pepper, black olives, green olives, tomato, fresh garlic, sautéed spinach, banana peppers, hot giardiniera, jalapeño, pineapple, feta, and extra cheese. Rosati’s marks yellow dye on the banana peppers and milk on the feta and extra cheese. Skip the anchovies (Rosati’s marks fish) and the sausage, pepperoni, Canadian bacon, bacon, and meatball.
Order a Chicago-Style deep dish and the crew builds it with a buttery crust, mounds of mozzarella, and Rosati’s Chicago-Style sauce. The chain calls it Chicago-famous. Load it with vegetable toppings and you have a vegetarian deep dish. Rosati’s also lists Jumbo Pizza Slices in its allergen guide, including a Veggie slice with only milk and wheat marks.
Pastas, Calzones, and Sandwiches
Rosati’s serves every pasta with garlic bread and Romano cheese. For the Three Cheese Baked Penne, the kitchen bakes penne in marinara with ricotta, mozzarella, and Asiago. The cooks build the Lasagna from ribbon noodles and three cheeses under marinara and baked mozzarella. Rosati’s marks milk and wheat on the penne, and egg, milk, and wheat on the Lasagna.
Build Your Own Pasta lets you pick penne, fettuccine, ravioli, or spaghetti and then a sauce. Neither the Marinara nor the Chunky Pomodoro has an allergen mark. Skip the Meat sauce, the meatballs, the Italian sausage, and the grilled chicken. Add sautéed mushrooms, onions, spinach, sweet peppers, fresh garlic, or ricotta instead. Look for a milk mark on all four noodles and an egg mark on the fettuccine and ravioli.
Each calzone gets pizza sauce, mozzarella, and your choice of toppings, plus a side of marinara for dipping. You’ll see milk and wheat marks on the cheese base. You’ll find Italian beef, sausage, meatballs, or chicken in every sandwich, so skip that section.
Salads, Sides, and Dessert
Rosati’s builds the Side Salad from romaine, iceberg, spinach, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, red onion, and shaved Asiago, and marks milk on the salad. Rosati’s puts grilled chicken and bacon in the Chopped Salad and pepperoni and Canadian bacon in the Antipasto. You can pick Balsamic Vinaigrette, Bleu Cheese, Classic Caesar, Greek Vinaigrette, Ranch, or Rosati’s Sweet Italian dressing. Skip the Classic Caesar, which has a fish mark, though Rosati’s doesn’t name the fish.
For sides, Rosati’s offers French Fries, Mozzarella Sticks, Breaded Mushrooms, Fried Pickles, Cheesy Garlic Bread, and Rosati’s Dough Nuggets. Rosati’s lists Breaded Zucchini, Jalapeño Poppers, and Onion Rings in its nutrition tables as items that vary by location, but leaves them off the allergen chart, so ask your store about the breading and filling. Dessert means Two Cannolis or Zeppole with Nutella. On the cannolis you’ll see marks for egg, milk, soy, tree nuts, wheat, and yellow dye, and on the Zeppole, marks for milk, soy, tree nuts, and wheat.
Crusts, Kids, and Portions
Rosati’s gives you three crust styles and marks milk and wheat on the cheese-and-sauce base of Thin Crust, Double Dough, and Chicago-Style Deep Dish alike. Kids can order a Thin Crust Kids Pizza with cheese and sauce, which gets the same two marks, or a Kid’s Penne or Spaghetti with Butter or Marinara. All four kids pastas have milk, soy, and wheat marks.
Portions run big. Rosati’s lists 640 calories for the French Fries, 720 for the Mozzarella Sticks, and 900 for the Breaded Mushrooms. You start at 90 calories with a Side Salad before dressing, and you add 360 with a 3.5-ounce cup of Balsamic Vinaigrette. Split the fried sides if you order a whole pizza.
What’s Vegan at Rosati’s Pizza?
Not much. Rosati’s has no vegan menu or vegan label, and it marks milk on its cheese, its crust base, and every pasta noodle. Rosati’s marks no animal allergens on the French Fries, Marinara, Balsamic Vinaigrette, or sautéed vegetables. Ask your store whether the kitchen fries wings or breaded items in the same oil as the fries. If you want a pizza without cheese, ask whether the dough holds milk, because Rosati’s marks the crust and cheese together.
Special Dietary Requirements and Allergies
Rosati’s tracks nine allergens in its guide: egg, fish, milk, peanuts, shellfish, soy, tree nuts, wheat, and yellow dye. In the 2022 guide, Rosati’s warns that each franchisee owns and runs its own restaurant and may vary its recipes. Ask your store for a current copy.
- Fish: Rosati’s marks fish on the Classic Caesar dressing and the Anchovies topping.
- Egg: Rosati’s marks egg on the Bleu Cheese, Ranch, and Honey Mustard dressings, the Breaded Mushrooms and Fried Pickles, the Lasagna, the fettuccine and ravioli noodles, both gluten-free crusts, the cannolis, and every meatball and parmigiana dish.
- Milk: Rosati’s marks milk on the cheese, every pizza base, every pasta noodle, and the Alfredo and Vodka sauces.
- Gluten: Rosati’s lists a gluten-free thin crust and deep dish at some stores, and warns the kitchen is not a gluten-free environment.
- Rennet: Rosati’s names no cheese rennet in any item.
Tips for Vegetarians at Rosati’s Pizza
- Order The Veggie or the White Pizza, the two items Rosati’s tags vegetarian.
- Build your own pizza and stack mushroom, onion, green pepper, olives, spinach, and tomato.
- Pick Balsamic Vinaigrette or Rosati’s Sweet Italian on salads, and skip the Classic Caesar dressing.
- Choose Marinara or Chunky Pomodoro on a build-your-own pasta and top it with vegetables.
- Check the fryer with your store before you order fries, Mozzarella Sticks, or Breaded Mushrooms.
- Call ahead for gluten-free crust, since only some stores offer a gluten-free pizza.
- If you avoid animal rennet, ask your store about the cheese.
Frequently Asked Questions
Conclusion
Rosati’s makes vegetarian easy on pizza and decent on pasta. Order The Veggie, the White Pizza, or your own build, and add the Three Cheese Baked Penne when you want something that eats like a dinner. Read more in our guide to eating vegetarian and vegan at restaurants and browse every chain in the restaurants category. Other pizza guides include Uno Pizzeria, Jet’s Pizza, and Mazzio’s.
