Looking for Ruth’s Chris vegetarian options? A steakhouse built around sizzling filets and bone-in ribeyes isn’t the obvious pick for a meat-free dinner. Ruth’s Chris has a real answer anyway: a deep sides menu, a couple of solid salads, and a dessert list that skips the meat question entirely. Check the What’s Vegetarian homepage if you’re building out a full list of chains before you commit to one.
A Quick Look at Ruth’s Chris
Ruth’s Chris traces back to Chris Steak House, which opened in New Orleans on February 5, 1927, founded by Chris Matulich. In 1965, a home cook and single mother named Ruth Fertel mortgaged her house for $22,000 and bought the restaurant. Fire destroyed the original building in 1976. Her sale contract barred her from using the name “Chris Steak House” at any other address, so when she reopened a few blocks away, she renamed it Ruth’s Chris Steak House, combining her name with his to keep the goodwill she’d built.
Madison Dearborn Partners bought roughly 79% of the company in 1999. Ruth’s Hospitality Group went public on Nasdaq under the ticker RUTH in August 2005. Darden Restaurants, the company behind Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, announced an all-cash $715 million deal for Ruth’s Chris in May 2023, and closed the acquisition that June. Darden’s most recent fiscal year reporting puts the chain at 162 restaurants worldwide, 82 of them company-owned in the US, with the rest split between US, Canadian, Asian, and Latin American franchisees. At the time of the Darden deal, Ruth’s Chris reported more than $860 million in global systemwide sales for its 2022 fiscal year.
Ruth’s Chris Vegetarian Options: What to Order
Ruth’s Chris doesn’t build its menu around vegetarians, and the appetizer list is entirely meat and seafood. The real vegetarian meal here comes from stacking a salad with two or three sides, which is a normal way to order at any steakhouse. Here’s the honest breakdown.
| Menu Item | Vegetarian | Vegan |
|---|---|---|
| House Salad (iceberg, baby lettuces, tomatoes, croutons, onion) | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Ask for oil and vinegar, no croutons |
| Caesar Salad (romano, parmesan, creamy dressing) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (cheese, dairy dressing) |
| Mashed Potatoes | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy) |
| Au Gratin Potatoes (three-cheese sauce) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy) |
| Steamed Broccoli | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Ask if it’s prepared without butter |
| Broccoli au Gratin | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (cheese sauce) |
| Creamed Spinach | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy) |
| Grilled Asparagus (plain) | ⚠️ Ask how it’s prepared | ⚠️ Ask how it’s prepared |
| Sautéed Cremini Mushrooms | ⚠️ Ask about the cooking liquid | ⚠️ Ask about the cooking liquid |
| Sweet Potato Casserole (pecan crust) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy, likely egg) |
| Mac & Cheese | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy) |
| Fire-Roasted Corn | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Ask if butter is used |
| French Fries / Shoestring Fries | ⚠️ Ask about the fryer oil | ⚠️ Ask about the fryer oil |
| Baked Potato or Hashbrowns (“fully loaded”) | ⚠️ Ask for it plain, no bacon | ❌ No (butter, sour cream) |
| Roasted Brussels Sprouts (bacon, honey butter) | ❌ No (bacon) | ❌ No |
| Vegetarian Plate (composition set by the kitchen, ask your server) | ✅ Yes, likely | ⚠️ Ask |
The Sides Menu Is the Real Vegetarian Menu
At most restaurants, sides are an afterthought. At Ruth’s Chris, they’re where a vegetarian actually eats. Close to a dozen sides show up on the menu on any given night. Most are built around butter, cream, and cheese rather than meat, which makes them vegetarian by default even though they weren’t designed with that in mind. Order two or three together and you have a full plate. Try mashed potatoes or au gratin potatoes, a vegetable like broccoli or asparagus, and something rich like the sweet potato casserole or mac and cheese. There’s also an unadvertised “Vegetarian Plate” on the menu, priced at market rate with no ingredients published. Ask your server what the kitchen is building that night before you order it blind.
A few sides need a direct question before you order. Neither the pan-roasted cremini mushrooms nor the grilled asparagus have their cooking fat listed on any menu we found. Steakhouse kitchens routinely finish vegetables in butter, meat drippings, or stock for flavor. Fries and hashbrowns carry the same caveat, since the fryer oil isn’t published either. None of that means the dish isn’t vegetarian. It just means you should ask before you assume.
Salads at Ruth’s Chris
Your safest order is the House Salad: iceberg and baby lettuces, grape tomatoes, garlic croutons, and red onion, with no meat or cheese included by default. Pick a dressing without dairy, like the balsamic vinaigrette, and it’s a solid vegan starter. Vegetarians can also work with the Caesar Salad, which tops romano and shaved parmesan on the greens. Its creamy dressing isn’t listed with full ingredients, though, so we can’t confirm whether it’s made with anchovy the traditional way. Bacon comes standard on the Lettuce Wedge, Harvest Salad, and Ruth’s Chop Salad, and the Chop Salad adds egg on top of that, so none of the three are vegetarian as served. Ask your server whether the kitchen will leave the bacon off if you want to try one of those instead.
What’s Vegan at Ruth’s Chris?
Vegan is a much shorter list here, and Ruth’s Chris doesn’t label anything on its menu as vegan. Your best bet is the House Salad without cheese, dressed in oil and vinegar or a vinaigrette. Plain steamed broccoli or fire-roasted corn work too, if the kitchen confirms they’re made without butter. Almost every side that sounds plant-based, like the mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, or sweet potato casserole, is actually built with dairy and often egg. Treat those as vegetarian, not vegan. There’s no dedicated vegan entree, and no vegan cheese or butter substitute on the menu. A vegan visit here means leaning on the raw and steamed vegetable sides and asking direct questions about each one.
Desserts at Ruth’s Chris
Dessert is the one part of the menu where being vegetarian doesn’t cost you anything. Every dessert on the menu is built on eggs and dairy rather than meat, so all of them are vegetarian. That list runs from the classic cheesecake and crème brûlée to the warm apple crumb tart with vanilla ice cream, berries and cream, the chocolate lava cake, and the white chocolate bread pudding with crème anglaise. None are vegan, since every one leans on butter, cream, or egg custard to get its texture. Closest to vegan is the mango apricot sorbet. Its recipe isn’t published, so confirm with your server before you order it.
Special Dietary Requirements and Allergies
Ruth’s Chris doesn’t publish an allergen guide or nutrition PDF, which is unusual for a chain this size. Its corporate FAQ page confirms the restaurant offers a vegetarian menu and a gluten-friendly menu. It tells you to check with your local location for details, though, rather than listing ingredients online. Most of the caveats below come from reading the printed menu closely, not from an official allergen matrix.
Caesar dressing at most steakhouses is built on an anchovy base. The menu here doesn’t confirm or deny that, so ask before ordering it if you’re strict about fish-derived ingredients. Cheese rennet sourcing for the romano and parmesan isn’t published either, so if you avoid animal rennet, ask your server or assume it’s traditional. Butter and cream carry almost every rich side dish here, from the au gratin potatoes to the creamed spinach, and several sides use undisclosed cooking fats for vegetables too. A shared kitchen and shared cookware are a normal part of dining here, not an exception.
Tips for Vegetarians at Ruth’s Chris
- Build a plate from two or three sides plus the House Salad instead of looking for a single vegetarian entree, since there isn’t one.
- Ask your server what’s in the unlisted “Vegetarian Plate” before ordering it, since the composition isn’t published and can vary by location.
- Confirm the cooking fat for the mushrooms, asparagus, and fries if you’re strict about butter, stock, or shared fryer oil.
- Order the House Salad with balsamic vinaigrette and no croutons if you want a vegan starter.
- Skip the Lettuce Wedge, Harvest Salad, and Ruth’s Chop Salad unless you ask the kitchen to leave off the bacon.
- Call ahead if you’re visiting a franchised location, since a few menu details can shift outside the corporate-owned restaurants.
- Save room for dessert. The cheesecake, crème brûlée, and bread pudding are all vegetarian, even if none of them are vegan.
Conclusion
Ruth’s Chris vegetarian options come down to a strong sides menu, one reliable salad, and a server willing to answer a few questions about butter and fryer oil. It’s not a chain built for vegetarians. Still, a plate of mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, and a House Salad is a genuinely good meal, and the desserts close it out without any meat questions at all.
Check our guide to eating vegetarian and vegan at restaurants for more on eating meat-free at sit-down chains, or browse the full restaurant guide list. For other steakhouse-style options, read up on Fogo de Chao, Texas de Brazil, and Twin Peaks.
