Steak N Shake vegetarian options are thin, and they got thinner in 2025. This is a burger-and-milkshake chain with no meatless main on the menu — no veggie patty, no Beyond or Impossible burger, not ever. The bigger change: since late February 2025 the chain fries everything in 100% beef tallow, so the fries, tots, and onion rings that used to be the easy meatless fallback are no longer vegetarian. Treat Steak ‘n Shake as a salad-and-shake stop, not a full meal, and read on for exactly what’s safe and what to skip. If you want the wider picture first, here’s our guide to eating vegetarian at restaurants.
A Quick Look at Steak N Shake
Steak ‘n Shake opened in February 1934 in Normal, Illinois, founded by Augustus Hamilton “Gus” Belt. The name came from Belt’s pitch that the burgers were ground fresh from steak cuts and the shakes were hand-dipped — “In Sight It Must Be Right” was the original slogan, with the meat ground right in front of customers. The chain has been owned by Biglari Holdings since August 2008, and its headquarters sits in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The footprint has shrunk hard over the past several years. Steak ‘n Shake ran about 628 U.S. locations in 2018 and was down to 426 by the end of 2024, a contraction tied to a $10,000 franchise-partner model and a shift toward drive-thru service and self-order kiosks. The chain cited roughly 436 restaurants when it rolled out its beef-tallow fries in early 2025. The whole menu is built around steakburgers, sides, and milkshakes — which is exactly why meat-free diners have to work the edges here.
Steak N Shake Vegetarian Options: What to Order
The short version: a build-your-own garden salad, a grilled cheese, a few dairy items, and drinks. That’s the honest core of the Steak N Shake vegetarian options. Here’s the full item-by-item breakdown, with the beef-tallow trap flagged on every fried item.
Steak N Shake Vegetarian and Vegan Options at a Glance
| Menu Item | Vegetarian | Vegan |
|---|---|---|
| Garden / Side Salad, no meat (with cheese & croutons) | ✅ | ❌ (cheese + croutons) |
| Garden / Side Salad, no cheese or croutons, vinaigrette | ✅ | ✅ |
| Grilled Cheese (American cheese on sourdough) | ✅ | ❌ (cheese; confirm grill butter) |
| Frisco Melt, no patties | ✅ (Frisco sauce has egg) | ❌ (egg + cheese) |
| Hand-dipped Milkshakes | ✅ | ❌ (dairy ice cream) |
| Applesauce | ✅ | ✅ |
| French Fries, Cajun Fries, Cheese Fries, Tots | ❌ | ❌ (beef tallow) |
| Onion Rings | ❌ | ❌ (whey + beef tallow) |
| Milk, chocolate milk, a2 milk, hot chocolate | ✅ | ❌ (dairy) |
| Fountain drinks, coffee, tea, lemonade, juice, water | ✅ | ✅ |
| Steakburgers, chicken, chili, Frisco Melt with patties | ❌ | ❌ (meat) |
The Beef Tallow Change You Need to Know
This is the single most important thing to understand before you order. As of late February 2025, every Steak ‘n Shake location fries its food in 100% beef tallow — rendered cow fat. The chain announced the switch on X in January 2025 and finished rolling it out to all of its roughly 436 restaurants by the end of February. “Our fries will now be cooked in an authentic way, 100% beef tallow,” said Chris Ward, the chain’s chief supply chain officer.
There’s no workaround, and that’s what catches people. Steak ‘n Shake also reworked the par-fry step at the manufacturer so the frozen fries themselves are made without seed oils — the beef fat is baked in upstream, not just added in the store. So the French fries, Cajun and seasoned fries, cheese fries, tots, and onion rings are all non-vegetarian now. A lot of older vegan guides online, written in 2022 and 2023, still wrongly list the fries as vegan. They’re out of date. If you avoid meat in any form, skip everything fried here.
Vegetarian Sandwiches and Salads at Steak N Shake
With the fries gone, the salad and a couple of cheese-based orders carry the load for lacto-vegetarians. Here’s what works:
- Garden / Side Salad, no meat: Fresh greens and veggies you can build to order. With cheese and croutons it’s vegetarian; drop both and add a vinaigrette or Light Italian and it’s vegan. This is the one real meat-free “food” order on the menu, and the most reliable pick for either diet. Some third-party guides claimed the salad was dropped in a 2025 menu cut — it’s still listed, but confirm at your location since the menu has been trimmed.
- Grilled Cheese: Melted American cheese on griddled sourdough. Vegetarian and a solid quick bite if you eat dairy. One thing to check: the dairy-free resource godairyfree notes the chain has been moving from a dairy-free liquid margarine toward real butter on the grill, so ask how the bread is griddled if that matters to you.
- Frisco Melt without the patties: Order this melt minus the steakburger patties and you get grilled sourdough, cheese, and Frisco sauce. It’s vegetarian, but the Frisco sauce contains egg, so it’s ovo-lacto — fine for most vegetarians, not for vegans.
One trap to call out: cheese fries look like a safe vegetarian side because of the cheese, but the fries underneath are cooked in beef tallow. That makes cheese fries non-vegetarian. Same logic applies to anything built on a fried base.
Milkshakes, Sides, and Drinks at Steak N Shake
The milkshake is the chain’s signature, and the good news for lacto-vegetarians is that it’s fair game. Here’s how the drinks and remaining sides shake out:
- Hand-dipped milkshakes: Made with real dairy ice cream, so they’re vegetarian but not vegan. There’s no non-dairy shake at Steak ‘n Shake, so vegans are out of luck on the chain’s most famous item.
- Applesauce: A packaged side that’s both vegetarian and vegan — godairyfree lists it as the one explicitly vegan packaged item. Fresh fruit like a banana or apple slices shows up in older guides too, but availability varies, so check what your location stocks.
- Dairy drinks: Milk, chocolate milk, a2 milk, and hot chocolate are vegetarian. They’re the obvious dividing line on the drink menu — everything except these is vegan.
- Vegan drinks: All the fountain soft drinks (including cane-sugar Coca-Cola where it’s offered), brewed coffee, tea, lemonade, fruit juices, and water are vegan. This is where vegans have the most to choose from.
What’s Vegan at Steak N Shake?
Vegan options at Steak ‘n Shake are genuinely minimal, and the beef-tallow switch is the reason. The one real vegan food order is the garden or side salad built with no cheese, no croutons, and a vinaigrette or Light Italian dressing. Add applesauce for a packaged vegan side, and round it out with any fountain drink, coffee, tea, lemonade, juice, or water — everything except the milk, chocolate milk, and hot chocolate is vegan. A handful of breads are dairy-free per godairyfree, including the sourdough, rye, brioche, knotted, and hamburger buns, which only helps if you build a veggie sandwich from salad toppings and a vegan sauce. For condiments, ketchup, mustard, barbecue sauce, A1, Frank’s RedHot, and jams are vegan.
What to avoid is a longer list than what to order. The French fries, Cajun fries, cheese fries, and tots are all beef-tallow fried. The onion rings are doubly disqualified — they contain whey (milk) and they’re fried in the beef tallow. Every milkshake and dessert is dairy, with no non-dairy version anywhere. Several sauces and spreads carry egg, dairy, or honey, including Frisco sauce, garlic spread, chipotle sauce, honey mustard, and the wing sauces. Older allergen data also flags the flour tortilla and “wheat” bread as containing animal ingredients, so verify those before counting on them. When in doubt, the salad and a drink is the order that never lets you down.
Special Dietary Requirements and Allergies
Steak ‘n Shake does not publish a vegan or gluten-free menu, and it doesn’t offer formal vegan or gluten-free guidance. A few notes that matter most to vegetarians, vegans, and anyone with an allergy:
- Beef tallow (the big one): All fried items — fries, tots, onion rings — are cooked in 100% beef tallow as of February 2025, and the frozen product itself is made with that beef fat. Older allergen data also reports the flour tortilla contains beef fat. This is the trap that catches the most people.
- Hidden dairy and whey: Onion rings contain whey, and the flour tortilla reportedly does too. Milkshakes, cheese, and “wheat” bread (made with butter) all have dairy, as do several sauces like honey mustard, the Buffalo and wing sauces, chipotle, and garlic spread.
- Egg and honey: Frisco sauce contains egg, the burger patties reportedly do as well, and several spreads use egg — relevant if you’re vegan, fine if you’re ovo-vegetarian. The “wheat” bread and honey mustard contain honey, so they’re not vegan.
- Possible hidden fish: The baked beans may contain Worcestershire sauce, which often includes anchovy, so treat them as a “verify” item rather than a safe vegetarian one. The chain’s allergen statement names Fish as a facility allergen.
- Grill fat: godairyfree flags the chain as mid-transition from dairy-free liquid margarine toward real butter on the grill. If you order the grilled cheese or anything griddled, ask what’s on the flat-top at your location.
- Cross-contact: The chain’s official statement says it cannot guarantee any item is free of peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, soy, milk, egg, or fish because of shared prep. There’s no dedicated meat-free fryer or grill. If you need a strict allergen-free meal, ask the staff how each item is made before ordering.
Tips for Vegetarians at Steak N Shake
- Make the salad your anchor. The build-your-own garden salad is the one dependable meat-free food order. Add cheese and croutons for a vegetarian version, or strip them and use vinaigrette to go vegan.
- Skip everything fried. Fries, Cajun fries, cheese fries, tots, and onion rings are all cooked in beef tallow now. Don’t fall for the older guides that still call the fries vegan.
- Lean on the milkshake if you eat dairy. The hand-dipped shakes are the chain’s best meat-free item for lacto-vegetarians, since there’s no real entrée to order.
- Order the grilled cheese, but ask about the grill. It’s vegetarian, and you’ll want to confirm whether your location griddles with butter or dairy-free margarine.
- Watch the cheese fries. The cheese is dairy-vegetarian, but the fries underneath are beef-tallow fried, which makes the whole side non-vegetarian.
- Vegans, build a drink-and-side combo. A no-cheese salad, applesauce, and a fountain drink or coffee is about as far as a vegan order goes here.
- Confirm at your location. The menu has been trimmed and recipes can drift between franchisees. For anything critical, ask the staff how an item is prepared before you order.
That’s the full rundown of Steak N Shake vegetarian options. Bookmark this guide so you always know what to order, and check our other restaurant guides for more meatless picks at burger and milkshake chains.
Steak N Shake vegetarian options: frequently asked questions
Conclusion: Eating Vegetarian at Steak N Shake
Steak ‘n Shake is a tough stop for meat-free diners, and the 2025 switch to beef-tallow fries made it tougher by taking the fries and tots off the table. Your reliable order is a build-your-own salad, a grilled cheese if you eat dairy, and a hand-dipped shake — with applesauce and any fountain drink to fill it out. Vegans are down to a no-cheese salad and drinks. For more chain-by-chain breakdowns, see our master guide to eating vegetarian and vegan at restaurants or browse the full Restaurants archive. If Steak ‘n Shake isn’t your spot, our guides for Shake Shack and Smashburger cover similar burger-and-shake territory with more to order.
