How To Eat Vegan At TGI Fridays: Every Plant-Based Option

It’s a tough time for chain restaurants, even household names like TGI Fridays. But the American-style casual diner still has more than 600 restaurants globally, with 86 in the UK alone, and serves approximately two million customers every year. So, what’s vegan at TGI Fridays?

With around half of British young people identifying as vegan, vegetarian, or flexitarian – and around 72 million households in the US flexitarian, too – it’s no wonder that TGI Fridays has dabbled in vegan and plant-based options on and off since at least 2018.

Here’s how to eat vegan at TGI Fridays in the UK, including all current plant-based options.

Has TGI Fridays always had vegan options?

Photo shows a plate of TGI Fridays tacos made with Meatless Farm's vegan meat — TGI Fridays UK TGI Fridays has trialed several different vegan ingredients over the years, including Meatless Farm’s plant-based proteins

TGI Fridays was founded in 1965 in Manhattan, New York City. This first location informed the modern mixology movement, and it was so popular staff had to rope off an area for customers to wait in line. While the company has changed a lot over the last nearly 60 years, much of the decor and some of the menu items remain the same across branches, inspired by that first groundbreaking location in NYC.

The first plant-based patty on the Fridays menu was the Beyond Burger, which the chain trialed in 2017. But in 2018, TGI Fridays debuted a plant-based version of its classic burger – the Fridays Vegan Burger – as part of its core menu, and it is still available today. (More on that later.)

“We’ve put a lot of research and effort into ensuring we offer the best vegan burger in town, as well as one that comes with a 100 percent vegan bun,” said TGI Friday’s head chef Terry McDowell at the time. “High protein, zero cholesterol – yet all the flavor of a real burger and with a succulent and satisfying meaty ‘bite’ – the question is, why wouldn’t you give it a go?”

In 2020, the chain also celebrated Veganuary by introducing a watermelon steak-style entrée to UK locations, served with a cool avocado sauce, sriracha seasoning, and TGI Fridays’ extremely popular “Legendary Glaze,” formerly known as Jack Daniels sauce.

How to eat vegan at TGI Fridays

The outside of vegan-friendly chain restaurant TGI Fridays — Adobe Stock TGI Fridays has been catering to vegans for a number of years

While the watermelon steak no longer features on the menu, TGI Fridays UK has made some new vegan additions in the form of appetizers, mains, and even desserts.

Appetizers

Whether you order an appetizer, a side dish, or main, the updated TGI Fridays menu now has several different vegan options to choose from in keeping with its American-style theme, including variations on classic dishes like fried chicken and nachos.

(Several meat-free and vegetarian options are available but not suitable for a vegan diet, including Meatless Fridays Sesame Strips. Ask your server about availability and the possibility of ordering vegan-adapted versions. Plant Based News reached out to TGI Fridays for further clarification but has not heard back at the time of publication.)

Plant-Based Chicken Nachos – corn tortillas, plant-based chicken, habanero relish, smoked Applewood vegan cheese, pickled jalapeños, guacamole, and salsa, topped with an avocado and lime dressing. (You can sometimes also order plain nachos with the dairy cheese swapped for plant-based, but speak with your server for more information.)
Plant-Based Cheese and Bacon Loaded Potato Skins – a TGI Fridays classic, these potato skins are topped with vegan bacon, cheese, and the same avocado and lime dressing as the nachos. (You can also mix and match when it comes to other Fridays’ potato skins at some locations, adding vegan ingredients and removing others. Again, ask your server for more information.)

Fridays Burgers

TGI Fridays has served a plant-based burger for over six years, but the ingredients have changed somewhat. Today, the burger is made using Future Farm’s plant-based patty, alongside a dairy-free cheese and with a side option of loaded vegan fries.

Fridays Vegan Burger – Future Farm’s plant-based “beef” patty, Applewood cheese, a grilled flat cap mushroom, lettuce, tomato, red onions, and dill pickle, with garlic aioli dip on the side.

Sides

House Fries – “perfectly crispy” and topped with TGI Fridays “special seasoning.”
Plant Based Loaded Fries – the same crispy fries but topped with plant-based bacon pieces and avocado and lime dressing.
Garlic ciabatta bread

Sauces

The following sauces are all suitable for vegans. While the Legendary Glaze has previously been listed as vegan, it is currently listed on the 2024 core menu as vegetarian only.

Frank’s Red Hot
BBQ
Hoisin
Marinara

Drinks

TGI Fridays has an extensive drinks menu, including a wide variety of two for one cocktails, mocktails, wines, and spirits. The following beers, ciders, soft drinks, juices, and hot drinks are typically suitable for vegans, however, the drinks menu includes a note specifically saying that no drinks can be guaranteed allergen-free. It also does not specify which beverages are suitable for vegans. As a result, you should consult the bartender about plant-based options before purchasing, particularly when it comes to cocktails and mocktails, which sometimes contain animal-derived ingredients.