I’m excited to share a gluten-free vegan fast food hack with you today—it’s been a game-changer for me!
Because when it comes to road trips, I’ve always found eating healthy, gluten free, and vegan really challenging. Not if I take the time to pack a wholesome lunch the night before, mind you. But that’s not what usually happens.
Instead, I procrastinate on packing and stay up until 1:00 am frantically shoving my stuff in a suitcase while Jeff dozes. Then we both roll out the door riding high on coffee at 6:00 the next morning to beat traffic. By lunchtime, we’re tired, hangry (us?? 😉 ), and stuck cobbling together makeshift meals at fast food restaurants. Which used to mean plain baked potatoes and side salads, assuming we could find a Wendy’s.
Bor-ing. And wholly unsatisfying! Is a hot, healthy, gluten free, and vegan meal on the interstate so much to ask? (Look, a unicorn!)
Well, a healthy fast food meal used to be a fantasy for me, but now it’s a reality. Seriously! I found an easy trick that makes eating gluten free and vegan at fast food restaurants a pleasure, not a chore. And I’m not talking about fast-casual restaurants like Chipotle and Sweetgreen where you can actually get good stuff. I’m talking about restaurants you’ll see on a blue interstate sign in the middle of nowhere, like McDonald’s.
So, what’s the secret?
The Dr. McDougall Soup Cup Hack
Yep, soup.
But not just any soup: low-fat, gluten-free, plant-protein-packed McDougall instant soup.
You see, before Christmas last year, I was scrambling to get ready for a drive to Kentucky. On a whim, I threw a couple of McDougall split pea soup cups in the car. I figured we could stop at a service station, get some hot water, and enjoy at least a semblance of a hot and healthy meal along the way.
When dinnertime rolled around, though, I was starving and had a yen for a Wendy’s baked potato (drowned in ketchup, of course). That’s when I remembered the soup cups in the back and realized that split pea soup and a baked potato sounded stellar.
And boy, was I ever right. When I sat down to an actual meal of an apple-cranberry salad, baked potato, and smokey split pea soup, I was in gluten-free vegan fast food heaven. The soup thickened beautifully with the hot water I ordered, and it was such a treat to have a warm, satisfying meal loaded with plant-powered protein—at a fast food restaurant, no less!
The best part about the soup hack? You can use it at any fast food restaurant that sells coffee (they’ll have hot water) and gluten-free vegan sides like apple slices, garden salads, baked potatoes, and so on.
3 Tips to make the soup cup hack work every time
1. Stick to split pea or black bean & lime soup
Dr. McDougall’s split pea and black bean soups are both mostly pureed, so the not-boiling water from fast food restaurants can still “cook” them. (The same can’t be said for his red beans and rice cup, so don’t even try, unless you dig crunchy rice!) They’re also vegan and certified gluten free.
I’ve found both split pea and black bean soup cups at Whole Foods, Giant, and Kroger. You can also get them in 6-packs on Amazon.
2. Don’t worry, you can order plain hot water.
I know, I felt a little weird the first few times I ordered hot water, too. But if a fast food restaurant sells coffee, they’ll be happy to sell you a cup of hot water! In fact, they may just give it to you—I’ve ordered it (with other items) quite a few times now, and I don’t think I’ve ever been charged for it.
3. Make your soup first.
After you sit down, add the spice packet to the soup cup, pour hot water up to the fill line, and stir. Put the paper back on top and let sit for at least 5 minutes while you eat other stuff. Since the water’s not quite boiling, the soup will take a little longer than usual to thicken.
A word about gluten
I did a lot of research to ensure the options below are free from gluten and animal-based ingredients, at least as of June 5, 2016. I even had Jeff double-check my work. However, if you have celiac disease or a severe wheat allergy, you likely already know that cross-contamination can occur in any fast food restaurant. So you may want to avoid even the gluten-free fast food options in this post, or stick to supplementing your McDougall soup with pre-packaged, gluten-free fast food items like apple slices.
3 Gluten-free vegan fast food meals: Soup hack in action
Without further ado, here are my three favorite go-to gluten-free vegan fast food meals. Two use the soup hack, and one you can get straight-up, no soup required! With each meal you’ll find the total cost including soup cup (fast food prices from restaurants near my house in Maryland) and nutrition facts.
1. WENDY’S: Apple cranberry salad, baked potato, and split pea soup ($8.56)
What to order:
- Half-size apple-pecan chicken salad with pomegranate dressing (Hold the chicken, pecans, and blue cheese)
- Plain baked potato (plus a ketchup packet…or five 😉 )
- Small cup of hot water
This is the meal that made me realize that yummy, gluten free, and vegan fast food was possible. In fact, the salad is tasty enough that I don’t even use the dressing, because the apples and dried cranberries add plenty of flavor. My favorite part of this meal, though? The fact that the plain baked potato has 7 grams of protein (more than a large egg!) and 15% of the daily value of iron. (20 other vegan protein sources that may surprise you.)
Cool, huh?
Nutrition facts:
- Calories: 590
- Fat: 4 g
- Sodium: 630 mg
- Protein: 20 g
- Carbs: 120 g
- Fiber: 22 g
- Goodies: Vitamin A: 50%. Vitamin C: 104%. Calcium: 18%. Iron: 25%.
Nutrition facts include 1 dressing packet and 1 ketchup packet. Skip the dressing to save 3 grams of fat and 70 calories.
2. MCDONALD’S: Southwest salad, apple slices, and black bean & lime soup ($6.88)
What to order:
- Southwest salad (hold the chicken, cheese, and dressing)
- 2 packages of apple slices
- Small cup of hot water
The Southwest salad is flavorful without extra dressing, because it’s already topped with a cilantro-lime glaze and lime wedge. The vegan chili-lime chips add a nice crunch for only 35 calories and 1.5 grams of fat, so I usually leave them on. Finally, the black bean and lime soup goes perfectly with the salad. A delicious, gluten-free vegan meal from McDonald’s. Who knew?
NOTE: While I’ve reviewed McDonald’s ingredient lists online and couldn’t find any gluten-containing or animal-derived ingredients in the Southwest salad, I’ve placed a call to the company’s nutrition department for verification. I’ll update this post when I hear back!
Nutrition facts:
- Calories: 530
- Fat: 6 g
- Sodium: 910 mg
- Protein: 23 g
- Carbs: 95 g
- Fiber: 30 g
- Goodies: Vitamin A: 180%. Vitamin C: 360%. Calcium: 28%. Iron: 26%.
Skip the cilantro-lime glaze to save 2.5 grams of fat and 50 calories.
3. TACO BELL: Veggie Cantina Power Bowl ($5.61)
What to order:
- Veggie Cantina Power Bowl: Hold the cheese, sour cream, and ranch sauce
No soup needed: This is the only complete fast food meal I’ve found that’s free from gluten ingredients and powered up with plenty of whole-food, plant-based protein. It’s also tasty: seasoned black beans and Latin rice topped with romaine lettuce, pico de gallo, and guacamole.
Nutrition facts:
- Calories: 350
- Fat: 10 g
- Sodium: 890 mg
- Protein: 12 g
- Fiber: 12 g
- Goodies: Vitamin A: 40%. Vitamin C: 100%. Calcium: 10%. Iron: 25%.
Skip the guacamole to save 3 grams of fat and 35 calories.
So there you have it: Three tasty gluten-free vegan options at fast food restaurants you can find nearly anywhere. And just check out the nutrition facts—smokin’ hot! Plus, if you’re super motivated, I just found out that some localities (okay, at least my county) will recycle fast food plastic containers. Win!
Your turn!
- Do you eat fast food?
- What’s your favorite fast food restaurant?
- What do you order?
- If you could magically make one fast food item healthy, gluten free, and vegan, what would it be?
Nutrition facts:
- Wendy’s (ketchup packet info here.)
- McDonald’s
- Taco Bell
Image credits:
- Soup cups: Amazon.com: Split pea and black bean
- Infographic car: Car vector designed by Freepik
Shared on the Healthy Living Link Party, Plant-Based Potluck Party, Gluten Free Fridays, and Healthy Vegan Fridays.
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I'm Lee, an RD thriving on a healthy plant based diet.
Oh in the days of yore, I used to Super Size a number 4 at McDonald’s. For those of you who don’t have the menu memorized, that’s a double quarter pounder with cheese, large fries, and a large Dr Pepper (or Coke if it wasn’t a civilized place). I don’t even want to think about the number of calories that had or how many years of a low fat, plant based diet are required to clear my arteries of those indulgences. So if that could turn into a delicious bean burger with two patties, air baked sweet potato fries, and a tall glass of water, I’d have it made!
Hopefully we got you switched over in time, lol! (For those who don’t know, Jeff is my hubby, Mr. Veggie Quest.)
For me, it would be the Wendy’s junior bacon cheeseburger. I used to get that value meal all the time! Oh, and the Roy Rogers strawberry shortcake, which was basically a plain biscuit smothered in strawberry ice cream topping and finished off with a huge dollop of vanilla soft serve. All together, it tasted AMAZING. Fingers crossed that some GF vegan restaurant somewhere decides to tackle one (or both?) of those!
I love how you found healthy vegen food choices at popular fast food chains and how you added those tasty McDougall soups to round out some of the meals. I talk about some of the McDougalls in my vegan travel post I did last year (though mine had gluten as I’m obsessed with the pad thai one lol).
I don’t eat fast food much. I think the last time I did was on a road trip and I just got French fries or something. That’s a good idea about the Wendy’s baked potato with ketchup. I myself don’t eat ketchup but I must be the weird one b/c everyone does but I always have hot sauce in my purse (definitely the weird one) so that would work for me!
I would totally choose Wendy’s chicken nuggets and the Frosty to make healthy, vegan, and gluten free!
Lol, I love that you keep hot sauce in your purse! 😀 Although I always keep Starbucks Via packets (regular and decaf) in my bag, so who’s weird now, right? And we are so on the same wavelength–aren’t the McDougall soups great? I’m assuming the Pad Thai isn’t GF, or I already would have tried it.
Oh, Wendy’s nuggets, yes. And Frosties, I used to love those! Don’t suppose you’d want to come up with a low-fat vegan Frosty recipe, would you? (I will SO pin and make it.) 😉
Off to read your vegan travel post from last year!
Maybe I will try to come up with a Frosty alternative this summer! Let me try to find the original recipe and see what I can do vegan-wise. I have ‘nana ice cream shakes almost daily so I could try to do a play on that.
FYI – vegan AND gluten free! http://www.amazon.com/Dr-McDougalls-Right-Foods-2-Ounce/dp/B000FFLTD2. I forgot pad Thai is usually made with rice noodles. 🙂
Yay! I’ll have to grab the pad Thai next time I’m at Whole Foods.
And here’s the biggest challenge of all: Can you make that vegan Frosty without bananas? (Alas, I can’t eat raw banana–very bad things happen!)
Very ingenious and encouraging, too, Lee! (And as usual, you made me laugh–unicorn sighting???) I will definitely keep this in mind when I travel. xoxo
Thanks Maria! I was going to go for a rainbow unicorn leaping over a pot of gold, but I thought that was a bridge too far. 😉
Very helpful post! My family is not gluten-free or vegan, but we’re mostly vegetarian and try to eat healthier foods, so highway rest stops can be problematic. We generally look for Burger King because we like their veggie burgers and want to support their offering a vegetarian option…but unfortunately they’ve chosen a veggie burger that contains egg white, wheat, and a dairy derivative and is probably made from GMO soy…so while it’s better than a meat burger, it’s not vegan or GF and it could be healthier! Since they introduced the veggie burger in 2001 we’ve never found a BK that didn’t have them in stock, but they are sometimes not listed on the menu or almost invisible, and one time (in rural central PA) an employee had never had an order for a veggie burger before and didn’t know they had them, so what she gave us were Whoppers with no meat or cheese–just buns and condiments!! We were able to get our veggie burgers by speaking with the manager.
Do you get any discount for ordering things without meat and cheese? Those are the most expensive ingredients, so it would be right for them to charge you less, but many fast-food registers are not equipped for that sort of thing.
Hi Becca, glad you liked it! I’m a huge fan of the fact that Burger King has a veggie burger. I know it has egg white and dairy (and wheat), but it’s SO much better than a slab of red meat. It’s not on the plate for me right now, but I’ve definitely had it before. Too bad they don’t advertise it more!
That said, I’m DYING LAUGHING that the employee at the PA Burger King gave you all Whoppers with no meat and cheese! LOL!! I mean, that is a veggie burger, right?
Of course, I tossed my receipts after publishing this post (d’oh), but I want to say that at McDonald’s I got a discount for the no-chicken salad. (My menu prices are pretty high, because I live just outside Washington, DC.) I can’t remember about Wendy’s, but I feel like on at least one road trip I’ve gotten a discount on a Wendy’s salad because I ordered it without chicken. Next time I’m at either chain, I’ll update this comment!
Oh wow, this is such a great idea Lee! We have the McDougall soup cups here in Australia – the next time I go travelling, I’ll be sure to pick some up for a good vegan meal along the way. I really dislike eating fast food because the vegan options around here are pretty poor (french fries or garden salad at McDonalds…that’s pretty much it!). A hot cup of soup sounds so much better!
Thanks Kyra, I know, you can’t survive on salad alone, right? Hot soup makes everything so much nicer, and it’s great to be able to round it out with healthy stuff like apples and salad. (And occasionally a Diet Coke…I’m only human! 😉 )
“Is a hot, healthy, gluten free, and vegan meal on the interstate so much to ask? (Look, a unicorn!)”
Right?! For the most part, I’m pretty good about packing snacks & making food before trips. But sometimes life gets in the way. I *just* saw the McDougall soup cups at the store and picked one up. I accidentally grabbed the wrong flavour than what I had thought I was grabbing, but still got a vegan & gf one! I wanted the black bean, but grabbed the tortilla one :/ Hopefully it’s ok.
Great tips on eating out! I totally forgot Wendy’s has baked potatoes. That totally works in a pinch. I hadn’t thought of getting one of their salads and asking them to hold the chicken & cheese. Awesome idea! What is wrong with the pecans???
Oh and the Taco Bell bowl? I would have never guessed! I find most places don’t have vegan beans – they cook them in meat juices 🙁
Unfortunately, California has a TON of fast food places with vegan friendly options, and even several vegan fast food places. It’s way too convenient to eat vegan junk food here.
I wish all places offered a vegan & gluten free healthy option =)
ps. Thanks for sharing at Healthy Vegan Fridays! I’m pinning & sharing =)
Kimmy, you are SO lucky to be in Cali where you actually have vegan options at most fast food joints! Although you make an excellent point–it’s not so great to have vegan junk food at your fingertips. 😉
The McDougall tortilla soup is decent as I recall, but the black bean one is seriously yummy. I’ll be curious to hear what you think!
As for the pecans on the Wendy’s salad, they contain honey and lactose. I don’t tend to worry about trace amounts of dairy, and I don’t mind honey (though I rarely eat it), but I want to respect those who do.
And Taco Bell’s black beans are actually certified vegan! 🙂 Cool, no? The chain’s got a surprising number of vegan (and vegetarian, of course) options. It’s funny, I never ate at Taco Bell in my omnivore days, but now I’m going to start putting them in road trip rotation.
Thankfully I haven’t had to stop at a fast food place in years. But I love your McDougall’s hack! I’ll have to remember that next time we’re on a road trip. I often did something similar with gf instant cereal and ordering hot water and fruit. At least it was filling. But I like your soup idea better!
Hi Heather, I actually really like your hot cereal idea! Like instant oatmeal or quinoa flakes? I’ll have to add that to my repertoire, because I could happily eat breakfast all day long.
Will Wendy’s and MC Donald’s make salads to order? I always imagine them sitting in a refrigerator with the chicken already on there. Taco Bell is great on the road (we have no reason to avoid gluten) and they have many vegan options, they are happy to substitute or create a special request and my four year old loves the bean burrito. Thanks for your work, we love your recipes😃
Hi Ere, thanks for your kind words, they made my day! 🙂 And yep, Wendy’s and McDonald’s definitely make salads to order. Although I was bummed to hear that for the first time, Wendy’s has started putting cheese directly on their side salads. So you can only really customize their entree salads now. At least they still have a plain baked potato!
Isn’t Taco Bell great? (If you’d told me a decade ago I would have said that, I never would have believed you. 😉 ) They really do have lots of vegan options, especially if gluten isn’t a concern. And it’s great that your little one loves the bean burritos–my nieces and nephews are seriously into beans, too. Let’s hear it for healthy kiddos!
Wow, looking at those choices alone almost makes me want to take a road trip. In the US, though. Because we don’t have any of those choices over here. Which is a-okay for the most part as we don’t usually travel that long. However, I really wish these options were available in bigger train stations. Most of my family’s or my longer travels happen via train so finding healthier and vegan options would be amazing.
I actually can’t remember the last time I had fast food and thanks to my health-conscious mum – today it is an honest thanks, back then maybe a little less 😉 – didn’t eat a lot as a child, either, However, if McDonald’s offered vegan low-fat “chicken” McNuggets with a side of air-fried French fries I would run over to get some.
Life is real and many times we just can’t find anything to eat except healthy fast food options made healthier with these soup great hacks! I love the idea of pairing low-fat, gluten-free, plant-protein-packed McDougall instant soup with fast food. Thanks for sharing this great hack with us at the Plant-Based Potluck Party. I’m pinning and sharing.
Thanks Deborah! I’ve taken to keeping a couple of soup cups in the car at all times–it’s not like they go bad, right? Thanks for pinning!
Hi Lee,
Much to my dismay I’ve been having trouble commenting on blogs lately – including yours. It looks like my previous comment on this post didn’t get through. Could you maybe check your spam folder to see if it went there? I’d appreciate it as I’m clueless on what might cause this issue and how to solve it.
Hi Miss Polkadot, thanks for stopping by Veggie Quest! Sorry to hear you’re having problems commenting; what a pain. However, I think I may have found a solution to your issue. I use the Akismet plugin to block spam, and a lot of other bloggers use it too. I did a quick Google search, and due to a quirk of Akismet, occasionally it will flag legitimate commenters as spammers. So uncool, right? (More info here: https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cant-post-comments-on-other-blogs.)
Anyhow, it looks like the solution is to contact bloggers on the blogs where you’re being blocked and have them mark your comments as “Not Spam.” Apparently, after enough people do that, Akismet should figure out that you’re all good. Needless to say, I have marked you as Not Spam! Hopefully it helps you get through on other blogs, too. (I emailed you this info, too, because I know if I was having the same problem, it would make me crazy.) Hope that helps!
Whole-food plant-based people who are watching sodium need to be careful. According to Jeff Novick, sodium count should be no more than the calories..ie..100 calories…100 sodium count. I agree with the McDougall soup hacks, done that plenty of time myself. Since I am sodium sensitive, I’m very careful.
Hi Juanita, you make a really great point. For people who aren’t salt-sensitive, a little extra when they’re on the road is probably fine, but those who are will want to avoid Taco Bell at all costs! Ironically, though, much of the sodium in the McDonald’s meal comes from the black bean & lime McDougall soup, because it only comes in a full-salt option. (His low-sodium black bean soup has rice in it, which won’t soften fully in the hot water from a fast food restaurant. Such a shame!)
Also, I LOVE your tip from Jeff Novick–no more sodium than calories in any given item. I may pass that one along to salt-sensitive patients in my internship next year!
My husband and I are gluten free and vegan, and we love Taco Bell – we aren’t celiac, but my husband gets migraines if he eats gluten and I avoid gluten because my doctor recommended I avoid gluten due to my Multiple Sclerosis. We’ve eaten like this for two years and we love this lifestyle.
At Taco Bell, we order the Spicy Tostada – “fresco style” – which tells them we don’t want any dairy products on it. So they remove the chipotle sauce and shredded cheese and replace it with pico de gallo. We each order a side of premium latin rice and guacamole and sometimes a side of beans if we’re extra hungry. It’s so affordable and delicious! My husband knows pretty much right away if something has wheat/gluten in it, and for the past two years he’s eaten this meal and never had a migraine. It’s our go-to when eating fast food!
Eden, thanks for the tip! I’ll have to try the Spicy Tostada next time I’m at Taco Bell. And I’m excited to know that “fresco style” means no dairy–I feel like I know a secret handshake now. 🙂 If you know of any other GF/vegan fast food tips, please share!
PS – Glad to hear that going gluten free/vegan has helped with your and your husband’s health issues. Jeff and I love eating this way too–delicious food, and we both feel better!