Boston Market, also known as Boston Chicken until 1995, is a family-friendly restaurant chain that specializes in rotisserie chicken. They also serve many traditional comfort foods such as meatloaf, chicken pot pies, roasted turkey, cornbread, mashed potatoes and gravy, just to name a few. Those following a vegan lifestyle may hesitate to visit Boston Market, which is known to be a meat-lovers restaurant. If you ever do visit a Boston Market, or find yourself there because family or friends have all chosen to go there, you will be pleased to know there are actually several options to make a filling and satisfying meal.
Boston Market may specialize in rotisserie chicken, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be hungry after visiting that restaurant. There are no vegan main dishes at Boston Market, as they all contain some form of meat. However, Boston Market offers several vegan dishes such as cilantro lime rice, fresh steamed vegetables, a selection of dipping sauces, and even apple pie.
If you are vegan and plan to visit Boston Market, keep reading to find out tips and tricks for ordering vegan, which items on their menu to avoid and which items to choose instead, as well as how to modify some menu items to make them vegan-friendly.
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Tips & Tricks for Ordering Vegan at Boston Market
Many restaurants these days are more than eager to accommodate vegan lifestyles. Asking your server for help is a great place to start if you don’t visit Boston Market very often and are not familiar with their menu. You can also use these tips and tricks for ordering vegan next time you visit Boston Market.
- Ask your server for vegan recommendations. You may not be the first person to ask this, so your server may know what other vegans have ordered and guide you to a few options.
- Confirm if the side dishes contain butter or dairy and if they can be removed. If they cannot be removed, you may have to get something else.
- Avoid all the main dishes. There are no vegan main dishes at Boston Market as they all contain some form of meat or animal products.
- Substitute Sweet Thai Chili Garlic Sauce for the salad dressing. There are no vegan salad dressings at Boston Market.
- Order double portions of any side dishes to get a more filling meal. Since there are no vegan main dishes, the sides alone may not be as filling.
Non-Vegan Foods to Avoid at Boston Market
Unfortunately, the majority of menu items at Boston Market are not vegan-friendly as they contain some form of meat or animal products. If you are not sure what to order, here is a list of menu items to avoid at Boston Market, as they cannot be easily modified to make them vegan-friendly.
- Mac and Cheese
- Mashed Potatoes
- Creamed Spinach
- Cornbread
- Sweet Potato Casserole
- All-white Rotisserie Chicken Salad
- All Rotisserie Chicken
- All Chicken Sandwiches
- Rotisserie Chicken Soup
- Prime Rib
- Roasted Turkey
- Meatloaf
- Baby Back Ribs
- Chicken Pot Pie
- Warm Peach Cobbler
- Chocolate Cake
- Chocolate Brownie
- Triple Chocolate Chip Cookie
- Lemon Blueberry Cookie
- Lemon Italian Crème Cake
- Salted Caramel Lava Cake
- Vanilla Bean Cheesecake
- Milk and chocolate milk
- All the salad dressings
Vegan Food Options to Order at Boston Market
At Boston Market, there are limited vegan options to choose from but you can modify some of their dishes to accommodate a vegan lifestyle. Here is a list of menu items that you can try next time you visit Boston Market. Some are already vegan and some just need a few minor modifications.
Salads
1. Caesar Side Salad (ask for no cheese, no croutons, and no dressing)
Ingredients:
- Romaine Lettuce
- Croutons (ask to remove this)
- 3-Cheese blend (ask to remove this)
- Caesar dressing (ask to remove this)
2. Southwest Cobb Salad (ask for no chicken, no bacon, no cheese, and no dressing)
Ingredients:
- Romaine and leaf lettuce
- Rotisserie chicken (ask to remove this)
- Bacon (ask to remove this)
- Pepper Jack cheese (ask to remove this)
- Southwest corn relish
- Pico de gallo
- Red onion
- Chipotle ranch dressing (ask to remove this)
Sides
1. Cilantro Lime Rice (ask for no butter)
Ingredients:
- Long grain rice
- Lime
- Cilantro
2. Sweet Corn (ask for no butter-garlic sauce)
Ingredients:
- Corn
- Light butter-garlic sauce (ask to remove this)
3. Garlic Dill New Potatoes (ask for no garlic-butter blend)
Ingredients:
- Red potatoes
- Dill
- Garlic-butter blend (ask to remove this)
4. Fresh Steamed Vegetables
Ingredients:
- Broccoli
- Carrots
- Zucchini
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
Sauces
1. Cranberry Walnut Relish
Ingredients:
- Jellied cranberry sauce
- Orange marmalade
- Ginger
- Fresh cranberries
- Walnuts
2. Zesty Barbecue Sauce
Ingredients:
- Molasses
- Brown sugar
- Pit spices
3. Sweet Thai Chili Garlic Sauce
Ingredients:
- Chilies
- Rice wine vinegar
- Sugar
Desserts
1. Apple Pie
Ingredients:
- Granny Smith apples
- Enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid)
- Vegetable shortening (palm oil, soybean oil)
- Water
- Sugar
- Food starch – modified
- Dextrose
- Salt
- Cinnamon
- Sodium propionate (preservative)
- Tapioca dextrin
- Potassium sorbate (preservative)
- Malic acid
- Nutmeg
Drinks
1. Dasani Water
Ingredients:
- Water
- Magnesium sulfate
- Potassium chloride
- Salt
2. The Honest Company Apple Juice (kids)
Ingredients:
- Filtered water
- Organic apple juice from concentrate
- Natural flavor
- Vitamin C (ascorbic acid)
- Organic natural flavor
- Citric acid (provides tartness)
3. Minute Maid Lemonade
Ingredients:
- Pure filtered water
- High fructose corn syrup
- Lemon juice from concentrate
- Less than 0.5% of: natural flavors, citric acid (provides tartness)
- Modified corn starch
- Glycerol ester of rosin
- Sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate and calcium disodium EDTA (to protect taste)
- Yellow 5
4. Coke
Ingredients:
- Carbonated water
- High fructose corn syrup
- Caramel color
- Phosphoric acid
- Natural flavors
- Caffeine
5. Diet Coke
Ingredients:
- Carbonated water
- Caramel color
- Phosphoric and citric acid
- Aspartame (contains phenylalanine)
- Flavor
- Sodium benzoate
- Caffeine
- Acesulfame-potassium
6. Sprite
Ingredients:
- Carbonated water
- Sugar
- Citric acid
- Sweeteners (acesulfame K, aspartame)
- Acidity regulator (sodium citrate)
- Natural lemon and lime flavorings
Find a Boston Market Near You
Boston Market has approximately 346 company-owned restaurant locations in 28 states, Puerto Rico, and Germany. Click here to find a location near you.
According to their website, Boston Market provides nutritional information for their menu items, as well as an allergen menu with a complete list of ingredients to find all their allergen-safe menu items. Unfortunately, the pages would not open on their website. A“Page Not Found” notification would pop up when clicking on those resources. I have contacted Boston Market to request these and will update this article as soon as I hear back from them.
If you visit your local Boston Market, you may ask them if they can provide those for you as well.
Similar Restaurants to Boston Market
If you don’t have a Boston Market in your area or are looking for similar restaurants that also offer vegan options, check out the following restaurants. The following restaurants may not seem like they are vegan-friendly restaurant options, but you will be pleased to know that all three of them started offering Beyond Meat at their restaurants.
Beyond Meat is a plant-based protein that is breaking ground at a lot of restaurant chains around the country. KFC started using Beyond Meat to make their fried chicken, A&W launched vegan chicken nuggets, and Denny’s added a Beyond Burger to their menu. Maybe Boston Market will soon follow along and offer more vegan options such as Beyond Meat as well.
Related Questions
Can you make a complete vegan meal at Boston Market?
Yes, you can make a complete vegan meal at Boston Market. You won’t find any main dishes, as they all contain some form of meat or animal products, but you can make a decent meal with the sides that they offer. They offer a Side Item Sampler on their menu where you can choose three different sides in one meal. You can choose from fresh steamed vegetables, cilantro lime rice, sweet corn, or garlic dill new potatoes.
For dessert, you can get a slice of the apple pie. Make sure to confirm there is no butter in any of those options. Their apple juice, lemonade, and sodas are also vegan; however, the apple juice is a kids apple juice made by The Honest Company. Water is also available. To make a meal more filling, you can also double up on the portions.
Do the mashed potatoes at Boston Market contain dairy?
Yes, Boston Market mashed potatoes do contain dairy. They contain whole milk and butter. Instead of mashed potatoes, try the garlic-dill new potatoes or the cilantro lime rice. Confirm there is no butter or dairy in those before ordering.
Is gravy vegan at Boston Market?
No, the gravy is not vegan at Boston Market. They offer poultry, beef, and country gravies, which are all made from either chicken, turkey, beef, butter, or milk. The zesty barbecue sauce is vegan however and can be used as a dipping sauce instead of gravy.