Best dairy-free and vegan restaurants in Chicago

The Chicago Diner

The elder statesman of meat-free Chicago, open on Halsted since 1983 and still the place people name first. The kitchen does diner food rather than health food: seitan Reubens, milkshakes, biscuits and gravy, country fried steak. Everything is meat-free and most of it can be made vegan, so it is a safe pick for a mixed group where only one person is avoiding dairy. The Logan Square second location closed at the end of 2025, so Lakeview is the one left, and it gets crowded.

Handlebar

A long-running Wicker Park bar and restaurant that cooks vegetarian comfort food from scratch, with a beer garden out back that is the real draw in summer. The menu is built around seitan and mushrooms: a buffalo 'chicken' wrap, a Chicago-style tofu dish, sloppy joes. Read the menu carefully if you are strictly dairy-free, because this is a vegetarian kitchen rather than a vegan one: eggs and cheese appear on the breakfast side, and the vegan versions are the ones marked with an asterisk.

Kale My Name

An all-day Albany Park room that works as a bright cafe at lunch and a full bar at night, with weekend brunch in between. The kitchen is entirely plant-based and leans into things people miss: burgers, seitan wraps, fried cauliflower wings, tacos. Its Chicago Burger has been nominated for best burger in the city, which is the shortest way to explain what the place is going for. Prices sit at the top of this list, with most mains around twenty dollars.

PLANTA Queen

The dressed-up option on this list: a sleek River North dining room from a group with outposts in Miami, Toronto and New York, built for birthdays and date nights rather than a quick weeknight dinner. The kitchen is Asian-fusion and entirely plant-based, and the tricks are the point, from spicy 'tuna' nigiri made with dehydrated watermelon to jackfruit wings that mimic crispy skin. Reviewers rate it as one of the rare upscale vegan rooms where the food holds up on its own. Expect downtown prices.

Penelope's Vegan Taqueria

A casual, fully vegan taqueria that has grown to three Chicago rooms, with the River North location on Chicago Avenue the flagship. The menu covers the range a regular taqueria would, from Beyond asada tacos and enchiladas to burritos, chilaquiles and a weekend brunch buffet. The enchiladas come stuffed with spiced potatoes under red salsa and vegan sour cream, and the kitchen is convincing enough that meat eaters tend not to notice what is missing.

Soul Veg City

The oldest fully plant-based kitchen on this list, running on 75th Street for four decades as The Original Soul Vegetarian before a renovation and rename. It is Southern and soul cooking done without animal products: smothered seitan steak and gravy, cornbread dressing, vegan mac and cheese. Much of the business is a pay-by-weight hot station and deli counter rather than table service, which makes it the cheapest sit-down option here if you are careful at the scale. Family-owned, and a South Side institution.

Urban Vegan

A Thai kitchen on Montrose where the whole menu is vegan, which means the fish sauce and egg problems that usually make Thai ordering fiddly simply do not come up. Curries, tofu satay and soy chicken with peanut sauce are the core, built on seitan and other substitutes. It started as mainly a carryout counter and is now a full sit-down room, and it remains one of the better-value neighborhood options for vegan Asian food on the North Side.

Amitabul

A small Norwood Park storefront serving what it calls spiritual vegan Korean cooking, well out of the way on Milwaukee Avenue and worth the trip. The food is oil-light and built on whole ingredients: brown rice bi bim bop, buckwheat noodle salads, mandoo dumplings, and Dr. K's Cure All Noodle Soup, which the kitchen recommends for a cold or a hangover. Portions are large and almost everything sits at the same price. It keeps short hours and is closed Monday and Tuesday, so check before driving out.

Alice & Friends' Vegan Kitchen

A small Edgewater dining room cooking across East Asia without any animal products, so the dishes that are usually off limits (Korean rice bowls with egg, teriyaki glazed with honey, creamy curries) are all available. Expect miso ramen, dol sot bi bim bab in a hot stone bowl, kung pao, dumplings and a house burger, plus a full case of vegan desserts made in-house. Many dishes can be made gluten-free, nut-free or allium-free on request. It opens for dinner only and is closed Tuesdays.

Arya Bhavan

An Indian restaurant on Devon Avenue that is entirely vegan and entirely gluten-free, which is a rare combination and makes it the easiest room on this list for someone avoiding both dairy and wheat. Ghee, paneer and yogurt are simply absent, so dosas, sambar, curries and chaat arrive as ordered without negotiation. There is also a growing raw section, plus detox programs and cooking classes on the side. Dosas start at eight dollars, the lowest entry price here.

Demera Ethiopian Restaurant

An Uptown Ethiopian restaurant that has been open since 2007 and is not a vegan restaurant, but carries a long, clearly marked vegan section beside the meat menu, which makes it the easiest pick here for a mixed table. The vegan dishes are the traditional ones: misir wot, kik alicha, gomen, all served on injera made fresh daily. Ordering the vegetable sampler gets you several of them on one platter to share. Watch the labels on the appetizers, where the farmer's cheese and honey dishes are not vegan.

Veggie House

The only vegetarian Chinese kitchen in Chinatown, and a long menu of the dishes that are normally impossible to order without meat: orange 'chicken' built from battered mushrooms, Mongolian 'beef' made from plant-based strips, Kung Pao tofu, hand-pulled noodles. Most of it is vegan, but not all: a few items use egg or dairy, and the crab rangoon is labelled with cheese and milk, so check before ordering if dairy is the issue. Casual, cheap for the portion size, and closed Tuesdays.