loading . . . CHICAGO — Chicago is a meat town. Tell someone you don’t like all-beef hot dogs or your Italian beef dipped in gravy and you may get an obscene hand gesture.
During its Union Stockyard years, the city used “everything about the hog except the squeal,” Upton Sinclair wrote in his 1906 novel, “The Jungle.” At the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Vienna Beef was just getting its start, charging a dime for sausages covered in mustard and onions from a booth in the “Old Vienna” exhibit. The food spot became so popular, the brothers-in-law behind it decided to stay in town, building a legacy that became integral to Chicago’s identity.
Yet at the same World’s Fair, the Vegetarian Federal Union also set up an exhibit as a competing movement was taking shape: going meatless. Some advocated against using animal products altogether.
As Chicago in the late 1800s was turning to those very animal products to bulk up its big shoulders, it was simultaneously becoming the “epicenter for vegetarianism,” according to historians.
Today, Chicago is home to Vienna Beef’s Hot Dog University as well as The Vegan Museum. PETA recently recognized our meat-lovers’ town as the epicenter of vegan-friendly cuisine.
In a city that still consumes meat and cheese like air and water, Block Club wondered: Are comfort food staples like Italian beef and deep-dish pizza as readily available to vegans as they are carnivores?
As it turns out, yes. Here’s where to find vegan versions of some of Chicago’s most loved and consumed foods.
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## Deep-Dish Pizza
Do Chicagoans eat deep-dish pizza every day? Of course not. Should they be able to if they want? Absolutely — and that includes vegans.
Cue Kitchen 17, 2554 W. Diversey Ave. in West Lakeview, where you can get 12- and 16-inch deep-dish pizza, sans animal products, with toppings that include meatless pepperoni and sausage and housemade vegan cheese. Online reviewers say it’s one of the best vegan deep-dish pies in the city. Pizzas start at $24 and go up from there, depending on size and toppings.
Warehouse Bar & Pizzeria, 1419 W. Fullerton Ave. in Lincoln Park, offers 10- and 14-inch vegan deep-dish pizzas filled with Selfish Cow vegan cheese. Pizzas start at $23.95, with the option to add meat-free sausage or pepperoni. For the casual pizza consumer, Warehouse also offers a vegan thin-crust option.
And no Chicago pizza discourse would be complete without mention of the pizza puff. Can’t Believe It’s Not Meat, 1368 1/2 E. 53rd St. in Hyde Park, serves up a vegan version with meatless “Italian meat,” vegan cheese and spinach, with fries and mild sauce.
An order of the vegan hot dog with half tater tots, half French fries, at Flub A Dub Chub’s, 3021 N. Broadway, in Lakeview on Aug. 5, 2025. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
## Hot Dogs
Hot dogs are practically a way of life in Chicago. Fortunately, this rite of passage is available to all local eaters, carnivores or not.
Among the options:
* Devil Dawgs, with four Chicago locations, has a vegan Veggie Lovers hot dog, served Chicago-style, for $7.
* Flub A Dub Chub’s, 3021 N. Broadway in Lakeview, serves The Willie soy vegan hot dog dragged through the garden for $10.
* Soul Veg City, 203 E. 75th St. in Grand Crossing, showcases a plant-based, soy-free Chicago-Style Frank with a side for $10.
You can also get a Chicago-style vegan dog at institutions like The Wieners Circle in Lincoln Park, Budacki’s Drive In in Ravenswood, Portillo’s and Rate Field.
Need even more options? Here are 22 other veggie dogs Chicagoans love.
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## Hot Links
Hot links — spicy little sausages smothered in barbecue sauce — are a staple on the South and West sides. Get four vegan hot links — drenched in housemade sauce and served with seasoned fries and wheat bread — from Can’t Believe It’s Not Meat in Hyde Park, 1368 1/2 E. 53rd St.
The “Italian Not Beef” with vegan cheese and fries at Can’t Believe It’s Not Meat, 1368 1/2 E. 53rd St., in Hyde Park on Aug. 7, 2025. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
## Italian Beef
Every city has a signature meat sandwich. Chicago’s is the Italian beef.
You can get a regular one just about anywhere in the city, but for a vegan-friendly version, go to Can’t Believe It’s Not Meat in Hyde Park, 1368 1/2 E. 53rd St. For $15.95, the Italian Not Beef serves up thinly sliced vegan beef with sweet peppers and housemade au jus on a French roll; it’s topped with mild giardiniera and served with a side of seasoned fries.
Top it off with vegan cheese for 75 cents, and if you’re feeling extra Chicago, add a vegan Italian sausage for $5. Google reviewers give the sandwich a “10/10” and claim they “couldn’t believe it wasn’t meat.”
You can also grab a plant-based beef at Buona, 613 N. McClurg Court in Streeterville. Buona’s Italian Beefless Sandwich ($8.99) uses Upton’s Naturals seitan made exclusively for the restaurant chain, plus vegan cheese and roasted sweet peppers.
David Matulac, Smash Jibarito partner and Kanto owner, prepares a vegan Smash Jibarito in the kitchen of Desert Hawk, 2049 W. Division St., in West Town on Aug. 6, 2025. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
## Jibarito
Originating in Chicago’s Puerto Rican community, the jibarito is a sandwich that swaps fried plantain patties for slices of bread and is stuffed with veggies, cheeses, sauces and meat.
The Jibarito Stop, 1646 W. 18th St. in the Heart of Chicago neighborhood, had been a go-to spot for vegan jibaritos, but the restaurant remains temporarily closed after a debilitating fire earlier this year. It’s unclear when it will be able to reopen.
David Matulac, Smash Jibarito partner and Kanto owner, prepares a vegan Smash Jibarito in the kitchen of Desert Hawk, 2049 W. Division St., in West Town on Aug. 6, 2025. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Fortunately, Chicagoans have other options — notably, Smash Jibarito, a popular pop-up restaurant that’s had a kitchen residency at Desert Hawk, 2049 W. Division St. in West Town and recently opened its first permanent location on Humboldt Park’s Paseo Boricua.
Known for its unique take on a jibarito-meets-smashburger, Smash Jibarito offers a vegan version of its Ogillo and Estilo Animal sandwiches, replacing the beef patties with an Impossible burger patty and removing the cheese and mayo. Like the meaty version, the meat substitute base is blended with the restaurant’s signature spices and flattened razor-thin on the flattop.
## Wings With Mild Sauce
There are two rules to Chicago sauces: no to ketchup, yes to mild sauce. At The Black Vegan in Little Village, 2300 S. Kedzie Ave., choose your own adventure with either the portabella or lion’s mane mushroom wings with fries smothered in mild sauce.
Or opt for the six-piece “boneless buffalo wings” with fries from Can’t Believe It’s Not Meat in Hyde Park, 1368 1/2 E. 53rd St., and choose mild sauce for the topping.
What classic Chicago foods are missing from our list? Where do you go for your vegan fix? Let us know at [email protected].
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