New Orleans skips the Cajun route on its top five entirely, leading instead with Thaihey NOLA, Sweet Soulfood, Habana Outpost, La Macarena, and Queen Trini Lisa across Thai, Soul Food, Cuban, Salvadoran, and Caribbean. Gumbo, wings, and mac and cheese tie at 5 venues each on the signature side, while Sneaky Pickle & Bar Brine and Shaya carry the salad and hummus picks.
Ranked by overall rating, signature dish strength, and how much reviewers praise the food. If you only have a weekend, start here.
Try the sweet heat cauliflower—it’s highly recommended and a fan favorite
Must go · #4 
Must go · #5 Try the doubles sandwich with its fresh bread and spicy scotch bonnet pepper sauce
Must go · #6 
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Must go · #8 Try the vegan green curry and drunken noodles marked as favorites by reviewers
Must go · #9 
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Must go · #15 Dishes ranked by how well this city's plant-based venues make them, compared to the other 157 cities we track.
5 places worth stopping for gumbo
Try the bread pudding bites with non-dairy whipped cream
Ask for the separate vegan menu to see all available options
Try the hot sausage po boys
Try the vegan gumbo—it is highly praised by multiple reviewers
5 places worth stopping for wings
Try the sweet heat cauliflower—it’s highly recommended and a fan favorite
Be aware of extra charges for vegan chicken and cheese on pizzas
Enjoy the vegan curry, praised for its flavor
Try the bread pudding bites with non-dairy whipped cream
5 places worth stopping for mac and cheese
Try the sweet heat cauliflower—it’s highly recommended and a fan favorite
Try the tofu lettuce wraps
Try the bread pudding bites with non-dairy whipped cream
Try the vegan jerk wings with cabbage and sweet plantains
spinach · Vegan Food Guide All 160 New Orleans venues on the map. Filter by what's open, save what you'd return for, get walking directions in two taps.
Completely plant-based kitchens. No swaps, no asking, no surprises.
Try the sweet heat cauliflower—it’s highly recommended and a fan favorite
Try the pumpkin cheddar biscuit sandwich and Muffanada sandwich
Try the vegan waffles and avocado toast
Try the Buffalo Chickpea Sliders
Mainstream restaurants where the vegan side of the menu is treated seriously.
Try the pumpkin curry and jackfruit curry for rich, flavorful meals
Try the vegan po'boy sandwich
Substitute ingredients to make many dishes vegan-friendly
Try the vegan pupusas and tamale platter
Open before 10, good coffee, the kind of place you walk back to on day two.
Weekday fuel and weekend stretches.
Try the sweet heat cauliflower—it’s highly recommended and a fan favorite
Try the vegan pupusas and tamale platter
Try the vegan po'boy sandwich
Try the lemongrass curry tofu and spicy tofu dishes
The reason you planned the trip.
Date night. Birthday. Tell them you're celebrating.
Ice cream, pastry, and the honest dessert case.
Try the pumpkin cheddar biscuit sandwich and Muffanada sandwich
Try the chocolate sorbetto, highly praised for rich flavor
Try the strawberry and bumble berry vegan sorbets
Try the vegan bagel open face sandwich with avocado and chili crisp
Wifi, outlets, no judgement for a 3-hour sit.
Busy rooms with tables big enough for eight.
Try the pumpkin curry and jackfruit curry for rich, flavorful meals
Try the sweet heat cauliflower—it’s highly recommended and a fan favorite
Try the vegan wrap with grilled vegetables and vegan mayo
Try the lemongrass curry tofu and spicy tofu dishes
Menus kids recognize, staff who don't flinch at strollers.
Try the vegan po'boy sandwich
Try the vegan pupusas and tamale platter
Try the doubles sandwich with its fresh bread and spicy scotch bonnet pepper sauce
Try the vegan shawarma pita, highly recommended by many reviewers
Try the Indian curry bowl, a popular vegan dish with hearty vegetables and grains.
Substitute ingredients to make many dishes vegan-friendly
Try the tofu lettuce wraps
Try the broccoli falafel and cashew cream dishes
Yes — New Orleans has 160 vegan-ready venues. The top-ranked are Thaihey NOLA, Sweet Soulfood, Habana Outpost. Spinach ranks them daily on overall rating, signature dish strength, and reviewer praise for the food.
New Orleans scores 52.8/100 on the Spinach vegan city index. The city has 22 vegan-friendly venues and 48 high-quality restaurants out of 160 analyzed.
New Orleans has 10 fully vegan restaurants and 1 vegetarian restaurants. 22 venues score B or higher on the Vegan Friendliness grade.
New Orleans's top signature dishes for vegans are gumbo, wings, mac and cheese, and the city also does salad and curry well. Signature dishes are ranked by how the city's venues score against the other 157 cities we track.
The vegan scene in New Orleans leans American. American is particularly strong, with 10 venues serving quality plant-based options.
Thaihey NOLA is ranked #1 in New Orleans by the Spinach Essentials algorithm, which weights rating, signature dish performance, and reviewer praise. See all 15 Essentials for the full ranking.
Spinach ranks vegan venues using the same algorithm the mobile app runs: a composite of Google Maps rating, the Spinach Rating (Wilson-confidence scored), dish-quality Wilson scores from extracted review signals, and city-specific signature dish strength. Essentials add a tier weighting; category lists add their own mood/occasion weights. No pay-to-play.
The ranking refreshes daily from Supabase. The last refresh is stamped at the top of this page. Venue data comes from Google Maps, HappyCow, and Spinach's own review-analysis pipeline.
