Ah, Portlandia! Oregon’s Rose City is a jumble of distinctive and quirky neighbourhoods with independent coffee shops, restaurants and a thriving food cart scene that spawned a foodie revolution in Vancouver and throughout North America. Portland is also a welcoming city for vegan and vegetarian eaters, with restaurants serving up fantastic plant-based fare alongside local pinot from the Willamette Valley and nutty oak milk lattes. Our guide to the best vegan restaurants in Portland will have you bellying up to the breakfast bar, food cart or coffee shop and leave you ready to explore the best of what vegan Portland has to offer.
Best vegan restaurants in Portland Oregon
Wallethub ranked Portland as the best city for vegans and vegetarians in 2021. It seems that our guide to the best vegan food in Portland is rather timely. Whether you’re visiting for the day, spending three days in Portland, or road tripping along the Columbia River Gorge, enjoy using our guide to this plant-based paradise on the west coast.
Ben & Esther’s is a 100% vegan Jewish Deli serving traditional Jewish Reubens, bagels and lox, and brisket with a vegan twist. Even the schmears are plant-based! Where: NE Portland – Alberta Street
Opened in January 2022, Hinterland is a bar and food cart pod in Southeast Portland. There are five food carts in this residential-area pod, including the authentic vegan Mexican cart, La Taquiza Vegana, one of our favorite vegan spots in Portland. The bar and patio are perfect for enjoying your selection of delicious vegan mushroom tacos while sipping an Oregon rosé or local cider. Where: SE Portland
The Chubby Bunny food truck is shhhh, secretly vegan, and serves comforting breakfast sandwiches and sides all day long. Their benedicts, sandwiches and French toastie sticks are well-prepared and delicious. A stop here is a great way to nourish yourself on an Around Portland Tour of the city’s food cart scene. Where: SE Portland
Wait, there’s more!
CORE (Collective Oregan Eateries) is a 36,000 square foot pod on 82nd Ave in Southeast Portland. It’s home to a food hall and 11 food carts. Mitate serves innovative and delicious vegan and gluten free sushi using Portland-made tofu, black-bean-garlic-truffle puree, and shishito peppers. Where: SE Portland
Ditto is focused on serving one of the best vegan breakfasts in Portland. Ditto creates brunch sammies using Newfangled Foods eggy patties, vegan cheeses, tempeh bacon and a variety of veggies. Their satisfying handheld buns and grilled sammies are served from a decked out 1971 GMC school bus. Where: NE Portland
You can also source tasty vegan egg items like the Vegan and Sara sandwich (alongside non-vegan dishes) at Fried Egg I’m In Love, at various locations throughout the city. Where: Various
The food at Fortune is by Plant Based Papi, aka chef Jewan Manuel. He dishes up a creative menu of No Animal Style Fries, pastas with cashew cheese sauce, chili-roasted jackfruit tacos and a fun Out & In Style cheeseburger. Eat and then boogie to the DJ on the weekends, or have your fortune told every Friday from 6-9 PM. Where: SW 11th Avenue
Mama Dút is home to inspired vegan Vietnamese food. Mama dút means ‘Mama will feed you,’, and from flaky bahn mi to soft baos and slurp-worthy hearty pho stews, many of the delicious dishes are centered around owner Thuy Pham’s house-made vegan pork belly. Where: SE Morrison Street
As if that’s not enough
Mirisata loosely translates to ‘spicy curry’ but not everything is burning hot in spice intensity. These Sri Lankan vegan dishes are intensely flavorful and authentic to the cooks of this unique worker-owned cooperative. Great choices include oyster mushroom curry, roti stir-fried with vegetables and parippu vade, fritters made with split pigeon peas. Where: SE Belmont St.
Obon Shokudo will warm your belly with feel-good Japanese comfort food, vegan style. Dishes like udon with mushrooms and many kinds of savoury miso onigiri pockets. There’s also okonomiyaki, basically a cabbage, ginger-pickled beet & onion pancake with fried tofu, topped with house tonkatsu sauce. Where: SE Grand Avenue
Takibi is not fully vegan, but does offer some sublime vegan dishes in a Japanese-inspired fine dining manner. This izakaya experience by Japanese outdoor gear provider Snow Peak aims to bring the outdoors in. One tastes that in the fire-grilled king trumpet mushrooms, beet salad with tofu dressing, and the sublime tofu donuts. The cocktails are inventive and pair beautifully with the cuisine. Where: NW Flanders St.
Wild Thing is a brightly lighted jewel of a restaurant from Kelsey Glasser and former Tusk chef de cuisine Sam Smith. Vegetables rule here. You can build locally sourced and seasonal bowls of grains, proteins, smoothies and tasty side dishes to stay or go. Where: NE Alberta St.
Best vegan pizza in Portland
Boxcar Pizza serves all-vegan Detroit-style square pies, with ‘meaty’ ingredients made from vital wheat gluten, textured vegetable protein (TVP) and soy products. Their crust is crispy and chewy, and can be ordered gluten free. The GF pizza bases are prepared in a separate area to avoid cross-contamination. Where: The Zipper, NE Portland
Sizzle Pizza has a great selection of vegan pizza options on its large menu, including Spiral Tap finished with a dusting of nutritional yeast, and the Unlawful Falafal with the savoury chick-pea based morsels the star of this pie. Where: Downtown
Virtuous Pie Portland provides a cosy modern picnic vibe in which to ‘eat virtuous.’ Enjoy its fully vegan pizzas like spicy Sgt. Pepperoni and Korean-inspired Bulgogi, as well as plant-based pastas, salads, ice creams and drinks. Where: SE Division Street
Vegan Cocktail Bars
Bye and Bye vegan cocktail bar pours a sweet and spicy collection of cocktails like the French 503 (made with blood orange and lemongrass shrub) and the summery, ginny Pimms Paradox. Its food pairings are fully vegan, including meaty tempeh bowls, veggie meatball subs and brekkie tofu scrambles to accompany your Mimosa. Where: Alberta District
Best vegan ice cream in Portland
Ice Queen is the world’s first vegan paleteria. This woman-owned specialty paleta business delights in producing 100% plant-based flavors like Oatchata, Mangonada, Toasted Coconut and a tamale-flavroed ice cream bar. Where: Popping up where you least expect it
Kate’s Ice Cream is a fully plant-based ice cream parlor on N Mississippi. Owner Katelyn Williams opened her shop in 2019, serving creamy, 100% coconut-milk-based scoops. Flavors include mint chocolate fudge, marionberry cobbler and salted peanut butter brittle. Bonus: the ice cream is also gluten free. Where: N Mississippi
Fifty Licks Ice Cream has legendary vegan and regular ice cream, including some knockout unique flavors like Thai Rice, Cornbread Honey Butter and Pineapple Tamarind. They also cater in a vintage blue ice cream truck – how cool is that? Where: Various locations
Salt and Straw is Portland’s famous ice cream parlor. It is not fully vegan, but it does offer a great assortment of vegan flavours to choose from. The scoop styles change with the seasons, so frequent visits are necessary to gauge which vegan flavor will become your favorite. And that’s not a bad thing at all, right? Where: Division Street, NW 23rd, Alberta
Vegan donuts aren’t ice cream but they are dessert, d’oh! You can find artisanal donuts that are as beautiful as they are delicious at Doe Donuts. Try the Portland Fog or the Doe donut, made from housemade strawberry milk and sprinkles. Or choose from their seasonal menu. Where: NE Sandy Blvd.
Six Drool-Worthy and Easy Vegan Ice Cream Recipes
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