HOUGuide
The Best Vegan Restaurants In Houston
photo credit: Liz Silva
Yes, Houston is known for barbecue, but there are a lot of restaurants in the city with creative (and delicious) plant-based food. So while there are a lot to choose from, these are the best. Most of the places in this guide are fully vegan, and if they're not, you won't have any trouble finding plenty of options that are.
THE SPOTS
photo credit: Quit Nguyen
Cascabel is where to go for all things vegan Mexican food. The small Spring Branch spot is full of folks snuggled into booths eating vegan tamales and warm bowls of pozole rojo. But it isn’t a worthwhile trip unless you get tacos. All Cascabel first-timers should get a platter to decide which plant-based taco is the best. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but the answer is the smoked barbacoa wrapped in corn tortillas.
photo credit: Gianni Greene
This Third Ward food truck serves comfort food giving other soul food spots a run for their mac & cheese. Lindiana’s Southern Vegan Kitchen ha dishes like fish sandwiches, crab cakes, and a must-order oyster mushroom po’boy, with perfectly fried, crackling mushrooms that can be heard down the block. While you might have to eat in your car (unless you want to stand in the parking lot), the fried boudin balls are just as tasty in the driver’s seat.
photo credit: Vivian Leba
Soul Food Vegan is a Third Ward spot serving vegan Southern comfort food with Creole flavor. The menu is stacked—Cajun pasta, burgers, jambalaya, and fresh-pressed moringa juice—but you want to focus on anything that involves oyster mushrooms. Our favorite rendition of the mushrooms is in the po’boy, where they get deep-fried and dressed with spicy mayo and red onions. Soul Food Vegan isn’t exactly known for its ambiance (the dining room consists of one long black table and a counter) so come by when you need a quick lunch or something for a picnic at Emancipation Park.
photo credit: Liz Silva
Mo’ Better Brews is the lovechild of an adorable record store and a hardworking breakfast spot. The Museum District restaurant does all things Southern-style, and keeps it fun with twists like soy boudin sushi rolls and breakfast sandwiches with donut buns. The dining room here is understated, but on nice days most folks can be found on their sprawling patio having fried mushrooms and creamy grits. We love Mo’ Better Brews for brunch, but so does everyone else in Houston, so make a reservation.
photo credit: Quit Nguyen
Although Doshi House functions as more of a coffee shop with food than an actual restaurant, everything here, from the coffee to the baked goods, is vegan-friendly. You might have to navigate clusters of UH and TSU students draining the wifi for group work, but those folks are what make Doshi House feel even cooler. Plus, the ability to quickly order jackfruit or Korean BBQ-inspired tacos along with flavored iced lattes makes Doshi all the more useful when you need a quick snack.
photo credit: Liz Silva
For quick, spicy, deeply comforting food and dosas the size of a giraffe’s leg, there’s no better spot than Shiv Sagar. Shoved in the corner of a highway-adjacent strip center, this spot offers everything counter service, from thali platters, yogurt-drenched pani poori, and a couple dozen kinds of dosas.
photo credit: Liz Silva
A meal at Vibrant feels a bit like a wellness retreat, which is fitting because most people here are either wearing neon yoga sets or flowy wide-leg linen pants. The Montrose restaurant is focused on using “holistic” ingredients. This means dishes like spicy sweet potato hash, or a sorghum blueberry waffle with tart elderberry syrup that makes us consider foraging in the woods for our food. The temperature is typically set to popsicle, so either bring a sweater or take your meal to the outdoor seating area, surrounded by foliage and whatever shih tzus make an appearance on the dog-friendly patio.
photo credit: Gianni Greene
Sunshine's Vegetarian Deli and Health Food Store, a tiny counter-service spot in the Medical Center, is a vegetarian deli, but about 90% of the menu is also vegan. The food covers the plant-loving bases—kale salads, grilled veggie wraps, and smoothies. What sets Sunshine’s apart is that its best dishes could impress a carnivore, like the thick plant-based burgers topped with creamy potato salad (thank you veganaise) and nachos drizzled in rich cashew cheese provide a newfound appreciation for the humble tree nut. Plus, half of the space is a mini wellness store where you can buy things like sea moss gel, ashwagandha, and tea that does important things like support your joint health and restore your childlike sense of wonder.
photo credit: Vivian Leba
The intersection of vegan food and barbecue is a place most restaurants in Houston dare not go. But Houston Sauce Pit isn’t most places—this small food truck is one of the only spots in the city making plant-based barbecue. The epitome of Houston Sauce Pit’s work is their thick chopped “veef” burger, the subtly sweet baked beans, and spicy brussels sprouts. Most folks come here on a takeout mission, but if your burger can’t wait, there are a couple of wooden benches in front of the truck.
We appreciate the sheer amount of variety on the menu of this Heights restaurant. The Ginger Mule has the popular “plant-based restaurant” aesthetic of muted colors, wildflowers in mason jars, and cute quotes painted next to sunflowers. But the menu is packed with vegan dishes we’d happily return for, like ceviche, gyros, tacos, and impressive pizzas. Throw in their Happy Hour deals and stacked weekend brunch and it becomes clear that The Ginger Mule is all about options. Come here when you’re going out with vegan friends who can never agree on what to eat.
photo credit: Liz Silva
While the small Third Ward bakery Crumbville makes all sorts of baked goods, we can’t get enough of their vegan desserts. Specializing in plant-based cookies, brownies, and “stuffed cups” (cupcakes with fillings), each one is always light and fluffy, and we could eat the icing on the stuffed cups as a standalone dessert. There are a few rotating varieties, but prioritize the peach cobbler shortbread cookies, oreo stuffed cupcakes, or the giant ginger snap cookies.
Trendy Vegan in Upper Kirby has cornered the market on vegan buffets. The $16 Chinese buffet is on the smaller side, but we’d happily go back for multiple rounds of mapo tofu and cold servings of spicy dan dan noodles. Aside from a huge mural covering one of the walls, Trendy Vegan is pretty understated. But that doesn’t matter when your priority should be to eat as many fried king mushroom bites and red bean-filled sesame balls as possible. Alongside the AYCE option, they also have plant-based dishes available a la carte.
photo credit: Vivian Leba
Green Seed Vegan, a soy-free vegan restaurant, has been solidly holding down the corner of Almeda and Wheeler for over a decade. The small spot’s menu has mostly raw foods, gluten-free friendly collard green wraps, and delicious, spicy burgers made with buckwheat quinoa and sunflower meal. Whatever vegan alchemy Green Seed performs we appreciate, especially on a day that calls for cold-pressed buckwheat juice.
