Vegan Drinks at McDonald’s – yes, that is right – vegan drinks at the “golden arches”. McDonald’s may be known as a “burger chain” serving a whopping 68 million people every day, but what if I told you McDonald’s is not just about “burgers” (or if you are vegan…just the fries – however at the time of writing they are launching a plant-based burger called the McPlant). McDonald’s in the US serves 500 million cups of coffee per day and globally over 1 billion cups of coffee per year. And that is just the coffee. It is estimated that Mcdonald’s serves 70 to 210 million soft drinks per day. In fact, 5% of McDonald’s money comes from soft drinks (oh and by the way, an 18oz Soda costs McDonald’s $0.16 and they sell it to you for $1.99 – just think about that for a second). Given how many drinks it sells, I think we should probably ask the question – what are the vegan drinks at McDonald’s (even if you can only get them with a side of fries)?
What Drinks Are Vegan At McDonald’s?
As a general rule, the sodas, juices, americanos, hot tea, unsweetened iced tea, and roast coffees at Mcdonald’s are vegan. The Mcdonald’s smoothies can be made vegan if ordered without yogurt. McDonald’s does not have a huge selection of vegan coffee drinks – most of the McDonald’s coffees are not vegan.
Drink Options at McDonald’s
According to the McDonald’s website here is a complete list of their beverage options:
| Hot Drinks | Shakes | Smoothies |
|---|---|---|
| Premium Roast Coffee* (only vegan coffee option) | Chocolate Shake | Strawberry Banana Smoothie |
| Americano* (only vegan coffee option) | Vanilla Shake | Mango Pineapple Smoothie |
| Caramel Macchiato | Strawberry Shake | |
| Iced Caramel Macchiato | ||
| Cappuccino | ||
| Caramel Cappuccino | ||
| French Vanilla Cappuccino | ||
| Mocha | ||
| Iced Mocha | ||
| Latte | ||
| Iced Latte | ||
| Caramel Latte | ||
| Iced Caramel Latte | ||
| French Vanilla Latte | ||
| Iced French Vanilla Latte | ||
| Iced Coffee | ||
| Iced Caramel Coffee | ||
| Iced French Vanilla Coffee | ||
| Caramel Frappe | ||
| Mocha Frappe | ||
| Hot Chocolate | ||
| Hot Tea | ||
Vegan Drinks at McDonald’s – SODA
Let’s start with the big category – Soda or basically all the fountain drinks at McDonald’s. I have previously covered whether Soda is vegan in my post Is Soda Vegan? Revealing What You Need To Know – if you want to learn more about whether Soda is vegan check it out.
The first thing to know about McDonald’s is that they are heavily associated with Coca-Cola brand drinks. Since 1955 the two brands have been working together – that’s why you won’t find a Pepsi in McDonald’s (however, you can find Dr. Pepper).
The following sodas are all available in fountain form (i.e., not can or bottle format) at McDonald’s restaurants.
Vegan Drinks at McDonald’s – is Coca-Cola Vegan?
Coca-Cola and Diet Coke are both vegan. You can read more about what other Coca-Cola drinks are vegan in the post I wrote – Is Coca-Cola Vegan? Secrets To Know About Coca-Cola Drinks.
Vegan Drinks at McDonald’s – is Sprite Vegan?
Sprite is vegan! Sprite is owned by Coca-Cola – most Coca-Cola sodas in North America are vegan – you can read more about it here – Is Coca-Cola Vegan? Secrets To Know About Coca-Cola Drinks.
Vegan Drinks at McDonald’s – is Fanta Orange Vegan?
Fanta Orange is vegan. Fanta is another Coca-Cola-owned brand (see I told you they only carry Coca-Cola drinks). Interestingly orange-colored sodas are the most likely soda not to be vegan (due to ester gum or fish gelatin as a stabilizer for the beta-carotene color) – but Fanta Orange is not one of them. Fanta Orange is vegan.
Vegan Drinks at McDonald’s – is Dr Pepper Vegan?
Dr Pepper is vegan. Dr Peppa is owned by Keurig Dr Pepper. It is a common misconception that Dr Pepper is owned by PepsiCo, but it isn’t (remember Mcdonald’s loves Coca-Cola). If you do want to read more about PepsiCo and which of their drinks are vegan, you can here – Is Pepsi Vegan? Secrets To Know About Pepsi Drinks?
Vegan Drinks at McDonald’s – is Hi-C Lava Burst Vegan?
Hi-C Lava Burst was on the Mcdonald’s drinks menu from 1955 to 2017 when it was discontinued. Customers petitioned to get it back and it was put back on the menu in the summer of 2021. The name comes from the fact it is high in vitamin C. And yes, Hi C Lava Burst is vegan!
In conclusion, the sodas at Mcdonald’s are vegan. You are good to go on those.
Vegan Tea Drinks at McDonald’s
First, a fun fact. Did you know all “tea” – white, green, black, oolong, etc. all come from the same type of plant. They are all the same “tea” just processed to different degrees. Amazing right? If you want to learn about all things tea I covered it in my post Is Tea Vegan? Time To Know The Complete Facts. McDonald’s just use black tea.
There are three tea drinks on the McDonald’s menu – black tea, sweet tea, and unsweetened iced tea. The unsweetened iced tea and hot teas are vegan. The sweet tea is sweetened with sugar which may be an issue for strict vegans. Some cane sugar here in the US is processed with bone char – you cannot know if the sugar has been processed with bone char or not (unless it is labeled as beet, raw or organic). Some vegans are fine consuming sugar – some vegans are not. If this is an issue for you avoid the sweet tea.
| Vegan McDonald’s Teas | Dairy-Free McDonald’s Teas which contain sugar |
|---|---|
| Unsweetened Iced Tea | Sweet Tea |
| Hot Tea |
Are McDonald’s Smoothies Vegan?
McDonald’s offered two smoothies – strawberry & banana and mango pineapple. Both contain yogurt and are not vegan. However, I did find this on the Mcdonald’s UK website:
However, I did find this on the Mcdonald’s UK website:
“We currently don’t offer dairy-free alternatives to our milk products but are always looking at new menu options. Did you know that all our products can be customized? For example, you can remove the yogurt from our Blended Ice Smoothie Range ….”.
Presumably, in the US you can do the same thing and ask for your smoothies without the yogurt. Your smoothie would just be the fruit puree blended with ice so it would not be as creamy as the regular smoothie- but it is good to know you can do this.
There are, however, two things to note with regard to ordering a smoothie minus the yogurt:
- The strawberry banana fruit base contains sugar (this could have been processed with bone char which could be an issue for some vegans). The mango pineapple fruit base does not contain sugar; and
- Both the pineapple mango fruit base and the strawberry banana fruit base are dispensed from equipment that also dispenses the yogurt so there could still be traces of yogurt in your drink.
Do you love Coffee?
If you love Coffee, you may also want to check out my breakdown of the vegan beverage items at other coffee chains such as Starbucks, Dunkin’, Coffee Bean, and Dutch Bros. You can find links to those articles below:
- How to Actually Order Vegan Starbucks Drinks
- Vegan Drinks at Dunkin’ – How To Actually Order Vegan
- Vegan Drinks at Coffee Bean – How to Order Vegan
- Which Dutch Bros Drinks Are Vegan? The Complete Guide
- Vegan Drinks at Panera – How to Know What is Vegan
Vegan Coffee Drinks at McDonald’s
Want to know if coffee is vegan? You can read all about it in the past I wrote – Is Coffee Vegan? How To Find Out The Truth.
Let’s start with the bad news. McDonald’s does not offer any dairy-free milk alternatives. This means that most of their coffee drinks are not vegan from the get-go. Furthermore, they can’t be made vegan because there is no milk alternative. That leaves you with two coffee options, yes two. You can either have the Americano or the Premium Roast Coffee (put it this way the limited choice means you can just flip a coin and let that do the deciding for you). I am assuming you could ask for your roast coffee poured over ice if you want an iced coffee rather than a hot one. Both the Americano and the Premium Roast Coffee are vegan.
Is McDonald’s Syrups and Drizzles Dairy Free?
Okay, you have your Americano because your coin landed on heads, so what can you do to jazz it up? How about some syrups or drizzles? The chocolate drizzle, caramel drizzle, and caramel syrup all contain dairy and so are not vegan.
However, there is a snippet of good news. Looking at the ingredients online, McDonald’s French Vanilla Syrup does not contain dairy (it does, however, contain sugar). So, if you are comfortable with sugar, and you get a helpful server at McDonald’s, you could always see if they will shed some sympathy on you and add a dash of French Vanilla syrup to your americano or roast coffee.
Another option is to try and order an Iced French Vanilla Coffee WITHOUT any milk. This is probably the closest thing you can get to a dairy-free artisan coffee at Mcdonald’s. I guess it is better than nothing.
| McDonald’s Vegan Coffees | McDonald’s Non-Vegan Coffees |
|---|---|
| Americano | Caramel Macchiato |
| Roast Coffee | Iced Caramel Macchiato |
| Cappuccino | |
| Iced Caramel Cappuccino | |
| French Vanilla Cappuccino | |
| Mocha | |
| Iced Mocha | |
| Latte | |
| Iced Latte | |
| Caramel Latte | |
| Iced Caramel Latte | |
| French Vanilla Latte | |
| Iced French Vanilla Latte | |
| Iced Coffee | |
| Iced Caramel Coffee | |
| Iced French Vanilla Coffee | |
| Caramel Frappe | |
| Mocha Frappe |
Is McDonald’s Shakes Vegan?
All three Mcdonald’s Shakes (strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla) contain dairy and so are not vegan and there is no way to order them vegan.
Other Vegan Drinks at McDonald’s
McDonald’s also offers Minute Maid orange juice and honest organic apple juice kid’s cups. Both are vegan but believe it or not juice isn’t always vegan – you can read more about it here (Is Orange Juice Vegan? Revealing Why You Need To Know).
McDonald’s hot chocolate is also not vegan – all four of its ingredients contain milk so there is no way of ordering a vegan version.
McDonald’s also has water and milk cartons on the menu – I won’t insult your intelligence by talking about which is vegan and which isn’t.
Vegan Drinks at McDonald’s – The Final Sip
Honesty time. Now seriously what were you expecting when you started reading this article? That there were a whole bunch of secret vegan beverage drinks McDonald’s just hasn’t told anyone about or a secret stash of almond milk they keep in a refrigerated safe in the back just for vegans? If I am completely honest, the selection of vegan drinks is completely what I expected from McDonald’s. If you are looking for a cool beverage like a soda or fountain drink you are good to go, but when it comes to coffee – you basically can have it two ways: black, or strong and black. I like black coffee and when I have needed one, I have been to McDonald’s and bought one – it is okay black coffee. In the interim, your best option as a vegan remains to be carrying around with you a coffee flask filled with cold almond milk. It’s a WIN-WIN (that emoji face with the straight line for a mouth).
…now you know.
Beverage makers may change ingredients and/or manufacturing processes. Always double-check ingredients before purchasing any beverages.
Like What You Are Reading
Want to learn more about what is vegan at your favorite coffee chain or restaurant? How about a complete breakdown of Soda or Energy Drinks – think those are vegan? If you want to learn more then check out some of my other articles below: