Vegan Options at Jersey Mike's

Jersey Mike's is a sub shop built around fresh-sliced meat and cheese, so it doesn't look promising for vegans at first. But the bread choices are better than you'd expect, the toppings are generous, and the house dressing, the juice, is just red wine vinegar and olive oil. Order carefully and you'll get a proper, messy, satisfying vegetable sub. We checked the menu and current vegan guides in October 2026.

What's vegan at Jersey Mike's

Which Jersey Mike's breads are vegan?

The bread is the most important choice you'll make. Jersey Mike's bakes its bread in the shop through the day, and the recipes differ more than you'd think.

The wheat bread surprises people. The honey is near the end of the ingredient list, so there's only a little, but it's there. If you're vegan, go for white or seeded Italian.

Jersey Mike's uses cornmeal when baking its bread, which explains the slightly gritty base. That's vegan.

What is "the juice"?

"The juice" is Jersey Mike's name for its red wine vinegar and olive oil blend, splashed over the sub before it's wrapped. It's the signature finish on a sub ordered "Mike's Way", and it's what makes a Jersey Mike's sub taste like a Jersey Mike's sub.

Both parts are vegan. Red wine vinegar is made from wine, and some wines are fined with animal products, as covered in our wine guide. Vinegar isn't usually treated as a concern by vegans, and no vegan guide we checked flags it.

How to order a vegan sub at Jersey Mike's

Start with the #14 Veggie, which normally comes with cheese, and remove the cheese. Or build your own.

1. Choose your bread: white or seeded Italian. Or ask for a wrap, or a bowl with no bread (Jersey Mike's calls it a "Sub in a Tub").
2. Say "no cheese". The Veggie comes with cheese, and staff are used to slicing it on.
3. Order it Mike's Way: onions, lettuce, tomatoes, red wine vinegar, olive oil blend, oregano and salt.
4. Add extras: avocado, banana peppers, jalapeños, pickles, red and green pepper strips, mushrooms or the Hot Chopped Pepper Relish.
5. Add a sauce: yellow or spicy brown mustard, BBQ or Buffalo.

What to say: "A regular Veggie on white, no cheese, Mike's Way, with avocado, banana peppers and the hot pepper relish, please."

Watch out for the default. Cheese is part of many subs as standard, so watch your sub being made. That's one advantage of Jersey Mike's: everything is assembled in front of you.

Toppings and sauces

Sides, chips and drinks

• French fries: listed as vegan by Go Dairy Free where they're sold, though they contain wheat. Jersey Mike's doesn't publish its frying oil or say whether fryers are shared, so ask. Not every shop has fries.
• Chips: Lay's Classic, Lay's BBQ, Lay's Salt and Vinegar, Baked Lay's, Fritos, Ruffles Original and SunChips Original are listed as vegan. Guides disagree on Miss Vickie's, so check the bag.
• Desserts: none are vegan. The cookies contain milk.
• Drinks: fountain sodas, bottled water and lemonade are vegan.

Cross-contact

Jersey Mike's slices meat and cheese on shared slicers, and those slicers aren't cleaned between every use. The sub line is shared, and grilled toppings may go on the same flat-top as the hot meat subs. For most vegans that's a note, not a deal-breaker. If it matters to you, ask staff to change gloves and skip the grilled toppings.

Gluten and allergy notes

• Gluten-free bread contains egg, so there's no bread option that is both gluten-free and vegan. A Sub in a Tub is the workaround.
• Wheat: the fries contain wheat, according to Go Dairy Free.
• Allergens vary: Jersey Mike's says ingredients can vary by location, and products may be made on shared equipment.

Jersey Mike's in the UK and Ireland

For years Jersey Mike's was a US-only chain. That's changing. The chain has around two dozen shops in Canada, and in January 2026 it announced a deal to open about 400 stores across the UK and Ireland. The first UK shop, on Argyll Street near Oxford Circus in London, was due to open in late autumn 2026, with three more central London sites to follow. No Irish locations had been named as of October 2026.

We haven't seen UK ingredient information yet. Don't assume the UK breads match the US ones. Check the allergen information in store, and we'll update this guide once the London shops are trading.

Alternatives

Subway is the obvious comparison and is everywhere in Ireland and the UK. Panera has more vegan breads and a vegan soup in season. For a hot vegan meal, Chipotle is hard to beat. See our vegan fast food guide for 15 chains compared.

The bottom line

Jersey Mike's makes a genuinely good vegan sub if you know the rules. Pick white or seeded Italian bread, say "no cheese", order it Mike's Way and pile on the avocado and peppers. Skip the wheat bread (honey), the rosemary parmesan (cheese), the gluten-free bread (egg) and anything with mayo. Then grab a bag of Lay's and you're set.