lou malnati's pizzeria.

my family has always had a tradition of ordering pizza on friday nights... a tradition that josh very much appreciated. but for the two of us, ordering pizza for dinner became much less frequent... and basically stopped once i became vegan.

here's where the story gets interesting... 

josh's favorite pizza place (chicago or elsewhere) is lou malnati's... so when he was craving it one friday evening, i decided to do a little research.

lou malnati's is known for their "buttery crust." so i just assumed that their crust was not vegan. however, a quick google led me to believe that there actually is no butter in their crust! umm... !!!

i called a couple locations (to ensure accuracy!)... and not only did both sites know what a vegan is without me explaining, but they also confirmed that their regular deep dish crust is vegan! very exciting news around our house.

**basically, unless you request a butter crust... it doesn't have butter. so to be safe, i would still specifically ask for no butter and no cheese (specify both mozzarella and parmesan)  for future ordering.

so i decided to order a small deep dish pizza... spinach, black olives and their delicious chunky tomato sauce... no butter, no mozzarella, no parmesan.

the results: 


it's been a long time since i've had lou malnati's (besides their house salad : one that actually is delicious!)... so my excitement may have affected how great i thought it tasted. i very much enjoyed it.

all in all... it most certainly satisfied any craving i may have had for chicago deep dish pizza... josh is glad to have pizza fridays back! and so am i.

***update from a lou malnati's employee ... "i can confirm, as someone who works for lou malnati's, that the dough is vegan. that is for the deep dish dough. the thin crust dough already has butter added to the crust. you can, of course request to have it without." there ya have it. 

***a second update ... the lou malnati's gluten-free crust is NOT vegan. sorry, gf vegans! 

Comments

  1. We're happy to hear you got your pizza Fridays back :). Thanks for sharing your experience! See you soon!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Do you happen to know if there is egg in the dough? This just seems too good to be true!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hi, valerie.

      i am pleased to report that there is absolutely no animal products of any kind (this means eggs, too!) in the lou malnati's pizza dough. it is completely vegan! and let me say, it is delicious!

      definitely try it out ... !

      Delete
  3. Wow, I just found this awesome blog! I'll definitely be taking a good look around here.

    I can confirm, as someone who works for Lou Malnati's, that the dough IS vegan. That is for the deep dish dough. The thin crust dough already has butter added to the crust. You can of course request to have it without.
    And yeah, strange quirk that we differentiate 'parmesan' from 'cheese'.

    I usually add garlic and put some red pepper flakes and oregano for extra flavor.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hi, casey!

      glad you like the blog! :)

      thanks for confirming ... and clarifying on the thin crust. we are definite deep dish people, so i didn't even think about the thin crust!

      mmm. adding garlic sounds delish -- i'm a big red pepper flakes fan already. :)

      thanks for the info & for stopping by!

      Delete
  4. We are having our office christmas party at Lou Malnatis this year and I was hoping they'd have something i could eat. First search in google for "vegan lou malnatis" brought me to your site. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. so happy to help, rick! just be sure to clarify "no butter, no cheese, no parmesan!"

      enjoy your holiday party! & thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  5. Yay! I am so happy you posted this and hope it is still accurate :-) I'm going to try it out tonight and am sure it will be delicous! Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. i'm 99% sure it's still accurate. i'm heading there this weekend, too! so if it changes. let me know!!

      thanks for reading! :)

      Delete
  6. Ummm...... has anyone realized that gluten-free vegans have not choice in the matter? Somebody please clarify- not all the crust is vegan! The gluten-free pizza crust has eggs in it! THE GLUTEN-FREE CRUST IS NOT VEGAN!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hi, megan.

      thanks for kindly pointing this out.

      i'm not gluten-free and have never had lou's gluten-free crust. (actually, i didn't even know they offered this!)

      i've added an update to the post.

      thanks again,
      halley

      Delete
  7. Hoping this is still correct, I realize it's been 4 years since your original post!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. i'm 99% certain that it is!!

      i've had moles give me updates along the way ... plus, they're not the changing their recipes type!!

      let me know if you go and learn something different??

      halley

      Delete
  8. WISH I KNEW THIS YEARS AGO! BUT NOW I KNOW AND I'M EATING ONE RIGHT NOW!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment