I know their bread is egg free except for the French, but do the soups have dairy or eggs? Do they use vegetable stock? What's Vegan there?

Thanks.

Their Vegetarian Black Bean Soup and Vegetarian Garden Vegetable Soup are both made with vegetable broth and both are vegan. They are very good, IMO.

The ingredients for the Black Bean Soup include black turtle beans, vegetable broth, onion, red bell pepper, cilantro, garlic and cumin.

Ingredients for the Garden Vegetable Soup are carrot, onion, potato, corn, spinach, red pepper, zucchini and tomato, pasta, navy beans, lima beans, vegetarian broth.

They also have vegetarian soups that they occasionally "feature" that are not normally on the menu. I can't think of the names of them right now. But the above two soups are safe bets.

www.panerabread.com/menu.aspx

Usually at Panera Bread you can ask the cashier to show you the book that lists the ingredients of all of the menu items.

Their website (which Sunny linked) is a great source of ingredient info :yes:

Darn this thread. Now I need to go get lunch!

Oh yum! I haven't been to Panera in a while. Thanks for reminding me of this convenient option!

They will actually happily tell you by either labeling the soup with ingredients or you can ask! I love that place. (I go to the one in Orlando when I am there.)

I love panera bread for the sole reason that the cashier will hand me a binder of all the ingredients and let me look to my heart's content.

I work at Panera, so let me give you the low down. :)

The soups will be labeled on the sign to whether or not they are vegetarian. Broccoli Cheddar and French Onion are NOT vegetarian, although lots of people believe they are. French Onion is pretty obvious, but there's a chicken stock in the broccoli cheddar. As for vegan, I'm not sure. However, you can ask to see the Nutritional Guidelines book for more info. It shows the ingredients and nutritional info for every thing we sell. We will always be happy to let you see it, and sit and read as long as you like. We also exchange some soups for new ones every 3-4 months. So check back every so often for new veggie soups.

We also have a Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich. All veggies, but there is feta. (Everything is made to order, so just request no feta.)

You also can ask anyone questions. If we don't know, we will find the answer.

I've been told that some of the sandwiches are not made to order (like the hot sandwiches). I had my bf order me a hot one with no cheese and they said they couldn't do that. Was that just the particular store or are all the stores like this?

As for the Mediterranean sandwich... I think it's so-so. Maybe it's the bread I don't like... I should request a different bread next time.

I just discovered the soups! So good! This makes me happy because I have found that I have problems when I eat things from Panera that include raw veggies, like the medditerranean sandwich and salads... I get bad stomachaches from it. Do they use something other than water to wash their vegetables, and does anyone else experience this when eating at Panera?

I'm not a big fan of the Mediterranean sandwich either. The only reason I'd see for not being able to make hot sandwiches made to order is if they are pre-made.

Magentamonkey, years ago when I worked at Panera all the veggies came bagged and were prepped the night before (of course it could have changed since then). Unless you are usually sensitive to certain vegetables, I'd worry that the stomach problems are from insuffucient cleaning habits of the veg bins and prep utensils or serving less than fresh salad greens :sick: Thankfully, I haven't experienced that problem myself.

FYI - As posted in 2005, the vegan soups are Low-Fat Vegetarian Garden Vegetable and the Low-Fat Vegetarian Black Bean. The ingredients of everything are still listed online http://www.panerabread.com/menu/cafe/soups.php .

The hot sandwiches are indeed premade. The same thing happened when I wanted to request the mushroom one without the extra vinaigrette because I always find it too oily. (ordered it anyway, because it's reeeeeeeallly good) Also, I too get stomachaches from raw vegetables at MANY places, though not at my local panera. I think it may be due to some preservative or something on the veg.

Between the time this thread was started and the time it was bumped up again, Panera has really raised their prices. It's over $4.50 for a bowl of soup, without a drink.

I got the veggie soup in a bread bowl and it was really good! ^_^

Just don't get the soup and half salad; the half is more like a quarter. It's TINY!

Our Panera Bread has a great tomato soup that is advertised as vegetarian. One of the staff told me that if I omitted the croutons (which have cheese) it would be vegan. I love to eat their soups with their bread (and by that I mean instead of a spoon :lick:)

I didn't even realize that this was an old thread.

I still think Panera is reasonably priced. The food quality is a lot better than most fast food places. I get the half sandwich, half soup when I go. It comes with a side too (apple, yum!). It sucks when prices go up, but it has to do with inflation. The prices have gone up at the place I work too. When I started in 2002, the fries were 99 cents (plus tax) each, now they're $1.28 (with tax). The burgers and drinks when up too. The shakes used to be $1.50, now they're $1.93. It's normal. Minimum wage has gone up $2 since 2002 (in California at least). If you're not making minimum wage, then it definately sucks (unless your company increases your wage too). The company I work for used to start at $8.25 an hour, now it's $10.

IME, the Mediterranean veggie sandwich, garden veg soup, and black bean soup are all very tasty. I don't like to get their apples as sides because they're really small and usually mealy. Their hot tea choices are great!

I've only tried their veg soup and I really liked it :D Everytime I go, the black bean soup is never offered (I go on the wrong days). My bf has had it before and said it's fantastic.

Have you tried their sweetened green tea? It's AWESOME. Tastes lime-ish kinda.

Our Panera Bread has a great tomato soup that is advertised as vegetarian. One of the staff told me that if I omitted the croutons (which have cheese) it would be vegan. I love to eat their soups with their bread (and by that I mean instead of a spoon :lick:)

If you are referring to the Vegetarian Creamy Tomato, the staff person was misinformed. Although, the soup is vegetarian it contains cream even minus the croutons. Panera decribes the soup as "Vine-ripened pear tomatoes pureed with fresh cream". Ingredients of soup without croutons: Creamy tomato soup (tomatoes [tomatoes, tomato puree, salt, citric acid], water, cream [cream, milk], onions, seasoning [sugar, modified corn starch, salt, spices], butter [cream, water], corn syrup [light corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, salt, vanilla], pure olive oil, garlic puree [fresh garlic, citric acid]),

Just had the Black Bean..too much cumin but yummy!

IME, the Mediterranean veggie sandwich, garden veg soup, and black bean soup are all very tasty. I don't like to get their apples as sides because they're really small and usually mealy. Their hot tea choices are great!

Just wanted to agree with the yucky mealy apple thought-- there is nothing like a Fuji apple IMO- crisp, but not too tart and yummmmy!!

I've not been to Panera, but there's one near my home- better go sometime from what it sounds like. I'm not big into eating out..



/end of hijack...

I actually agree about the texture of the apple... but I eat it anyway :D I don't need another bread or chips to go with my sandwich. I almost went to Panera yesterday, but went to Baker's Drive Thru and had a vegetarian taco. :D

I've been told that some of the sandwiches are not made to order (like the hot sandwiches). I had my bf order me a hot one with no cheese and they said they couldn't do that. Was that just the particular store or are all the stores like this?

As for the Mediterranean sandwich... I think it's so-so. Maybe it's the bread I don't like... I should request a different bread next time.

Mmm... if that's the sandwich I think it is, it's AMAZING. The one with the cilantro humus? They're always so nice about giving me extra humus and peppers instead of the feta, too. Mmm..

:furious: I'm confused. I've checked the Panera menu before, but I just checked out that Mediterranean sandwich, and there's honey in it! Does anyone know if it's always been this way or if it's a recent change?

I thought I was going crazy just now... I thought this thread was in the vegetarian forum, but realized it was moved here. :D